Production Note Cornell University Library produced this volume to replace the irreparably deteriorated original. It was scanned using Xerox software and equipment at 600 dots per inch resolution and compressed prior to storage using CCITT Group 4 compression. The digital data were used to create Cornell's replacement volume on paper that meets the ANSI Standard Z39.48-1984. The production of this volume was supported in part by the New York State Program for the Conservation and Preservation of Library Research Materials and the Xerox Corporation. Digital file copyright by Cornell University Library 1993.CORNELL UNIVERSITY LIBRARY BOUGHT WITH THE INCOME OF THE SAGE ENDOWMENT FUND GIVEN IN 1891 BY HENRY WILLIAMS SAGEBUFFALO HISTORICAL SOCIETY PUBLICATIONS VOLUME FOURTEEN Edited by Frank H. SeveranceKttlmt and ©tmra Praia BstffalnOFFICERS OF THE BUFFALO HISTORICAL SOCIETY 1910 Honorary President ......... ANDREW LANGDON President..........................HON. HENRY W. HILL Vice-President ....................CHARLES R. WILSON Secretary-Treasurer . .............FRANK H. SEVERANCE BOARD OF MANAGERS Term expiring January, 1911. Andrew Langdon, James Sweeney, Frank H. Severance, George A. Stringer, Ogden P. Letchworth. Term expiring January, 1912. Albert H. Briggs, M. D., Lee H. Smith, M. D., R. R. Hefford, Willis O. Chapin, Loran L. Lewis, Jr. Term expiring January, 1913. Robert W. Day, Henry A. Richmond, Hugh Kennedy, Charles W. Goodyear, G. Barrett Rich. Term expiring January, 1914. Hon. Henry W. Hill, Henry R. Howland, J. N. Larned, Charles R. Wilson, J. J. McWilliams. The Mayor of Buffalo, the Corporation Counsel, the Comptroller, Superin- tendent of Education, President of the Board of Park Commissioners, and President of the Common Council, are also ex-officio members of the Board of Managers of the Buffalo Historical Society.LIST OF THE PRESIDENTS OF THE SOCIETY FROM ITS ORGANIZATION TO THE PRESENT TIME. ♦Millard Fillmore, .........................1862 to 1867 ♦Henry W. Rogers,.....................................18$$ ♦Rev. Albert T. Chester, D. D.,......................1869 ♦Orsamus H. Marshall, .............................. 1870 ♦Hon. Nathan K. Hall, ............................. 1871 ♦William H. Greene,............................... 1872 ♦Orlando Allen,..................................... 1873* ♦Oliver G. Steele,....................................1874 ♦Hon. James Sheldon,.........................1875 and. 1886 ♦William C. Bryant,................................. 1876 ♦Capt. E. P. Dorr, . ............................... 1877 Hon. William P. Letchworth, ........................1878 William H. H. Newman,......................1879 and 1885 ♦Hon. Elias S. Hawley, ...............................1880 ♦Hon. James M. Smith,............................... 1881 ♦William Hodge,.......................................1882 ♦William Dana Fobes, ......................... 1883 and 1884 ♦Emmor Haines,...................................... J887 ♦James Tillinghast, ..................................1888 ♦William K. Allen,................................ 1889 ♦George S. Hazard,.................. 1890 and 1892 ♦Joseph C. Greene, M. D.,............................ 1891 ♦Julius H. Dawes,.................................... 1893 Andrew Langdon,...............................1894 to 1909 Hon. Henry W. Hill, . ........................... 1910 * Deceased.HON. DAVID ELLICOTT EVANS. From an Oil Portrait in the Possession of Mr. Spalding Evans, Lockport.THE HOLLAND LAND CO. AND CANAL CONSTRUCTION IN WESTERN NEW YORK BUFFALO-BLACK ROCK HARBOR PAPERS JOURNALS AND DOCUMENTS BUFFALO, NEW YORK: PUBLISHED BY THE BUFFALO HISTORICAL SOCIETY 1910INTRODUCTION The present volume consists chiefly of documents bearing on the original construction of the Erie canal in Western New York, and on the early harbor work at Buffalo and Black Rock. There are also here printed two journals of travel in New York State in the early years of the canal; a valuable study of the influence of the Erie canal on the settlement of the West; and sundry other papers which, although perhaps of minor importance, find an appropriate place in this collection. Of the principal feature of the volume—the Holland Land Com- pany correspondence—it is sufficient to remind the reader that what is here printed are but a few letters drawn from a vast mass of documents in the possession of this Society, relating to the Holland Land Company. Selection has been made of such letters as appear important in connection with the history of canal construction. To them have been added other letters on the same general subject, forming a part of a valuable manuscript collection, the correspond- ence of David E. Evans, now owned by the estate of the late Charles W. Evans. The documents drawn from this latter source are marked in the following pages, “Evans MSS ” By combining the material from these two collections, the Historical Society is for- tunately enabled to present a remarkably full documentary history of the negotiations between the Holland Land Company, the State, and local officials in Western New York, regarding the canal. 1 Most of the letters have never before been printed. Of Mr. Ellicott’s share in this work, it is impossible to speak in a prefatory note with adequate fullness. In some subsequent volume of these Publications, ample space must be devoted to his part in the history-making of Western New York, and especially of Buffalo. The only noteworthy attempt that has ever been made to record his work, is Turner's “History of the Holland Purchase,” a volume which, although valuable as a repository of facts, is far from being a satisfactory narrative of the subject. From the sources which the Historical Society has at command, much of importance may be drawn touching the whole term of Mr. Eliicott’s activity. This material will fill a gap in the printed annals of Western New York. These, however, are matters for a future volume. viiviii INTRODUCTION. The present collection is limited to such correspondence as bears upon canal and harbor work. A perusal of the letters will suggest to the reader much of interest regarding the personality of the men who wrote. Perhaps most striking of all is the conservatism and doubting attitude of Mr. Busti. He refused to believe that the canal would ever be built, until its actual construction compelled him to acknowledge his error. That he was not alone in his doubts, is realized by any one conversant with the canal construction period. The canal was declared impracticable and its construction unwise, if not impossible, by many a man in public life. So judicious an observer as John Melish, traveler and author, wrote, after his in- spection of the territory through which the canal was proposed-to be built: “My candid opinion was that there would probably be no grand canal.” And this in reference, not to Western New York, but to the vicinity of Utica. Mr. Ellicott himself, in the earlier years, does not appear to have been very sanguine of the success of the enterprise. His association, however, with DeWitt Clinton, his participation in canal work as commissioner, and his close contact with the people of the Western district, undoubtedly greatly modified his views, so that he appears in the main as a believer in the canal, which he foresaw was bound greatly to benefit his company by promoting the sale of lands. Mr. Ellicott retired from the office of land agent for the Holland Company in October, 1821. Most of his letters in the following col- lection were written prior to that date. One long communication, however, dated at Batavia, July 16, 1824, relates to the Buffalo har- bor construction and gave to the Board of Canal Commissioners the intimate information which he had in regard to local conditions; but when he wrote it he was no longer acting for the Holland Com- pany. Next to Mr. Ellicott, in the importance of their services ren- dered to the infant Buffalo, were William Peacock and David E. Evans. William Peacock was born February 22, 1780, near New York City. He first visited the site of Buffalo in 1799. In 1803, he en- tered the service of the Holland Land Company at Batavia. In that and the following year, as surveyor, he laid out a considerable part of the village of Buffalo. On October 3, 1807, he married Alice Evans, daughter of Joseph and Ann (Ellicott) Evans. In 1810 he removed to Mayville; he was later made a Judge of Chautauqua county, with which community the activities of his later years are mainly associated. He it was who in 1818, made the first thorough survey of Buffalo harbor—an epoch-marking achievement in ourINTRODUCTION. ix history. His report on that survey is given in the present volume; and also a most interesting portrait of him, of about the same period. David E. Evans, author of several of the letters here printed, and to whom numerous others of the collection were written, was Joseph Ellicott’s nephew. In 1803, when only fifteen years old, he left his Maryland hdme for Batavia, where he became a clerk in the land office. He later became accounting clerk. On September 11, 1824, Joseph Ellicott gave him a general power of attorney to trans- act all his business. Mr. Ellicott was succeeded as resident agent of the land company by Jacob S. Otto. Mr. Otto died May 2, 1827, and Mr. Evans succeeded him, discharging the duties of that office until 1837. It is stated that under his administration nearly one- half of all the lands ever owned by the company in Western New York were sold, and the receipts of the company were greater than all the receipts under the agencies of Mr. Ellicott and Mr. Otto to- gether. Mr. Evans held various offices of trust and distinction. Elected to the New York State Senate in 1818 as a Clintonian Re- publican, he later became politically opposed to DeWitt Clinton, and an adherent of Mr. VanBuren. Mr. Evans represented the Western District” in the State Senate until 1822. In 1824 he be- came a director of the Ontario Bank at Canandaigua; and of the Western Insurance Company. He was also, at a later period, a director of the Bank of Genesee, at Batavia, and of the United States Branch Bank, in Buffalo. He Was one of the commissioners under an Act of the New York Legislature for granting relief to the sufferers on the Niagara frontier, whose property had been destroyed by the enemy during the War of 1812. In 1826 he was elected Representative in Congress from the 29th New York district, but in May of the following year resigned his seat, to take up his duties as local agent of the Holland Land Company. He married Lucy Grant of Batavia, September 3, 1816; and in Batavia he died, May 17, 1850. Although much is said in the correspondence regarding the terms of the land company’s grant to the State, the final outcome is not clearly shown. For the precise terms and conditions of the grant, the reader is referred to the Act of April 13, 1819. (“Canal Laws,” vol. 1, p. 435.) The State accepted the grant of 100,632 acres in Catteraugus county; of this tract, lands remaining unsold in 1842 were to revert to the Holland Land Co. Acknowledgment is gratefully made to Dr. and Mrs. G. Hunter Bartlett of Buffalo, in behalf of the Evans estate, for their kind as- sistance, and courtesy in placing at the service of the editor portraits of Mr. Evans and Judge Peacock, and the Evans manuscripts, which are a part of the collection of the late Charles W. Evans, for manyX INTRODUCTION. years prominent in the business life of Buffalo. He was a son of William Evans, and a grandson of Letitia Ellicott, a sister of Joseph Ellicott. David Ellicott Evans, whose letters are here printed, was, as above stated, a nephew of Joseph Ellicott, the son of his sister Rachel (Ellicott) Evans. The admirable paper by Dr. Lois K. Mathews, on “The Erie Canal and the Settlement of the West,” and the journals of Col. William L. Stone and Judge George W. Clinton, are sufficiently commented on in notes accompanying them. The reader will bear in mind that the Clinton journal was written by a mere youth, whereas the portrait accompanying is of Judge Clinton in his last years, showing him as he will still be recalled by many of his former neighbors and friends. No youthful portrait of him was available. Much relevant matter, bearing on the general subject of canals, is perforce omitted from our collection; among other papers, which it was proposed to publish, an historical sketch of the use of steam on the New York canals; a study of the Niagara ship-canal projects; and especially a bibliographical, annotated list of publications relat- ing to New York canals. Such a list has in fact been prepared, based on the large collection of canal material in the library of the Buffalo Historical Society. Its great length—it would make a fair- sized volume—precludes its inclusion in our present issue. Since its preparation was begun, its usefulness has been somewhat forestalled by the appearance of the canal bibliography accompanying Noble E. Whitford’s “History of the Canal System of the State of New York,” published as a supplement to the annual report of the N. Y. State Engineer and Surveyor, 1906. Its publication by this society becomes, therefore, for the present at least, inadvisable. It may be well to remind the reader that in the printing of docu- ments, the peculiarities of the original, as regards spelling, punctua- tion, etc., are retained, unless a change has been necessary to bring out the meaning. Words in brackets are added by the editor. There are sundry references to maps and plans, but these are missing from the collection to which these documents belong. The “Blockley’s Retreat,” from which Mr. Busti's letter of May 17, 1811 (p. 19) was written, was a farm comprised at a later period in the grounds of the Pennsylvania Hospital for the Insane, in Philadelphia; the house Mr. Busti occupied was afterwards for a long time the residence of the hospital superintendent, Dr. Kirkbride. The letters between Mr. Ellicott and Mr. Clinton, Feb. 21-27, 1816 (pp. 48-50), relate to the canal movement in Buffalo of that time, regarding which the reader is referred to volume xiii of this series, pp. 211-213.INTRODUCTION. XI In volume xiii, the sketch of Canvass White should have been credited to the late Charles B. Stuart, and not to Wm. Pierrepont White. Mr. White courteously furnished it to the editor, and was erroneously supposed to have been its author. Certain criticisms contained in reviews of recent volumes of this series, indicate that the writers regard the Buffalo Historical Society as engaged in a canal propaganda. Nothing could be further from the fact. Our main purpose in these Publications is to collect and preserve important material for history; and had we at hand a col- lection of anti-canal documents of undoubted value, we would re- gard their publication fully as desirable as is that of the pro-canal material. Senator Hill’s canal history (volume xii) was avowedly the work of a canal advocate. The story of canal accomplishment was bound to be. But neither his views, nor the fact that he has borne an active part in shaping the present canal policy of the State, affects in the least the unbiased course pursued in the preparation of our Publications. With each new volume we are adding to the store of trustworthy data relating in the main to the history of Western New York. The fourteen volumes now issued are unrivaled and unique as a repository for the student of that history. Although, as above indicated, much material is at hand bearing on the same general subjects as our recent volumes, we now turn, for the present, from this phase of Western New York history. Volume Fifteen of the series, now in preparation, will be of a radically different char- acter than its immediate predecessors, but we trust no less useful or attractive. F. H. S.CONTENTS PAGE Officers of the Society ................................... iii List of Presidents of the Society........................... iv Introduction................................................vii THE HOLLAND LAND CO. AND CANAL CONSTRUC- TION IN WESTERN NEW YORK .......... i THE ERIE CANAL AND THE SETTLEMENT OF THE WEST............ Lois Kimball Mathews 187 FROM NEW YORK TO NIAGARA—Journal of a Tour, in part by Canal, in 1829 ..Col. William Leeie Stone 205 COL. WILLIAM L. STONE’S VISIT TO NIAGARA IN 1829............................................. 265 JOURNAL OF A TOUR FROM ALBANY TO LAKE ERIE, by the Erie Canal, in 1826 . . . George W. Clinton 273 BUFFALO AND BLACK ROCK HARBOR PAPERS: Introduction......................................309 A Partisan Poster of 1816:...“The Grand Canal De- feated” . ................... 323 DeWitt Clinton’s Canal Visit to Buffalo in 1816 . . . 327 A Southern Route proposed for the Canal, in 1818 ... 331 Politics and Western New York Interests in 1820 . . . 339 The Buffalo Memorial of 1820 ......................341 The Great Strife—Buffalo vs. Black Rock...........351 Black Rock Harbor Contract, 1823.................. 383 From the Atlantic to Buffalo, by Canal, 1825......387 NOTES ON THE SERVICE OF ISRAEL T. HATCH IN BEHALF OF NEW YORK CANALS...................... Frank H. Severance 389 xiiixiv CONTENTS. APPENDIX A. PAGE PROCEEDINGS, BUFFALO HISTORICAL SOCIETY : Forty-seventh Annual Meeting, Jan. 12, 1909 . ..... 399 The Fillmore Manuscripts . ....................... 402 Forty-eighth Annual Meeting, Jan. ii, 1910.........411 APPENDIX B. LIST OF MANUSCRIPTS IN THE LIBRARY OF THE BUFFALO HISTORICAL SOCIETY............. 423 INDEX................ . . . .......... 487 ILLUSTRATIONS AND MAPS. Portrait, Hon. David Ellicott Evans ...... Portrait, William Peacock at 40............. Map, New England Settlement, 1820 ..... Map, New England Settlement, 1830 ..... Map, New England Settlement, 184b........... Portrait, Hon. George W. Clinton ....... Portrait, James Geddes...................... Portrait, Hon. Israel T. Hatch.............. Vase presented to Mr. Hatch . ................ Frontispiece • Op. p. 139 p. 192 “ 194 “ 196 Op. p. 273 “ 351 “ 389 “ 392THE HOLLAND LAND CO. AND CANAL CONSTRUCTION IN WESTERN NEW YORK CORRESPONDENCE NOW FIRST PUBLISHEDTHE HOLLAND LAND COMPANY AND CANAL CONSTRUCTION IN WESTERN NEW YORK CORRESPONDENCE NOW FIRST PUBLISHED1 THE STATE SURVEYOR SEEKS JOS. ELLICOTT’s ADVICE. Albany, 13th June, 1808. Dear Sir: You may have heard that our Legislature have directed the Surveyor-General to explore, survey, level, etc., and report the best route for inland navigation by canals between the waters of the Hudson and Lake Erie, and have authorized him to expend BSP $600 in that business! Hence you will naturally suppose that it was expected that something would be done for nothing, or that a good deal of what ought to be done must be left undone. Thus re- stricted I shall endeavor to have the level taken on the best route between Oneida lake and Lake Ontario, and if my $600 will hold out, I will have also something done along Niagara river. There are some gentlemen whose thoughts on such a matter are entitled to respect, who are of opinion that nothing less ought to be contemplated than a navigation from Erie, or some part of the Niagara river to the waters 1. The following letters, which illustrate the attitude of the Holland Land Company toward the original canal construction in Western New York, are here printed from the originals, or the original letter-book copies, in the possession of the Buffalo Historical Society; and from a valuable MS. collec- tion, the correspondence of David E. Evans, courteously placed at the ser- vice of the editor by the owner, Mrs. G. Hunter Bartlett of Buffalo. Docu- ments copied from this collection are in the following pages marked “Evans MSS.” For further notes on the sources and nature of these important documents, the reader is referred to the Introduction of this volume.4 THE HOLLAND LAND CO. of the Oneida lake, by a route south of Lake Ontario, and my object in writing to you, is to obtain your opinion about it. Some mention the route of the Tonnewanta, others suppose a level might be found along the declivity which originally formed the Niagara and the Genesee Falls, so as to fall in with the Mud creek. The surveys which you possess, must enable you better than any other person, to form a judgment of the practicability of the project. Will you have the goodness to give me your opinion? Perhaps you may possess information to give me something in a detailed way on the subject, which I might annex to my report I am to make for the use of the U. S. Government, for the purpose of showing the feasibility of such a canal. Perhaps further you may think yourself authorized to be at some expense for promoting the interest of the Company for which you act, by causing some examination to be made of particular places. The step which the State has taken was in consequence of suggestions that the General Gov- ernment contemplated the execution of such a work, and that it might be accelerated by furnishing the information which has been directed to be procured. Should such a thing be brought about, the Holland Company will doubt- less be much benefited by it. In a few days from this I purpose to leave this for New York, and expect to be absent till the beginning of August. On my return I hope to be favored with a line from you on this subject. I am, your ob’t Serv’t Joseph Ellicott, Esq. S. DeWitt MR. ELLICOTT’S REPLY. [Batavia, July 30, 1808] Simeon DeWitt, Esquire, Albany. Dear Sir: I herewith acknowledge the receipt of your letter of the 13th of June ult. on the subject of canals and inland lock navigation, to connect the waters of Lake ErieAND CANAL CONSTRUCTION. 5 and the Hudson River, in which you have requested me to furnish you with such information as I may possess on the subject, together with my opinion of the most eligible route for the canal. This task I shall perform with pleasure, because, I consider it an object of vast importance to the United States, and which may be effected with a small ex- pense, comparatively speaking, when contrasted with the immense advantages and utility that will be derived to all that tract of country bordering on the Great Lakes. I shall consider this subject under the following heads. First, In regard to the route along the declivity that originally it is supposed, formed the great falls of Niagara, to Mud Creek. Second, In regard to the route down the Niagara river to Lake Ontario, and from thence to the Oneida Lake, and Thirdly, The Tonnawauta route to Mud Creek. In exhibiting my ideas to you, I find it necessary to ac- company them with a map or plan of the route I deem most eligible by way of reference, which I enclose herewith. In respect to the route along the declivity that is sup- posed originally formed the great falls of Niagara, to Mud Creek, I shall not advocate [it], as I consider that it would be attended with almost innumerable difficulties: the face of the declivity being in many places cut into ravines, or deep chasms of various breadths, formed apparently by the streams of water running off the summit into the vale below. To carry a canal in this direction would require an aque- duct bridge for each ravine or chasm from 40 to 90 feet of perpendicular height. There are however many places be- tween the Niagara and Genesee river, where the declivity does not assume a regular slope, being divided into ridges running in every direction, in such a manner that it is difficult to ascertain the main declivity, or precisely its sum- mit, and even the latter is hilly and uneven. However, all parts of the slope which I have seen, where it assumes a regular shape, it is a complete wall of horizontal stratum of rocks. The base of the declivity is composed principally of freestone, the summit limestone, and the intermediate6 THE HOLLAND LAND CO. part of granite. Hence should the canal be carried in this direction, it would be necessary to excavate a portion of it out of a mass of granite rock. Add to this a number of aqueduct bridges, which would require to be erected in order to carry the water over the ravines and chasms formed upon the sides of the declivity, and it would become necessary to pass through many rocky ridges of various heights, which obstructions, together with those previously mentioned, appear to me to render this route almost im- practicable. I shall therefore not undertake to make an estimate of the expense that would attend the excavation of a canal in that direction. I shall next proceed to an examination of the route for a canal down the Niagara river from Lake Erie to Ontario, and make an estimate of the probable expense attending the formation of a canal, that route, projected upon a scale of 33 feet in breadth at the surface of the water in the canal, and 4 1-2 feet in depth, which will be sufficient for boats carrying 20 tons. From Schlosser to Lewiston, the distance will be about 10 miles; and from Lake Ontario to the Oneida Lake, the distance I presume would be about 30 miles ; making in the whole about 40 miles. I shall not undertake to make an estimate of the expense attending canaling from Lake On- tario to the Oneida Lake, being unacquainted with that route, having only once passed from the Three River point down the Oswego river to Lake Ontario. To the best of my recollection, however, for the greater part of this distance the bed of the river consisted of horizontal strata of rocks, and this appears to be their uniform position through the whole extent of the Western Country. From Schlosser to Lewiston, parts which I have frequently ex- plored in every direction, I am enabled to judge pretty ac- curately of the nature of the country; and I am decidedly of the opinion that the expense attending the formation of a canal and its locks on this route of sufficient magnitude to admit the passage of boats of 20 tons burden, would re- quire an expense much greater than to excavate a canal from the mouth of Tonnawanta Creek to the OnondagaAND CANAL CONSTRUCTION 7 river. In support of this opinion I shall proceed to enu- merate some of the principal obstructions that will militate against the execution of a canal in this quarter. In the first place I shall observe, that at the commence- ment of this work at Schlosser, it will be necessary to ex- cavate the solid rock, which from all observations I have made, ascends gradually to the summit of the declivity above Lewiston, which we supposed originally formed the great falls of Niagara. This fact indeed was ascertained by a person employed by the Holland Company in 1798, who actually made a survey and drew, a plan for a canal and locks from Schlosser to Lewiston, and in order to ascertain the nature of the earth and rock through which the canal would pass, he caused holes to be dug in the path laid off for the canal to the stratum of rock I have men- tioned. By these experiments it was found that the strata of rock actually ascended as he progressed northwardly, and he was of the opinion, if I recollect rightly, that these strata of the summit of the declivity were elevated above the level of the water at Schlosser, at least from 30 to 40 feet of perpendicular height. This fact is also proved by the current in Gill Creek, which runs directly opposite to the course of the Niagara river. We will however admit, that it does not exceed 30 feet which will make an average depth of 15 feet to be excavated through the solid rock, to which if we add 41-2 feet, the depth of the canal below the surface of the water at Schlosser, it will make the whole depth to be excavated through the solid rock of 19 feet 6 inches. Independent of this, there are in some places, rises in the surface of the country, between the summit of the declivity and Schlosser from 15 to 20 feet. Hence it is evident, that it would become necessary to excavate part of this canal from 30 to 40 feet in depth through loam and rocks. When we reflect for a moment on the vast difference in expense attending the excavation of a canal through solid rock and one through clay and loam only, we shall find that a canal may be cut through the latter of the same extent, for less than one twentieth part of the expense. For in-8 THE HOLLAND LAND CO, stance, it will on an average require a man from 2 to 3 hours to drill 18 inches into a rock, and by the period the charge can be made, the rock blasted, and the fragments removed, full four hours for one man will have elapsed; and on an average the cavity made by the blast will not exceed a cube of 18 inches; while the same man in the same period, would with a pick and a spade, in clay or loam only, have removed nearly one cord of earth; making a cavity of at least 30 times the extent. We will however admit, that one man will be able to excavate the one twentieth part as much rock as he could of earth in the same time, (which in fact is not admis- sible;) it is evident that by the period a canal could be cut round the great falls of Niagara, a canal of equal dimen- sions might be cut at least twenty times that distance through clay or loam. Upon these data I shall venture to estimate the probable expense of canaling round the great falls of Niagara from Schlosser to Lewiston, and admit that the average depth of rock from Schlosser to Lewiston shall not exceed 16 feet; distance 10 miles. The price given in this place for excavating cellars, mili races, &c., is 75 cents per cord through clay, or loam; the undertaker finding himself provisions, tools, &c. Hence to excavate one cord of rock would amount to twenty times the expense, more especially if we take into the calcula- tion the expense of powder, smith’s work, in repairing tools, &c., which would be equal to 15 dollars for each cord of rock so excavated, and each mile of canal excavated through rock 16 feet in depth and 33 feet in breadth will contain 21760 cords, of course 10 miles of such canal, will contain 217600 cords, which multiplied by $15, the expense of ex- cavating one cord, will amount to the sum of $3,264,000, exclusive of the expense of removing the clay and loam above the rock. In the above estimate we have not taken into consideration the multiplicity, strength and magnitude of locks that would be requisite to admit the passage of boats down the great declivity at Lewiston, a depth of at least 280 feet, as well as on the Oswego river, where the descent is also very considerable; and in this estimate weAND CANAL CONSTRUCTION. 9 have considered the strata of rocks on the Niagara river, which are composed of flint and limestone to be of such a uniform solidity as to be capable of being blown to the greatest advantage. Whereas, it is found that the rock is so full of small crevices running in horizontal directions that the force of gunpowder is exhausted upon it without producing much effect, which would also tend to retard the prosecution of the work. It may however be said, that a canal of that magnitude would not be required, and that one of half the breadth I have proposed would be sufficient. If this should be admitted the expense of such a canal could not be less than one half the sum I have estimated, which would amount to $1,632,000, exclusive of the expense at- tending the cutting a canal from Lake Ontario to the Oneida Lake. The most practicable and useful path for the canal, in my opinion, would be the Tonnawanta route to Mud Creek. The mouth of the Tonnawanta affords a commodious har- bor, either for the largest vessels that navigate all the upper lakes, or for such boats as would be made use of for navi- gating the canal. The tract of country that it would pass through, from Niagara river to the Genesee river, is probably, the most level, even and horizontal, of any other tract of equal extent, in the United States; and I am per- suaded, that it would not be necessary to deviate much, on account of either ridges or rocks, but that the canal might be actually excavated, nearly as straight, as the delinea- tion exhibited by the enclosed plan. As however, the com- parative advantages of the route I have recommended, may be questioned, it may perhaps be necessary to give a short sketch of the nature of the tract of country I have proposed for this important communication. It will be observed on inspecting the map of the country, between the Niagara and Genesee river, that in the proposed rout, the different streams of Tonnawanta, Oak Orchard, and Black creek, where it will be necessary to direct the canal, run in the same latitudinal direction; the cause of which is owing to the circumstance of these waters being confined between two terraces, supported by horizontal strata of rocks. The10 THE HOLLAND LAND CO. first, or northern terrace extends across the Niagara river, above Lewiston, forming the great falls of Niagara, and extending eastwardly, also forming the falls on the Oak Orchard creek, Genesee river, Gerundegut, Oswego, &c. The second or southern terrace, crosses the Niagara river at Black Rock, forming the rapids at the outlet of Lake Erie, and extends eastwardly, forming falls on the Four Mile creek, Ellicott’s creek, Sulphur creek, Tonnawanta creek, Chiccaungie1 creek, Allens creek, Honeyoi creek, Mud creek, Seneca falls, on the outlet of Seneca lake, &c. The district of country lying between these terraces from Niagara to Genesee river, is almost a horizontal level, and from the appearance of the beds of the different streams of water, as far as they pass through this tract of country, I am led to believe that it is entirely free from ledges of rocks or stone; these water courses being deep, without even a stone to ruffle their current as far as they are con- fined to the valley. The depth of water in the mouth of Tonnawanta creek is from 26 to 30 feet; whereas, the Niagara river, a little to the north of Navy island, may be fathomed with a 10 or 12 feet pole; the bottom of the river being a horizontal stratum of rocks, extending eastward, which I believe to be the southern extremity of the lower, or northern ter- race of horizontal strata of rocks. It will also be observed, that where the Four Mile creek empties into the Niagara river, below Black Rock, the mouth of the creek is from 15 to 18 feet in depth. Hence, I conclude, that the north- ern extremity of the upper, or southern terrace of horizon- tal strata of rocks, terminates near the mouth of this creek, leaving a tract or valley of country extending eastwardly to the Genesee river, between these terraces, from north to south of from 7 to 10, and 12 miles in breadth, entirely free from ledges of rocks or stone; and I have always 1. Apparently either Bigelow or Black creek, as known today. Sulphur creek, on the early H. L. Co.’s maps, coincides with present Bower creek, emptying into the Tonawanda near East Pembroke. Allen’s creek should be spelled “Allan’s,” but seldom is—taking its name from Ebenezer (“Indian”) Allan. “Gerundegut” is one of many forms given in early documents to the modern “Irondequoit.” “Honeyoi” is the Honeoye of today.AND CANAL CONSTRUCTION. 11 been led to believe from the knowledge I possess of this part of the state, that the same disposition of country pre- vails from the Genesee river to the Onondaga river, which for a considerable portion of that distance is equally as horizontal, and as free from ledges of rocks and stones, as the tract of country between the Niagara and Genesee rivers. Mud creek, part of the Onondaga river, and the Oneida lake, all lying in the same latitudinal direction, and probably between the same terraces of horizontal strata of rocks. The tract of country extending from the Niagara to the Genesee river, along the path I have marked for the canal, may be considered a valley for the whole distance, the country gradually rising to the southward, and also to the northward, until we arrive at the declivity, or descent that is supposed originally formed the great falls of Niagara. It is the opinion of many that at some remote Period the waters from the Niagara River flowed along this valley to the Eastward and that part of the Waters of Lake Erie were disembogued down the Cataract formed by Oak Or- chard Creek, as well as that of the Genesee River by the way of Black Creek until the Bed of Niagara River became so much deepened as to discharge all the Water through its channel. These are, however, but speculative opinions, which I only mention to evince that this Tract of Country is remarkable for its horizontal position. I profess to have a pretty accurate knowledge of this tract of country, as far as it extends through the Holland Purchase, both from observation and from the surveys and allotments we have made; and it appears to me, that nature seems to have pointed out this route for a canal, not only in consequence of the little labor, comparatively speaking, that would be required in digging it, but because the neces- sary materials for the construction of locks are close at hand. Oak Orchard creek is navigable for large boats from where it would be intersected by the canal, to the horizon- tal stratum of rocks that form its first cataract, being as is supposed the same stratum that forms the falls of Niag- ara and Genesee. At this place any quantity of the best12 THE HOLLAND LAND CO. shaped limestone may be procured, lying in horizontal strata of almost any superficial dimensions, and from 5, 10 and 12 inches in thickness, which might be conveyed from thence in boats for the construction of locks or other purposes: and indeed almost every where as far as the Canal would extend through the Holland Purchase, a little to the North- ward of the rout I have laid down, stone of the same kind may be obtained, and also at the Genesee River at the upper cataract. The number of Locks that might be required between the Niagara and Genesee River I have not the requisite Infor- mation to ascertain; not knowing the Difference in eleva- tion of the beds of the respective Rivers Niagara and Gen- esee above the level of the water in Lake Ontario, or how much Oak Orchard Creek, where it would be intersected by this Canal is elevated above the beds of either Niagara or Genesee Rivers. I am however clearly of the opinion that Oak Orchard Creek may be considered the Crown level, as it meanders through the same piece of low land or swamp (called Tonnawonta Swamp) from which Ton- nawonta & Black Creek receive part of their waters, as will be observed by the Map herewith forwarded. And here I cannot omit mentioning a remarkable Fact relative to this Valley of Country, which is that in the early part of the Spring season on the dissolving of the snow, when all the low lands are covered with waters, if it were not for the obstruction of Bushes and fallen Timber, a Canoe might be navigated from the Niagara River up the waters of Tonnawonta Creek by the way of Oak Orchard & Black Creek to the Genesee river, being the same path I have delineated on the enclosed plan for this Canal. This cir- cumstance, together with other observations I have made upon the horizontal formation of the country along the path I have delineated, induces me to believe that at most 2 locks at A with each 8 or 9 feet lifts would be sufficient to navi- gate the Canal, and that there would be no other lock re- quired until the Canal began to descend Black Creek and from the best information I can obtain 6 locks, each 8 or 10 Feet Lifts would be found sufficient to navigate a BoatAND CANAL CONSTRUCTION. 13 from thence to the navigable waters of Black Creek com- municating with the Genesee River. Another advantage of an important nature that the route possesses, is the great facility with which the canal might be supplied with water for the consumption of the locks. Oak Orchard creek which is sufficiently large in the driest season for turning an undershot mill, will intersect the canal on the crown level. Tonnawanta and Allen’s creek, both of which take their rise above the upper or southern ter- race, may be conveyed to this canal, at a small expence, and Tonnawanta in particular, in several places, at an ex- pence less than $3000. There are also many small streams and brooks that flow in the valley both from north and south of the canal as delineated, which might be used if necessary for that purpose. Having thus given you a short sketch of the information of the tract of country I have proposed for this canal tc pass thro’, I shall proceed to estimate the expence of ex- cavating it from the navigable waters communicating with Niagara river to the navigable waters communicating with the Genesee river, upon the same scale or magnitude I have estimated the canal from Schlosser to Lewiston; viz. the canal to be 33 feet in breadth at the surface of the water, and 41-2 feet in depth, which will be sufficiently large to admit the passage of boats of twenty tons burthen. The data from which I make the estimate are the following:— In the first place I am persuaded that not any part of the canal between the navigable waters communicating with Niagara River and the Genesee, would require to be ex- cavated more than eight feet in depth; and I am persuaded that there would not be any rocks and but very few stones to be removed. The whole distance will be plain digging. From estimates which I have made, it appears that in every mile of the canal it will be necessary to remove 10880 cords of earth, which estimated at the same price wq pay at this place for excavating cellars, mill races, &c. which is 75 cents per cord, the undertaker finding tools, pro- vision, and every other necessary article, amounts to $8160 per. mile, and consequently for 43 miles (the distance of14 THE HOLLAND LAND CO. the canal from Tonnawanta to Black Creek) to the sum of $35°>00°* I am however inclined to be of the opinion, that this sum would not be required; because for a considerable part of the distance, the canal would pass through Cran- berry marshes, the earth of which is composed of a kind of vegetable muck, (if I may use that term) which might be thrown out of the canal by the aid of machinery in large quantities, for less than 50 cents per cord. If we admit, however, that this part of the canal should amount to the expense I have estimated, and that the ex- pense attending a continuation of it from Genesee river to the navigable waters of Mud Creek, communicating with the Onondaga river, to an equal sum, the whole canal will only amount to the sum of $701,760. Being fully convinced, as to myself, that the canal on the route I have pointed out, can be completed with a small expense, when compared with either of the other routes, I shall now give it as my decided opinion, that it is not only the most economical route, but that it would be by far the most beneficial to the public in general; because it would be more safe, more certain, more commodious, and generally more expeditious and less expensive than the navigation of lake Ontario, as part of the water communication from lake Erie. In all kinds of transportation, we find the frequent shift- ing, unloading, storing, and reloading of articles, to be attended with many inconveniences, delays and expenses, as would be the case were the navigation confined to lake Ontario. For instance, vessels bringing articles from lakes Superior, Huron, Michigan, &c. have to unload these ar- ticles at the east end of Lake Erie, where they must be reloaded in boats; but could those articles be conveyed at once to market, in those boats, on the route I have recom- mended, without any further unloading, reloading, &c., it is evident that it would not only save a vast expense, but prevent the damage sustained by goods in their transporta- tion. For should lake Ontario constitute part of the com- munication, it will be necessary in that case to unload and reload all articles brought from the upper lakes to market,AND CANAL CONSTRUCTION. 15 five times; that is to say, they must be unloaded at the out- let of Lake Erie, and reloaded in boats, and conveyed to Lewiston, and there unloaded and reloaded in vessels that navigate lake Ontario to the canal communicating with the Oneida lake, and here they must be unloaded and reloaded in boats; passing at each removal into different hands and subject to expenses for storage, cooperage, &c., at each un- loading, all of which will add to the expense of transporta- tion. Delays will also frequently happen on lake Ontario, on account of the wind, as well as other accounts, and some risk will attend the navigation of the lake; whereas should the route I have pointed out be ultimately adopted, all those delays, dangers, and inconveniences, will be avoided. The same boat that receives the articles at the outlet of lake Erie, will convey them from thence to market, without any further unloading or reloading, than at their place of des- tination. In fine, in whatever point of view I consider this subject, I am an advocate for the Tonnewanta route; being con- vinced that it will be less expensive, and more practicable in its execution than either of the other routes. From a conviction of this fact, if a company could be formed to undertake the business, (in case the United States should think the object inexpedient,) I myself, would subscribe stock to the amount of $2,500. payable in 5 annual install- ments, under the impression that this communication would more eminently contribute to the benefit of the nation, than any other undertaking of the kind, in any other part of the United States. Which is respectfully submitted, by Sir, with high con- sideration, your obedient servant, Joseph Ellicott. Batavia, July 30, 1808. P. S.—Tonnawonta Creek is navigable for Boats of 20 Tons Burthen from the Niagara River to the commence- ment of the Canal at A. At this place there is a Rapid of 20 Perches, which makes about 3 1-2 or 4 Feet Fall. From the Point A the Tonnawonta Creek is navigable for Boats16 THE HOLLAND LAND CO. of the same Burthen to near the Tonnawonta Village; but as it runs so extremely crooked I deemed it most eligible to commence the Canal at the Point A. Oak Orchard Creek is navigable for Boats of the same Burthen from the Point B to the Point C. Hence if it should be deemed most eligible to make use of the Tonnawonta Creek for this Communication as far as it may be navigated with very little Improvement, and also that part of the Oak Orchard Creek from where it would be intersected with this Canal at the Point B to C, it would save the Excavating of at least 14 Miles of Canal, and consequently decrease the Amount of the Estimate I have made to $587,520. Having however but little knowledge of the tract of Country between the Genesee River and Mud Creek the Cutting that part of the Canal may amount to a larger sum than I have estimated or it may not be so great.1 USE MADE OF MR. ELLICOTT’s DATA. Albany, 24th August, 1808. Dear Sir: I have to acknowledge receipt of your very valuable and highly important communication on the sub- ject of canals between the Hudson, and lake Erie. I shall make it a part of my report, and have no doubt, that it will materially change the ideas of the Secretary of the Treasury, in regard to what ought to be done here. In his report to congress, it appears, that he contemplated a canal for ship navigation, from Fort Schlosser down, without being apprised of the difficulty of such navigation from that point to lake Erie, against the current of Niagara river. Another consideration of importance, is, that the route you have traced, would not only bestow on the long tract of country through which it would pass, a very additional value, and of course promote its population, but it would 1. The plan or sketch referred to above is not preserved with the fore- going letter in the Holland Land Co.’s papers.AND CANAL CONSTRUCTION. 17 aiso, divert to our own seaports, a considerable trade that would otherwise go to Canada. I have observed in your communication, that the Seneca river is once or twice called the Onondaga river. If you have no objections I will alter it in the copy. With great esteem I am your humble servant, S. DeWitt. Joseph Ellicott, Esquire. Evans MSS. A PROSPECTIVE SUBSCRIPTION. Lancaster, October 20th, 1808. David E. Evans, Batavia. Dear Nephew: Your several1 letters together with one from Mr. Stevens was duly handed to me at Mr. Busti’s & laid before that Gentleman—who was well pleased with their Contents, & altho heretofore not an advocate for Turnpikes & Canals, he offers to Subscribe towards that Canal provided it shall be undertaken either by the United States, or the State of New York—every other Lot on the Canal as a Donation.......... Joseph Ellicott Evans MSS. routes to market in 1810. Philada 8 May 1810 Joseph Ellicott, Batavia Dear Sir: ... By a conversation I had with Mr. Parish who has made a commercial establishment on the S. Lawrence it would appear that the produce of the West Genesee will apparently find its vent that way out. For he assures me that the Great Sodus is already become the em- porium of the staple commodities raised in the East of the Genesee, and that Utica feels extremely the opening of that18 THE HOLLAND LAND CO. new way for the exportation of the country produce. If only half of what Parish relates is true the State of New York will I expect feel the importance of opening the in- ternal navigation from Lake Erie and improve the one of the Mohawk. ... Paul Busti. HARBOR NEED REALIZED. Philada 18th July 1810 Joseph Ellicott Esq. Batavia. Dear Sir : ... In our correspondence of last year the subject of taking country produce in payment of interest has been so fully discussed, that it is superfluous for me to state anew the cogent motives that made me set aside the plan of accepting grain or cattle of the settlers. It may however happen that the circumstances of the country render it convenient to alter the resolution of ad- mitting of no other payment but that of cash. In a long conversation, I had lately with Mr. Parish, the trade of the Lake was one of the primary subjects. Great Sodus he informed me had already become a place of so much importance for the exportation of the country produce, that Utica was feeling the natural consequences of this new out- let. The advantages to be derived by the channel of the St. Lawrence to the North Western parts of the State, have so struck the mind of Mr. Parish that besides the purchase of a tract of land at Oswegatche, he made the acquisition of Ogdensburg, erected three large storehouses, established the trading firm of Joseph Rosseel and Co. who have launched two vessels for the sole purpose of navigating the Ontario in collection of grain wheat potassches,1 &c. There is no doubt but such an establishment (whatsoever might be the result to the undertaker) will prove highly bene- ficial to all the countries, whose productions can convenient- i. Potash.AND CANAL CONSTRUCTION. 19 ly be carried on the shores of the Ontario. It is a pity that along the borders of our territory no harbour is to be found, and that the Conniangone’s outlet only admits the approach of boats. Whatever little might be the convenience, that the place affords to the exportation, there is much probability, that in time it will become a place of deposit equally resorted too by the Traders on the lake as Lewiston or Queenstown on the Niagara. . . . Paulus Busti. MR. BUSTI SKEPTICAL AS TO THE CANAL. Blockley’s Retreat,1 17 May 1811 Joseph Ellicott Esq. Batavia Dear Sir: ... I beg you to devote a page ex- planatory of the probability or improbability of the Canal of communication with the Hudson being executed. In the report of the commissioners I can perceive but vague plans which leave ample room to doubts. As the subject has been brought before the Legislature and I suppose it must natur- ally afford a vast field of conversation and projects not only among the community but even among the best and most influential class of the gentry I wish you could give some accounts of that interesting business that must materially affect the value of the lands at a distance even of 50 miles from the Canal. Another chapter I beg likewise to devote to a minute detail of the benefits the Country already derives from the increasing navigation of the Ontario and exports down the St. Lawrence, connected with an enumeration of the Establishments already made or about making in the country whose infallible tendency will be to encourage and animate the industry of the agriculturist in raising products for the sale of which they are sure to find a market. . . . Paul Busti. 1. Apparently some resort near Philadelphia.20 THE HOLLAND LAND CO. THE STATE SEEKS HOLLAND LAND COMPANY^ LAND FOR THE CANAL. Batavia March 30, 1812. Paul Busti Esquire, Philadelphia My dear Sir: While I remained at Albany the Com- missioners appointed on the Erie & Hudson Canal waited on me to ascertain the amount or quantity of land the Hol- land Company intended to subscribe towards effecting that object, alledging among other things that the former propo- sition was of so indefinite a nature that no calculation could be made or estimate formed of its probable value, as they say it may happen that all the land where the canal shall ultimately be laid will be sold by the period the ground fixed for the canal to pass is determined upon, and then by the terms of our proposition to wit, to make a grant of every other lot bounding the Canal that may belong to the Company would turn out no grant at all. What these people would wish is that the land the Company might see fit to make a donation of should at once be located. I informed them that my powers did not extend to objects of this nature, but that I would communicate their application to you, who had the necessary power to either acquiesce or otherwise as should seem right. Among other things I observed to them that as yet the project might be con- sidered as in embrio [mV] and that from present appear- ances there was nothing like certainty that the object would go into effect for many years; that of course in case the Holland Company should make any specific location of lands for that object the lands should not be subjected to taxation to them during the period the canal had a lien upon it; or from the time the location was made until it should return to the Company again in case the Canal was not made, which they had considered would only be justice, and had not the least doubt but the Legislature would pass the necessary laws for that purpose. In order to enable you to make up your mind upon this subject in case you should assent to their proposition of locating theAND CANAL CONSTRUCTION. 21 land, I will just observe that the quantity of land, which we had proposed to make a grant of in case the Canal had been laid along the path I pointed out would have amounted to about 20,000 Acres; but then it was supposed that the lands would have been worth from 15 to 20 Dollars pr. Acre whenever the Canal should be compleated. If you should assent to make the location of land aforesaid be pleased to inform me of the amount you would agree to locate for that object, and also in what part or parts of the territory you should be inclined to make the grant. The Canal Commissioners alledge that the great utility of the Canal will effect the value of the land for a distance of from 30 to 40 miles on both sides of it, and therefore I presume think that land donations for the effecting this object ought to be made within these limits. . . . Joseph Ellicott. MR. BUSTI NOT ZEALOUS FOR THE CANAL. Philadelphia 4th May 1812. Joseph Ellicott, Batavia Dear Sir: ... I have in due time regularly re- ceived from both your favors of the 10th & 30th of March. Rejoiced at your safe return home I did not hurry myself in answering the question arising out of the application made to you by the Canal Commissioners, for as the Assem- bly had been adjourned by the Governor, whatever should be my final determination on the subject of locating for the use of the Canal a parcel of land, there would be time enough for obtaining the proposed Act of the Legislature for liberating the tract thus located from taxation. Had the Canal been laid down along the track pointed out by you, the Company would certainly have reaped much benefit, but as seems to be the intention to lead it to the north, between the two first ledges, instead of carrying it in a more straight line between the second and third ledge, so as to meet Allen’s Creek at LeRoy’s or near it, my zeal22 THE HOLLAND LAND CO. for the success of the undertaking is much abated. Wish- ing however to show, that in objects of public utility the Holland Company is not meanly actuated by motives of individual advantage, I authorize you to appropriate for the proposed Canal one half of one of the Townships N 6 or 7 in P or O under the express condition, that if within 20 years this Canal is not fairly gone into operation and so kept during 10 years more, the lands are to return to the present owners unincumbered with any charges or taxes of whatever denomination. As the intention in accepting donations in lands, for the purpose of carrying on the Canal, can be of no other but of converting them into money, the location of the half of the Township would probably turn out useless, if the Commissioners, delegated by the State, were denied the power of the disposal of the lands till after the fulfillment of the conditions of the grant. To do away this difficulty, the best mode I thinck1 would be, that the gratuity should be immediately conveyed to the State, or to whom the Legis- lature should direct, and that the State should declare himself responsible towards the Holland Company for such monies as shall at any time have been raised from the sales of the appropriated tract of land, if the Canal should fail and the lands to revert in consequence of that failure or of its not having been undertaken. I have so little expectation of the Canal ever being un- dertaken that I have been tempted to reduce the number of years of its beginning to 10, but I rather submit to put a longer lien on the land, than incur the reproach of illiber- ai^‘ ’ * * Paul Busti, FOR A SURVEY THROUGH TONAWANDA SWAMP. [Albany], In Committee, June 14, 1812. Sir: The opinion you entertain and have frequently exprest, that the most eligible route for inland Navigation 1. Mr. Busti’9 usual way of spelling this word.AND CANAL CONSTRUCTION. 23 between Lake Erie and the Hudson is thro’ the Tonewanto Swamp, ascending from the Mouth of that Stream and passing thro’ the Swamp to Black Creek, has called forth our serious attention. And altho’ we apprehend a want of water, fatal to the Enterprise, yet our Respect for your In- telligence, and the local knowledge which you have ac- quired lead us to wish that the subject may in due course be properly examined. To this Effect, and as one of the many Preparations for final and more critical Surveys, we are to request, Sir, that you will employ a proper Person, and as we have confidence in the Talents of your Brother Benjamin to take the Levels and Distances from the Mouth of the Tonewanto up to the Swamp and so on to the Black Creek and down that Creek till you get thro' the Ledge. The reasonable Expense of this work shall be paid, on an account rendered, to your order. And for your own Trouble in giving the needful Direction we pray you to accept, before Hand, our Thanks with the assurances of that Respect with which we have the Honor to be, Sir, Your obedient Servants, Gouvr. Morris Thomas Eddy Joseph Ellicott, Esq., Batavia. Evans MSS. IN QUEST OF A SAFE INVESTMENT. Philadelphia 2nd July 1812. Joseph Ellicott Esq., Batavia. Dear Sir: ... By the public papers I see that the Assembly of your state have entered into the project of digging a water communication from the Niagara river to the Hudson and that for carrying it through they have authorized a loan of 5 Million of Dollars at 6 pr C. If this is true, are you disposed to invest in that loan and is Mr. Benjamin likewise inclined thereto? The Company must of24 THE HOLLAND LAND CO. course subscribe, and I am the more willing to do so because I conceive the State security ten times better than that of the Wire and other banks instituted by bushels. The intended Canal, successful or not, will if only begun enhance the [value of the] lands thro' which it will run. Whether its course is to be in conformity of the map pub- lished, or whether some deviation in the original plan might take place, is a thing impossible for me to judge of. I might wish, that through the influence of your friends either you or your brother Mr. Benjamin had some hand in the management of that enterprise, so that the agents of the Company should not be entirely left in the dark about this interesting business. I do not wish to draw all the possible advantage, that the Canal might afford. Feel- ing as I do, that the gratuitous gift of land would not free the Dutch from jealousy and envy, if they were to enhance their prices to the utmost, I do not wish however to let en- tirely escape the good opportunity of raising the lands in the vicinity of the Canal on a moderate scale. I beg you to communicate to me your sentiments on this subject, by exchanging thoughts we may fall on a plan by which to be ruled. . . . Paul Busti. THOMAS EDDY1 TO JOSEPH ELLICOTT. New York 7th mo. 10th, 1812. [To Joseph Ellicott] Respected Friend: We had some general conversation last winter at Albany on the subject of the Holland Com- 1. This distinguished philanthropist was one of the original canal com- missioners under the Act of 1810. For numerous references to his connection with the canal enterprise, see Buffalo Historical Society Publications, vol. XII. A member of the Society of Friends, he was among Joseph Ellicott’s most intimate correspondents; his knowledge of Western New York antedated Ellicott’s, having been appointed by the Society of Friends to visit the Indians in New York State as early as 1793. He is perhaps most widely known for his work towards establishing the State penitentiary system, under the Act of 1796. He has been called “the American Howard.” He died in New York, Sept. 16, 1827.AND CANAL CONSTRUCTION. 25 pany making a voluntary cession of a tract of land to the State, in order to encourage the prosecution of the pro- posed canal from Lake Erie to the Hudsons River. Since then, the Board of Commissioners have appointed DeWitt Clinton & myself a Committee, to make application to the several proprietors of large tracts in the Western part of the State, in order to obtain information of the number of acres & situation of the land, that each proprietor may be willing to grant for the purpose of promoting an under- taking, which, when compleated, will so essentially serve to increase the value of their Lands, and moreover, would enable them with far greater facility to recover the large amount of debts due for Lands sold to settlers. The moment the work is commenced, an additional value im- mediately takes place on the whole of your Lands, for it is evident that every part of your tract will be benefited, more or less, according to situation. We intended to have written to our mutual Friend Paul Busti on the subject, but Le Roy and Bayard tell us, that Busti would not likely come to any result on the business till he should be advised by thee. I therefore submit, for thy consideration, the propriety of thy stating to Busti, my having addressed a Letter to thee on the subject of making a cession of Land to the State, and thy sentiments as to the quantity of acres and situation of the Land to be appro- priated for that purpose. It appears to me, that the plan mentioned by thee to the Surveyor General, of giving Land on the line of the Canal, may be attended with some diffi- culty and it might be better to fix on a tract, in any part of your great tract, as you then would be willing to give a larger quantity. The amount in Land that other large proprietors may be induced to grant to the State, will depend very much on what your Company may agree to contribute. If the whole should amount to something considerable, there is no doubt the Legislature would agree to commence the work—but it is, in truth, so materially and decidedly your interest to make a handsome & liberal offer, that there can be no doubt of your doing equal to our expectation—if unfortunately26 THE HOLLAND LAND CO. you should fall short of what might reasonably be expected from you, the whole plan would be frustrated. I wish thou wouldst furnish me with a list of the names of large Land holders on the west side of the Genesee River, who reasonably ought to make similar grants. We have written to England for one of the first En- gineers there and am in hope he will be here next Fall. We can procure the five million of dollars on loan (as authorized by Law) at any time. We have sent out two surveyors this season to examine further from Cayuga to Rome, and from thence on the south side of the Mohowk to Schenectady, or to some point on the Hudson River. The committee wrote thee from Albany requesting of thee to employ a suitable person critically to examine the country and take levels from Tonnawanta—this I hope thou will be able to have done this season—In expectation of hearing from [thee] soon by mail I am Thy assured Friend Thomas Eddy THE INTERFERENCE OF WAR. Batavia July 21, 1812. Thomas Eddy Esquire New York Dear Friend : I herewith acknowledge the receipt of your letter of the 10th which came to hand the 7th instant. I forward this day a copy of your letter to Mr. Busti on the subject of the land donation. When I receive his direct- ions I will make you acquainted with the result. I have received the joint letter of yourself & Mr. Morris on the subject of making a level from the mouth of the Tonnawonta Creek by the way of the Tonnawonta Swamp to Genesee river. I should have replied to that communica- tion at an earlier period had not the late declaration of war occasioned some disorder in our affairs here and other ob-AND CANAL CONSTRUCTION. 27 jects occupied the most of my leisure moments, together with my not knowing precisely where to direct my answer. In your communication you mention that it would be satisfactory to you if my brother Mr. Benjamin Ellicott should make the contemplated level. My brother’s con- stitution being too delicate to perform a service so laborious I should wish to be informed whether if I should procure this level to be made by any other person, such as I should approve of, with such assistance as my brother might afford it would in that case be satisfactory to the commissioners. I have had it in contemplation to commence this business about the last of August. By that period the noxious flies and vermin that infest these low lands will not be so abund- ant as they are at this season of the year. Meantime believe me very truly and sincerely with great regard, Your real Friend Joseph Ellicott LAND DONATION DISCUSSED WITH MR. BUSTI. Batavia July 21, 1812. Paul Busti Esquire, Philadelphia. My dear Sir: Although I wrote to you on the 30th of March ult. upon the subject of a donation of land towards aiding the Prosecution of the great Canal and received your reply and propositions as to the quantity and situa- tion of the land you would propose to make the donation I have not as yet made your proposition known to the Commissioners, believing that they would consider the quan- tity of lands so offered as very limited, as it is much less than the quantity offered by the first proposal. I received a few days since an official application in rela- tion to the donation from Thomas Eddy. Inclose herewith his letter to me on that subject, and altho’ I might at once have answered him by making known the proposition you28 THE HOLLAND LAND CO. propose without giving you or myself any further trouble with the business I nevertheless take the liberty to suggest to you whether we might not venture to make a proposi- tion that would have the appearance of being more liberal, but in reality not any more. I am sensible that the number of acres you propose making a grant of will appear to the Commissioners and probably to the public very limited when contrasted with the immense advantages these gentlemen think will accrue to the Holland Company on account of this Canal. I am thinking probably it would most comport with the real interest of the Holland Company if we were to make an offer of a large body of lands in the southern part of the Purchase, say all that tract between the Alle- gany river and the North boundary of Pennsylvania. The offer of lands that you have made would amount to about 11,520 Acres, which we hold at $2.50 pr. Acre, making the sum of $28,800. The amount of land contained between the Allegany river and Pennsylvania line 115,849 Acres, which valued at 25 Cents pr. Acre on an average, and which I should think would be a tolerable just Evaluation amounts to $28,962. When we reflect that we have to pay as much tax for these mountains as we do for our best lands and that we shall have to pay at least 10 times the tax for this 115,849 Acres as we shall have to pay for the 11,520 Acres it would manifestly be to the advantage of the Company to make the grant of lands on the south side of the Allegany river. It would also appear to the public vastly more liberal because the quantity of land is so much greater, and neither the Commissioners nor the public have any knowledge of the difference in quality. I do not learn that Van Wickle is likely to pay down any money for these lands. I will beg leave however to mention with submission to your better judgment that if we could prevail upon the Commissioners to carry the Canal along the route I first pointed out that the Holland Company would be great gainers even if they should make a donation to the State of not only the half township you have proposed, but also of all the lands between the Allegany river and NorthAND CANAL CONSTRUCTION. 29 boundary of Pennsylvania that I have proposed. As far as I am personally concerned in shares of these lands I should think I had made a great bargain because all the lands within the vicinity of the Canal might in case the Canal should be made be sold for $10 pr. acre; whereas at this time there is very little of it will bring more than three Dollars pr. acre, and a considerable proportion of it could not be sold for any price. On the whole I should be in favor of making a liberal donation as to quantity of acres; be- cause if the Canal should never be made the land would again revert to the Company, and during the period it was out of their hands it would not be subject to taxation, and if the Canal should be made there is not a doubt but that it would so increase the value of the lands contiguous as to pay four fold for the donation I have proposed. . . . Joseph Ellicott. LOOKING OUT FOR HOLLAND LAND COMPANY INTERESTS. Philadelphia ist August 1812 Joseph Ellicott Esq. Batavia . . . Mr. Eddy’s letter, which I return you, would be worth commenting [on] if I had the leisure of con- versing with you on its subject. I find that that period which I have interlined so singular that it would seem as if the Committee men wish us to understand that the whole suc- cess of the Canal scheme is to be made to depend from the Dutch generosity. It is evident and plain that if ever that scheme is seriously intended to be carried through be- fore it is completed the Holland Company will have parted with the better part of their territory and that con- sequently the benefits resulting to the lands from the water communication will not accrue to the present owners but to the settlers. Under this true point of view the interest I feel for this magnificent work is more temperate that [than] Mr. Eddy and his Colleagues thinck. In objecting30 THE HOLLAND LAND CO. to my first offer of half of the lots fronting the Canal they did tacitly confess that the Dutch would really not be bene- fitted by the Canal, as at its completion they would have perhaps nothing to grant. Aware as they are of this pos- sible case is their application for a large donation reason- able? I had only for the sake of policy since the rejection of my first offer authorized you to make the grant of half of a Township, but since the expectations are hinted on such a broad scale on the part of the Commissioners I feel the necessity of enlarging my offer not in value but in quantity of acres. If this can please the Gentlemen I agree that you should proffer to the State under the conditions already understood between us the 115,800 A situated be- tween the Allegany river and the pensilvania line. This grant if accepted is preferable to that of the half of a Township for the Company and probably will be more palatable to the Commissioners as it sounds higher in the ears of an ill judging public. Two things however I should wish you were able to obtain. First the immediate accept- ance of the tract that we may [be] freed from paying taxes for a tract we cannot sell as soon as it is engaged to the State. Secondly that if after examination of the ground it should be found that the probable expence of the Canal would be equal in carrying it southwardly as to come at or through Batavia that this course should be taken in pref- erence to the one delineated on the edited map. Of this second point I needed properly not to have made mention for since you have been requested to take levels I am sure that you will contrive to make the Canal follow the track as first suggested to you by Mr. De Wit. I regret in some measure to discover from Eddy’s let- ter, that the work, notwithstanding the spirited Act author- izing the loan of 5 Millions, seems not to be undertaken in a short time, for the loan is not opened, and the Commis- sioners diffident of American Genius look up to England for an Engineer. It is ten to one that when such a man shall have come over all the measurements and levels should to be made and taken again. This will prove a loss of time and expenses and by no means insure success for I confessAND CANAL CONSTRUCTION. 31 not to be prepossessed in favor of foreigners in national undertakings. . . . Paul Busti THE LAND CESSION FURTHER DISCUSSED. [Batavia] August 19, 1812. Paul Busti Esquire Philadelphia My dear Sir: Your favor of the first instant duly came to hand. The observations you have made on the Canal subject coincide precisely with my own opinion. At the time of mentioning the propriety of making the grant of all the land lying between the Allegany river and the north boundary of Pennsylvania it did not occur tome that this grant would include so large a proportion of the lands belonging to the Messrs. Willinks. In consequence of which I deemed it proper in making known to the Commissioners the cession of land you agree to make to exclude their land out of the cession, and also that part of township No. 1 Range 3 that falls within the limits of the intending grant of cession, presuming that the Messrs. Willinks are inter- ested in the share land of two million of acres. This ar- rangement I presume will meet your wishes, because I suspect the same thing has even escaped your vigilant at- tention to the interests of those whose affairs you have the general management, as I confess it did mine. . . . P. S. I did think 20 years too long to make this cession. I therefore took the liberty to mention 15 years, and 5 years to keep the Canal in order. I enclose herewith a copy of my letter to Eddy on this business. . . . Joseph Ellicott32 THE HOLLAND LAND CO. CONDITIONS OF THE GRANT STATED. [Batavia] Aug. 19, 1812. Thomas Eddy Esquire New York. Most respected Friend: The Agent General of the Holland Land Company having enabled me to reply to that part of your letter dated New York 7th Mo. 10 which relates to the cession in lands you have solicited as a grant from said Company towards accomplishing the project of the contemplated Canal from the Hudson to the lakes, I now do myself the pleasure to make you acquainted with the result of the application. That gentleman appears to be of the opinion from the circumstance of your wishing him to change his former proposed grant of each alternate lot adjoining the Canal which might at the period of its location belong to the Company for lands in some other part of the Company’s territory, that the time is yet very distant before this work will !be undertaken and if it should be delayed until the Company had disposed of their lands they would receive no essential benefit from the Canal, because all its advant- ages would accrue to the holders of the land. The Agent however (being desirous to lend the aid of the Holland Company in the prosecution of this great na- tional object, although not very sanguine from the celerity of its progress as to its being productive of much interest or benefit the present holders of the land, yet if ever accomplished will greatly promote the agricultural, com- mercial and manufacturing interests of the southern and western part of the State, as well as extend its influence to the remotest limits of the United States) has authorized me to make a grant of 100,632 acres situate in the southern part of the Company’s territory, adjoining and contiguous to the navigation of that part of the Allegany river within this State, which lands are particularly designated by the map or plan herein enclosed. It is however to be understood that this donation is to be made on account of the several Dutch land holders and Companies of which the AgentAND CANAL CONSTRUCTION 33 General is attorney within the limits of the counties of Genesee, Niagara, Allegany, Cattaraugus & Chautauque. These lands proposed to be ceded belong to them as a joint property. The land to be granted under this express condition, that is to say: if within 15 years this Canal has not fairly gone into operation, and so kept during five years more the lands are to return to their present owners, their heirs or assigns unincumbered with any charges or taxes of what- ever denomination. The Agent General further evincing his liberality to aid and promote this great object observes that “as the inten- tion of accepting donations in land for the purpose of carry- ing on the Canal can be no other than that of converting them into money, the location would turn out probably use- less if the Commissioners delegated by the State were denied the power of the disposal of the land until after the conditions of the fulfilment of the Grant. To do away this difficulty the best method I think would be that the gratuity should be immediately conveyed to the State or to whom the Legislature should direct, and that the State should declare himself responsible for such monies as shall at any time have been received from the sales of the appro- priated tract of land if the canal should fail of being ef- fected and the lands to revert in consequence of that failure, or of its not having been undertaken.” We shall be ready at any time to make this cession con- forably to the preceding terms and conditions. Meantime believe me With great truth Your friend &c. Joseph Ellicott.34 THE HOLLAND LAND CO. THE CANAL AND HOLLAND LAND COMPANY SETTLERS. Philada 7 October 1812. Joseph Ellicott Esq. Batavia Dear Sir: ... I had a visit of Mr. Eddy two days ago in which he handed me the enclosed letter of Mr. De Witt Clinton. It is plainly enough expressed in it that the offer of the tract of land delineated in your map shewn me by Mr. Eddy has met the expectation of the Commis- sioners of the projected Canal. Still it is evident that they wish something more should be done by the landholders for the facilitation of the enterprize, to wit that the time for the completion of the Canal should be extended and that, the excavation might be freely made without taking any thing neither for the ground to be cut through and that covered by the road on both sides nor for the use of any quarry sand clay or lime that might be found at hand. To these demands which appeared to me reasonable I did not make any great objection. I have even willingly agreed in regard to the first article that five years should be added to those you offered so that the epoch of reversion of the grant be fixed at 25 in lieu of 20 years. On the second point I have exhibited my readiness to concur in however gave to Mr. Eddy a hint that before this grant should be virtually conceded by any of the great Landholders whether it would not be a wise measure to open all along the Counties where the Canal might with some probability be carried through to open general subscriptions lists by which every landholder great or small should engage to allow the free use of quarries and make the voluntary gift of the strip of land required for the excavation and paths. Mr. Eddy was pleased with my suggestion the tendency of which he soon conceived would be of making any one readily subscribe in the hope that his so doing might be an inducement of carrying the Canal through his lands. Whereas by first calling for individual subscriptions many and many would keep back in the expectation that when theAND CANAL CONSTRUCTION. 35 scite of the Canal was fixed upon they might do pay the State dearly for the strips of their lands. If no better scheme for obtaining this object is hit upon by the Commissioners I expect that the hinted by me sub- scription lists will be set on foot, and probably among other things you will be saddled with by the Commissioners the procuring of such signers will be added. I do not thinck you'll find difficult to persuade neither the old nor the new settlers. Whether it would be adviceable or not for new purchasers to impose upon them in taking Con- tracts to sign such lists is a thing that I leave entirely to your own decision. I refer equally to your better judgment to determine to what extent the grant of quarrying hauling sand, clay & limestone is to be allowed beyond the strip of land to be given. For if no limits are prescribed to the free use of such materials it may happen that some parcels of land be entirely ruined. . . . Paul Busti. MR. ELLICOTT CONSIDERS THE TAXES. Batavia March 29, 1813. [To Paul Busti] Dear Sir : ... In regard to the proposed dona- tion of lands on account of the State Canal. I have not understood whether the Canal Commissioners have made an application to the State for the acceptance of the grant or otherwise. As not any of the public papers in Albany publish the Journals of Assembly other than by scraps I shall not ascertain before the Assembly adjourns, and a schedule of the laws is published whether any law of this description has been passed or otherwise. If however the canal commissioners should not have procured the accept- ance of the land by the State upon the terms proposed, and that they have taken no measures to releave the Company from the payment of taxes on these lands that in that caseTHE HOLLAND LAND CO. I would recommend that the canal commissioners should be informed at once that the Company could not in any manner consider themselves subject to the proposition they had made, that it would be both unreasonable and unjust for them to expect the Company to grant a donation of land to the State upon the terms of paying the taxes themselves, and therefore from hence forward they considered their proposed donation null and void, in as much as it had not been accepted upon the terms of the proposition, and that they should make sale of it the same as if such proposed grant had never been tendered to them. . . . Joseph Ellicott. THE HOLLAND LAND COMPANY’S OFFER ACCEPTED. Philada 30th Dber 1813. Joseph Ellicott Esq. Batavia. Dear Sir: ... I have finally received by an offi- cial communication of Messre. De Witt Clinton & Th. Eddy the intelligence that at the meeting of the commis- sioners held the 27th of November it has been determined to accept the proffer made by the Dutch of the tract of land on the State line as a donation for completing the grand Canal. The conditions are as expressed in your letter to said Commissioners dated 19th August 1812 except that the time fixed by you at 20 has been extended by me at 25 years. They wished me to alter the grant so that for every 30 miles of Canal completed in the period of 25 years 10000 As [acres] should be censed free from the lien attached to the whole tract. I refused absolutely that indulgence, for if the waters of the Erie are not made to wash the shores of Hudson River the Genesee Country will not be advantaged by a partial execution of an interior naviga- tion. I have likewise been desired to grant the scite of theAND CANAL CONSTRUCTION. 37 canal and of the paths (150 feet width) through the Com- pany's territory and to grant likewise the free use of quarrying stone digging sand & cutting wood for the use of the undertaking. Considering that by abusing this last indulgence many farm lots might be made unsaleable, or greatly diminish their intrinsic value I have denied it. As for the scite of the Canal & paths my answer has been that the Company having set the example to the Inhabitants of the State with a generous offer it could not be expected that they should put themselves up as a model of imitation in everything. However should the owners of the lands trough which the canal is intended to pass universally sub- scribe to the grant of its scite the Company would likewise assent to the gift. If otherwise the ground is purchased either with money or by priviledges on the navigation of the future Canal the Company was to receive equal com- pensations. I make you acquainted with the summary of this cor- respondence for as most likely after the Commissioners have reported to the Legislature their doings you may be called upon you should know how far I have gone in offer- ing to contribute to the grand undertaking. . . . Paul Busti. A. S. CLARKE TO JOS. ELLICOTT. Clarence, May 19th, 1814. [To Joseph Ellicott] Dear Sir: I rec’d your letter, mentioning that you wished to know whether a law had past accepting the grant of land from the Holland Company towards cutting the contemplated Canal. There was not any law passed the Legislature relative to the Canal, except the law, to sus- pend, the right, vested by a former law to the Commis- sioners to negotiate a loan, for the purpose of cutting the38 THE HOLLAND LAND CO. Canal. We have nothing new here of importance, all is yet quiet. I am Sir very Respectfully yr friend & obt Ser. Archd. S. Clarke. 1 “the canal bubble.” Batavia Aug 12 1815 Paul Busti Esquire, Philadelphia, My dear Sir: . . . The canal bubble it appears has at length exploded, and I presume Gouverneur Morris will now again allow us the liberty of giving Tonnawonta the appellation of a creek instead of a brook as he called it in his Report. The deed granting to the canal bubble the lands south of Allegany river you mention is cancelled, and the lands liberated and again for sale. As that tract of country is the least feasible in the Company’s territory it must be many years before it will be sold in small tracts to settlers. ... _ Joseph Ellicott. the memorial of 1816. New York 6th Jan. 1816. [To Joseph Ellicott] Dear Sir : I have sent to the Post Office, with this letter, a pamphlet, containing the memorial of the citizens of New- 1. Archibald S. Clarke was at this time a member of the New York State Senate from the Western District, which then embraced the counties of the Holland Purchase. He had been elected to the Assembly, spring of 1808, and was re-elected, 1809 and 1810, holding to July, 1811. He was State Senator from July, 1812, to July, 1816. He was elected by the As- sembly, from the Senators of the Western District to be a member of the Council of Appointment, which appointed nearly all of the executive and judicial officers of the State. The Council was abolished by the Constitution of 1821. Mr. Clarke was Representative in the 14th Congress, June, 1816, to Mch. 3, 1817. He lived for many years at Newstead, in present Erie Co., removing later to Cattaraugus Co.AND CANAL CONSTRUCTION. 39 York, in favor of a canal from Lake Erie to the Hudson. It is highly important that the west should second the ef- forts of the south on this great question. I will thank you for your opinion as to the best course to be pursued, in addition to that already taken. Yours respectfully De Witt Clinton J. Ellicott, Esq. ELLICOTT TO CLINTON, ON THE CANAL ROUTE. Batavia January 19, 1816. Honble De Witt Clinton Esquire Dear Sir: I with pleasure acknowledge the receipt of your letter of the 6th Instant, accompanying the memorial of the Citizens of New York in favor of a canal navigation between the great western Lakes and the tide waters of the Hudson. The exposition the citizens of New York have given of the general Direction the Canal ought to be carried for the promotion of the most possible advantage to this State and American community I think must be conclusive to all unbiassed minds. Still however from reports now in cir- culation in this quarter it would seem that the Lake Ontario route is in view and intended to be recommended by his excellency the Governor in his message to the ensuing Leg- islature. This report has occasioned much anxiety in the minds of a great majority of the principal Inhabitants in these regions devoted to the real advantage and prosperity of the State. Should his excellency recommend that route (which however I can hardly persuade myself will be the case) a remonstrance will be forwarded against it. As immediately as my numerous avocations will permit I will do myself the pleasure to furnish you with my ideas of the easy jpracticability of this immense important object in prefer- ence to the Lake Ontario route if placed under the Direction40 THE HOLLAND LAND CO. of (without intending flattery) one practical man of Mr. C[linto]n’s information. , . . Joseph Ellicott. buffalo's first harbor meeting. Buffalo, Jan. 226., 1816. Sir: We herewith forward you minutes of the pro- ceedings of a meeting held in this village on the 20th cur- rent. The object of the meeting you will observe is expressed in the resolution. We are sensible of the magnitude of the undertaking and of the difficulties to be surmounted; yet however great, we believe it may be accomplished, and that the expense will bear no proportion to the benefits which a good harbor at this place would confer on this section of our country. From the immense interest which yourself individually and the company whom you represent, have in the proposed improvement, we have no doubt that if you should not be disposed to undertake the business exclusively, that you would lend your assistance and influence in such measures as might be deemed expedient. Your views and ideas on the subject are respectfully re- quested. Mr. Harrison will confer with you on the subject and receive any propositions or projects which you will be pleased to submit. We are very respectfully, Sir, Your very ob. Serv. Benjamin Caryl H. B. Potter J. Harrison Samuel Wilkeson Reuben B. Heacock B. W. Hopkins Ch Townsend Joseph Ellicott, Esq.AND CANAL CONSTRUCTION. 41 THE RESOLUTIONS. At a meeting of the Inhabitants of the Village of Buf- falo, held at Pomeroy’s Tavern, January 20, 1816. B. W. Hopkins Charm Charles Townsend Secy The meeting having taken into consideration the im- portance and necessity of taking measures for the im- provement of the harbor of Buffalo Creek On Motion it was resolved That a committee of seven be appointed to correspond and co-operate with Companies or individuals interested in the improvement of said Harbor—and if necessary to peti- tion either to the General or State Government for assist- ance and generally to do whatever the Committee may deem expedient to be done in order to effect the object contem- plated. Voted, That said Committee consist of Messrs. Benja- min W. Hopkins, Samuel Wilkinson [Wilkeson], Jonas Harrison, Reuben B. Heacock, Benjamin Caryl, Heman B. Potter and Charles Townsend. Attest Ch: Townsend Secy. Evans MSS. CLINTON ON PORTER AND OTHERS. Confidential. New York 3 Feby 1816. [To Joseph Ellicott] Dear Sir: I thank you for your letter: I feel not a little pleased with your favorable opinion of our proceed- ings in promotion of the Grand Canal. Our friend Genl P. B. Porter is now here: He has always been in favor of the Ontario Route. He has in-42 THE HOLLAND LAND CO. fused his opinions into Tompkins, who is profoundly ignor- ant of the subject, whose opinion is therefore indirect—not worthy of respect but whose opposition is. Spencer & the Lt. Gov. are decidedly hostile but I set them down as Cyphers if we make exertions worthy of the cause. You & all your friends who are influential ought to be at Albany —I shall be there. We are all here united on this subject, except the Martling1 men. We have a good cause & let it not be our fault if it is not crowned with success. I have endeavored to correct Porter’s heresy but he is inflexible. I presume that he will not be a dangerous op- ponent in a case so clear. Yours always sincerely, De Witt Clinton. J. Ellicott Esqr. CANAL MEETINGS BEING HELD. Batavia Feb. 5, 1816 William Peacock Esquire Dear Sir: Your letter of the 31st ult. came to hand the 2d current. I have made an Extract of that part of it respecting Cushing &c. and transmitted it to Loomis. You will observe in the Advocate that we have had a meeting to promote the success of the canal. Could you not have a similar one at Mayvil? . . . Joseph Ellicott. 1. “DeWitt Clinton had to deal with two classes of men, naturally and almost relentlessly opposed to him—the friends of Burr and the Federalists. . . . On February 2c [1806] leading Clintonians banqueted the Burrites at Dyde’s Hotel in the suburbs of New York in celebration of their union. . . . Immediately, other Burrites, joining the Lewisites at Martling’s Long- room, a popular meeting-place, organized a protestant faction, afterward known as Martling Men, whose enmity was destined to follow Clinton to his down- fall.”—Alexander, “Political History of the State of New York,” I. 152. The same authority speaks of the Martling Men as “now known as Tam- many” (lb. 170). This society, founded in 1789, may naturally have included the Martling Men and anti-Clintonians during the canal-construction period.AND CANAL CONSTRUCTION. 43 CANAL SENTIMENT IN BUFFALO IN l8l6. Batavia February 12, 1816. Jonas Harrison1 Esquire, Buffalo. Dear Sir: . . . I observe in the last Buffalo Gazette that the enterprising citizens of Buffalo are about making arrangements to express their sentiments of the grand canal question. This object of so much importance to so large a portion of the world I hope will receive their countenance and support; anything to the Niagara Jour- nalists [.sic: Journals] correspondent to the contrary not- withstanding. ... Joseph Ellicott. BUFFALO HARBOR PROJECT IN l8l6. Batavia Feb. 12, 1816. Messrs Benjamin Caryl, H. B. Potter, J. Harrison, R. B. Heacock, B. W. Hopkins & Charles Town- send, Esquires: Gentlemen: I have the honor to acknowledge the re- ceipt of your joint letter of the 22d ult. accompanied with a plan and project for improving and forming a harbour of Buffalo creek. That object has always been considered by me of primary importance to the agricultural and com- mercial prosperity of all those who inhabit the regions of the lake country, inasmuch as without a good safe harbour for vessels at or near the outlet of Lake Erie, from which with the lake the ingress and egress is without difficulty 1. Collector of Customs for the District of Niagara, afterwards Collector of Internal Revenue for the 25th collection district (all of New York west of the Genesee), 1813 or earlier, to 1819. His public spirit is shown in many letters, memorials, etc., relating to Buffalo harbor and other interests at an early period. See “A War-Time Letter-book, extracts from the corres- pondence of Jonas Harrison,” etc., Buffalo Historical Society Publications, vol. V.44 THE HOLLAND LAND CO. or detention, freight will be high in proportion to obstacles of this description vessels have to encounter. If ingress and egress can be had with facility within the mouth of Buffalo Creek for all vessels that navigate the lake at an expense not greater than funds can be raised for that object it is necessarily very desirable to attempt its accomplish- ment, not merely as it will tend to enhance the value of our property respectively at Buffalo but the general good that will result, and be diffused through such an immense extent as a convenient and safe harbour at the outlet of the lake would be the consequence, It will be admitted that a more safe harbour than Buffalo Creek cannot be selected near the outlet of the lake, nor one from which vessels might take their departure with so much facility. If this position is admitted the next object is in what manner can it be accomplished to answer the end in view with the least funds. The mode pointed out by you gentle- men as very particularly explained by the plan is on thie principle which for very many years I have considered the most feasible, and indeed the only one. It must I think be conclusive that if by any means the creek aqueduct can be extended beyond the sand bar which now prevents in- gress with the creek harbour the channel will be opened the first spring freshet, and will not again be closed; inas- much as the artificial sides will prevent the sand from filling the channel, and consequently the harbour will be compleat. I have carefully taken into consideration the plan sug- gested of constructing pieces of squared timber to be filled with stone of the dimensions mentioned in your explana- tion of the proposed plan, and I am apprehensive to prose- cute this object in the manner pointed out would be at- tended with an expence that funds could not be obtained. You mention the south pier extending from Ellicott’s point to be 8 rods wide, and the north pier to be 4 rods wide; that the length at present to extend the piers may be sufficient at 25 perches. If the project is effected by means of piers of the mag- nitude mentioned it will, if my calculation is correct, beAND CANAL CONSTRUCTION. 45 attended with an expence of near 200,000 Dollars made upon the following data. A pier 8 rods wide and 25 rods long will contain 3300 superficial perches, which multiplied by 20, presuming the depth of the pier in the water and elevation above it will require one of that magnitude, the quantity of stone to fill such a pier will not be short of 66,000 perches, and admitting the North pier to require half that number of perches the whole aggregate will not be less than 100,000 perches, which if stone should be as high as when the gaol in Buffalo was erected viz $1.25 per perch, the expence of that material to fill those piers will be $125,000 exclusive of the squared timber proposed to be used for the construction of the piers. —a sum which I am persuaded could not be obtained for that purpose. The plan I have in view to adopt the ensuing season to extend the creek aqueduct beyond the sand bar by driving piles I am persuaded will answer the purpose contemplated by your project at an expence less than a cent to the Dollar. I am therefore constrained to say that altho it would be very gratifying to unite with the enterprising citizens of Buffalo in all plans that appeared to me feasible which they might propose relative to constructing a harbour for vessels at Buffalo the magnitude of the piers suggested being in my opinion impracticable to be accomplished with any funds we could obtain I am impelled to decline a cooperation. I am Gentlemen, with great respect, your most obedt Servant Joseph Ellicott. P. S. Will you permit me to mention another subject of considerable importance to the interest of the inhabi- tants of the County of Niagara, as well as to the respecta- bility of the county and that is the attempts making by certain inhabitants of the village of Lewiston to dismember its territory by the erection of a new county north of Ton- nawonta creek, which I am informed by the principal pro- prietor of Lewiston (Benjamin Barton) the inhabitants of your village have sanctioned or in other words that they46 THE HOLLAND LAND CO. have not any objection to the measure. If a county shall be erected including the territory north of the Tonnawonta creek, will not the inhabitants south of Buffalo creek reser- vation with the same propriety require a county? and if that measure should also be sanctioned and obtained the now highly respectable county of Niagara will include little other territory than unsettled Indian lands. “inclined plain” vs. “waving plan.” Batavia Feb. 14, 1816. Honble Chauncey Loomis, Senate Chamber, Albany, Dear Sir: ... I hope you will pass a law for laying out the Grand Canal and furnishing the Legislature with a profile map thereof, the line of country it may pass thro’, exhibiting by sections, calculations of the expence that may attend the compleating each section; after which let there be a commission of review. With the information thus obtained the Legislature will be able to judge them- selves of the practicability of the object. I think it might be well to lay out the canal on both principles; that is to say on the plan of an inclined plain and on the waving plan, (The latter plan I am persuaded is easily accomplished, and for a sum much less than mentioned in the New York peti- tion ; while the plan on the inclined plain I am persuaded, will cost much more, and be little if any better when ac- complished: because locks where not more than two or three are contiguous are of very little disadvantage; but when you have 40 locks one after the other as would be the case at Lewiston the one fourth part of the Interest that would arise on the sum necessary to canal round the falls of Niagara and construct the locks would transport every article by land that would pass that way for forty centuries, provided the carrying place was open to free competitions. A Barrel of flour in that case would be conveyed across the carrying place for 18 Cents, which now pays 50 Cents toAND CANAL CONSTRUCTION. 47 the Lessees.)1 and cause an estimate to be made of each route.—the expence would not 'be great to lay out the canal provided proper persons were commissioned to have these objects effected, and one of the greatest objects to guard against would be neither to send to France or England for Engineers, have no foreigners in the Business; they make everything cost double what it ought, and really have not as much knowledge of constructing objects of this nature as many Americans that may be obtained. very respectfully your obedt Servant Joseph Ellicott. P. S. I hope a man who rendered as many services to his native State as De Witt Clinton has will not be suffered to be left out of this government, and be proscribed for less than nothing. Let him be legitimately nominated for gov- ernor. He will give the State a Dignity its wealth and im- portance deserves. WILLIAM RUMSEY’S CANAL MISSION. Batavia February 21, 1816 Chauncey Loomis Esquire Albany Dear Sir: Permit me to introduce to your civilities the bearer hereof William Rumsey Esquire. This gentleman was one of the committee appointed to draft a memorial to the Honorable the Legislature on the subject of the grand canal from the Lakes to the Hudson. As this object is considered of immense importance to the advantage and prosperity of the western as well as almost every section of the State, if carried into effect, and as it has been suggested by our friends in the eastern section that it might conduce towards procuring such measures to be taken as would tend to the accomplishment of the object if some persons of respectable standing from 1. Mr. Ellicott here resumes the sentence which he broke off fourteen lines back! Chauncey Loomis was a Senator from the Western District.48 THE HOLLAND LAND CO. each county through which the canal may pass friendly to the measure was present in Albany, and having been in- vited and requested personally to attend, which my avoca- tions will not permit, Mr. Rumsey who has a knowledge of the subject, and feels an interest in its execution on account of the great public advantages to be derived, and whose avocations are such that he can attend without much in- convenience to himself has been selected and consents to be the bearer of the Memorial to be presented to your honor- able body. Mr. Rumsey is also the bearer of Remonstrances against the division of the county as well as against the petition for levying a tax on the five western counties of this State for the opening and improving certain Roads therein maintained. This gentleman will of course advocate such measures with consultation and advice as may con- duce to arrangements preparatory to the complete knowledge of the expence which might attend the cutting of the canal and will doubtless use his endeavours and aid as far as his situation will permit to prevent the projects of taxing the five western counties for the purpose aforesaid, and cutting up the counties, &c, &c. It is desirable that the integrity of those counties should continue at least until they were sufficiently populated to render excisions necessary. Any attention and civilities you may find it convenient to pay Mr. Rumsey will confer a favor on Very respectfully Your obedt Servant Joseph Ellicott. MR. ELLICOTT POINTS OUT PRACTICAL METHODS. Batavia, February 21st, 1816. DeWitt Clinton, Esq. Dear Sir: I with pleasure acknowledge receipt of your letter of the 3d instant. I believe there is but one voice in this country in relation to the advantages that would flow from a canal navigationAND CANAL CONSTRUCTION. 49 from Lake Erie to the Hudson, although, as it is to be ex- pected, there are many persons that seem to think such a project impracticable, and indeed upon some plans which might be devised for its execution, it is truly so; although by others, its completion is perfectly within the power of the State ; and probably the canal could be so directed in its course, that even the country through which it might pass, would be competent to the completion of such sectional part. I am therefore impressed with the belief, from such reflections as have occurred to me on this subject, that the proper method to be pursued would be, to obtain an act from the legislature to appoint commissioners with power and funds to employ proper persons to explore and make a survey and level of a route, along which a canal should be directed, exhibiting, by means of a proper map and profile of the canal, the various depths required to be excavated, the acqueduct bridges to be erected, and the sites where locks should be constructed, with shafts sunk in various parts within the breadth contemplated for the canal, to ascertain the composition to be removed, whether clay, loam, sand, gravel, stone or rock. These objects being thus practically ascertained, it would be easy to make a calcula- tion and estimate of the expense which would attend its excavation; after which, a succeeding legislature could judge, whether the ability of the state was competent to the undertaking. My impression is, that this part of the main object might be accomplished at a small expense (comparatively speaking,) by pursuing systematic measures. I would recommend employing Americans solely, and avoiding foreigners; they know very little about the management and conducting of business economically in this country; and the truth is, the laying out a path for a canal, requires neither conjurors nor wizzards; practical nature is every thing that is necessary. While I make these remarks with so much freedom and candor, it is not done with a view to obtain for myself, as you will perceive, any profitable employment in its prosecu- tion. I have not any other object or wish than that the pro-50 THE HOLLAND LAND CO. ject should be pursued in a practical way, commensurate with all the purposes for which canals are used for con- veyance and transportation, with the least possible expense. Your friend W. Rumsey, will use his exertions to pro- mote this grand object. My avocations in the discharge of the duties which are involved in conducting my agency are so many that it is impossible for me to visit Albany, but I am persuaded Mr. Rumsey, who was one of the com- mittee appointed to draft our memorial to the legislature, on the subject of the grand canal, and who is the bearer of the memorial to be handed to that honorable body, will more than supply my place were I present. That complete success may attend your exertions in an object so beneficial to mankind as a complete water com- munication between the great western lakes and the Hudson River would be, is the sincere wish of, with great respect and esteem, your most obedient servant Joseph Ellicott. CLINTON TO ELLICOTT. Albany, 27th February, 1816. Dear Sir: I received your letter by Col. Rumsey, and also the well written memorial in favor of the Erie canal. This subject is in a fair way; I hope it will receive the support it deserves. De Witt Clinton. Joseph Ellicott, Esq CLINTON TO ELLICOTT. Albany, 15th March, 1816. Dear Sir: I am still here on the subject of the Erie canal, in order to put down the terror about heavy taxation. I prepared the enclosed sketch for the joint committee,AND CANAL CONSTRUCTION. 51 which, at the request of Col. Rumsey, (who is active and useful) I have sent to you. ... DeWitt Clinton. Joseph Ellicott, Esq. MR. ellicott's suggestions for raising money. Batavia Mar 25, 1816 DeWitt Clinton Esquire Albany, Dear Sir: I with great pleasure acknowledge the receipt of your letter (and inclosures) of the 15th Instant From those documents I should not suppose and indeed I do not believe there will be on the final Question a single dissent- ing vote in the Legislature against passing such laws as will be necessary to enable the Commissioners as immedi- ately as the season is suitable to commence and prosecute the whole of this grand canal. Those Documents furnish practical information relating to the facility of excavating that part of the canal from Utica to the Seneca River, which I had not before seen. That section I was some how led to suppose would be attended with great expence. I am pleased to find however that it will be attended with little more in its execution than that of excavating a canal from Lake Erie to the Genesee River, which I am fully persuaded if the most eligible route shall be designated will not exceed in the average $16000 pr mile, exclusive of locks and cul- verts. (This route however would not be that mentioned by the Commissioners, which I consider almost im- practicable.) The method of raising the monied means to defray the expence of this invaluable object at its first outset by in- direct taxation I consider the most eligible; and from the view you have taken of the subject I see not the least diffi- culty of resorting to such objects of indirect taxation as will be amply compitent, until the whole line of canal shall be located, and every arrangement and object perfectly matured and well understood. This being accomplished52 THE HOLLAND LAND CO. and from experimental knowledge ascertained the price or expence attending excavating the canal in the various depths and description of earth through which it may pass I see no reason why the excavating part of it might not then be as well effected in three years as to prolong it to ten, and at that epoch borrow a sufficient sum to defray all the expences that may arise during the said three years, the time I have alotted for its completion. In addition to those objects of indirect taxation that you have mentioned I would suggest the propriety of taxing all Deeds given for lands, and all mortgages say, $1.50 each. (They might be stamped) to be paid by the grantee; the expence of writing and printing to be bourne by the grantor. Persons in circumstances to purchase freehold estates could pay this tax with little inconvenience. It would probably produce $40,000 pr annum. I would propose a tax of 6 Cents on all Justices War- rants and subpoenas directed to defendants (stamped). This class of people might afford to pay a trifle for the pleasure of litigation. It would in all probability produce $35>ooo pr annum. I would propose to increase the tax duty on the Onon- daga Salt to 10 Cents pr Bushel (If the quantum of Salt you have mentioned should be made) it would produce a neat sum of about $75,000 pr annum. I would propose that the school fund should be applied to the canal until that object was effected. Its amount is of very little importance as to the promotion of common schools. They were as well conducted before they received the scanty pittance without the /20 part of the trouble (as far as my observation extends) as they have been since and I think better; and I am already of the opinion that educa- tion will take care of itself hereafter as well as it has done heretofore without such auxiliaries, and I do not believe all the functions of government are better filled at this time with men of education than they were twenty five years ago; and my opinion is that the state of civilization now in the world is competent to ensure a sufficiency of education among the people for all purposes necessary without thisAND CANAL CONSTRUCTION. 53 auxiliary school fund. I would however have no objection, indeed I should be in favor of such a measure, that is to say, after the canal shall be compleated appropriate the school fund to the endowment of colleges, where every science might be ably taught and improved upon. I am aware the above doctrine would not be popular among the people, or even to the Legislature; a majority of whom would consider such ideas fit only for some demon of an aristocrat, and those reflections are not intended for them but merely to intimate that if the school fund could be ap- plied to the canal, that in my opinion its application would be much more to the advantage of the people. Were it not that it may wear the appearance of levity I would propose a tax upon bachelors, married men and widows having no children, to be appropriated to the canal, that is to say, every bachelor indiscriminately above the age of 25 years to pay $1 annually; those having in possession $5000 in money and any description of property, and ex- ceeding $10,000 to pay $2.50 annually. Those having in possession money or property $10,000 and upwards to pay $5 annually. This tax I presume would produce $150,000. Recapitulation. Duties at auction....,..................................... $40,000 Steamboat passengers........................................ 30,000 Bank Stock on Amot. actually paid in....................... 32,000 I would propose raising the duty on the Onondaga Salt to 10 Cents pr. Bushel..................................... 80,000 Pedlars ..................................................... 4,000 Solicitors &c.............................................. 16,000 Also On every Deed & Mortgage executed $1......................... 40,000 I would propose 6 cents on every justice’s warrant & sub- poena to Defendant......................................... 25,000 School fund appropriated to Canal say...................... 50,000 Tax on bachelors appropriated to canal..................... 150,000 $467,000 Upon a supposition that one half of that sum only should be raised it would be sufficient to commence and prosecute the work.54 THE HOLLAND LAND CO. I have read with pleasure the report of the Commission- ers on the subject of the canal. I am pleased with it, inas- much as I observe that the commissioners feel a disposition to prefer American Ingeneers to foreign. This is as it should be. It would be saying very little for this nation comprehending near half the population of Great Britain that it did not among all her sons possess one scientific, practical Ingineer capable of designating the ground for a canal. Mr. Eddy has written to me on the subject and he appears to be of opinion that such is really the case. Could I be of that opinion as an American I should feel a Degra- dation for my country. Very respectfully & sincerely Your obedt Servant Joseph Ellicott. [P. S.] Should it be thought improper to tax married men and widows having no children, it cannot be deemed improper to lay a tax on bachelors for the canal. I am per- suaded some will complain & married men will have no rights. SUGGESTS JAS. W. STEVENS FOR COMMISSIONER. Batavia April i, 1816. Chauncey Loomis Esquire, Albany, Dear Sir: Having understood that in case a commis- sioner should be appointed in this part of the State for the purpose of superintending canal affairs that it was your intention to propose Major Adams for that person, Permit me to say that altho no man was more averse to the out- rageous transaction of turning Adams out of the Sheriffs office than I was, or that felt more indignant at the pro- cedure that nevertheless as a compensation for the loss of that office it would be improper to place him in another that his education is not competent to the task.AND CANAL CONSTRUCTION. 55 Gentlemen holding such stations ought if obtainable not only to be liberally educated but ought to be men of science. It also requires a man who would be extremely tenacious about the public funds to see that no part was uselessly expended. I. do not know for my part a person more suitable than James W. Stevens. Mr. Stevens has the advantage of being liberally educated. His education is superior to Peter B. Porter, and much more a man of science and as temperate a man as ever lived, & in discharging a trust where public money is placed in his hands, there is no man more tenacious of having it applied in the most economical manner. There are few men better qualified for such a station than James W. Stevens. I hope therefore you will use your influence to obtain his appointment to that of a canal Commissioner. His appointment would be important inasmuch as those of the gentlemen belonging to the Holland Company Land office having a knowledge of the country through which a portion of the canal will pass, and having some knowledge of the science of canals could advise with him as to the most proper route and manner of effecting the object. I am Sir very respectfully your obedt Servant. Joseph Ellicott. URGING MR. STEVENS' APPOINTMENT. Batavia April i, 1816. Archibald M. McIntyre1 Esquire, Albany, Dear Sir: Understanding that the Committee on the Canal Question have reported in favor of that object & pre- i. Archibald McIntyre was at this time State Comptroller, in which office he continued from 1806 to 1821. By chapter 262, Laws of 1817, which created the Board of Commissioners of the Canal Fund, the Comptroller was not only made a member of the board, ex*officio, but the curious provision was made that a majority of the Commissioners, with the Comptroller, should constitute a quorum. No quorum of that bbard was therefore possible without the presence of the Comptroller. For an appreciative sketch of Mr. McIntyre’s valuable service to the State, in canal and other matters, see Roberts* “A Century in the Comptroller’s Office,” Albany, 1897.56 THE HOLLAND LAND CO. suming that a Commission will necessarily be appointed in this section of the State in the room of Peter B. Porter, who is destined of another mission, I take the liberty to mention to you that on the accomplishment of this object economically much will depend upon those who may have the Disbursement of the public funds, and presuming to have a competent knowledge of the characters in this part of the country suitable to be intrusted with such concerns, I take the liberty to solicit that you will use your influence that James W. Stevens may be appointed a Commissioner. Mr. Stevens has been liberally educated, is a gentleman of science, remarkable for his temperance, and I am persuaded there are few men more suitable for assisting to carry on the grand object than this gentleman. I am persuaded that should he be appointed a commissioner that he will be found by the other gentlemen an useful auxiliary. Believe me with great respect your obt Servant Joseph Ellicott. CLINTON TO ELLICOTT. Confidential. Albany, 4 April, 1816. Dear Sir : Accompanying this you will receive an inter- esting map relative to the country affected by the proposed canal. It is to be regretted that the scale is too small. I think that the canal is in a favorable train, and I hope that it will receive the sanction of the legislature in a few days. Your suggestions relative to the ways and means are inter- esting, and will, I have no doubt, be adopted, either on this or a future occasion. ... De Witt Clinton. Joseph Ellicott, Esq.AND CANAL CONSTRUCTION. 57 CALL FOR FIRST MEETING OF THE CANAL COMMISSIONERS. New York 22 April 1816 Sir: You are requested to attend a meeting of the Com- missioners for the improvement of the Internal Navigation of the State at the City of New York on the seventeenth of may next at 12 o’Clock at the City Hotel. New York is fixed upon as the place for the first meeting on account of some facilities which it affords for com- mencing the operations of the Board. I am respectfully your most obed’t Serv’t De Witt Clinton. J. Ellicott Esq. Please to acknowledge the receipt of this. MR. ELLICOTT*S REPLY. Batavia, May 6, 1816. De Witt Clinton Esquire, Dear Sir : Your favour of the 226. ult. announcing New York as the place for the first meeting of the commissioners named in the act for the improvement of the internal navi- gation of the State is at hand. It is uncertain whether my engagements with the Holland Company will permit an acceptance of the very important and unexpected appoint- ment in such way as to be an active commissioner. At present Sir my avocations are of a nature, and indeed an indisposed state of health such as to prevent my attendance in the city of New York at the period mentioned. You will be good enough to take upon yourself to act in my behalf. Whatever arrangements shall be made or plans you may deem expedient to adopt for prosecuting the object will be subscribed to by With great Regard your most obedt Servt Joseph Ellicott. P. S. I have in a hasty and cursory manner unofficially communicated my views of a plan preparatory for com-58 THE HOLLAND LAND CO. mencing operations for carrying into effect the object of the Legislature (in part) in a letter to Mr. Eddy. MR. ELLICOTT STATES HIS VIEWS AT LENGTH TO MR. EDDY. Batavia May 6, 1816. Thomas Eddy, Respected Friend: . . . In reply to that part of your letter which mentions an expectation of my visiting New York the 17th Instant for the purpose of assisting to arrange the necessary plan to be adopted for the prosecu- tion of the canal I have to say. That I have been and con- tinue much indisposed: indeed so much so that I should not venture on so long a journey. My avocations also particu- larly at this period of the season, making out a statement of sales, receipts, and business of every description trans- acted during the preceding year, and to report to the Hol- land Company in Detail would render it very difficult for me to absent myself were I in perfect health. I am also persuaded that the object so far as appears to be contemplated by the act of the Legislature may be accom- plished with more facility and expedition under the immedi- ate arrangement and direction of one acting person who would devote the whole of his time to the object than by five who would only casually attend to the business. Suppose for instance Mr. Clinton should take upon himself the ar- ranging and conducting the operations he might occasion- ally require the opinion of the other commissioners regard- ing some ulterior measures, and also as to routes to be ex- plored, and instruct his engineers as appeared most proper and expedient. To accomplish this object to the greatest advantage much exploration will be required of the country through which it is to be directed. Oftentimes thousands of Dollars in labor may be saved by a small deviation, and great deviations from the first suggested routes may be- come necessary. I will take the liberty to mention you my ideas of an arrangement for the prosecution of this object, which ifAND CANAL CONSTRUCTION. 59 adopted the information acquired by the legislature I am persuaded may be obtained. Presuming the first object will be to explore and lay down the line of canal from Rome to Lake Erie I would propose that at least two engineers should be employed, the one to explore, level and lay down the line of canal from Rome to the Seneca river, and the other from Lake Erie to the same place, and I am inclined to think it will require the whole season to accomplish these objects, and it may even a longer period. Those engineers must be supplied with so many assist- ants and hands as they may find necessary. They ought as it were to be a community by themselves, without having in any manner to depend either for lodging or on receiving any accommodations from the Inhabitants where the line of canal would pass. They ought to be accommodated with markees and regimental tents, to be furnished with provi- sion and men or boys to prepare the victuals in the manner of surveying a large country. The acting commissioner might visit his engineers, and examine the country and the line of canal as it suited his convenience, receive their re- ports, and the information that such an examination of the country would afford them: and I repeat that I am per- suaded much the better way is to leave the business under the control and management of one of the commissioners, who should make the contracts with and employ the en- gineers, surveyors, draftsmen &c. and superintend the business in person. Should Mr. Clinton undertake the management and Direction I have no Doubt it will be accomplished. Any assistance that I could afford in aiding the exploring & lay- ing out the canal from Lake Erie through the counties of Niagara and Genesee will be zealously given. But let the business be principally under the direction of one of the commissioners (say Mr. Clinton). Let him lay aside all other avocations and attend to it solely: otherwise I fear if the arrangements are to be made and conducted in that casual way things are generally managed where five per- sons all conduct it will fall through. One person I have always found for the conducting any enterprise is more to60 THE HOLLAND LAND CO. be depended upon than two, three, four, five or a greater number all having equal powers, and admitting all equally capable. The acting commissioner ought to be amply com- pensated for his laborious services, because the fact is this canal will pass a considerable distance through a wilderness country, and of course a personal superintendence will not be so comfortable as reclining on a Sopha. The commis- sioner ought to have a private markee, carried along with the respective camp equipages of the engineers on the dif- ferent routes of exploration, in order that when he should arrive at either of the respective engineer camps he might have his accommodation separate and apart from the en- gineers, when he would receive information and make out his instructions and directions. The truth is this business cannot be accomplished in a proper manner without consti- tuting the persons who are to effect it a kind of separate moving community, and when the business shall be properly systematized the active commissioner after a little time would find a pleasure in carrying on his operations, and unless the business is methodized in this or 'some way not very dissimilar it never will be effected judicially. The manner Mr. Geddis was accommodated & the method he pursued would never answer for engineers to lay out a canal: the exploration must be carried on systematically. What business he performed in this quarter was done in such a hurry (I presume from the circumstances of having no accommodations) that he set up no monuments to be referred to in his field notes, from which levels might be connected in exploring other directions; so that in fact all his labour as it regards applying it to actually laying out a canal is useless.1 The persons employed ought to have i. ^ In one of Joseph Ellicott’s memorandum books preserved by the Buffalo Historical Society is an interesting series of entries regarding Mr. Geddes’ surveys—Mr. Ellicott always writing the surveyor’s name “Geddis.” A few of these entries follow: “July 12, 1816. Mr. Geddis reports the crown level between Oak Orchard Creek and Black Creek to be 6 feet higher than the swamps at each side and says that the crown level is a cedar swamp and that the water runs east and west out of said swamp into the creeks respectively called Oak Orchard and Black Creek. In carrying on the level of the same elevation of the crown level, he finds the swamp at Oak Orchard Road 8 feet below the crown level. . . . “Mr. Geddis finds the Eastern Swamp near Wadsworth on the Lewiston Road to be 13.66 below the Crown Level—the next west 15.19, the next 15.69,AND CANAL CONSTRUCTION. 61 good accommodations, and be well found. The expence of an engineer party will not be great. I should suppose the following would be a liberal esti- mate, say at the extent 1 Engineer at $5 pr. day is............ $5.00 2 pole bearers each $1.50.......... 3.00 2 chainmen $1 ......................... 2.00 2 axemen $1 .......................... 2.00 1 Packhorse man to act as Campman.. 1.00 1 cook ............................ 1.00 1 Pack horse...............................50 Provision pr. day for the party, say... 6.00 Total expence pr. day..........$20.50 Should a surveyor be found necessary in addition to those mentioned the expence would be increased about $4 pr. Day, which for five months would amount to no more than $3675, and two such parties to $7350. There would however be the camp equipage to procure in addition, and doubtless some incidental expences would occur for sinking shafts along the canal line of the Depth of the canal to ascertain the best position of material and earth to be excavated. The chainman & axeman might occasionally be employed while the engineer would be lay- ing down his field notes. It might not be necessary to employ a draftsman other than the engineer himself; he might be competent, and if not the draftsman would not be immediately required. Should it be inconvenient for one & the Western Swamp the surface of the water under the Cossway [crossway] 17.75 below the crown level. . . . “Mr. Geddis found the summit of the elevation in the Indian Road which leads from Wadsworths to the Indian Village descends to the Intervale land near Tonnawanta creek to be 2.22 feet more elevated than the Crown Level. The descent he says is abrupt down a gravelly sandy point to a place which has the appearance of formerly being the Bed of Tonnawanto Creek which has been deserted by the creek. “Mr. Geddis continued the level to the creek and found the surface of the water in the creek at the crossing to be 14.96 below the Crown Level. The place where he intersected the creek was about east from the village. . . . “Mr. Geddis observed by critical trial that the water [in Tonawanda creek] moved with the velocity of 99 feet pr. Minuet, which would fill a lock 75 by 12.8 feet deep in i'.73 hundredths. ...”62 THE HOLLAND LAND CO. of the commissioners to take the sole charge of conducting this object, I think it probable if I could be furnished with a proper instrument for carrying on the levels I could organize a levelling and exploring party to trace a line for the canal from Lake Erie the Genesee river and possibly to the Seneca river, provided I could prevail upon one of my assistants to undertake. I will not however pretend to say the precise location for the canal, with an exact profile of the country it would pass over could be accomplished by the period required by the act, because it will be attended with much labor, and it will be a business that cannot be hurried. This will easily be seen on reflecting that to esti- mate the precise expence of excavation, the concavity and convexity of the surface over which the canal may pass must be truly taken; after which it may be laid down with geometrical precision, and when thus accomplished the expence of excavation may be estimated within a few Dollars. My mentioning Mr. Clinton as the principal Su- perintendent arises from the circumstance of the great interest he has taken in the canal. You will permit me to solicit that you will be good enough to mention these ideas to Mr. Clinton, and endeavor to prevail upon him to undertake the active management of the business. Were I myself equally competent my engage- ments with the Holland Company are of such a nature as to prevent my absenting myself for any length of time from the Purchase without first obtaining permission. Believe me with great respect Thy friend Joseph Ellicott. THE CANAL IDEA HELPS LAND SALES. Batavia May 13, 1816. Paul Busti Esquire, Philadelphia, My dear Sir: Your letter of the 23d ult. is at hand. . . . As it relates to the Bank of Niagara and the canalAND CANAL CONSTRUCTION. 63 you may possibly suppose on seeing my name as a commis- sioner for opening the Books for subscription to the bank and one of the commissioners named in the act for laying out the Canal that I solicited those appointments. Should this be the case you will allow me to assure you the very reverse was the fact. I informed the friends of the bank bill when they affixed my name in the act that I could not accept of the appointment, and requested that they would insert some other name, which they declined doing, giving as a reason that it would be optional with me to serve or otherwise, and that my name was inserted with an idea that it might be useful in procuring the act. As relates to the canal I recommended in case a com- missioner should be located in this quarter the name of another gentleman for that station much more suitable in my opinion than myself. Indeed I had not the most distant expectation of being named as a commissioner. However as to any injury which either object may do I am not appre- hensive that such will be found to be the case. . . . As relates to the canal I do not see any possible injury that can be sustained by that measure. If it should never be compleated the money that may be expended in its prose- cution will only be changed into other hands, and if men are employed to excavate it through the Holland Purchase they will want provision, and the supply of their wants will afford a small market for part of your settlers, and be the means of promoting industry among them for the profits to be derived by the sale of their agricultural productions. Besides from the context of your letter of the 15th Febru- ary ult. I was led to suppose you were in favor of the canal, as you observed in a jocular way (after making some pre- liminary remarks) that “Roads and Canals whenever opened will be beneficial to the lands, and provided the Company has not to pay the piper you shall never oppose the pleasure of the settlers of running a race over a new Road, and having a rowe Match on a Canal or pond.” As to myself I am persuaded the mere idea of a canal is bene- ficial to the sale of these lands. ... Joseph Ellicott.64 THE HOLLAND LAND CO. TO MYRON HOLLEY. Batavia June 16, 1816. Myron Holley/ Esquire, Canandaigua. Dear Sir: I have the pleasure to acknowledge the Receipt of your letter of the 13th Instant and have to con- firm to you what I mentioned in my letter to Mr. Clinton that my avocations on account of duties I was under obliga- tions to perform for the Holland Company would not permit me to act in capacity of an active commissioner. You will therefore please to take upon yourself the task of furnish- ing the Engineer with a surveyor to attend him. On your arrival at this place I will be ready to confer with you as to the most proper method of forwarding the business relating to the canal, and hope you may find it convenient to conduct the operations in person. Meantime with great regard I am Your obedt Servant Joseph Ellicott. MR. CLINTON INSPECTS THE ROUTE. Albany 18 August 1816 [To Joseph Ellicott] My dear Sir: I arrived at this place this morning & have the pleasure of assuring you that I witnessed on the whole route a general sentiment in favor of the Erie Canal. We had an interview with Geddes in the Town of Pittsford. We walked with him over the difficult grounds at the Iron- dequoit Valley and we examined the proposed passage over the Genesee river and upon the whole we are entirely satis- fied that the impediments will fall short of anticipation. We had a conference with Mr. Wright at Manlius Square: He had proceeded 34 miles: His first level will 1. Myron Holley had been appointed a canal commissioner in 1816, and was the first treasurer of the board. In that year he represented Ontario County in the Assembly, and again in 1820*21.AND CANAL CONSTRUCTION. 65 extend as far west as Salina 45 miles—the second after a fall of 16 feet 30 miles—then after one canal he will go on one level to the Seneca river. He will experience no em- barrassments from swamps or deep cuttings, and the supply of water will be exuberant. Mr. Charles C. Brodhead assisted by Dr. Noyes of Union College will run & designate the line from Rome Eastward. It will give me great pleasure to hear from you. I shall in company with Genl V Rensselaer and Mr. Young ex- amine the route of the Champlain canal. A letter directed to this place will reach me in due season. If your surveyors can without any inconvenience collect specimens of rare plants & minerals for the Philosophical Society of New York it may be of service to the cause of science. The plants must be inserted between leaves of paper and kept as dry as possible. My best compliments to the Representative and Mr. Evans and be assured of my sincere regard De Witt Clinton. Joseph Ellicott Esq. DETAILS OF THE SURVEY. Palmyra, August 18th, 1816. Dear Sir: I am well pleased to learn that the route on the South &c of the Tonewanta Swamp is to be done under your particular direction. The levelling instrument which I use and have used so much, I had put much confidence in as to its remaining true, and have been in the habit of using it long without testing its accuracy. But (owing to the loss of one of the small screws, I suppose) found when I tried it west of Bl'odgets Creek to be very much out of true, more than I had ever found it before so that I have little confidence in my level between the Transit line and the new road across the Swamp to the Oak Orchard mills. From my minutes of the levelling west of said road I willTHE HOLLAND LAND CO. copy some of the hubs drove or stumps cut down by which you can compare our levels. North west of Briggs’ field cut a flatt spot on the root of a Cedar marked C. This spot is level with the hub on the Transit line if there had been no error as above spoken of. Nearly north of the next house west of the Drigges the top of a stone in a small stream north of a Maple marked D and 2 Chs west of Carey’s road into the Swamp .16 of a foot too low. By a Bass marked E in a Brook level. A hub drove to the Transit line level* near the west line of Township by an Ash marked F. A hub by a Bass marked H west of the Township line is 1.07 feet too high. Level, on a spot on the root of a Beech marked I (on line 66 Chs west of H.) West side of the Lewistown Road a spot on the root of a Beech level. Beech marked with 3 Lozenges ▲ and a Maple in the Road thus with ^ * Mr. Holley has been out with us now [a] few days but now returned home. On a more particular examination of the country than ever had been made before, I find that remarkable swamp out of which the Rondequot and Mud Creek waters empty, to be some lower on the north side of it than on the south side. I have taken a level which requires 4 feet of the very summit of this swamp to be cut down, and thus I cross the Rondequot Creek so that the water in the canal will be but 60.66-100 feet higher than the water below. A much greater advantage by lowering this level, is obtained on entering the Mud Creek valley, to wit, the surface of Gannetts mill Pond (just above) is 1 14-100 foot higher than the surface of the canal. Into this mill Pond the Canandarque outlet may be made to run, and the carrying the Canandarque waters over Mud Creek on an Aqueduct bridge (which I had always ex- pected), is saved. The feeder from Gannett’s mill pond to the canal' will not be quite half a mile long. I have foundAND CANAL CONSTRUCTION. 67 so little fall in this swamp of between 7 and 8 miles long, that am in hopes you will not find so much fall in the Ton- newanta swamp as came out according to my inaccurate level; the east end of which I was so dissatisfied with that I always intended going over it again. I left off last night something over 3 miles below Pal- myra village. Have located 4 locks all very much to my mind as to [rest of MS. missing.] Evans MSS. Though incomplete, it is plain that this letter was written by William Peacock to Joseph Ellicott. “Rondequot” is of course the Iron.de- quoit of today, and “Canandarque” is Canandaigua. MR. ELLICOTT LAYS OUT AN EXPERIMENTAL ROUTE. Batavia, Aug. 26, 1816. Paul Busti, Esquire, Philadelphia, My dear Sir : . . . Among the causes that prevents me from leaving this place in the ensuing month is that the other canal commissioners have charged me with the super- intendence of laying out one of the proposed routes of ex- periment for the canal in its passage through the Lands of the Holland Company. This object together with having to superintend occasionally the persons charged with the erection of an house for the present resident Agents use, as also the Company's affairs keeps me pretty much in duty. Joseph Ellicott. JOSEPH ELLICOTT TO THE COMMISSIONERS. Batavia, Aug. 26, 1816. Gentlemen: I transmit enclosed two letters on the subject of the Canal, One from the President of the Canal Commissioners, and the other from Engineer Geddls, by which you will observe the Engineer seems to doubt theTHE HOLLAND LAND CO. accuracy of the level he took from the transit line to Ton- nawanta. You will have an opportunity of testing its cor- rectness by referring to some of the levels he has established. Be pleased to write me by the return of the bearer, the Progress you are making, the feasibility of the country through which you pass for canaling, & such other informa- tion as may be convenient to afford. Mean time With great respect Your obed’t Serv’t Joseph Ellicott N. B. Be pleased to preserve the enclosed letter from Clinton & Geddis J. E. Mes'srs. B. Ellicott & W. Peacock Evans MS. DETAILS DISCUSSED WITH MR. CLINTON. Batavia Sep. 2d 1816. De Witt Clinton, Esquire, Dear Sir: Your letter of the 18th ult. is at hand. The arrangements the commissioners have made in employing and organizing a party to carry on a level eastward from Rome is certainly very proper, inasmuch as I am persuaded unless more engineers should be employed than those first engaged, the objects contemplated by the Legislature to be performed the present season could not be accomplished. Agreeably to the arrangement made at the commission- ers’ meeting at Buffalo I have organized a party to effect a level of the southern route, and the Engineer Mr. Peacock,1 and surveyor A. A. Ellicott2 are now on that business. I deemed it proper in order to obtain information of the profile and extent of the summit level between Tonnawanta 1. William Peacock, one of the early surveyors for the Holland Land Co., at one time a clerk in the office at Batavia, was in 1810 appointed local agent for the company at Mayville, with the subsequent history of which place his name is prominent. It was he who made the first accurate survey of Buffalo harbor. His wife was a niece of Joseph Ellicott. 2. Joseph Ellicott’s nephew, the oldest son of his brother Andrew.AND CANAL CONSTRUCTION. 69 Swamp and Black creek waters (not being in possession of Mr. Geddis’s [Geddes’] notes) to instruct the Engineer to make that level previous to extending his line westward. Mr. Peacock has accomplished that object, and is now ex- tending his line towards Tonnawonta Creek. I flatter myself that the care and attention with which this level will be accomplished the most satisfactory infor- mation will be obtained. I shall write you occasionally as the work progresses. I hope our truly agreeable & worthy colleague Mr. Young has recovered from the indisposition with which he was affected when you took your departure at Warren’s on the Ridge Road. Please give him my best respects & be- lieve me very truly with great regard Your obed’t Servant Joseph Ellicott. PEACOCK TO ELLICOTT. Camp West of Oak Orchard Road, i Mile, Sept. 8th, 1816. Joseph Ellicott, Esquire, Batavia. My Dear Sir : Wishing to give you information of our progress in extending the Level Line Westward as frequent as time will admit, I now do myself the pleasure of en- closing to you the notes of the Level taken west from the Oak Orchard Road. In that distance no obstacle presents itself to carry the Canal on the Transit Line Level, as the slope of Land iays in such a position that the Level Line may be carried up or down on this slope, as will always bring the Level in the proper place & at the same time run nearly in a direct rout. There is more of those round de- tached stone discovered on and in the Earth west of the road, than what was found east from the road. At the end of Station No. 60 and about io or 15 rods west, there is a fine Brook of water, coming into the Swamp, from the70 THE HOLLAND LAND CO. South west. No such Brook is marked on the map in the office. Mean time believe most Respectfully yours William Peacock. Evans MSS. MR. BUSTI STILL INCREDULOUS. Philadelphia 19th September 1816. Joseph Ellicott, Esq., Batavia, Dear Sir: . . . The new commissioners of the State having charged you with the care of superintending that part of the Dutch Territory where the proposed Canal might more advantageously be led through I expect that from this circumstance you’ll be enabled to give me early information of the courses & windings of the excavation, whether it is seriously intended to make a begin with that herculean work and when. I am eager to know the minutest particulars about it. For as the undertaking (if really meant by the State) must have the greatest influence on the value of our lands, and vastly contribute not only to the acceleration of sales but equally so to the increase of the receipts at your office I am desirous to concur liberally with my mite of assistance in that work. In fixing my final de- termination on the kind of donation the Dutch Companies should oiler your advice is necessary and whilst I am ex- pecting you’ll on this score give me your ideas I beg you to consider whether it would not be adviceable to hold all lands which might be most benefited by the canal at much higher prices or even to suspend their sale at any. The latter seems to me the best of the two propositions. Should you thinck that the Commissioners would prefer an alter- nate grant of lots bordering on the Canal to the one of a distant tract as formerly was accepted in preference. . . . Paul Busti.AND CANAL CONSTRUCTION. 71 CLINTON SANGUINE OF SUCCESS. Albany 20 Septr 1816 My dear Sir: ... I have just finished my survey of the Northern Canal and consider its practicability beyond all manner of doubt. The people of the North are very desirous to see this work executed and are willing that the Western Canal shall proceed pari passu. It may be satisfactory to you to learn that the Hudson at Fort Edward is 22 feet higher than Lake Champlain and that Lake George is 225 feet higher at its outlet than Cham- plain. ... De Witt Clinton. J. Ellicott Esqr. HOLLAND LAND COMPANY*S CANAL DONATION. Batavia Octo. 15, 1816. Paul Busti Esquire, Philadelphia My dear Sir: I with great pleasure acknowledge the receipt of your very agreeable favor of the 19th ult. which duly came to hand. It is not necessary for the Agent Gen- eral to make apologies for delaying the acknowledgment of the receipt of his resident Agents letters; it is sufficient for him to receive them when your convenience finds the least interruption in writing. I perfectly agree with you as to the manner of making Donations of lands to the Canal. It is conformable to your old plan, & is evidently the just one; and I am no less happy that I have anticipated the instructions you have given of suspending the sales of land when I conceive it most prob- able the excavation may be made. In respect to subscribing to the canal it appears to me it will be in good time when the path for the canal shall be delineated on the ground, and precise statements founded on actual information obtained by survey and level of the expence which might attend such an undertaking; because72 THE HOLLAND LAND CO. if it should be found that the expence would be too enor- mously great for the State and individuals to bear, prudence would dictate that it would be best to make little or no sub- scription, in order that the ultimate loss in the event of the canal being undertaken and not effected might be as small as possible. Two separate routes are to be explored surveyed and levelled for the passage of the canal through the Holland Purchase; after the accomplishment of which the commis- sioners will have to determine on the most practicable and most beneficial one. That route which is now exploring will pass through the 13th Tier of Townships, and principally thro’ unsold land, and is enjoined on myself to superintend the Direction of which when compleated I will furnish you with a profile and topographical map of the route, with such other informa- tion as will enable you to form an opinion of the practica- bility of making the excavation, and how far you may wish to subscribe, provided that line shall be adopted. The other route to be explored and levelled will pass northwardly from Tonnawonta creek thro’ Townships 13 & 14 to the North side of the great Slope, and from thence eastwardly between said great Slope and the Ridge Road. Both routes however by a resolve of the commissioners take their departure at one and the same place, that is to say, the canal to commence on the North side of Buffalo creek near New Amsterdam. I think the former one will be adopted by the commissioners, provided there shall be sufficient water to supply lockage from and to the upper level which however is rather problematical, as all the streams during the summer and autumnal months that can be conveyed to the upper level become very scanty of water; while the lat- ter will have Lake Erie flowing into Buffalo Creek for its reservoir, and of course if the former cannot receive a suffi- cient supply of water the latter route must be adopted; but if this is the alternative my fears are from the ideas I have of the roughness of that route, that the expence to excavate the canal will be so enormously great that means cannot be obtained to accomplish it. It may however be otherwise.AND CANAL CONSTRUCTION. 73 On a minute examination of the line along which a level would be made the country might present an aspect alto- gether different from my present ideas. At all events how- ever I would recommend the postponement of any subscrip- tion until every practicable information was first obtained. Such are my present impressions on this business, which however subsequent circumstances may change, and in such an event I shall advise you of the cause of such change of mind. ... Your obed’t Servant. Joseph Ellicott. PROGRESS OF FIELD WORK REPORTED. Batavia Octo 24, 1816. Samuel Young Esquire, Dear Sir: Your letter of the 4th Instant announcing a meeting of the Canal Commissioners at Schenectady on the 28th was received on the 15th. I should be really happy were it in my power consistent with other engagements to attend in ascertaining the site where the Canal would most beneficially unite with the Hudson. My avocations at this time however are such as would render it so extremely inconvenient to absent myself so long from my duties here as I apprehend the exploration of the country preparatory to fixing on so important a point may require that I shall reluctantly be compelled to forego that satisfaction. It is very gratifying to learn from you that the part of the country over which you have examined, is so formed by nature as to facilitate the easy excavation of the intended Canal uniting the navigation of the lakes George & Champlain with that of the Hudson. As it respects the facility with which a canal may be made the northern route thro’ the counties of Niagara & Genesee I can say nothing further than that I have seen and conversed with Mr. Johnston the surveyor under the direc- tion of Engineer Geddis, who mentioned that the obstacles which were supposed to be insurmountable did not exist, as74 THE HOLLAND LAND CO. on strict examination it was found that a canal might be excavated that route with facility, and that the most diffi- cult place (which however the Gentleman did not appear to think of much magnitude) would be the formation of an embankment and aqueduct Bridge over Sandy creek of upwards of 70 feet elevation and near a quarter of a mile in length. Having however not seen any of the notes of the actual level taken whereby a view of the make and shape of the country would be had and which would be necessary to enable me to form a correct opinion ,the verbal informa- tion of the surveyor is insufficient to expel the whole of my doubts as it relates to that route, and more particularly when the surveyor speaking of an embankment and aqueduct bridge to be erected over Sandy creek of upwards of 70 feet in elevation and nearly a quarter of a mile in length, which he did not appear to consider of much importance, I am at a loss to know what obstacle that Gentleman would consider otherwise. True it is not insurmountable. As it relates to the progress with which you wish to be made acquainted, making by the Engineer and party organ- ized by myself in exploring what was termed the southern route, I have to remark that as to passing over extended surface my Engineer will not bear a comparison with En- gineer Geddis. However I have the satisfaction to believe that his level and' work will bear the test of scrutiny and will be found faithful, precise, and such as to deserve the public confidence. The object given me in charge to superintend was to cause a level and exploration of the summit ground extend- ing from the waters of Black creek, which falls into the Genesee River on the east and Tonnawonta creek, which falls into the Niagara River on the west, to be made to ascertain the practicability of making a canal that route, and from thence to ascertain the most practicable route for a continuation of the canal to Buffalo creek, near its junction with Lake Erie. In pursuance of that arrangement I have the satisfaction to report the first part of the object to be mainly accomplished, to wit an accurate horizontal line has been produced along the whole course of the summit eleva-AND CANAL CONSTRUCTION. 75 tion from Black creek to Tonnawonta creek, and such lateral levels taken as subsequently to render the surveying and laying off the actual ground to be excavated with much precision and exactitude. The performing of levels when the line produced is continued over ground of nearly the same horizontal elevation necessarily requires more time to accomplish than when the line is carried in a direct course over the swells or undulations of the face of the country; but when the former method is pursued the most satisfac- tory information of the entire practicability of making the canal is not only obtained, but all the windings, which will necessarily be made in it in its progress are observed, as well as furnishing nearly the requisite information to enable a tolerable accurate estimate to be made of the expence, which may be incurred in its excavation. The upper level extending from Black creek to Tonna- wonta creek has been accomplished in this way & will prob- ably be near 25 miles in length, and thro' that whole distance not a solitary aqueduct bridge will be necessary; no deep cutting required, or embankments of much elevation to be made. Probably the whole extent of the canal in its passage over the upper level will not require more labor than that of cutting an average depth of four feet at the extent, and I am persuaded the meanderings will not increase the dis- tance beyond that of a straight line to be greater than one mile in 8 or 10 miles. On the Engineer’s arrival at Tonnawonta creek I in- structed him to spend one whole week in gauging the quan- tity of water flowing thereon; an object very important to be ascertained any season, but particularly the present on account of its extreme dryness; the water flowing in the creek being less in quantity than ever before observed by the Indians, as they say, residing near where the level inter- sects the bank of the creek. I was also induced to request him to continue his observations for one whole week on account of the obstruction of the water in its passage down the creek by mill dams, the water out of which when dis- charged, if the creek should be gauged at that time, might give a result greater than the real quantity of water flowing76 THE HOLLAND LAND CO. in the creek, and on the other hand if gauged at the time when the several mill dams were all closed the result might be a less quantity than the actual supply and I presume the mean of one week’s gauging would afford tolerable accurate information of the actual supply of water that might be ex- pected from this creek. In every point of view I considered it all important to obtain a correct knowledge of this fact inasmuch as if there shall not be sufficient water flowing in Tonnawonta creek for the main supply it matters not with what facility and cheapness the canal on this route could be excavated; for without a sufficient supply of water the canal itself if formed would be even worse than useless. In a dispatch received from the Engineer he forwarded me a transcript of his notes taken of the length, depth and velocity of the water in different sections of Tonnawonta creek for three days taken three times a day, morning noon and evening on the io, n & 12th instand inclusive; from which I have made an estimate of the mean quantity of water the creek would have supplied during that period, arid find it to amount to 2991-72/100 cubic feet pr. minute. As there was a considerable difference in the depths of water across the creek in the sections where the observations were taken the engineer was about scraping out a trough between the banks of the creek which would have for its object a uniformity in depth of water thro’ the whole section to be gauged, which it is presumed will be productive of such a uniformity in the velocity of the current where gauged as to make a result such as might be relied on. If the foregoing shall prove nearly correct as to the supply of water pr. minute, this creek without the aid of other streams which intersect the summit level canal would be sufficient to fill a lock 75 feet in length, 16 in breadth and 12 feet in depth in less than 4 minutes and 50 seconds, which in 24 hours would admit the passage through the locks at each end of the summit canal respectively to the number of 148 boats. The engineer will, after having ascertained the length of the feeder, which will be required to introduce the waters of the creek in the upper level, proceed to explore and ma'keAND CANAL CONSTRUCTION. 77 levels of the descending canal from the western termination of the upper level to the head of still water towards the mouth of Tonnawonta creek; after which he will proceed to Buffalo creek and ascertain, by a level from thence to the head of still water in Tonnawonta creek, the elevation of the water in Buffalo creek above that of still water in Ton- nawonta Creek aforesaid, which will afford the necessary information to estimate the number of locks necessary to descend from the summit level to lake Erie & vice versa. Those objects accomplished maps and plans exhibiting profiles of the face of the country where leveled will be made out together with all the field notes taken in perform- ing those objects and handed over to the commissioners, who will by information thus afforded be able to form a tolerable correct opinion of the practicability or impractica- bility of constructing the canal this route. Before closing this communication it may be proper to mention that Engineer Geddis on understanding that it was given in charge to me to employ an Engineer and cause a level to be made from Black creek to Tonnawonta, and from thence to Buffalo forwarded a communication with some notes describing where he had set level pegs &c and men- tioning his suspicions that when he performed that work that his instrument was defective. It is therefore but doing justice to Engineer Geddis to say that his suspicions of the inaccuracy of his levels were correct, or that the level made by my Engineer is incorrect, which we are persuaded is not the case, having so many opportunities to test its accuracy, and in no one instance in closing levels of three miles in extent was found a greater variation than 4/10 of an inch: whereas the difference between Engineer Geddis’s level and that of my engineer was found on connecting with his level pegs to be from 8 to 12 feet. I am Sir with great consideration Your most obed’t Servant Joseph Ellicott.78 THE HOLLAND LAND CO. THRIFTY MR. BUSTI STILL DOUBTS. Philadelphia 31st October 1816. Joseph Ellicott, Esq. Batavia, Dear Sir: . . . The magnitude of the undertaking of the Canal is so great that it is impossible for me to be- lieve that the work will ever be perfected. Therefore will- ing as I am to convince the State of the just deference I pay to the wishes of the sovreign people and to contribute to the execution of a favorite project I have always thought incumbent upon me to limit the donations of the H. L. C. to the condition of being effective only in the case that the navigation be opened from the lake to the Hudson. I con- ceive really that the territory of our principals would re- ceive no benefit from the digging of [a] Canal that should not open a thoroughfare to that river. The intermediate counties do not want any supplies from the Genesee. On this score we seem to differ in our opinions about my sub- scribing, for as you say, that if the work is undertaken against the probability of perfecting it on account of the excessiveness of the expence you would advise to make meagre donations in order to lessen the loss. Whereas I adhere to the principle of making none, if such is to be the termination of a useless scheme. There is no necessity for the present to determine finally this question between us. We'll leave it for decision when it shall be fixed what direc- tion the Canal shall to have. Were I called to vote for any of the two mentioned in your letter I would undoubtedly decide for the southern one. If no insurmountable obstacles are in way every one will not hesitate to say that this course is by far preferable to the northern beyond the ridge. Being more central it would benefit a greater extent of the country and in case of war with the quarrelsome English be more secure from mischievous attacks. . . . Paul Busti.AND CANAL CONSTRUCTION. 79 RESULTS OF ENGINEER PEACOCK^ WORK. Batavia Nov. 13, 1816. Honble De Witt Clinton, Dear Sir: I have now the satisfaction to report to you that Engineer Peacock has ascertained the height of the Transit line level (so called) above the surface of the water of Lake Erie at Buffalo Creek to be 7479/100 feet, as follows: The elevation of the Transit line level above the level water of Tonnawonta Creek with the Niagara River he found to be. 7948/100 feet The elevation of Lake Erie level at Buffalo Creek above the aforesaid level water in Tonnawonta Creek he found to be..... 469/100 “ Leaving the whole elevation of the Transit line level above the Lake Erie level.... 7479/100 “ The engineer found the face of the country from the western termination of the said Transit line level to the head of still water aforesaid, more even than that over which the upper level canal would pass. Few embankments would be required, and not any of an elevation greater than 8 or 10 feet, and those that might be required only a few perches in extent, not any ledges of rocks to be excavated through, and few stone of any Description met with in carrying on his level. The only object now to be accomplished to enable a tolerable correct opinion to be formed of this route is to ascertain whether Spring & BiglowV [Bigelow's] creek, branches of Black Creek, can be conveyed into the upper level. The Engineer will go on this service in a few days. With great respect I have the honor to be Your obed’t Servant Joseph Ellicott.80 THE HOLLAND LAND CO. TERMS OF THE HOLLAND LAND COMPANY^ CANAL GRANT. Batavia Nov. 27, 1816 Paul Busti, Esquire, Philadelphia, My dear Sir: ... As it relates to the canal sub- scription, I am persuaded that we do not materially dis- agree. I presume your Intention is to make the subscription a conditional one bona fide only in case the Canal is corn- pleated through its whole extent from the Hudson to Lake Erie, and to confine the subscription merely to a portion of the lands that may belong to the Company adjoining the site, when it is determined upon, and the canal actually laid off. If this manner of subscribing accords with your views we are not very different in our ideas upon the subject; and as the surveys and levels which I have directed to be made are nearly compleated after which the maps and plans necessary for making out the report to the commissioners will be prepared, you will permit me to suggest whether it would not on presenting the maps, field notes &c., to the commissioners be a proper time to make the offer of the conditional Donation upon the terms you may deem proper. With your permission I will suggest some ideas, which on a cursory view of the subject appears to me might probably answer and be advantageous to the Holland Company, and. I am impressed with an opinion could not in any event be very injurious, and First. Suppose a conditional Donation should be made of the lands belonging to the Company, which the canal and towpaths should embrace, to be a bona fide grant in case the canal should be compleated in twenty five years, otherwise not. Second. All lands belonging to the Company adjoining the canal when it shall be actually laid off to be surveyed into lots of from 40 perches to 80 perches in breadth and where circumstances will admit to be one mile in depth. Say every alternate or every third lot to be granted to the canal on the same conditions as above. (In the original or formerAND CANAL CONSTRUCTION. 81 offer every other lot was proposed to be conditionally do- nated.) Third. That all lands so proposed to be donated shall be free from all taxation to the Company during the said 25 years, or as long as the said lands shall be held in ex- pectancy. Fourth. That if the canal should be compleated on or before the expiration of twenty five years, and the lands so donated sold by the State or canal commissioners, the avails thereof so far as it should refund the expenditures made in constructing or excavating the canal through the lands of the Holland Company so much of the said canal to be free from all toll other than such sum or sums as should be necessary to keep such part of said canal in repair; That is to say, if the lands should be sold for a sum that would refund the original expences of excavating 15 miles that distance to be free from all toll excepting such as might be necessary for keeping the canal in repair; and the money to be employed in the same manner, and on the same prin- ciples for a greater or less distance as the lands so donated when sold might produce. From the levels taken of the route which I undertook to have explored, called the southern route, I am fully im- pressed with the belief that a canal might be excavated for an expence much less than the expence which is required in making such stoned Turnpike Roads as those leading from the cities of Philadelphia & Baltimore. The tract of country through which the canal would be drawn between the Niagara and Genesee Rivers, a distance of between 70 & 80 miles, is remarkable for its horizontal position. It is found from actual, and I am persuaded accurate levels taken, that the greatest summit elevation above the surface of the water of lake Erie at Buffalo creek is less than 75 feet, and that this summit level which will be nearly 25 miles includ- ing all the meanders of the canal lies between a point about three miles east of the east line of Township No. 13, Range 4. It is also ascertained throughout this distance there will not require any deeper cuttings than from 6 to 10 feet, and no greater embankments than of those elevations, and not82 THE HOLLAND LAND CO. any adequate bridges. For the greater portion of the above distance, the canal may be so laid (if 6 feet water shall be deemed of sufficient depth) that not more than three feet in depth will be necessary to excavate, inasmuch as the earth taken out in making such a trough would constitute the upper part of the banks & towing path. In like manner the canal might be laid out from the western extent of the summit level to the mouth of Tonna- wonta creek; the country from that point descending in such manner as to admit a canal to be excavated with the greatest facility; and from the mouth of Tonnawonta creek to Buffalo Creek along the Bank of the Niagara very few difficulties are met with. The whole elevation of the surface of the water in lake Erie above the surface of the water at the mouth of Tonnawonta Creek has been found to be 4 feet and one half of a foot. Hence it seems there is very little descent in the waters of Niagara River between the bottom of the rapids at the outlet of Lake Erie and the mouth of Tonnawonta Creek, probably not to exceed an inch to the mile. It has generally been supposed as the current in the river is pretty strong that the descent of the river was more than it has been found actually to be. Among the objections that have been raised against the southern route was an idea that there was not sufficient water that could be conducted into the summit level canal for the consumption of the locks descending at each end. This objection has been proved altogether fallacious, as Tonnawonta Creek at a point 2 miles above Tonnawonta Indian village, from whence the feeder would take its de- parture to be conducted to the summit level canal, has an abundant supply of water, even if no other water could be had. This however is not the case, as there are many brooks and some streams that turn grist and saw mills to be had in addition; of course there will ,not be any want of a sufficient supply of water for the southern route, and I am persuaded the expence that would attend making the canal the southern route would be centum pr. centum less than would attend cutting the canal on the Northern route, and a very great advantage would i esult to the country byAND CANAL CONSTRUCTION. directing the canal further interior, as you have so justly observed, and another advantage would be if the canal was directed the southern route it would pass for a considerable part of the distance through lands, which have not been sold by the Company; of course their Donation upon the terms of subscribing every other lot to the canal would be increased unless it was deemed that every third lot was sufficient for them to donate, and as the lands belonging to the Company the Northern route are principally sold, the Company could not gain much by subscribing to a canal not passing through their lands, as you have also justly ob- served. Should it be determined to adopt the southern route, as it will pass through a tract of country, which has not been sold on account of being much intersected with swamps I presume the canal would make it saleable, and probably in such an event one half of the land adjoining the Canal would bring more money by three fold after the Canal should be finished than the whole will bring if the canal is not directed that way. You will be good enough when you have made up your mind on this subject to inform me what subscription may be expected from the Holland Company & on what terms & principles such subscription will be made. . . . With great respect and regard I am very truly your obed’t Servant Joseph Ellicott. MR. ELLICOTT ADVOCATES NATIONAL HELP FOR THE CANAL. Batavia Dec. 30, 1816. Honorable Micah Brooks1 Esquire, Dear Sir : I with great pleasure acknowledge the receipt of your letter of the 15th instant, which came to hand by 1. Micah Brooks, a native of Connecticut, was a pioneer of East Bloom- field, Ontario County, where he settled in 1799. For several years he was one of the associate judges of Common Pleas. He was a member of the State Assembly, i898-’o9 ; a Representative in Congress, i8i$-'i7; a mem- ber of the Constitutional Convention of 1821; and a Presidential Elector in 1824. He died in Livingston Co., N. Y., July 7, 1857.84 THE HOLLAND LAND CO. the same mail that brought the Memorial of the Canal Com- missioners, and its reference to a Committee of Congress, of which I am happy to observe my friend is a member, and to whose politeness I am indebted for this favor. I think with you Sir that there are few objects of more importance claiming the attention of the national Legisla- ture than those of internal improvements, and I am clearly of opinion that among those which are now progressing to maturity there is not one that the United States could have so deep an interest in acquiring a reciprocal jurisdiction over as that of the intended Canal uniting the navigable waters of the Hudson with those inland seas the great lakes. There are many objects of local internal improvements that the National Legislature might appropriate a portion of lands requisite for their accomplishment &c over which it would be unnecessary for that Government to acquire a reciprocal jurisdiction, or to participate in their police. This intended canal however is not one of that description, & therefore it will on a little reflection be seen that it is of the greatest importance that they should take a larger in- terest in its accomplishment in order to acquire an equal participation with the State of the benefits to be derived from it. It will readily be seen on viewing the maps of North America that whenever this Canal is completed it will be the key to the commerce of a vast portion of the territory of the United States, as well as the British dominions; and if the State shall accomplish the navigation unaided by the national Legislature the State will unquestionably retain the jurisdiction, police, and supreme control over it, and may exercise that control in such manner as to be extremely injurious to the U. S. territories, and exclusively beneficial to the State. Believing as I sincerely do that this Canal is among the most important that the nation can engage in, and one that will contribute more to the benefit of millions of people, who will inhabit the western regions of the U. States, if participated in and aided by the national Legislature than any other that can be undertaken and accomplished with soAND CANAL CONSTRUCTION. 85 small an expence compared with the immense importance of the object. I am persuaded the General Government will not pass by the opportunity that now presents to participate in this obviously unrivalled (when completed) national ac- commodation, more especially when we take into view the interest the nation has in its completion is much greater than any interest the State can have. A participation by the United States will also at all times prevent the State Administration (let it fall in what hands it may, and should be ever so viciously inclined by having the sole control of such a navigable communication) from aggrandizing the State upon the labour of others residing out of our State limits which may be the case if the State is left to prosecute the object without being aided by the general Government. Having for these several years been fully persuaded of the facility with which a navigable canal could be formed from the Hudson to the Lakes, if undertaken and prosecuted by practical men, I am now since having the direction of an engineer in the prosecution of this business more and more convinced of the great facility with which the canal may be accomplished than heretofore, provided however that all frustraneous projects are discarded in which the prolific brains of visionary theorists often abound, and too frequently defeat objects of the greater utility. You well know that I am not among those who advo- cated the effecting this navigation by means of an inclined plane by the formation of an aqueduct to extend from Lake Erie to the Hudson, the lake to be the source and supply of this navigable aqueduct pouring its waters into the Hudson. The parent of this project was the late Gouverneur Morris, & assuredly a more visionary notion never entered the brains of any rational being; and so far from producing a conviction upon the minds of practical men of the facility of effecting a navigation between the Hudson and the lakes it had a contrary and injurious effect, and I have not the least hesitation in giving it as my sincere opinion that the whole line of canal from the Hudson to Lake Erie may be86 THE HOLLAND LAND CO. accomplished, if prosecuted by practical men for a sum much less than that estimated. Independent of the claims this national improvement has on the munificence of the national Legislature there are doubtless many others of greater importance that deserve a portion of their munificence, and as you have justly ob- served, “The experience of the late war and the effects of the present peace teaches us many truths and points to na- tional objects worthy the attention of the wisest and best of statesmen.” I have no doubt, and indeed I am fully im- pressed with the opinion that the present Congress will lay the foundation on which an edifice will be erected commen- surate with the lasting and permanent benefits of the American people. Meantime with great respect I am your most obed’t Serv’t Joseph Ellicott. FEDERAL AID URGED AT LENGTH—TO REPRESENTATIVE CLARKE. [Batavia, Jan. 3, 1817.] Honorable A. S. Clarke, Esquire, Washington City. Dear Sir : I with great pleasure acknowledge the re- ceipt of your letter of the 14th ult. which duly came to hand the 28th following. Mr. Brooks has also done me the pleas- ure of a communication on the same subject, to whom I have in a cursory manner thrown together my ideas of the importance of an appropriation of the description you men- tion as well as the great interest I think the United States have in participating in making the canal from the Hudson to the Lakes. Should Congress make an appropriation for the purpose of aiding internal improvements, I am sincerely of Opinion that it will stand foremost among the many important and beneficial measures that have been carried into effect by the U. S. Legislature, provided that it can be appropriated ac-AND CANAL CONSTRUCTION. 87 cording to the several and respective Advantages- to be de- rived by the accomplishment of the respective internal im- provements, for which appropriations from that fund may be required. This it is my opinion might be effected not however by making the actual appropriation for each spe- cific object a part of the act. The distribution of that fund according to my impression will have to be done either by persons to be appointed for that purpose, or left with some of the officers of government. Was this business left with prudent, practical men to controul they would judge of the practicability of carrying into successful completion all projects of internal improve- ments if to be performed upon the principles and scale of the projectors; and altho there are many extremely useful projects that would be well deserving the public patronage and to share in the munificence of the appropriation, yet the manner that might be devised for accomplishing them of such a description as would render their completion imprac- ticable; consequently in such cases it would be improper to appropriate for such projects any part of the internal im- provement fund. I will state a case of the description I have alluded to, which according to the manner proposed for carrying the project into effect was entirely imprac- ticable, altho nothing easier accomplished, if projected in that practicable manner practical men would* devise for the purpose. For instance suppose application should be made for a portion of the 2,000,000 of dollars proposed to be ap- propriated for the annual internal improvement fund for effecting a canal communication between the Hudson and Lake Erie upon the principles of the one recommended by the late Gouverneur Morris and other commissioners ap- pointed by the state (James Geddis late member of Congress principal Engineer). That is to say, a navigable aqueduct with out locks formed in the manner of an inclined plane; the supply Lake Erie, the water of which moving along it by a slow and gentle current until it forms a junction with the Hudson. I think it would not require much sagacity or practical knowledge to discover that the public money should never be appropriated and expended on such a pro-88 THE HOLLAND LAND CO. ject, inasmuch as the wealth of the nation would be incom- petent to the performance of the navigation after the man- ner of that inclined aqueduct. Hence I infer that when ap- plication is made for a portion of the internal improvement fund, the application should be accompanied with a Descrip- tion of the manner it was proposed to accomplish it, in or- der that the persons having the superintendence of appro- priating that fund should have the necessary information to enable them to judge whether the project could be accom- plished upon the plan devised by the projectors-, and at an expense which the utility of the object when accomplished would counterbalance, because it is a fact which experience too often proves that things may cost more than they are worth when obtained. As however to the practicability of accomplishing a canal navigation with locks the usual man- ner of forming canals from the Hudson to Lake Erie, I am persuaded there is no one object that would contribute such important benefits to the nation that could be accomplished with so much facility, provided however that all visionary projects should be discarded, and the object should be prose- cuted by practical men in a practicable way, and probably for less than two thirds the sum estimated in the late Me- morial from the Commissioners to Congress. That portion of the canal route, which was placed under my Direction to cause to be explored and leveled, and which will be about 60 miles of Canal may be accomplished I am fully of the opinion for less than $400,000. The estimate I have made from an actual profile taken of the surface of the country where the site of the Canal would trace, which affords the means of estimating the number of cords of earth &c. to be removed, which with the expense of constructing locks (on Gallatins estimate of $10,000 per lock) amounts in the whole to $385,518; but to make up for all Deficiencies I have stated $400,000 which will average $6666 per mile for the part of the Canal under my superintendance, and which I shall in a few days report to the Commissioners. It may be proper to observe that my estimate ist on the supposition that the money should be expended with the same prudence and discretion as it would be done by an in-AND CANAL CONSTRUCTION. dividual in the performance of his own private work. It might be made to cost two, three or four times that sum, if the money should be prodigally applied, or if the canal should be laid off by some visionary theorist. The remain- ing part of the route which has not been explored under my direction I know nothing of except from report, which how- ever is generally said to be equally practicable; but as doubt- less a canal passing over such a great extent of country must meet with some serious obstacles, let us suppose that each mile of the residue should cost treble my Estimate the whole would amount to the sum of $6,399,999, or say $6,- 500,000; a much larger sum, I am persuaded, could not be expended, provided visionary projects should be discarded relative to laying off the canal site, and that the funds should be managed solely with a view to the completion of the canal, and not with that by the persons having the charge of it for aggrandizing and enriching themselves with the man- agement of the funds. I believe, however, it would not be difficult in forming a bill, to guard against maladministra- tion; nor neither would it be difficult for the persons-, who might be entrusted to make the apportionment to judge with tolerable exactitude which objects of internal improvement were intitled to a portion of the Internal Improvement fund. In all cases where application was made for a portion of this fund, the application should be accompanied with a full de- scription of the object with all the obstacles that might have to be encountered. If the project was a canal let a view of the whole extent of the surface over which the site of the Canal would pass be exhibited by profile topographical maps and plans, accom- panied by the field notes in making the levels, stating the composition of earths to be excavated, tunnels to be made, aquaduct bridges to be erected, embankments to be formed, and extent of deep cuttings to be encountered, with all other such information as would be necessary to a correct under- standing of the object. Those particulars would form a data, which would enable the persons entrusted with the in- ternal improvement fund to deliberate upon the subject;— While book after book may be written composed in the most90 THE HOLLAND LAND CO. elegant stile and forcible expressions, which may merely contain the imagination of the author, and form no actual data, from which an appropriation could be made. If the project was a road let the survey line be laid down topo- graphically with field notes stating the ascents and descents of hills, mountains, the quantity of excavations necessary to be made, the composition of earth, over which the road would pass, distance material would have to be brought, bridges to be erected, &c, &c, all of which information when laid before the Distributors of the internal improvement fund, would enable them to judge whether the object was intitled to participate in that fund. I will observe that in the accomplishment of all important improvements, when the United States would participate equally with the State, they would necessarily appoint their own agents to superintend and reserve to themselves a juris- diction over such improvements in proportion to the sum of money which was respectively expended in their completion; all advances made by the Distributors of the improvement fund to be accounted for, stating what object of improve- ment had been performed with it. To form an act for this fund I think will have to be lengthy to embrace all the various objects if done minutely; but I do not by any means see much difficulty in Drafting a Bill to contain every necessary provision that will guard against all maladministration in the distribution and man- agement of this fund. If the proposed Canal Communication between the Hud- son and Lake Erie should be so laid that the Agents of the Holland Company shall be convinced of the practicability of its accomplishment in the manner it may be projected I am persuaded that the Holland Company will subscribe lands in Lots adjoining the Canal to the quantity of at least 8,000 acres, exclusive of donating the site for the Canal, so far as it may pass through the unalienated part of their territory. Such subscription however would be made provisionary; bona fide if the Canal should be completed in 26 years; and if not accomplished in that period the land to revert to the Company. It is very evident to me that should the Canal beAND CANAL CONSTRUCTION. 91 completed at any period before the expiration of the time limited, those lands lying adjoining it might be disposed of for at least $50 per acre, amounting to $400,000—a sum that would be sufficient to refund the first expense incurred in excavating that part of the Canal, which has been ex- plored, & leveled the past Season* under my direction, ex- tending from Buffalo creek to the East Transit Line of Hol- land Company Lands Township No. 13 Range 1. Should the United States, who are an hundred nay a thousand fold more interested than any foreign Land Com- pany can be, make an actual appropriation in money, which might at once be called in requisition for the prosecution of the object of only ten times the sum I have estimated the Holland Company Subscription would amount to on the Canal being compleated which for the United States would be $4,000,000 and the State of New York $2,000,000, mak- ing in the whole $6,400,000, there can be no question but that the whole line of Canal could be accomplished & boats freighted with the choicest fruits of the earth navigating it in less than 5 years from this period; always providing however that all visionary projects should be discarded, & the object carried into effect uponi those principles that the experience of ages has tested to be the most practicable & useful, which is by following the face of the country by means of locks where sufficient water can be had for a supply & not embarking in those visionary inclined plane canal projects where mountains taking place of vallies Have to be formed, along which to carry the aqueducts & tunnels made under mountains in the room of plains. I agree with you perfectly in your ideas upon the subject of the national university. Your reasonings are conclusive to my mind. It is a visionary notion; so far as it has* a rela- tion to the education of youth, infusing into them more knowledge than they are taught at other seminaries. It is however not visionary so far as it would be the means for the erection of some elegant buildings to beautify the city of Washington & also assist in circulating the money of the nation in that local spot & I presume that to be the most im- portant part that would be accomplished by it.92 THE HOLLAND LAND CO. I enclose herewith an advertisement, which I fear is fraught with much mischief; many persons it is said1 in this quarter are interesting themselves in- making purchases of the lands advertised, & some preparing to embark in the course of the ensuing season with their families to take possession. Would it not be proper for’government to ex- amine into this business. The season thus far has been remarkably mild. We have not any snow worth mentioning. Pray let me hear from you occasionally regarding such objects as we are locally and nationally interested in. I shall now close this desultory communication, which I have not had time to revise and correct before handing to the Copyist. By wishing you a prosperous and happy new year, and assuring you of the sentiments of regard and esteem, with which I have the honor to be very respectfully your obedient Servant Joseph Ellicott. Batavia, Jany 3, 1817. CLINTON TO BUSTI, ON LAND DONATION. New-York, 4th January, 1817. Paul Busti, Esq., A gent of the Holland Land Company. Sir: I am charged by the commissioners of canals, to solicit your attention to the donations of lands heretofore promised by the Holland Land Company, but which was not consummated, on account of the late war, which rendered it almost impracticable for the State to embark in an under- taking of such magnitude and expense, at that time. The commissioners are anxious to know, with all con- venient speed, whether you will renew the grant, and add to it the lands through which the canal will pass, and which may be necessary for the operation, on condition that the canal shall be completed within twenty years. The lands of course will not be taxed.AND CANAL CONSTRUCTION. 93 Your prompt answer will oblige the board of commis- sioners, who are required by law to make a report to the legislature, on the subject of the canal, some time in the be- ginning of February; and I have only to add, that the whole route has been surveyed, that the practicability and comparative cheapness of the canal, has been satisfactorily ascertained, and that a liberal spirit manifested by the great landed proprietors, on this occasion, may have a benign ef- fect, in promoting this great object. Very respectfully, I am, Sir, Your obedient servant, De Witt Clinton, President of the Board of Canal Commissioners. MR. BUSTI STILL DEFERS A DEFINITE PROPOSITION. Philadelphia, January 9th, 1817. De Witt Clinton, Esq., President of the board of Canal Commissioners, &c., &c. Sir : I have had the honor of receiving your letter of the 4th instant, on the subject of the renewal of the donation of lands, heretofore made, by the Holland Land Company, for. promoting the execution of canal navigation, from Lake Erie to the Hudson river, but which, in consequence of a postponement of this great undertaking, has reverted to the company. I am not prepared to give a definite reply to your inquiry. I must content myself, for the present, to assure you, that the disposition of the Holland Land Company, to aid so im- portant a work, remains unaltered. The only question has been, the best manner in which they can give effect to their wish of contributing towards effecting it. With this view, I have some time since consulted Jos. Ellicott, Esq. (the company’s agent at Batavia,) on this subject, and flatter myself with having it in my power, shortly, to offer to the board of canal commissioners, the Holland Land Company’s donation, in lands, on such terms as, I trust, will be per-94 THE HOLLAND LAND CO. fectly satisfactory to the gentleman commissioners, and' fur- nish a further proof of the sincere disposition of my con- stituents, to aid undertakings of public utility. I have the honor to be, very respectfully, Sir, Your most obed’t servant, Paul Busti. MYRON HOLLEY TO JOSEPH ELLIC0TT. Canandaigua nth Jany 1817. [To Joseph Ellicott] Dear Sir: I did hope to have the pleasure of seeing you at Batavia before I left home for Albany, but various circumstances have hitherto prevented me, and it is now too late, for it is my intention to start for the Capitol on mon- day. When the Commrs were together in November last, they appointed a meeting to be held at Albany the thirteenth of this month and made it the duty of Mr. Young to inform yourself and Gen Van Rensselaer of the appointment; and also, to request the Engineers respectively, to have their re- turns completed and ready for delivery there, by that day. I mention these facts fearing Mr. Young’s letter to you may have miscarried. The Commrs are very desirous, Sir, that you should be present at that meeting, believing that every fair exertion of intelligence and influence will be necessary to the success of the enterprise, which we have all so much at heart, and wishing to avail themselves of your assistance to make out their report. It will give you great satisfaction, I trust, to learn, that we have had a most respectable county meeting here, this week on the subject of the Canal, the result of which, in the first instance, has been to give new activity and zeal to all the friends of that measure in this vicinity. I wish you could have attended the meeting. The proceedings adopted are contained in the enclosed hand-bill. Is it not expedient to call such a meeting, in your county? If you think it is,AND CANAL CONSTRUCTION. 95 Sir, and- every body here thinks so, will you take measures to bring it about ? With great respect, Sir, I am your very obedient Myron Holley. VIEWS OF MICAH BROOKS IN 1817. Washington City 16th Jany, 1817. [To Joseph Ellicott] Dear Sir : With much pleasure I rec’d your letter of the 30th Dec. last on the subject of Internal Improvements. I perfectly agree with you respecting the Importance of the Erie Canal and also that the Genl Govt most certainly ought to cooperate with the State govt in effecting the object. It is all important in a Commercial point of view. The immense wealth of the right bank of the St. Lawrence flows down its waters to Montreal & Quebeck andi enables Great Britain in her own bottoms to supply herself and her West India Colonies with provisions, to the exclusion of American bottoms, which is a National loss, and falls with consider- able wait upon the Commercial Interest of N. England. I find no difficulty in producing a conviction on the minds of the Members that I converse with of the importance of effecting this object. As you justly observe, “the visionary project of an inclined plain” has had a tendency to produce doubts of the practicability of the Erie Canal. In conversa- tion with Mr. Calhoun he very readily acknowledged the Importance of the Erie Canal, but was not satisfied of its practicability he was anxious we should make a correct sur- vey of the route and if he could be convinced that it could be effected by any reasonable sum he would give it all the support in his power. At the first meeting of the Committee on Roads & Canals the sum of two millions annually for ten. years, was men- tioned as a sum necessary to effect all the great National objects, and a majority of the Committee would have been willing to have made this appropriation—-but in the detail of this business there are many difficulties to overcome. The96 THE HOLLAND LAND CO. Committee are not in possession of accurate surveys and proper estimates of expense of the different objects that would compose the general system—and to attempt to get an appropriation for one object alone would in all probabil- ity fail. In a general appropriation for objects of this kind local attachments and jealousy will spring up and make it difficult to get a speceffic appropriation for each object in the first place. For this reason the Committee will probably report in favor of appointing an able engineer to take the surveys and make estimates of those Routes of primary im- portance leaving the 2nd part of their report until the sense of the House is taken upon Mr. Calhouns bill. Which goes to appropriate the Bonus and procedes of the National Bank for Internal Improvements. If this bill passes, the Coinmit- tee will undoubtedly at this session report a bill in favour applying the Funds and to commence the business as soon as possible. I was much gratified with a description of a part of the Route which you gave in a letter to Judge Clark. I hope we shall get surveys of the whole Route which will be equally favourable—and if we should not be able to get an appro- priation or pledge at this session of Congress the subject is ripening for the next. I will shortly send you some documents on this subject. Pardon the inaccuracy of these hasty remarks, I have not time to coppy or correct. Very Respectfully Your obt Serv’t Micah Brooks. Josh. Ellicott Esquire ELLICOTT TO CLINTON. Batavia, Jan. 20, 1817. Honorable De Witt Clinton, Esquire, President of the Board of Canal Commissioners. Dear Sir: I forwarded by Mr. Caldwell my report of the canal route from the head waters of Black creek to Lake Erie. I should have been extremely happy in the oppor-AND CANAL CONSTRUCTION 97 tunity of being the bearer of it, and presenting it to the Board in person; but this preparing and arranging the work performed in the woods to enable me to make report having occupied the principal part of my time since the return of the engineer from the woods has in its consequences so much interfered with my indispensable duties that at the present time I am prevented from the pleasure of visiting Albany and I trust the information is detailed with suffi- cient perspicuity to render a personal attendance for the purpose of explaining the objects performed as unnecessary. I forwarded with the report an account of monies I have advanced for defraying expences in prosecuting the work, which you will please have refunded by placing the amount to wit $1563-42/100 to my credit in any bank in the city of Albany, and advise me thereof. Your compliance will lay under obligation with great respect & esteem Your most obed’t humble Serv’t Joseph Ellicott. GOV. CLINTON SEEKS INFORMATION. Albany, 21 Jany, 1817. Dear Sir: The Canal Commissioners are anxious to see you here as soon as possible. We want all the benefits of your counsel experience and extensive knowledge of the Country. Mr. Busti informs me that he has written to you on the subject of a donation from the H. L. Company. , The house in which I lodge is a very good one (Mr. Gourlay’s, Washington Street) and I think you can be well accommodated here. I am Yours with most sincere regard De Witt Clinton J. Ellicott, Esqr. My compliments to Mr. Representative, Mr. Stevens and Mr. Evans. Evans MSS.98 THE HOLLAND LAND CO, BUSTI STILL THINKS THE CANAL WILL NEVER BE FINISHED. Philadelphia 23d January, 1817. JosEPPi Ellicott, Esq., Batavia. Dear Sir : ... As for the donation to be offered, I have been in expectation of your suggestions in conformity of those your intimate acquaintance with the subject and the views and prospects of the Commissioners will dictate. By a letter of De Witt Clinton Esq I have been asked to state what assistance the H. L. C. would lend to the great undertaking. By some hints thrown out it would seem the Board expects that besides the former grant I will add an- other of the ground trough which the canal is to be dug and the towpath to be made. With a brieve answer I informed Mr. De Wit Clinton that I was not prepared to make any positive donation before I had your thoughts on a business the decision of which mostly depends from the cognizance of localities to which I am a total stranger. That however the Board could depend on the H. L. C.Js willingness to con- tribute liberally to the undertaking of the grand work. Grand indeed and magnificent I consider it to be. So much so that notwithstanding the palatable arguments and calculations given by the writer of the pamphlet entitled Serious Appeal to the Legislature I cannot divest myself of my old opinion that if ever begun it will in no age be com- pleted*. This consideration naturally makes me lean over to the disposition of renewing rather the grant of the tract on the southern line than to that of curtailing that gratuity and substitute the donation of the ground for the Canal & path. My objection against the last is strengthened by the injury done to farms country seats & lots occasioned by the failure of the Canal that was to unite the waters of the Schuylkill with those of the Delaware. I am very much afraid that in case the work was begun and not completed in your quar- ters its imperfection would greatly depreciate every farm lot cut up by the dry canal. I say by way of discouraging only, for I am sensible of the many reasons that might be adduced to reverse my alleged opinion. . . . Paul Busti.AND CANAL CONSTRUCTION REPRESENTATIVE CLARKE TO JOS. ELLICOTT. City Washington Jany 24, 1817. D Sir: I reed your letter giving me interesting detail of your views on the subject of internal improvements, which I have shown to several of the members of the com- mittee on that subject, who appeared to feel the force of them. This committee I understand will in a few days com- plete a report which will recommend an annual appropria- tion, and a system by which the appropriations shall be ap- plied, but I have not sufficient information what it will be to give you any correct idea of it, therefore shall not attempt it, but wait untill the report is made and will immediately forward it to you. . A. S. Clarke. Joseph Ellicott, Esq. ELLICOTT TO BUSTI *. REPORT ON THE CANAL ROUTE. Batavia Jan 31, 1817. Paul Busti, Esquire, Philadelphia My dear Sir: As considerable more time has elapsed since I had the honor to make a communication to you than ought to have elapsed, or indeed would have done had not the making out a Report of the canal route for the com- missioners in Albany occupied so much of my attention, and wishing also in the communication I might next make to be able to inform you of the practicability of excavating a canal on the route so explored are among the causes for this delay. In my letter of the 15th Octo. ult. I mentioned forward^ ing to you a map of the route with the profile of the face of the country levelled over. I find however to make out a profile such as to be of any use must be on such a large scale that it would occupy several quires of paper and take more time in its accomplishment than I have to spare. I must therefore content myself by enclosing to you a Dia-100 THE HOLLAND LAND CO. gram or topographical map of the route I have caused to be surveyed levelled and explored, with a statement of the expence I have estimated and reported to the Commission- ers to be sufficient to form the Canal, and also the quantity of water which is to be for the supply of the summit level between the Niagara and Genesee River, which I presume will afford sufficient information to enable you to determine on the manner and quantity of land you will be disposed to subscribe on the Company’s Account. The following is an extract from that part of my Report to the Commissioners on this subject which relates to the estimate of expence which may be required to construct the canal &c. [The extract from the report is here omitted, as the report in full follows.] And here I beg leave to observe that there are few objects of internal Improvement that requires to be more immediately accomplished than the two sections of Canal round the rapids at the head of Niagara River, connected with a safe harbor which requires to be constructed at the East end of Lake Erie; an object necessary for the safety of vessels navigating the Lakes, being the great mart where most of the vessels receive and discharge their lading. Without undertaking to locate any particular site as the most proper for a harbor to be formed I may be permitted to say that it is the opinion of many well informed men that Buffalo Creek which inside of the bar is from 15 to 20 feet in depth might at a small expence compared with the great importance of the object be made a safe and commodious harbor for vessels of every Description that navigate the Lakes. Those objects alone if effected I have not any hesi- tation in saying would reduce the price of freightage through the Lakes at least 100 pr. cent. An harbor for vessels at the east end of Lake Erie is all important on account of the great and continued losses sus- tained by vessels having so frequently to descend the rapids at the outlet for security against the violent storms of wind (which appears peculiar to Lake Erie) oftentimes remain- ing weeks below waiting a fair wind of sufficient strengthAND CANAL CONSTRUCTION. 101 to enable vessels to reascend. It is the opinion of many captains of vessels, who sail on those Lakes, that by extend- ing a pier a few hundred feet from the Southern cape of Buffalo creek in the Direction of that represented on the map designated by the letter P would prevent the southwest wind from driving the sand (which accumulates southerly of the creeks junction with the Lake) into the mouth of the creek and thereby by the means of keeping the channel open for vessels to sail at all times in the creek’s mouth. The expence of constructing such a pier it is the opinion of many would not exceed from twenty to thirty thousand Dollars, which is a much less sum than the losses which have been sustained by wreckage occasioned solely from the circumstance of there being no harbor for vessels at the east end of Lake Erie. The commissioners will pardon the liberty I have taken by calling their attentin to this sub- ject, being of the opinion that it is so intimately and insep- arably connected with the Canal that I have deemed it proper to make mention of it in my Report. Because should there be no safe harbor for vessels navigating the Lake where the canal connects with it the benefit to be de- rived by the Canal will be comparatively small, & believing also that a harbor at the East end of Lake Erie is among the first and most important objects of internal Improvement requiring to be accomplished in the western part of the State must be my apology for this Digression (if it is a Digression from the canal subject). ... Joseph Ellicott. JOSEPH ELLICOTT’s REPORT ON A CANAL ROUTE IN WESTERN NEW YORK, 1817. [Batavia, Jan., 1817.] Honorable De Witt Clinton, Esquire President of the Board of Canal Commissioners Dear Sir: At a meeting of a Board of Canal Commis- sioners convened in the village of Buffalo in July last it was among other things ordered by said Board that I should102 THE HOLLAND LAND CO. employ an Engineer & Surveyor for making levels and sur- veys of the country from a monument fixed by James Geddes Esquire in the Eastern Transit line of the Holland Companys land Westward to Buffalo Creek near Lake Erie for the purpose of ascertaining the practicability of exca- vating a Canal through the intervening country. In obedience I employed William Peacock & Andrew A. Ellicott Esquires, the former Engineer, and the latter sur- veyor, to perform that service, and now do myself the honor to make REPORT.1 To perform this object with that perspicuity which will enable the Board of Commissioners to form a correct opinion of the practicability or otherwise of the route for a canal I have found it expedient to direct the Engineer from his field notes to make out maps of the profile of the face of the country over which the levels were extended, and also a topographical map exhibiting a view of the projected route, which maps I shall occasionally have to refer to ex- planatory of the objects performed, and Firstly, it was deemed necessary to extend a level from Geddis’s Monument, which I have designated on the Maps by the Initial A Eastward to the waters of Black creek that fall into the Genesee River, which level line would pass over the greatest elevation between Lake Erie and the Genesee River, and furnish the necessary information to ascertain the exact summit level Elevation above Lake Erie, which object was accordingly performed, and the level line ex- tended & Williams & Smiths Grist mill worked by a stream of water called Spring creek, a Branch of Black Creek aforesaid to the Eastward of the Eastern Extent of the summit level designated on the profile map by the Initial B. Reference being had to the field notes taken in making said section of the level from Station No. i a Folio i to Station i. The maps which accompanied this report were presumably filed at Albany. No duplicates which tally with the references in the Report, are among the Holland Land Co. maps in the possession of the Buffalo Historical Society.AND CANAL CONSTRUCTION. 103 226 inclusive Folio 2 will exhibit The courses and Distances of the several levels, and also the elevations and depressions of the country leveled over, with such remarks as the En- gineer deemed expedient to make. And the Atlas Maps Pages 1 & 2 will exhibit the profile of the face of the coun- try leveled over. The pieceding level being accomplished a level line was commenced at the aforesaid Monument designated on the Maps A and extended Westward along the South Margin of Tonnawonta Swamp with the impression that the sur- face of Swamp would be found nearly horizontal; but on the Engineer arriving at the Oak Orchard Road it was ascertained that the face of the Swamp had a considerable descent to the west, and had dipped 12 feet below Geddis’s Monument, which we shall call the Transit line level. From the Oak Orchard Road the Engineer was directed to explore the ground and extend his level line on the same horizontal elevation of the Transit line level as near as he could find the surface of the country to conform with it, without regard to meanders until his level line would meet the surface of water in Tonnawonta Creek, which when accomplished a Judgment might be formed of the most proper place to terminate the western extent of the upper or summit level canal, and where the first descending locks might most advantageously commence. On the Engineer’s arriving with his level line aforesaid at the Tonnawonta Creek designated on the profile & topographical Maps by the Initial D it was our opinion that the most proper place to commence the descending locks would be at the point designated on the Maps by the Initial C near the Lewiston Road, inasmuch as the Residue of the level from C to D is in a direction that would unnecessarily increase the Dis- tance of the actual Canal and therefore the portion of Level between the Initials C and D might more properly consti- tute the site for the feeder to introduce the water from Tonnawonta creek into the Summit level. Reference being had to the field notes taken by the Engineer in making his level Westward from Station No. I a Folio 4 to station No. 204 a Inclusive Folio 16 and also to the Atlas Maps exhibit-104 THE HOLLAND LAND CO. ing the profile of the face of the country over which the level was made from the point designated A to the point designated C, comprehended in pages No. 3. 4. 5. 6. 7. 8. 9. 10 & 11 will enable the commissioners to form a tolerable accurate opinion of the feasibility of excavating the canal along the summit level. And' the field Notes from station No. 204 C Folio 16 to Station No. 231 d inclusive folio 17, and from Station No. 1 e Folio 18 to Station No. 27 f Folio 19 inclusive will be seen the observations and remarks made by the Engineer in accomplishing the level of the feeder, and the Atlas Maps from the Initial G to the Initial D Pages No. 22, 23 & 24 will exhibit the profile of the face of country leveled over. By the period the Engineer had accomplished the level for the summit canal the season was so far advanced that It became impracticable to mark off precisely the ground on which the summit level canal aforesaid could be most ju- diciously laid & perform the level to ascertain how many feet the summit level was more elevated than Lake Erie, and believing the level line which the Engineer had run and marked afforded sufficient information for all present purposes I directed him to extend his level from the point C near the Lewiston Road to the Commencement of Still- water on the Tonnawonta Creek 12 miles above its Junction with the Niagara River; and on the performance of that object to proceed to the Mouth of Tonnawonta Creek and extend a level line from the southern cape Buffalo Creek near Lake Erie. Those levels being accomplished we should ascertain not only the actual elevation of the summit level above still water in the Tonnawonta Creek, but also above the surface of the water in Buffalo Creek on a level with Lake Erie, as well as obtain information of the undu- lations in the surface of the intervening country. In the meantime the Engineer was instructed to guage with all possible accuracy the number of cubic feet of water passing down the Tonnawonta creek pr. minute, having previously been instructed to guage and ascertain the quan- tum of water discharged by the several Brooks, which he might meet with intersecting his canal Route on producingAND CANAL CONSTRUCTION. 105 his level, and that might be conducted in the summit level canal. Reference being had to a minute statement of his guagings following his field notes will afford all the infor- mation on that subject. The guagings of Tonnawonta Creek (which was deemed very important) being accomplished the Engineer com- menced a level line from the Point C near the Lewiston Road aforesaid, and extended it down Tonnawonta Creek to the Commencement of Stillwater. It is proper for me to observe that this level line was mostly extended along the creek, side road, and not made with the view of designating the actual site for the canal, but for the purpose of ascer- taining (as I have before stated) the elevation of the sum- mit level above still water in Tonnawonta Creek; conse- quently the profile map of said level exhibits the surface of the tract of country passed over to be more uneven than it would have exhibited had the Engineer been laying off the actual site for the canal to be excavated. Reference being had to the field notes taken by the Engineer from Station No. i g Folio 20 to Station No. 160 h Folio 27 inclusive, and also to the Atlas Maps, Pages 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16, 17, 18, 19, 20 & 21, exhibiting the profile of the face of the country over which the said level was extended will evince that few Tracts of country of the same extent has a more even surface than the profile laid down from the actual field notes exhibits, which extend from the Initial C as desig- nated on the maps to the commencement of still water of Tonnawonta Creek. The whole elevation of the summit level above still water in Tonnawonta creek the Engineer has ascertained to be 7948*4/100 feet. From the Junction of Tonnawonta Creek with the Ni- agara River to Black rock ferry designated by the Initial E the level extended along the River side Road. Reference being had to the field notes from Station No. 1 i Folio 28 to No. 48 K Folio 30 inclusive will be seen the remarks & ob- servations made by the Engineer in making this sectional level; and by referring to the Atlas Maps pages 25, 26, 27, 28 & 29 will be seen the profile of the face of the country106 THE HOLLAND LAND CO. over which the level was extended to the ferry at Black rock. From thence the Engineer commenced his level at the bend of Little Buffalo Greek, designated on the maps by the initial F and extended it through the Buffalo marsh to the southern termination of Black Rock designated G. Reference being had to the field notes from Station No. I e Folio 31 to station No. 10 m will be seen the observations and remarks made by the Engineer in the performance of this part of his level; and also to the Atlass Maps from the Initial F to G aforesaid, Pages [blank] will show the profile of the face of the marsh and its elevation above Lake Erie, and consequently the Depth necessary to be excavated for the formation of that part of the Canal. From the point G designated on the maps the level was extended to the point E at Black rock ferry aforesaid ref- erence being had to the field notes from Station No. 10 m Folio 31 to Station No. 13 n inclusive will be seen the re- marks of the Engineer and to the Atlas Maps from G to E aforesaid Pages [blank] will exhibit the profile of the sur- face over which the level was carried. And here I beg leave to observe that there are few objects of internal im- provement that require to be more immediately accom- plished than this section of the canal round the rapids at the head of Niagara River connected with a safe harbour which requires to be constructed at the Eastern end of Lake Erie; an object necessary for the safety of vessels navigating the upper lakes, being the great mart where all vessels receive and discharge their lading. Without undertaking to locate any particular site as the most proper for a harbour to be formed, I may be permitted to say that it is the opinion of many well informed men that Buffalo Creek (which inside of the bar is from 15 to 20 feet in depth) might at a small expence compared with the great importance of the object be made a safe and commodious harbour for vessels of every description that navigate the lakes. Those objects alone if effected I have no hesitation in saying would reduce the price of freightage through the lakes at least 100 pr. cent. A harbour at the east end of the lake is all important, on account of the great and continual losses sustained byAND CANAL CONSTRUCTION. 107 the vessels having so frequently to descend the rapids at the outlet for security againts the violent storms of wind (which appear peculiar to Lake Erie) oftentimes remaining weeks below waiting a fair wind of sufficient strength to enable vessels to reascend. It is the opinion of many Captains of vessels who sail on those lakes that by extending a pier a few hundred feet from the southern cape of Buffalo creek in the direction of that represented on the maps designated by the letter p would prevent the southwest wind from driving the sand (which accumulates southerly of the creek’s junction with the Lake) into the mouth of the creek, and thereby be the means of keeping the channel open for vessels to sail at all times in the creek’s mouth. The expence of constructing such a pier it is the opinion of many would not exceed from twenty to thirty thousand Dollars, which is a much less sum than the losses which have been sustained by wreckage occasioned solely from the circumstance of there being no safe harbour for vessels at the East end of Lake Erie. The commissioners will pardon the liberty I have taken by calling their attention to this subject, being of the opinion that it is so intimately and inseparably connected with the canal, that I have deemed it proper to make mention of it in this Report; because should there be no safe harbour for vessels navigating the Lake where the Canal connects with it the benefits to be derived by the canal will be comparatively small ; and believing also that a har- bour at the East end of Lake Erie among the first and most important of internal improvements requiring to be accom- plished in the western part of the State must be my apology for this digression from the canal subject. Having in the preceding pages stated to the commission- ers with as much perspicasity as myi time from indispensable duties will admit the route for the canal that I have caused to be explored, levelled and surveyed, and referred them to the field notes taken by the Engineer in making the levels for more particular information, the next object of inquiry is what will be the probable expence attending the excavation of the canal through the several sections on this route. And108 THE HOLLAND LAND CO. Firsty of that section of canal from where it would unite with the navigation of Lake Erie at Buffalo Creek desig- nated on the topographical map by the Initial F to the Southern extremity of Black rock designated on the map aforesaid by the initial G being a Distance of two miles of Marsh, formerly producing cranberries; the marsh muck averaging from 2 to 2-1/2 feet in depth; the under part strong clay suitable for bricks. The average elevation of the face of the marsh above the surface of the water in Lake Erie as appears by the profile map exhibiting the shape of the surface of this section of the site for said canal is about 5-1/2 feet; but as the canal would have to be excavated of such a depth as to contain 4-1/2 feet of water, the whole average Depth to be excavated from F to G would! be 10 feet. If it were determined that 40 feet should be the mean breadth of the Canal at the surface of the water, and 26 feet the mean breadth at the bottom of the Canal, which I pre- sume will be of sufficient magnitude, and make the estimate of expence upon that Data there would require in making the excavation of the aforesaid section of canal to be re- moved to form the aqueduct 33,350 cords of earth, and1 al- lowing $1.12 1/2 to defray the expence of excavating each cord, the aggregate sum for cutting the aforesaid section of Canal would amount to $375,518.75. Second—That section of the canal site between the In- itials G and E, which I call Black rock Section, composed principally of stratum of calcareous earth, the upper strata incorporated with silex, the whole Distance one mile, the average depth less than 5 feet, but say 5 feet, there would require to be excavated to make this cut 49,960 cubic perches of stone, which if we estimate can be removed for 62 1/2 Cents pr. perch (and there can be no question but that it may be accomplished for a less sum. The expence for making the cut for this section of the canal will amount to $30,600. If however a wall should be erected for the Bank of the canal next the river and puddled, which probably would answer equally as well1 as making the cut through the stratum of calcareous earth, the expence would not exceedAND CANAL CONSTRUCTION. 109 $15000. Rather choosing however to make the Estimate on the highest probable sum I shall consider the former as the Estimate. Third—That section of the canal site extending from the Initial E at Black rock ferry to the Initial L (topographical map) at Tonnawonta Creek must be formed principally long the margin of the Niagara River. Although a portion of this section will not require other excavation than what will be sufficient to furnish earth for an embankment next the river, nevertheless as there will have some wiers to be made across the mouths of creeks, and some narrows to wall I presume the estimate will average a cut of 5 feet in depth, and the distance being 13 miles will require the Removal of 80600 cords of earth to form the aqueduct which if we estimate the expence of excavating each cord upon an aver- age at $1 and which I presume would be sufficient, in as much as the labor attending the excavation of a canal 5 feet in Depth is comparatively less than that of 10 feet in depth it will be adequate for the performance of the object, amounting in the whole aggregate to $80,600. Fourth—The preceding object accomplished I would pro- pose the constructing a Dam across Tonnawonta Creek of the same elevated: height of the water of Lake Erie at Buf- falo Creek, thereby raising the water in Tonnawonta of the same elevated height of Lake Erie, which uniting with the canal, the Tonnawonta upwards would form and become a portion of the canal as far as the still or level water set, which would be to the Initial R (Topographical map) a Distance of 17 miles. Consequently the Lake Erie canal level would extend from F at Buffalo creek to a place up Tonnawonta Creek designated as aforesaid by the initial R, constituting one level of 33 miles. Although in most cases the beds of creeks are not considered suitable for canal navi- gation, this portion of Tonnawonta I consider an exception; the creek being from 14 to 20 perches in breadth, the water in which raised to the Lake Erie level by means of the dam aforesaid with bold shores, and consequently will be but par- tially effected with freshets; and by constituting this por-110 THE HOLLAND LAND CO. tion of Tonnawonta creek as part of the canal there is saved 17 miles of cutting, and only the expence of a Dam or weir say at the most $8,500, and towing paths to be encountered, which at $600 pr. mile, a sum amply sufficient to accomplish the purpose, amounts in the aggregate to $18,700. Fifth—I would also propose that a lock should, be con- structed near the Dam to connect the canal with the Niagara River for the accommodation of boats ascending from, Schlosser to Lake Erie and vice versa Expence say. $10,000. Sixth—That section of the canal site extending from the Initial R, being the Eastern extent of the Lake Erie Level canal to the Initial C, being the western Extent of the sum- mit level canal will require the construction of 10 locks, each with 7-48/100 feet lifts to convey boats from the Lake Erie level to the summit level canal aforesaid. Three of which locks may be constructed at the place designated by the Initial R aforesaid, being the western! extent of the sum- mit level and the other three at such place or places as might be found most convenient and suitable in the intervening part of the level. The estimated expence for constructing Locks (vide Gallatins Report) is $10,000 pr. Lock, making the aggregate expence of the locks to be constructed to con- vey Boats from the Lake level to the summit level $100,000. The tract of country over which this section of the Canal may be directed is so remarkable for its evenness of surface that I am persuaded a site for the canal might be so laid that a cut would not be necessary to be made upon an aver- age of more than three feet in depth to form a canal of the magnitude of the one I have proposed to wit 40 feet in breadth, at the surface of water, 4-1/2 feet in depth, and 26 feet in breadth at the bottom of the canal, from which I de- duce the following Result of the expence that may attend the excavation of each mile of said section of canal. A cut averaging three feet in depth (which will contribute suf- ficient earth for the Banks to contain the water) will con- tain1 3786 cubic cords, and I am fully of opinion that a cut of that depth, which could be made almost exclusively with the plough and scraper, would not cost more pr. cord to exca- vate than 50 cents; but rather wishing to make the estimateAND CANAL CONSTRUCTION. Ill on the greatest probable cost I will estimate it at 62-1/2 cents pr. cord; the distance 12 miles, amounts to $28275, which added to the estimated expence of constructing locks in this section of said canal makes the aggregate expence $128,275. Seventh—That section of the canal site extending from the initial C to the initial B, being the summit level canal site between lake Erie and Genesee River, my impressions are that in making this cut the expence will not be greater than that of making a cut of the uniform depth of four feet; as no deep cuttings will be required or embankments of much elevation to be made for the greater portion of the distance there will only require so much earth to be removed as will make the banks of sufficient elevation together with the depth of the cut to contain the water. I presume for the greater part of the distance the depth to be excavated would average less than three feet; but rather choosing to make the estimate upon Data greater than I conceive will be the utmost extent I place the whole average depth to be exca- vated 4 feet, which can principally be accomplished with the plough and scraper, there being no ledges of rocks or stones in the site where this section of the canal would be laid-; consequently such a cut might be performed for less than 75 Cents pr. cord, each mile of which containing 5050 cords would be accomplished for $3787 50/100, and for the whole extent to the summit level being 57 miles, will amount in the aggregate to the sum of $64387 50/100. Eighth—The aqueduct, which will require to be made for conveying the water of Tonnawonta Creek into the summit level canal, designated on the Map extending from the initial C to D will be 4-3/4 miles in length, and the expence of its excavation predicted upon a cut of 16 feet in breadth and 4 feet in depth will require the removal of 2640 cords of earth for each mile, which estimated at 75 Cents pr. cord will amount in the aggregate to $9443. In making the preceding estimates of the expence that may attend the excavation of the several section sites for the canal, little has been left to conjecture, they are founded on actual levels taken wherein nearly the exact shape of the112 THE HOLLAND LAND CO. face of the country has been ascertained, and exhibited by the profile maps accompanying this Report. Making the aggregate distance of the whole line of canal site from Buffalo creek at the east end of Lake Erie to the Eastern extent of the summit level at the head waters of Black Creek, a Branch of the Genesee river 62 miles, and the aggregate expence that may attend the excavation of the different sections of the canal erecting locks &c as follows— Recapitulation Table First Section .... •••$ 37.518-75 Second “ w.,. Third “ .... Fourth “ — 18,700.00 Fifth “ .... Sixth “ .... Seventh “ .... 64,387.50 Eighth “ .... 9.443-00 Total ......$379,524.25 will observe that in making the preceding estimates I have made no allowance for grubbing up trees and stumps that may stand within the limits of the canal site, or for the sum that might be required to be expended in conducting the waters of Biglow’s & Spring Creeks in the summit level canal, nor for the pay of Engineers and officers superintend- ing the execution of the work. Therefore probably to de- fray those additional Disbursements the Estimate might be increased to the aggregate integral sum of $450,000. The above sum I am persuaded would be sufficient to complete the canal from the Initial F at Buffalo Creek to the Eastern extent of the summit level at the Initial B, pro- vided the fund was managed with all that economy which a prudent discreet person would use in conducting his private concerns; but if the expenditure in the performance of this work should be made profusely without economizing as is too often the case in the accomplishment of public objects double the Amount I have estimated might be insufficient.AND CANAL CONSTRUCTION. 113 The supply of water for the consumption' of locks con- nected with the summit level canal will be abundantly ample, as has been ascertained by the Engineer whose guagings of the several streams, from which I have founded the follow- ing estimate, were performed with the greatest exactitude in the dryest Season of the year, and at a time of the most estreme drought known since the first Settlements in this part of the country, which guagings are entered at large as an appendix to his field notes, to which the commissioners are referred. „ . Estimate of the number of cubic feet of water which the several re- spective creeks and brooks, which intersect, and may be brought in the summit level canal affords pr. hour, com- puted from guagings made by the Engineer at a time of uni- common drought, when they discharged the smallest quan- tity of water at any period in the season. Table CUBIC FEET PER HOUR * Branch of Biglow's creek.............. 13284 * Spring Creek......................... 41236-20/100 * Transit line Brook.................... 3139-20/100 * Turner's Brook ........................ 2943-60/100 * Sulphur Spring Brook ................. 192 * Blodget's Creek..................... 44100 * Cedar Swamp Brook ..................... 2887-80/100 * Trout Brook............................ 4208-40/100 * Holmes Brook....................... 1528-20/100 Tonnawonta Creek Mean Quantity for 8 Days ..................139915-80/100 Total ........................... 253435-40/100 Those creeks and Brooks marked thu9 * are supported by durable springs, Exclusive of those guaged there were several brooks and springs intersected the summit level that were not guaged, which would probably yield sufficient water to supply evaporation and percolation. The dimensions of the locks of the grand Junction canal in Great Britain are 86 feet in length, 15 feet in breadth &114 THE HOLLAND LAND CO. 7 feet lifts, containing 9030 cubic feet of water. Hence the aggregate Quantity of water produced by the several creeks and brooks aforesaid! will fill a lock of such dimensions every 2 minutes & 5 seconds during the 24 hours; which would and discharge 336-79/100 locks at each end of the summit level canal every 24 hours; and if we allow two locks of water & discharged at each end of the summit level canal respectively as necessary for the passage of a boat, there is a sufficient supply of water for the passage of 168.39 boats at each end of the summit level daily and al- lowing each boat to be freighted with 30 tons (although locks of the above dimensions are sufficiently large for 50 Ton boats) the amount of Tonnage that might daily pass through the locks at each end respectively would be 5040 and for the season, admitting the canal should be navigable 8 months to 1,209,600 Tons. When I take into view that those creeks and brooks were guaged in that season of the year when all the waters were at their lowest depression and also in the time of the most extreme drought, and that the supply of water which they discharged at that period during each 24 hours was suf- ficient to fill locks at each end of the summit level canal dur- ing the 12 hours (which the Canal would be used in the 24) every 2 minutes & 5 seconds; and when I also take into view that the formation, of the canal over the summit level on account of the gradual declivity of the country- North- ward would render it unnecessary to do little more than make an embankment on the north side of the cut, which in its effects would form reservoirs exceeding in their aggre- gate extent more than 1000 acres thereby affording sufficient water for bavigating the Canal near two months. I am fully persuaded there cannot be a question but that the sup- ply of water for the use of a canal navigation this route is fully commensurate with any extent that may be required. All which is most respectfully submitted Sir With great respect & esteem Your most obed't humble Serv’t Joseph Ellicott Batavia, January, 1817.AND CANAL CONSTRUCTION. 115 CLINTON TO ELLICOTT. Albany, ii February, 1817. My Dear Sir : I received by Mr. Caldwell your lumi- nous view of the Southern Route with the accompanying maps &c. They are well executed and the whole communi- cation is very satisfactory. We are now busily employed in preparing the Reports required by law which must be presented before Monday next. As soon as they are printed I shall direct them to be transmitted to you. I have requested Mr. Holley our Treasurer to attend to the pecuniary request in your letter and he informs me that he will attend to it & write you as soon as he is relieved from the pressure on his time occasioned by the compila- tion of our Reports. I am Dr Sir Respectfully & Sincerely Yours De Witt Clinton J. Ellicott, Esqr. My best compliments to Mr. Representative, Messrs. Graves & Stevens. Evans MSS. THE LAND COMPANY SUBSCRIPTION AGAIN. Batavia Feb. 12, 1817. Paul Busti, Esquire, Philadelphia, My dear Sir: . . . On the canal subject I have in my letter of the 31st ult. inserted an extract from my Re- port to the commissioners, who may have convened in Albany. Not however having specific instructions and di- rections from you of the manner you would make a sub- scription I deemed most proper to decline mentioning any. I had however from the tenor of your letter of the 26th ult. been impressed with the opinion from the view of the subject you then took that the most proper time and way116 THE HOLLAND LAND CO. to make the Donation would be when the canal site should be actually designated and to set apart each alternate Lot that might then belong to the Company watered by the canal. The arguments contained in said letter were at the time so cogent and conclusive with me that I then thought the plan ought not to be abandoned, but the reasons con- tained in your subsequent letter of the 25th January ult. are more conclusive the other way, and my impressions now are that it would be best to subscribe the southern lands, or such portion of them with granting the canal site and tow- ing paths as would be equal to the former proposed Dona- tion : all which might be provisionally done on the terms of the former donation: that is to say the Lands to be free from any Tax on the Holland Company &c &c Could that Tract of country be placed in a situation whereon no taxes would be charged against it for 26 years & should then fall back to the Company, it might no doubt at that period be sold for a tolerable price and I do not believe that any ap- propriation of monies will be made by Congress during the present session towards the accomplishment of that object, which belief is founded on a correspondence with members of Congress from this part of the State, who are much in the Canal Interest; extracts from which so far as it relates to the canal subject may not be uninteresting to you, and under that impression I enclose them herewith. . . . Joseph Ellicott. DONATIONS AND FEDERAL AID. Albany, 14 February, 1817. My Dear Sir : Mr. Busti in a reply to a letter of mine some time ago promised to make to the Canal Commission- ers thro’ you a proposal for a donation in behalf of the Holland Land Company. As this has not yet been done, and as it may have some influence on the measures to be adopted, I hope you will write to me on this subject. The bill for appropriating a fund for internal improve- ments has passed the H of Representatives in Congress byAND CANAL CONSTRUCTION. 117 a majority of two after a severe struggle. When the Clerk announced the vote a buz was heard thro’ the house “New York has carried it.” If it becomes a law it will give us 90,000 dollars a year for the Canal. I am yours sincerely De Witt Clinton J. Ellicott, Esqr. Evans MSS. THE COMMISSIONERS' ESTIMATES OF 1817. Albany 18th February 1817. [To Joseph Ellicott] Dear Sir: I have this morning deposited, in the New York State bank, $1563.42% subject to your order, accord- ing to your request. The business of preparing the Commissioners report, on the western canal, occupied me so incessantly after the receipt of your account of expenditures in the examinations made by Mr. Peacock and Mr. A. Ellicott, that I had no time to attend to this request earlier; and I hope the delay of a week has been of no inconvenience to you. Our report was yesterday presented to the Legislature, and five hun- dred copies were ordered to be printed. It is very long, and when it comes out I will do myself the honor of sending it to you. The aggregate expense of it, when completed, according to our estimates, will be $4,806,738 taking the route explored by Mr. Geddes west of the Genesee river. If, however, the route south of the mountain ridge be adoptd, and there be added to the estimates furnished by you of the expenses of the first 62 miles eastward from Lake Erie on that route, the sum of $150,000 for lockage down a descent of 139.85 feet from the summit level to the Genesee river, and also the sum of $180,000 for all the other expenses of making the canal from the east end of Mr. Peacock's line to the Genesee river, then the whole expense of the canal will be $309925 less than the sum above stated,118 THE HOLLAND LAND CO. this last sum being the difference in our estimate of expenses west of the Genesee river between the route north and the one south of the mountain ridge. From Lake Erie to Seneca river is a descent of.. 194 feet From Seneca river to Rome is an ascent of...... 48feet From Rome to the Hudson river at Albany is a descent of ...............................418.85 feet The whole distance from Buffalo to Albany on the line of the canal is 353 miles and a few chains. The number of locks 77. The average expense about $13600. per mile. The average expense per mile from Buffalo to the point whence Geddes started is...............$ 7625 The average expense per mile through Geddes section ....................................... 11404 The average expense per mile through Wright’s section .................................... 11145 The average expense per mile from Rome to Scho- harie Creek ................................. 15360 The average expense per mile from Schoharie Creek to Albany .................................... 26336 What the Legislature will do, in the business of the canal, it is impossible to foresee. There are undoubtedly in the minds of many members unfavorable impressions, but I flatter myself it is because they do not understand the subject. Having been very much engaged in examining the difficulties and facilities exhibited on the whole route, and in considering and calculating the expenses, my mind is so completely settled and satisfied that I cannot but be- lieve that when our report is read and understood, the Legislature will be disposed to take efficient measures for the accomplishment of this great work. With great respect I am Sir your obedient Myron Holley Joseph Ellicott EsqrAND CANAL CONSTRUCTION. 119 MR. BUSTI STILL CONSIDERING. Batavia Feb. 21, 1817. De Witt Clinton, Esquire, Albany. Dear Sir: Yours of the 14th was delivered on the even- ing of the 19th. The Agent General of the Holland Com- pany Mr. Busti has not as yet furnished me with instruc- tions authorizing a specific Donation to the Canal. I trans- mitted to that Gentleman a copy of my Report to the Canal Commissioners in Albany, with a request that he would make up his mind and inform me or the commissioners what Donation might be expected from the Holland Com- pany, & received by last mail his acknowledgment of its receipt, and among other things he observes. “I have perused with attention and Interest your lumin- ous report to the Gentlemen Canal Commissioners in rela- tion to that part of the canal, which will pass through the Holland Company’s lands.” He observes further: “I shall make up my mind as to the manner and extent of subscription to be made on ac- count of the Canal in a few Days; after which I shall lose no time to make a tender of the Holland Company’s Dona- tion towards that stupendous work.” Hence I presume you will be made acquainted with the Amount of subscription in a few days, and I presume it will not differ materially from that formerly made. Of this however I cannot vouch for a certainty. The mail that brought your letter announcing the $90,000 appropriated by Congress annually for 20 years towards the canal brought letters from members I have corresponded with on that subject of the same import. Should this ap- propriation (which however is too small to answer much purpose) be concurred in by the Senate and pass into a law it will be an entering wedge for larger grants, which will doubtless be made provided the site of this Canal when it comes to be actually located shall be so laid as to insure the practicability of its accomplishment at a reasonable expence.120 THE HOLLAND LAND CO. I shall be happy to receive your report to the Legislature when convenient. Meantime With great respect Your obed’t Servant. Joseph Ellicott. MR. BUSTI STILL ^INCREDULOUS^ OF CANAL SUCCESS. Phila 22d February 1817. Joseph Ellicott, Esq., Batavia Dear Sir: . . . The long agitated project of the Canal so pompously brought forward will be the theme of discussion & plans for a long while yet. But the more I consider the nature of the undertaking and compare it with the temper of our State & general government the more I grow incredulous of its ever befing] perfected if begun. Under this impression I have thought it preferable to renew to the Commissioners the offer of the large tract situated along the pensilvania boundary line under the same condi- tions as before. Should the boon be accepted I shall only to have to hand over the old deed. In addition to that donation I have offered the scite of excavation for the Canal and the towpath so far as the soil belongs to the Company. But I have connected this gra- tuitous grant with the condition that the outlet of Buffalo Creek be converted into a safe place of refuge for the ves- sels navigating the lake. The usefulness of a harbour there is striking. So much so that I wonder that it has not even been mentioned in the numerous publications edited on the Canal. Probably this omission originated in the wish to avoid stirring the jealousy of the Black Rocks partizans. . . Paul BustiAND CANAL CONSTRUCTION. 121 THE HOLLAND LAND CO. OFFER OF 1814 RENEWED IN 1817. Philadelphia, February 22nd, 1817. De Witt Clinton, Esq., President of the Grand Canal Company, &c., &c. Sir : Agreeably to the promise conveyed by my respects of the 9th ult. I have now the honour of waiting on you with the Holland Land Company’s offer of contributing to the making of a canal navigation from the east end of Lake Erie to the Hudson river. After mature reflection and consultation with Mr. EUicott, on the most proper means of giving effect to the Holland Land Company’s disposition of aiding a public undertaking of such magnitude, and promising such important advant- ages to your patriotic State, I have come to the determina- tion- of renewing, on the same terms, the offer heretofore made and accepted by the gentlemen commissioners in 1814, but which, in consequence of the late war, was not consum- mated. I have been led to this selection by the conviction that I shall have the happiness of reconciling the liberal views of my constituents, with the most sanguine expecta- tions of your board. The acceptation in 1814, of this grant, forms the ground of this conviction. I have now the pleas- ure to repeat my offer of conveying to the State of New- York, two tracts of land situate in the county of Cattarau- gus and State of New-York, containing upwards of one hundred thousand acres of land, on condition that the canal shall be completed within twenty years; that the land shall not be taxed during that period, and in case of failure, that it shall revert to the company, or the state remain account- able for any part sold or disposed of. For the particulars of the terms and conditions, on which the grant was heretofore made, and is now renewed, I beg your reference to the en- closed copy of the proposed act to be passed by the legisla- ture, and of the conveyance then executed by the Holland Land Company, but since annulled. In case any lots in the two tracts should have been sold, they must of course be ex- cepted; but I believe no such sale has taken place. As a further proof that the best wishes of my constituents for122 THE HOLLAND LAND CO. the success of this stupendous work, have not been weakened by the lapse of time, since the first offer reverted, I feel myself authorized to add to that grant the ground actually the property of the Holland Land Company, through which the canal shall pass, with sufficient tow-paths along its sides, the breadth of which grant, however, not to exceed four rods. This additional grant I offer on condition that the canal company shall make, within the time limited for the completion of the canal, a good and safe harbour for vessels navigating Lake Erie, at or near the mouth of Buffalo creek. To this condition, I am persuaded no objection will be made. It is so intimately connected with the free and full use of the canal, that it really forms a most important part of it. That a safe and commodious harbour at the east end of Lake Erie, is at present much wanted, and would be an object of vast importance to the trade which passes through that in- land sea, by offering security to their vessels, and facilities for the loading and unloading of them, is a truth known to every one acquainted with that part of your State. It ap- pears to me equally evident that the benefits resulting from the canal navigation, must in a good measure depend on its connexion with the navigation both above and below it, and that it necessarily becomes an object of the last importance to afford every possible facility for the transfer of the car- goes of the canal boats to the vessels navigating the waters above and below them. Were I not forgetful of trespassing on your valuable time, much more might be added in sup- port of this measure, but it certainly has not escaped the clearer penetration of the gentlemen commissioners, and I ought to apologize for saying so much on a subject, the utility of which appears so evident. I am ready to confirm the foregoing, in the same manner as was done in 1814: I will convey the lands and site for the canal, on the conditions above stated, to the people of the State of New-York. The deed to remain as an escrow in the hands of T. L. Ogden, Esq., of New-York, to become absolute on the passage of the proposed act by the legisla- ture, provided it be passed within one year from the date of the deed.AND CANAL CONSTRUCTION. 123 I flatter myself with the hope of having fully met the wishes of your board, and of having afforded them and the State of New-York another unequivocal proof that my con- stituents feel the liveliest interest in the welfare of your State, and that they are not the last in offering their mite in contributing to its prosperity. I have the honour to be, with great respect, Sir, Your most obedient servant, Paul Busti, Agent of the Holland Land Company. PRELIMINARY CANAL WORK PRAISED. Batavia April 16, 1817. De Witt Clinton, Dear Sir: I with much satisfaction acknowledge the Receipt of your letter of the 8th Instant together with the liminous map you have obligingly forwarded to me, exhibit- ing topographical and profile view of the Canal Site between Hudson river and Lake Erie. The acting or rather active commissioners have immortalized their names by their un- paralleled industry, enterprise & perseverance in effecting so extensive an undertaking as that which they have accom- plished, affording so much practical information. Their efforts are without parallel; and I believe [I] might say, and at no risk of Contradiction, that an accurate level line of such length accompanied by copper plate maps and detailed reports exhibiting and elucidating with such perspicuity a whole view of so extensive and great an object and all per- formed in the short period of 8 months has never before been done in any age or country. Should the present Legis- lature pass laws calculated for the immediate prosecution of the object it will be more than I have expected, and shall be agreeably disappointed. There was no mention made of the canal, or that the commissioners were attending to the ob- ject in his Excellency’s speech in opening the session of the Legislature; of course the members were not reminded that this subject would be one which they would be called on to124 THE HOLLAND LAND CO. legislate, and as it was not even intimated in any of the ex- ecutive messages it is reasonable to apprehend that many members would form an opinion that his Excellency was unfavorably disposed, which would be sufficient to direct the course they were to pursue. ... T J JOSEPH ELLICOTT. PASSAGE OF THE CANAL BILL. Albany, 16 April, 1817. My Dear Sir: I cannot leave this place without con- gratulating you upon the success of the Canal bill. It has become a law by large majorities in both houses and after much opposition. With one exceptionable feature it is a good system and will be very efficacious. You are continued as a commissioner with your former colleagues. My kind regards to your brother Stevens & Evans & believe me to be ■ . . . , Your sincere friend, De Witt Clinton J. Ellicott, Esqr. Evans MSS. MR. ELLICOTT'S ATTITUDE AS CANAL COMMISSIONER. Batavia April 25, 1817. De Witt Clinton, Esquire, New York. Dear Sir : Your favor of the 16th announcing the suc- cess of the Canal Bill duly came to hand. I am truly agree- ably disappointed in this result; in as much as I had formed an opinion for the reasons assigned in my last that the Bill could not be carried through the Legislature in any shape. In respect to my being continued a commissioner with gentlemen who have accomplished so much and who are so deserving and capable as the acting commissioners have manifested themselves to be for conducting the grand canalAND CANAL CONSTRUCTION. 125 project to a successful issue. I certainly consider it an honor that I had not anticipated, more especially as the little part I had an opportunity of taking in the business rendered me at best little more than a nominal commissioner; a cir- cumstance indeed that would have induced me to have resigned the station had I deemed the presence of another acting commissioner necessary for the better and more able conducting of the object. That however was not my opinion. Under the guidance of those gentlemen, who have prosecuted the object so far with so much success I consider the Canal more than half accomplished. . . . Joseph Ellicott. MONEY STRINGENCY THREATENS CANAL WORK. New York io May 1817 Dear Sir : I have appointed the 3d day of June for the meeting of the Canal Commissioners at Utica, where I ex- pect to have the pleasure of seeing you. I enclose you an advertisement from the Commissioners of the Canal fund. Money is very scarce in this city owing to the Banks liquidating their mutual accounts by the first day of July. If this first and small loan should fail it would have a very pernicious effect on all our future operations and I am not certain but that it would gratify the President of the Canal fund board. Cannot you write to Mr. Busti on this subject and urge his favorable interference? I am yours truly De Witt Clinton. J. Ellicott, Esqr. ATTITUDE OF THE HOLLAND LAND CO. Paul Busti, Esquire, Agent General of the Holland Land Company, Philadelphia. My Dear Sir: . . . The Legislature during their session of 1816 passed an Act to provide for the internal im-126 THE HOLLAND LAND CO. provement of this State, appointing DeWitt Clinton, Stephen Van Rensselaer, Samuel Young, Myron Holley and myself commissioners to devise and adopt such measures as shall be requisite to facilitate and effect a communication-, by canals and locks between Lake Erie and the navigable wa- ters of Hudson River, and also between Lake Champlain & the said navigable waters. Although the duties devolving on me by my contract with the Agent General would not admit my being an active com- missioner, I conceived it might be beneficial to accept the appointment, in as much as thereby I should probably have some influence in giving such a direction to the site of the Canal within the Holland Purchase as appeared to me not only the most advantageous to the public convenience, but the most to the interest of our Principals, and believing that their interest as well as that of the public would be best promoted by laying the canal site South of what is termed the mountain ridge. (The part of Country contemplated to be explored by the other commissioners, on which to lay the canal site lying north of the mountain ridge (so called) and for the accomplishment of which they had already en- gaged a scientific Engineer to effect.) Those gentlemen however agreed at a meeting held in Buffalo or New Am- sterdam in July last to pay the expense attending the ex- ploration and laying off the site for a canal south of the mountain ridge, provided I would undertake the procuring a scientific Engineer, and direct his operations. That being the alternative, or leave the route unexplored, I was compelled to order out my Mayvil Assistant subagent for its performance, there being not any other person of my acquaintance possessing sufficient scientific skill in this part of the country capable of accomplishing it with the neces- sary accuracy, and believing also that although he would not be actually performing duties in his office, that neverthe- less he would be doing that which in the end would be equally profitable to the Company; and having made such arrangements as not to increase the expense in attending to the subagency I adopted that procedure. You have noAND CANAL CONSTRUCTION. 127 doubt observed in the Public Prints that the commissioners have made a report to the Legislature of the probable ex- pense which may attend the completion of the whole route from Lake Erie to the Hudson River, by which it appears from very minute surveys, levels and examinations that a Canal connecting the navigation of the Hudson with Lake Erie, may be accomplished by pursuing the route north of the mountain ridge as explored and levelled by their En- gineer for the sum of $4,881,738 and by pursuing that part of the route explored under my direction, being South of the mountain Ridge, which passes through the 13th tier of Townships may be accomplished for $4,571,813. Should this Herculean work ever be effected, and the canal take the direction as explored under my instructions, it would in its passage through the Holland Purchase intersect un- sold land belonging for the great part to our Principals, and enhance the value of it, so much that it is presumed that portion immediately bounding the canal laid out in lots of from 10 to 20 chains, and extending in depth 80 chains, might be sold at prices from $30 to $50 pr. acre. And if we take the lowest sum, the quantity of acres, being about 30 thousand would amount to $900,000. If we take the largest sum it would amount to $1,500,000, and if we take the mean sum to $1,200,000, which lands should a canal not be made will probably not produce more than $150 or $180 thousand Dollars. From the view I have taken of this subject, and which I conceive to be a correct one, I think it manifest that the donation you have made of 100,000 acres of the mountains which lie along the Southern bounds of the Company’s ter- ritory was judiciously made, in as much if the canal should be made and each alternate lot adjoining the canal had been donated, admitting them to amount to 15,000 acres, the Do- nation although not more than the 1-7 part of that you have proposed to donate would have been worth at least 3 times as much as the 100 m1 acre of mountains would bring dur- ing the lapse of half an age. And should the canal be un- 1. One hundred thousand.128 THE HOLLAND LAND CO. dertaken, and not be completed in 28 years, the period you have ceded the lands, and they should then fall back to the proprietors, who during that period would be exempt from the payment of any Taxes charged thereon, Those moun- tains by that period according to the statistical rise of prop- erty in this country might be sold as high as probably they would at any subsequent period. Hence when I view this transaction in all its lights that occur to me I cannot help thinking that the manner you made the donation was wise and prudent, and at the same time the number of acres seems to evince great liberality in the proprietors of these lands, which cannot fail to occasion a correspondent ac- commodation on the part of the State. I enclose herewith the commissioners Report. I may be allowed to observe that the Canal project whether it is ever accomplished or otherwise has already been productive of profit and advan- tage to our principals in as much as that it has enabled me to increase the price of all the lands in the Northern part of the Company’s Territory more than $1.50 the acre, and I am persuaded has been a considerable auxiliary in pro- moting the sale of those lands. ... Joseph Ellicott Batavia, June 21, 1817. The MS. of the above letter, in the Evans MSS., is a copy. The where- abouts of the original is not known. CLINTON TO ELLICOTT. New York 23 June 1817. Dear Sir : I have appointed 16th of July for the meet- ing of the Canal Commissioners at Utica. We had intended to meet on the 9th, but the removal of my family to Albany the beginning of the month will render the former period more convenient. Yours sincerely De Witt Clinton. J. Ellicott, Esqr.AND CANAL CONSTRUCTION. 129 MR. ELLICOTT S ADVICE SOUGHT. Albany 20 October 1817. Dear Sir: A meeting of the Canal Commissioners will be held at Utica on the twenty fifth day of November at which time and place your attendance is earnestly requested. The jaunt may confirm the continuence of your good health and the pressure of business will not prevent your absence from home at that period. We shall view the operations of the season and we shall want the benefit of your advice respecting our prospective measures. v . Yours sincerely De Witt Clinton. J. Ellicott, Esqr. legislative delay is apprehended. Albany 12 Feby 1818. Dear Sir : . . . A Report of the Canal Commissioners has been laid before the Legislature which is a luminous and very satisfactory statement. It has not been acted on yet, and I fear the Legislature will not make the necessary ap- propriations to the speedy completion of the Canal. Yours Respectfully Jediah Prendergast.1 Joseph Ellicott, Esq. mr. ellicott's apprehensions. Batavia Mar. 6, 1818. His Excellency De Witt Clinton, Albany. Dear Sir : I have received with much satisfaction the luminous report of the acting canal commissioners exhibit- 1. Member of the State Senate from the Western District.130 THE HOLLAND LAND CO. ing the progress they have made in the prosecution of the grand canal. It appears to me the system they have adopted for the accomplishment of this great undertaking is not only commensurate with the object, but calculated to accomplish it with the greatest possible economy. It has however been intimated to me that the Honorable the Legislature seem rather adverse to a further prosecution of the Canals. This measure would be so extraordinary, and argue such want of stability, that I place little confidence in the information; more especially when I reflect that the Legislature of Georgia, a State with a population of 176,000 free persons, have appropriated merely for removing obstructions in the rivers of the State upwards of $70,000, and when the objects as they relate to advantages to be derived by the respective improvements hardly admit of a comparison I therefore am under little apprehension that the Honorable Legislature would in any event abandon the object. Mr. Busti when I saw him last summer requested me to ascertain whether it was the intention to accept the Dona- tion of lands he proposed to make towards the accomplish- ment of the canal. I would be agreeable to receive some in- formation on this subject as the Company in consequence closed all sales on those lands proposed as a Donation, and are paying heavy Taxes on them. I should be happy if you would drop me a line. Meantime with great regard, Your obed't Servant Joseph Ellicott. GOVERNOR CLINTON REASSURES MR. ELLICOTT. Albany ii March 1818 Private [To Joseph Ellicott] Dear Sir: Yours of the 6th is this moment received. The Canal will undoubtedly be prosecuted to the West until completion. I propose to have the Western section marked out in toto and definitely next season to recommendAND CANAL CONSTRUCTION. 131 the passing of a law at the next session of the Legislature authorizing its being made: and I have no doubt this will be done. The truth is, opposition to the Canal is dwindling away. The miscreants in N. Y. who have opposed it from vile motives are properly appreciated'—and the opposition of the South will cease because it is understood that we can do without national aid. The whole will depend upon a wise & patriotic Legisla- ture. Good members are all that is wanted. It is reported here that Evans has declined the senatorial nomination. This ought not to be—his nomination gave me great pleasure. Bust! ought to execute the deed. The moment it becomes the property of the State, it will not be the subject of taxa- tion. The land in the supposed line of the Canal ought to be conveyed immediately. I will thank you for your advice about the best mode of settling the line of the Western sec- tion next session. Be assured that like good Christians we will persevere unto the latter end; but you must help us. Nature has been bountiful to you and fortune has blessed you with her smiles. You possess the power and I am per- suaded the disposition to do good. The State looks to you for an example of active and useful patriotism, and I am sure there will be no disappointment. My compliments to my friends Stevens and Evans and believe me yours sincerely De Witt Clinton. J. Ellicott, Esqr. BUFFALO HARBOR MEMORIAL OF l8l8. Buffalo, March 14, 1818. Dr Sir : The Inhabitants of this village have petitioned the Legislature for an appropriation of money to improve the harbor at this place and the memorial has been referred to a select committee who will probably report favorably if they can be convinced of the practicability of the object.132 THE HOLLAND LAND CO. It is considered very important that they should be im- mediately furnished with a sketch of the parts adjacent to the mouth of the creek, depth of water, &c, and an attempt was yesterday made to take a survey, but the situation of the ice would not permit. Understanding* that you have heretofore taken a survey of the harbor I am requested to solicit the favor of you to forward me as soon as you can conveniently a sketch or copy of your map together with any other information on the subject which might be useful. Should you prefer sending the original map, I will if you wish, request its safe return to you. Should you have made any calculation on the probable expence of construct- ing the piers &c your opinion on that subject would be de- sirable and any other information or assistance in relation to this business would be duly appreciated by all interested in the improvement of this village. I am with respect. Sir, Yr very ob. Serv. ^ ^ J Ch. Townsend, One of the Committee of Inhabitants of Buffalo relative to harbor. William Peacock, Esqr. Evans MSS. TO LOCATE THE WESTERN SECTION. Albany 24 March 1818. Dear Sir : The Canal Commissioners meet at this place on the 12th of April. Your presence is considered indis- pensable on several accounts: 1. It is necessary to fix the compensation of Messrs. Young & Holley. 2. We are de- sirous of consulting you about the running out the Western section & locating the Canal definitively. Do not neglect at- tending as it i9 highly important. I am yours sincerely De Witt Clinton. J. Ellicott, Esqr.AND CANAL CONSTRUCTION. 133 GOVERNOR CLINTON S AIMS. Albany, 31 March, 1818. Dear Sir: I wrote to you lately requesting your at- tendance here as a canal commissioner on the 12th of April. As we intend to adopt a plan for running and marking out the western section of the canal, your presence then will be peculiarly important. I send you by this mail both Reports. The first contains the map. I am happy to learn that you approve of my conduct in relation to the late appointments. The approbation of meritorious men is in my estimation the evidence as well as the reward of merit. My object is to cultivate a spirit of good will & benevolence among the people—to unite our energies in favor of great & extensive improvements and to this end to discourage those factious combinations which are formed with a view to office and which are cherished by cupidity, intolerance & persecution. To secure the coopera- tion of the good & enlightened in the attainment of those important objects, will always afford the highest gratifi- cation tO • 1 Yours sincerely De Witt Clinton J. Ellicott, Esqr. Evans MSS. MR. ELLICOTT DISCUSSES SALARIES AND DUTIES. Batavia April 2, 1818 His Excellency De Witt Clinton, Dear Sir: I have the honor to acknowledge the receipt of your letter of the 24th ult. requesting my attendance in Albany at a meeting of the canal commissioners on the 12th Instant. Three weeks since on a sleighing visit I unfor- tunately sustained a casualty by a severe contusion on my right leg, which has confined me to my room and I shall134 AND CANAL CONSTRUCTION. consider myself fortunate if the wound shall be in a situation to permit my leaving it a fortnight hence. This untoward accident prevents me from attending the meeting of the canal commissioners as notified by your Excellency. May I say that doubtless the Legislature contemplated acting and active commissioners, and the circumstance of my agency under the Holland Company prevents me from attending to and performing the duties which would be proper for an active commissioner to perform; and as it may be that in consequence thereof extra duties are in- creased on the acting commissioners, and the objects of the Canal procrastinated and being desirous that no circum- stance relating to myself should be attended with those con- sequences, I will suggest whether it would not be expedient and beneficial in relieving the other commissioners from an undue share of burden and responsibility for your Excel- lency to supercede the appointment which has so honorably been conferred on myself with another character more com- petent and at the same time whose avocations were not of a nature to prevent him from devoting his undivided atten- tion to the important purposes with which the canal com- missioners are the guardians in trust. Having mentioned to you that an unfortunate casualty prevents me from attending the commissioners in Albany and that my indispensable avocations are such that it is out of my power to officiate (for the present otherwise than nominally) I might close this communication here; but as the President of the Board has been pleased to make known the objects for which the commissioners are to convene that gentleman will appreciate my intentions in offering a pre- mature opinion on these subjects. First then as to Salaries for Messrs Young & Holley. A salary ought always to be sufficient to induce a person to devote his whole mind time and attention to the object which he is to superintend, and be more in amount than he has a prospect of making by any other pursuit; otherwise his mind may be drawn off from the objects of his super- intendence. Not knowing what other prospects in a pecu- niary way those gentlemen may have I can hardly offer anAND CANAL CONSTRUCTION. 135 opinion what sum would command their undivided labors. Possibly a salary some where between two and three thou- sand Dollars pr. annum might afford the inducement. Less than two thousand Dollars would be insufficient and more than three thousand might possibly create (among a large portion of the people who had little knowledge of being placed in situations of great responsibility) a belief that the commissioners were aggrandizing themselves on the canal funds. It is evident however that the salaries of those gen- tlemen ought to be sufficient. Should it ever exceed $3000 pr. annum to place on them the actual superintendance and accountability for all monies which should be chargeable to the canal, being themselves always present, thereby reliev- ing the other commissioners who only occasionally exercised their functions, from pecuniary responsibility. I am also impressed with the opinion that it would be a judicious ar- rangement to organize under the direction of those gentle- men two canal commissioners officers (this may have been done but I have seen no mention made of it) one for the Northern and one for the western canal to be located along the line of canal at such place as would be most convenient for the gentlemen to superintend in person. I would even recommend that the gentlemen respectively should remove their families to, such positions that nothing should draw of their attentions from the objects of their care. That each of those officers should be accommodated with an able and faithful accountant clerk well versed in keeping every description of accounts with a salary proportionate. I presume good clerks whom confidence might be reposed in could be obtained for $1500 pr annum. In conducting all extensive concerns I believe it has been generally experi- enced that the management of accounts is one that requires as much or more attention than any other part. An accountant having charge of money transactions ought not to have his mind burthened with any other affairs; otherwise he will be unable so to keep the books that a view can at any time be exhibited of the fiscal concerns to the commissioners superintending. An accountant clerk will alway take care to have the necessary vouchers to enable136 THE HOLLAND LAND CO. him to account for all expenditures; and no monies ought to be paid at any other place than at the Canal Commission- ers office, and through the hands of the accountant clerk. This rule I early adopted in conducting the very extensive concerns of the Holland Company, and in consequence we have never had the least difficulty in rendering accounts acceptable to the Company’s Agent General, and I presume there is no people who are more particular in their accounts than the Dutch. With these people an article be it what it may is only an article, and must be accounted for. I have been more minute in this part of the business relating to the accountability of monies than probably was proper for me, which however will be pardoned when I mention that it proceeds from the circumstances of observing among 4 list of names of persons whom the Comptroller has stated that advances of money had been made by the late Governor my name conspicuously exhibited, to whom it would seem an advance of $2600 had been made. The truth is I never was an agent under Governor Tompkins; neither was any advances of money made to me by that Gentleman for any purpose whatever; but that on the application of his Ex- cellency to me in the fall of 1812 (then on his way to the best of my recollection from the Niagara frontier East- ward) to make him an advance of $2000 (as I understood for the use of the Deputy Commissary of military stores, who was superintending at an arsenal at this place) accom- panied with a written promise from his Excellency that such advance should be placed to my credit in the State Bank, with an assurance also on my part that on being furnished with the receipt of the cashier that such deposit was so made his written promise should be returned I made the first advance of $2000 which was accordingly placed to my credit in the State Bank, and the Governor’s written promise returned to him; and secondly I made an advance of $600, which sum was in like manner placed to my credit in the State Bank by his Excellency; making together $2600 the sum mentioned by the Comptroller. For the proof of the preceding statement I pray leave to refer yop to the enclosed copies of letters that passed be-AND CANAL CONSTRUCTION. 137 tween his Excellency and myself on that occasion. Had Governor Tompkins employed a correct accountant clerk to keep his monied transactions, it is not probable monies ad- vanced by me on his application, and for his accommodation when repaid by him to me, would have been exhibited as an advance made to me, for which I was to account to him. From the Report made by Mr. Geddis (if my memory serves) that gentleman ascertained the expence of excavat- ing the southern route would not exceed $350,000, and thereby form but two levels from Lake Erie to a place 7 miles East from Genesee River. If Mr. Geddis is correct I should not hesitate (was I to determine the business) in deciding at once in favor of the Northern Route. The ad- vantages of one set of locks only to pass from the Lake Erie level to the Genesee level without farther interruption in such a long line of Canal would be incalculable; as well as Lake Erie affording an inexhaustible supply of water for the consumption of the canal without the aid of any of the streams that intersect it in its course. Those may all be wanted for domestic purposes, and if at any time insufficient the canal through its great Reservoir would supply all de- ficiencies. Hence I conclude the expenditure of $350,000 more on the Northern than the Southern where such ad- vantages are obtained ought to be incurred, and the northern route of course preferred. This however on the supposition of its practicability as assumed by Engineer Geddis. Having no doubt exhausted your patience with this desultory Communication I will only add my grateful ac- knowledgments to the honorable the Legislature in their act for the acknowledgment of deeds, making an exception as to those which may be executed by myself on account of the Holland Land Company. Meantime with great regard I have the honor to be Your most obed’t Serv’t. Joseph Ellicott.138 THE HOLLAND LAND CO. REGARDING MR. ELLICOTT’s RESIGNATION. Albany i May 1818 Dear Sir: The state of Genl Van Rensselaer’s health and the pressure of my official duties will prevent much of our attention to the active operations of the Canal Commis- sioners this season. We intend marking out the line of the Eastern & Western sections this season and completing as much as possible of the Middle and also of the Champlain Canal. The two acting Commissioners are not sufficient to superintend these complex multifarious and extended opera- tions—and they will not listen to my resignation. Under these circumstances only could I think of accepting of your proffered resignation. If you send me a paper merely sig- nifying it in such a way as to be disconnected from other matter, I shall take it into consideration. With my most sincere regard I am yours truly De Witt Clinton. J. Ellicott, Esqr. FOR THE BUFFALO HARBOR SURVEY. Albany, 2 May, 1818. Dear Sir : I am authorized by an act of last session to appoint a fit & proper person to examine Buffalo Creek and to report the plan of a safe & commodious harbour at that place for vessels navigating Lake Erie, together with an estimate of the probable expense. This operation is to be performed before the next session of the Legislature and the person employed is allowed a compensation of three dollars pr day. Will you recommend a suitable person for this purpose? I am yours truly De Witt Clinton J. Ellicott, Esqr. Evans MSS.WILLIAM PEACOCK, AT 40. First Surveyor of Buffalo’s Harbor. From an Oil Portrait Painted in 1 820 by Tuthill, a Pupil of Benjamin West, now in the Possession of Mrs. John W. Bulkley, Washington. D. C.AND CANAL CONSTRUCTION. 139 MR. PEACOCK SELECTED FOR SURVEY OF BUFFALO HARBOR. Albany, 18 June, 1818. Dear Sir : I enclose you an appointment for Mr. Pea- cock as Commissioner to report on a harbor for Buffalo. I am pleased that you have selected a person so well quali- fied and so meritorious. I also transmit a copy of the Act on which the appoint- ment is predicated & which will sufficiently explain the powers and duties of the Commissioner. I am yours with sincere regard De Witt Clinton J. Ellicott, Esqr. N. B. I intend to summon a meeting of the Canal Com- missioners soon, at which the presence of all will be neces- sary, and active operations during the season will be re- quired for at least a majority of the Board. The Champlain Canal will require the constant supervision of one Commis- sioner, and there ought at least to be two to superintend the complicated operations on the western. If you still persist in your intention to resign as heretofore intimated to me (which I should greatly regret if you could attend person- ally to the trust) you will please to signify it to me imme- diately, as in that case I will not summon you to the con- templated meeting and I shall forthwith proceed to make the necessary resulting arrangement. Both canals are in a most prosperous train. Evans MSS. JOSEPH ELLICOTT TO WM. PEACOCK ON HIS APPOINTMENT. Batavia, 26th June, 1818. William Peacock, Esquire, Mayville. Dear Sir : I received by last mail from his Excellency the Governor the enclosed Commission and act of the Leg-140 THE HOLLAND LAND CO. islature relative to the harbour of Buffalo Creek in the County of Niagara, which are covered under the same en- velope with this letter. I am . sensible you will not thank me for recommending you to his Excellency as a suitable person for the accom- plishment of the object contemplated by the act; but being called on by the Governor to designate some person quali- fied for its performance, and knowing not any one as suita- ble as yourself, I was induced to name you to him. This however I should not have done, but from the little business transacted at this office I was impressed with the opinion that you could leave your station last of July, August or September, for its performance, when I think it likely Brother Benjamin will be at home, and we may both visit Buffalo. I have not received a letter from you since your sickness. I hope you delay with a view of calling in person and furnishing a statement of the Amount of Sales you have made and bringing with you all the receipts and in time to send it with my Report, which will leave this place in -eight or ten days. I am most respectfully your obed’t Serv’t Joseph Ellicott. Evans MSS. WILLIAM PEACOCK'S COMMISSION. By De Witt Clinton, Governor of the State of New York. To all to whom these presents shall come, Greeting: Know ye that I do hereby appoint William Peacock of Chautauque County Esquire a Commissioner to examine the outlet of Buffalo Creek and cause a survey and plan- to be made for the improvement of the said outlet so as to form a safe and commodious harbour for vessels navigating Lake Erie together with an estimate of the probable ex- pense. And also to perform all the other duties enjoined upon the said Commissioner by the act entitled “An ActAND CANAL CONSTRUCTION. 141 relative to the Harbor of Buffalo Creek in the County of Niagara,” passed ioth April 1818. In witness whereof I have hereunto set my [seal] name and the Privy Seal of the State at the City of Albany this 18th day of June Anno Domini 1818. De Witt Clinton Evans MSS. MR. ELLIC0TT RESIGNS AS CANAL COMMISSIONER. Batavia June 29, 1818. His Excellency De Witt Clinton. Dear Sir : . . . Relating to my personal attendance in the prosecution of the canal my avocations in the manage- ment and conducting the very extensive Land Agency of the Holland Company, which devolves on me by my Contract with them, necessarily prevents me from, devoting person- ally my time to any other pursuit. The western Canal line being in its whole extent of great length, and as you justly observe involving a variety of complicated operations will require at least two active commissioners to superintend them (and as I have before stated my avocations preventing a personal participation) I feel it an incumbent duty to de- cline or resign the honorable appointment confided in me by the Legislature into the hands of your Excellency; which will enable your Excellency more effectually to make such arrangement as will have for its object the more advan- tageous prosecution of the great work. It will be gratifying to hear occasionally of the progress of the undertaking, I have the honor to be Your most obed’t Serv’t Joseph Ellicott.142 THE HOLLAND LAND CO. THE LAND GRANT—THE WALK-IN-THE-WATER. Batavia Aug. 24, 1818. Paul Busti, Esquire, Philadelphia. My dear Sir: . . . Respecting my resignation of commissioner of the Canal the truth was I could not per- form both the duty which- devolved on a commissioner & perform the duties of my agency. To perform the duties of a commissioner it would be necessary to be occasionally at the Canal and occasionally meeting the other commissioners in Albany; and oftentimes with only ten or twelve Days notice when it was out of my power consistently with the agency duties to attend. I was therefore necessitated to resign one or the other, and I chose to resign that of com- missioner. ... Relating to the 100 M acre Donation of lands on the Al- legany River to the Canal I was once informed by Mr. Clin- ton that if it was conveyed to the State all Taxes would of course cease on it. He did not mention whether to be con- veyed unconditionally or otherwise. It appears to me, when it is, or if it is ever conveyed to the State that the State ought to be taxed for it the same that an individual would be; otherwise it will as it relates to taxes only increase the Amount of tax to be paid on other lands, and no benefit will accrue to the Holland Company as it relates to a decrease of Taxes. In the course of the winter Mr. Clinton mentioned to me that he intended to have the western section of the Canal staked out during this summer. Nothing of the kind however has been done, and I think it not probable that it will be done the present season. I have recently been in- formed through a source I should in former times have deemed worthy of confidence that it is not the intention to prosecute the canal at present further than the Seneca river. There are however so many intrigues going on by the know- ing ones that it is difficult for those of us not in the Cabinet to know the truth of reports. . . . The Lake Erie Steam Boat, the erection of which was commenced the late winter, is now compleated; it was builtAND CANAL CONSTRUCTION 143 below the Rapids at the outlet of the lake, and I am told has made two attempts to ascend the rapids into the lake, but unsuccessful, and I think it probable she will has [have] (as other vessels) to be towed up with oxen traversing the beach. I have some thoughts of making a trip in this boat in the Course of the summer to Detroit and which I pre- sume you would have no objection to, as it wili not require a period greater than a week or two from home to perform the tour* * Joseph Ellicott. MR. BUSTI REGRETS THE RESIGNATION. Philadelphia 4th September, 1818. Joseph Ellicott, Esq., Batavia. Dear Sir : . . . Your demission as Commissioner to the Canal supported by reason of incompatibility with your duties of stationary Agent I cannot condemn. This how- ever does not take away any part of the regret I feel at your giving it in at the important epoch of deciding whether in- trigue has to stop the work at the Seneca lake or whether the scheme is to be followed up. Should the last prove to be the fact as the Commissioners must have superintendents of every kind on the spot I cannot dissemble my wish that you might accept of a subaltern employment which without in- fringing too much on your time might influence in some de- gree the important question relative to the direction of the canal. . . . Paul Busti. BUFFALO CITIZENS TO MR. PEACOCK. Buffalo, Sept. 7, 1818. Sir : We are informed that you have been appointed the Commissioner under the act of the Legislature of April144 THE HOLLAND LAND CO. 20, 1818, to survey the outlet of Buffalo Creek and to ex- amine relative to the expediency of improving its harbor. As the season will5 soon arrive when the business of sur- veying it will be unpleasant and attended with some diffi- culties and as the inhabitants of this place generally are very anxious that it should be attended to as soon as con- venient, we are induced by request of several gentlemen to solicit your acceptance of the appointment, and if any aid can be given, to tender you their and our services in any manner in which we can be useful. We are very respectfully, Sir, Your ob’t Serves, Oliver Forward Sam'l Wilkeson Ch. Townsend Ebenezer Johnson William Peacock, Esq. Evans MSS. GOVERNOR CLINTON REPORTS PROGRESS. Utica 25 Septr 1818 [To Joseph Ellicott] My dear Sir : The Canal Commissioners are now in ses- sion and will finish their business this day. As the middle section of the Erie, and the Champlain' Canal will in all human probability be completed next year, the subject of continuation will occupy the attention of the Legislature at their next session: and it will be well to prepare the public mind for the selection of the most important section. My mind is decidedly in favor of the Western—and I should wish to be favored by you in extenso with your views on this subject. I am happy to inform you that the progress of the canal exceeds my most sanguine expectations, both as it re- spects quantity and cheapness of operation. My regret for your resignation has not ceased but is diminished by the con- sideration of the useful services of your successor:1 He & 1. Ephraim Hart.AND CANAL CONSTRUCTION. 145 Holley officiate in person on the Western & Young on the Northern Canal. With my best compliments to your brother, Stevens & Evans j am your sincere friend De Witt Clinton. ADVICES TO AGENT BUSTI. Batavia October 12, 1818 Paul Busti, Esquire, Philadelphia. My dear Sir: ... I have received a letter from the President of the Canal Commissioners Gov. Clinton under Date the 25th ult. mentioning that the Progress of the Canal exceeds his most sanguine expectations both as it respects quantity and cheapness of operation, and that the middle, section of the Erie and the Champlain Canal will in all human probability be compleated the next season; that he is very desirous measures may be taken to commence the western section of the Erie Canal in the ensuing Spring, and that all his efforts will be used to prevail on the Legislature to make provision for prosecuting the grand project to its final completion, and solicits the aid of all' friends, of the canal to use their best endeavors in aiding that object. It therefore appears that the information I had received some time since and mentioned to you that it was not intended for the present to prosecute the Canal farther than the Seneca River was incorrect, and no doubt promulgated to answer some political purposes. .. . Joseph Ellicott. THE CANAL EXPECTED TO SWELL THE HOLLAND LAND CO/s RECEIPTS. Batavia, Octo. — 1818 Paul Busti, Esquire, Philadelphia. My dear Sir: . . . Mr. Holley one of the acting Canal Commissioners called on me a few days since and as-146 THE HOLLAND LAND CO. sures me that at least sixty miles of the middle section of the Canal will be accomplished the ensuing season; that is to say from Onondaga Salt works to Utica; and he thinks the greater part of the Canal between these salt works and the Seneca river will by the same period be navigable. An object will be to endeavor to obtain an act of the Leg- islature at their ensuing session to undertake the excavation of the western section terminating with the eastern extrem- ity of Lake Erie at Buffalo. Should we succeed in obtain- ing an act for the prosecution of that object I think doubtless many wealthy farmers will emigrate from the Atlantic States and purchase out those of our settlers who own lands in the vicinity of the canal route [who] are not in a situa- tion to make payment, and by this means increase our re- ceipts ; as it is from the second hand purchaser the largest share of payments are made. ... Joseph Ellicott. RELATING TO A HARBOR AT BUFFALO. Batavia December 14, 1818. Jonas Harrison, Esquire, Buffalo. Sir : I have received the letter you done me the honor to address to me pursuant to the request of the Committee of Buffalo village in relation to a harbour at the outlet of Buffalo Creek with Lake Erie, and shall merely remark than an act passed the last Legislature (agreeably as I understood to the Petition of a former Buffalo Committee) authorizing the Governor to appoint some fit and proper person whose duty it shall be to examine the outlet of Buffalo Creek and cause a survey and plan to be made of such improvement as he may think fit and proper for the improvement of the said outlet so as to form a safe and commodious harbour for ves- sels navigating Lake Erie together with an Estimate of the probable expence, and that he report the same to the next Legislature; that the said commissioner was appointed and made the survey, and I presume will report as contemplatedAND CANAL CONSTRUCTION. 147 by the act. It appears to me therefore so far as regards this Business with the Legislature it is in the proper train with- out any aid from me, and circumstanced as I am I should feel for certain reasons a delicacy by aiding in a direct man- ner although indirectly I should unquestionably afford all the assistance I could to forward the views of the Buffalo Committee; at the same time you will permit me to mention that it has always been my opinion that the most proper way was to commence this project with the money we could raise from our own subscriptions, and if the accomplishment of the object to answer the end in view was greater than our means, then to petition to the Legislature for some aid. I have on account of the Holland Company and self about $3500, which I shall appropriate to this object, if the plan appears to me a feasible one; and I am persuaded' that sum alone, provided the business should be conducted with a due regard to economy will effect the object so far as to give all the vessels that navigate Lake Erie free egress and regress with the harbour in the mouth of Buffalo Creek. When I mention due regard to economy I mean such economy as an individual would use in his own concerns such as Judge Porter’s economy in the erection of his bridge over an im- passable arm of the Niagara to Goat island; and my opinion is the same labor as well directed would accomplish the de- sired object. Accept Sir for yourself, and the Committee of Buffalo the assurance of the high consideration with which I have the honor to be Your & their most obd’t Serv’t Joseph Ellicott. CANAL PROSPECTS IN 1819. Albany January 17, 1819. Joseph Ellicott, Esquire, Batavia. Dear Uncle: . , . The canal appears to be gaining popularity. An animated debate took place in the Assembly148 THE HOLLAND LAND CO. yesterday on the adoption of the answer to His Excellency’s speech. Root moved a substitute to that part of it relating to the great Canal. He declared he had doubts of the prac- ticability of making it, without heaping burthens on the people they could not bear, and he wished the members not to commit themselves too hastily. Young Hamilton a son of Alexander Hamilton accused the governor of stating falsehoods in his speech—he is a weak young man and ren- dered himself quite ridiculous. Oakley Duer, J. R. Van Renselaer and German the speaker, the house being in com- mittee of the whole, spoke at length in favor of the canal. Mr. Van Renselaer’s speech was luminous and replete with solid argument. He evinced a thorough knowledge of the finances of the State and proved to my satisfaction and, I presume, to that of the house that the Resources of the State were full'y adequate to the completion of that great object, as the answer was adopted by a great majority. The pros- pect is in favor of the passage of a law authorizing the Com- missioners to enter into Contracts for the completion of the work from Lake Erie to the Hudson. ... David E. Evans. WM. PEACOCK’S REPORT ON BUFFALO HARBOR, JANUARY, 1819. The undersigned, a Commissioner appointed by virtue of an Act of the Legislature of the State of New York, passed April 10th, 1818, entitled “an Act relative to the Harbour of Buffalo Creek in the County of Niagara/’ to examine the outlet of Buffalo Creek and cause a Survey and Plan of such improvement as he may think fit and proper for the improvement of the said outlet so as to form a safe and commodious Harbour for vessels navigating Lake Erie, to- gether with an estimate of the probable expense” has the honour of submitting to the consideration of the Legisla- ture, the following report of his survey and Estimates. The annexed map gives the distance on the shore of Lake Erie of about three miles. The different depths ofAND CANAL CONSTRUCTION. 149 water during that extent, have been ascertained by actual survey, and the bottom of the Lake carefully examined to ascertain its quality and situation. It will be seen by a ref- erence to the Map that at the greatest depth penetrated the bottom is composed of a red tenacious clay which affords the most favourable ground to hold and support Piles en- tering it, and which has been penetrated in many places to the depth of 6 feet by a rod of Iron fitted for that pur- pose. The figures at the left hand of the different positions taken for survey, show the distance from the shore of the Lake in Rods ; the left exterior line represents the surface of the Lake, and the right gives the profile or view of the bottom at the various distances from shore as represented. The figures in red at the right hand give the different Depths of water at their respective distances in feet and decimals of a foot from the Shore. The dotted line shows the bottom to be sand and gravel and the smooth or painted line designates a clay bottom. The different depths of Buf- falo Creek for a considerable distance above its entrance into the lake are designated by the numbers n, 12, 14, 13, 12 &c. marked in Red. The entrance into the mouth of Buffalo Creek during the summer months is rendered diffi- cult in consequence of the vast quantities of sand and gravel which are constantly accumulating during the vio- lence of the winds which blow from the Lake to the Shore; and the current of the stream, when thus accumulated is not sufficiently powerful to dislodge and scatter them and to force them from their beds back into the Lake from whence they were driven. In some instances, in a time of heavy floods, a passage is cut across the gravelly point thro' which the whole body of the water of the creek discharges itself into the Lake, but the flood subsiding, this is again soon filled up with new accumulations of sand & gravel. Sometimes it lays deposited on both sides of the creek at high floods, and leaving a uniform depth of water in the Creek of 12 feet into the Lake. To provide a remedy for this evil and to secure vessels entering the mouth of Buffalo Creek as well against the150 THE HOLLAND LAND CO. effect of storms as other accidents, the undersigned would respectfully recommend the construction of a Stone Pier, commencing at the Point A on Map No. 2, which shall ex- tend into the Lake 990 feet—this will give 13 feet water on a Clay Bottom—the heighth of the Pier to be 6 Feet above the common level of the Lake—its breadth at bottom to be 30 feet and at top 10 feet. The estimated expense of con- structing a work of this description will cost $12,78725- 100. Materials for the erection of this Pier & of the best kind may be procured in abundance from Bird Island, dis- tant from the spot contemplated about 1 & miles, and also at the distance of from 4 to 6, 8 & 10 miles on the shore of Lake Erie above the place contemplated, and the transportation of the whole can be effected by water-car- riage. This it is believed would be the most effectual and durable method of securing the mouth of Buffalo Creek against the encroachments of sand & gravel. But should it be deemed too expensive, another mode is suggested by extending a double row of Piles of wood, 990 feet into the Lake, 500 Piles on each side (the rows to be 20 feet apart) each pile to fill a space of nearly 2 feet. To secure and ren- der more permanent this construction, let an abutment aver- aging 20 feet square & 20 feet high be placed at the end of the Pile-work, to be composed of hewn timber, fitted & matched together and the whole filled in with stone. The intermediate space between this row of Pile-work to be filled up with brush and stone, two-thirds brush and the remaining third stone, the brush can be readily procured in the immediate vicinity of the place and the stone from the places already mentioned. In the selection of the materials for the work upon the last mentioned plan, for security and durability, it is deemed that white-oak would be the most desirable as it may be found in sufficient quantities, on the margin of the Lake above & from thence easily floated down. The timber com- posing these Piles to be eighteen inches diameter and their average height above the common water surface 7 feet, on every 6th or 7th pile thro’t the whole extent, let Caps of timber be framed connecting the piles on the opposite sidesAND CANAL CONSTRUCTION. 151 together. These caps or cross pieces of Timber will not only have a tendency to strengthen the work itself; and secure to better advantage within their place of deposit the materials with which the space between the piles is filled up; but they will serve as supporters on which pieces of timber as string-pieces may be placed, and planks may be laid thereon, thus forming a bridge or passage connecting the shore with the abutment; and as it is contemplated to place a Lamp at the end of the Pier for the purpose of en- abling vessels in the dark to go round the end of the work in safety, this method would always afford a safe and easy communication with the shore. The estimated expense of constructing a work of this kind will cost $10,514 37-100. If it should be deemed most expedient to construct the Pier entirely of stone as being the least destructible or liable to decay, then the following plan and estimate is submitted: Recapitulation of the Expense of the Stone Pier. Length of pier.................................... 990 feet Average heighth .................................. 13 43-100 “ Width at bottom .................................. 30 do at top ..................................... 10 “ Containing 207745-100 Cords of Stone @ $5 pr. Cord-----$10,387 25 200 Piles @ $2 pr. pile................................ 400 00 Superintendence and extra expences .................... 2,000 00 Aggregate expence of Stone Pier...............$12,787 25 It is to be observed here, that in the construction of this Pier or mole, no extra or mechanical labour is requisite, the stones being barely deposited in the water and by a little care form the desired slope required. Should, however, hereafter, the Public funds warrant, and the patronage of the Legislature sanction it, a wall might be constructed from the surface of the water upward, which would unite ele- gance with durability. Should, however, the other plan suggested, meet with more general approbation, the result is estimated as follows:152: THE HOLLAND LAND CO. Recapitulation of the Expense of erecting the Wooden Pier 1010 feet in length. The abutment at an average of 20 feet square and 20 feet in height, composed of hewn timber framed and locked together by strong ties and braces and filled with stone, estimated expense ....................................$ 675 00 1000 white-oak Piles inserted in the bottom of the Lake at $2 pr. Pile........................................... 2,000 00 100 Cap-Pieces (white-oak) framed on top of Piles @ $2 pr. piece ............................................ 200 00 3960 feet in length for string-pieces @ 10 cents pr. foot .. 396 00 19800 superficial feet 2 Inch plank @ $20 per M........... 396 00 69248-100 Cords Stone @ $5 pr. Cord ..................... 3,462 40 138497-100 Cords of Brush @ $1 pr. Cord.................. 1,384 97 Superintendence and extra expences as above................ 2,000 00 Aggregate expence of wooden Pier..............$10,514 37 It will readily be perceived by a comparison of these re- spective estimates, that the expenses of erecting solid and durable works of stone, instead of those constructed of more perishable materials, will only exceed in amount, the incon- siderable sum of $2,272.88-100. It is worthy of remark also, that should the work be constructed of solid materials, it would probably require much less expenditures hereafter to repair it. In selecting Buffalo Creek as the most eligible spot for a harbour at the Eastern extremity of Lake Erie, the under- signed has been governed by the following considerations : First. In the Spring of the year at the time of the breaking up of the ice in the Creek & that stream discharg- ing a great quantity of water into the Lake, it cuts a pas- sage through the Gravel point at or near the place marked B.on the Map; and forms a channel 12 feet in depth through out into the Lake. It is to be observed that the water of the creek has its full force at that season of the year, in conse- quence of the large bodies of Ice collected in the Lake near the mouth of the creek, & which form, in some measure, a barrier against the violence of the water in the Lake, thereby answering all the purposes of a Pier, until the ice graduallyAND CANAL CONSTRUCTION. 153 dissolves, which is one of the most conclusive reasons for locating the work at the place designated on the Map. But there are other reasons in favour of the same place, viz: By erecting the Pier some distance above the mouth of the Creek, far enough to leave an area of sufficient extent for the sand and gravel that may be carried down by the water of the Creek and deposited along its margin on the upper side, thereby in process of time, forming between the pier and the channel of the creek, a beach or Hat that will give additional support and durability to the work proposed to be erected. It is the opinion of the undersigned that if a sufficient space is not allowed for the deposit of the sand and gravel that would be lodged along on the upper side of the Creek by the force of the water in high freshes, the whole contents of the gravel bar, now lying across the mouth of the Creek, would only be carried still farther into the lake, and thereby add to the same obstructions which are already formed. Should it be objected that the Creek is not the proper place to form a Harbour by reason of the continual deposits of alluvian brought down by the waters of the creek, that objection might be deemed a serious one, if the waters of the creek were discharged into the lake at the distance of 4 or 6 miles above, where no current is to be found in the water of the lake. That the lake has a current of y* mile an hour immediately at the end of the contemplated Pier, and that the united force of both currents, Lake & Creek, will continually carry off all those particles of alluvial earth below the channel, contemplated for the passage of Vessels into the Creek, and will, by the increased velocity of the water, in its progress out of the Lake, float the particles of matter over the rapids below Bird-Island. Upon as full and careful an examination therefore, of the subject as the undersigned has been able to bestow upon- it, he does not hesitate in pronouncing his most decided opin- ion, that at or near the mouth of Buffalo Creek, is the most suitable and proper place, to form “a safe and commodious harbour” at the Eastern end of Lake Erie.154 THE HOLLAND LAND CO. When the increasing commerce of the Western section of the State is duly considered and a proper estimate made of its probable future extension, it cannot fail, to appear obvious, that it is of the deepest Interest to the People of that section and to the State generally, that every obstacle to the full and free use of its navigable Waters should as far as practicable be removed without delay. Bounding on a foreign & a rival province, every day becoming more and more jealous of the commercial prosperity of the U. S. and of the State of New York in particular, unless every facility within the power of Government to bestow is granted to those meritorious citizens who are engaged in the Lake trade, the period cannot be very remote when the Subjects of Canada will enjoy a superior share of those advantages and that commerce which Nature has intended should be distributed equally among all. The superiour advantages at present possessed by the British opposite Buffalo, cannot fail to procure for them a correspondent share of the trade of Lake Erie and the upper Waters. To a Government, characterized by Mercantile cupidity and which binds all the resources of a vast and overwhelm- ing commerce to the purposes of its own ambition, no obsta- cle to commercial superiority will be considered too insur- mountable to be removed. To the natural advantages al- ready possessed, it may be confidently expected that they will superadd all the aids which art can bestow to continue and if possible increase that superiority. Not a single movement has of late been made, or is at present making to improve the internal navigation of the State, but seems to have excited on their part a correspondent degree of zeal and to have urged them forward to the most indefatigable exertions. Buffalo from its local situation is apparently the key which opens to the People of the State of New York a most stupendous path of navigation and of commerce ex- tending the distance of more than 2000 Miles. The exist- ing disadvantages attending its harbour, it is believed, may be entirely removed, by adopting the measures above sug-AND CANAL CONSTRUCTION. 155 gested and thus an uninterrupted chain of water communi- cating by means of the Canal when that great and impor- tant work shall have been completed, be forever secured be- tween the City of New York and indeed the whole Atlantic Sea-Board & the upper Lakes. By effecting such improve- ments, the wealth, the industry and enterprise of the differ- ent sections of the State will be more closely interwoven, and the products of each be interchanged with greater fa- cility. In fine, it would give a spring & impulse to the agri- culture and the commerce of the State, at its Western ex- tremity which could hardly fail to act and react until its vigorous influence should be felt by the whole community: —Considerations of such magnitude united to the view of the rapidly increasing population of the State of N. Y. and the States and Territories West and South West who would alike be benefited by a commerce on the Lakes, more especially when the amount required to be expended is so very trifling and inconsiderable, would seem to indicate a necessity of the Speedy accomplishment of an object which promises so many results of incalculable Public benefit. All of which is Respectfully submitted William Peacock Mayville, Chautauque County Jan’y 18th, 1819 MR. ELLICOTT URGES WORK ON THE WESTERN SECTION. Batavia Feb. 10, 1819. His Excellency De Witt Clinton. Dear Sir : I have with the most sincere pleasure received at your hands the very lucid report of the Canal Commis- sioners to the Legislature of the progress of that great work under their care & management. In all the transactions of the honorable the Commissioners have I discovered nought else than direction steady as the hand of time to one object. Under the guidance of such men the Canal must and will156 THE HOLLAND LAND CO. be compleated in a term much shorter than the most san- guine could have calculated on or anticipated. It is very desirable that the actual line of Canal should be laid off and located between the Seneca river & Lake Erie. This object I had understood was in contemplation to have been accomplished last season. Nothing however having been done in that way induced some people to report that it was not the intention to work the Canal further westward than the Seneca river for the present, and I am persuaded not an inconsiderable number of the people are of that opinion;—an opinion which if something should not be done in the way of locating the actual site of the Canal between those places the coming season will become more prevalent. You will therefore permit me to suggest the propriety of lo- cating the Canal from the Seneca river to Lake Erie the present season, and believe me very assuredly and most re- spectfully Your obed’t Servant Joseph Ellicott. STATUS OF CANAL AND HARBOR. Albany Febry 13, 1819. [to Joseph Ellicott] Dear Uncle: . . . The canal question has not yet been brought forward in either house. I am apprehensive the governor thinks the Martling men will not appose it. I am certain that the principal men in that party will be its warmest supporters, and I am surprised at the delay of the Commissioners in not offering their propositions. The Buffalo harbor will not I am fearful meet with many sup- porters—the Assembly appears to be very unwilling to part with the State’s money, however we shall do our ut- most. ... David E. Evans.AND CANAL CONSTRUCTION. 157 gov. Clinton's accurate estimate of time needed. Albany 19 February 1819. [To Joseph Ellicott] Dear Sir: The Canal Commissioners have this day in a communication to a Joint Committee gave an explicit opinion in favor of the completion of the Western section of the Erie Canal. We propose to explore the three routes and to lay out the line of the Canal definitively next season and to make some contracts so as to be enabled to commence the work at the opening of the season after that. We contem- plate the expenditure of 800,000 dollars a year and hope to complete the whole of the canal in 6 years. There will be little open but much secret opposition to this measure but it will prevail. Its insidious enemies will shift the ground of direct hostility—but they will do all the mischief they can either by urging the previous finishing of the middle section or a preference for the Eastern section. ... De Witt Clinton THE WESTERN SECTION—SOURCES OF OPPOSITION. Albany 23 February 1819 [To Joseph Ellicott] My dear Sir: I enclose a Report &c of the Joint Com- mittee of the Senate & Assembly relative to the Erie & Champlain Canals. You will perceive that the Committee concurs in opinion with the Commissioners as to the im- mediate completion of the Western section of the former. I have no doubt but that the Legislature will sanction the Report of the Committee. The enemies of these great improvements have aban- doned the field , of direct opposition, but their enmity is no less envenomed on account of its insidious character: They will urge the previous completion of the Eastern section, with a view to injure the whole operation and to subserve the selfish views of a few persons on our Niagara frontier. I am yours truly de ^itt Clinton158 THE HOLLAND LAND CO. BUFFALO HARBOR AND THE LEGISLATURE OF 1819. Albany February 25, 1819 [To Joseph Ellicott] Dear Uncle: . . . The joint committee of the Senate and Assembly on internal Improvements this evening agreed to offer the following proposition to the two houses. To loan to the Citizens of Buffalo Twelve thousand Dollars for five years without interest for the purpose of construct- ing a harbor security to [be] approved of by the comp- troller to be taken. But in case the Canal Commissioners shall determine to take the canal out of Buffalo creek then the security to be released and the sum granted to be consid- ered a donation from the State. The foolish project of a company for the purpose of forming a harbor which you so justly in my opinion deprecate had like to have been the means of ruining all chance of obtaining any grant what- ever. I was certain it would have a bad effect and hoped it would not be discovered by any of the Committee but Gen’l J. Rutser van Renselaer found the notice for it to day in one of the newspapers and asked me if it would not be best to incorporate such a company as he knew it would be ex- tremely difficult to get any thing from the State. I told him it would not—that such incorporations were at all times very objectionable and that I thought there was no more propriety in incorporating a company for that purpose than there would be for incorporating one for the improvement of the Navigators of the Hudson and taxing the vessels that passed up and down that River and that in fact I con- sidered that it would not be so impolitic to tax the vessels on the Hudson as it would those on the Lake for those of the former must pass along it and those of the latter might if they chose and undoubtedly would if it was to their ad- vantage anchor at Fort Erie from whence their cargoes would pass through the British territory. He was pleased to say my remarks were just and that as he thought none of the committee except himself had seen the notice for the contemplated application for an act to charter a com- pany he should keep it secret. I agreed with him as to theAND CANAL CONSTRUCTION. 159 propriety of the manner he proposed to present the subject to the two houses. It has not the appearance of an abso- lute gift yet I am persuaded it will be so in fact, for I think there cannot be a doubt but what the Canal Commissioners will connect the canal with Buffalo creek and possibly they may determine to do so next summer. I send you herewith a copy of the Report of the Com- mittee by which you will see the western section will be next acted upon. I have not a shadow of doubt but what a Law will be passed this winter authorizing the completion of that section. I believe I know the feelings of as many members on that subject as almost any other person in Albany. The Canal Commissioners thought it would be unnecessary to pass a law authorizing the completion of both the western & eastern sections as they could employ as many hands as the State could furnish the means of paying on the western alone. Young was in favor of a Law authorizing the whole line to be finished not with a view of going on with the whole eastern section till the western was finished, but to enable the commissioners to excavate the canal and construct the locks at the Little Falls. He stated that it would require probably two years more to finish the works at that point than at any other between Utica and Tide Water as the labor would be great and no more men could be employed there than at the same extent of space elsewhere and that to have the whole eastern section completed at the same time the work at that place should be commenced two years earlier than at the other parts. This reasoning appeared to me to be good but it was overruled. I was not one of the committee but made a point to attend all their meetings. ... David E. Evans. BUFFALO HARBOR OPPONENTS. Albany 8 March 1819 Sir : . . . The Harbor application was referred to a joint committee of both houses of the subject of Internal160 THE HOLLAND LAND CO. Improvement, who have reported a bill authorizing a loan on individual security without interest, which is to be ex- pended by the canal commissioners & the loan to-be remitted if the commissioners shall be of opinion- that the harbor will be necessary or useful as connected with the Great Canal. It is uncertain whether the bill will pass, there is con- siderable opposition to it from those interested in or partial to Black Rock and from those usually opposed to internal improvements of any nature.. I am very respectfully, Sir, Your obed’t Serv. Ch. Townsend. Joseph- Ellicott, Esq* MR. BUSTI NOW CONFIRMS THE LAND DONATION. Philada 16th March 1819 Joseph Ellicott, Esq., Batavia. Dear Sir: . . . The completion of the Western Canal having been assented to by the Legislature the grant of the A 100/m Tract will be made operative under the old con- ditions. To them I have procured the additional insertion that the State shall be subjected to the payment of the County taxes as laid upon individual property. Probably the Canal works will be undertaken during the approaching season, if the long pending question between the Northern & Southern direction has been- decided on. I wish it may be for the name of the Canal ought to attract attention to the lands and the money to be expended in the work must inspire new life into the country. Buffalo will likewise experience permanent advantages from it and from the meditated improvements of its harbour. . . , Paul Busti.AND CANAL CONSTRUCTION. 161 MR. BUSTIS OLD SI.STEM OF MIND. Philadelphia 12th April, 1819 Joseph Ellicott, Esq., Batavia. Dear Sir: . . . The conditions affixed originally to the Grant for the Canal and the explicit one obliging the State to share its proportion in the County taxes- have raised difficulties in the acceptance which I had1 never expected. I shall not dwell on this not doubting that Senator Evans, will give you the whole history. I for my part firmly believe that the whole originates in misconceptions formed at the time the grant was offered. It was trumpeted about by the Commissioners without ever mentioning that it was condi- tional. This novelty starts suspicions and partysmen ever alert to profit of every incident avail themselves of this gen- eral ignorance of a fact to censure the donors and the first sollicitor of the donative. I had always imagined De Witt Clinton had the whole of the Western of the State in his favor. It is with no small surprise I observe the Genesee papers all enlisted in running him down. In this new ex- ample of the instability of popular favor I draw the con- firmation of the goodness of my old sistern never to espouse the cause of any man, nor to embark in any party. I enjoy it is true no triumph but on the other hand I suffer not the mortifications of a defeat. The impartiality thus observed if it does not make no warm friends neither does it create me violent enemies. Perhaps is it to be ascribed to this that no opposition was met by the late petition in behalf of alien land owners. Paul Busti. BUFFALO CITIZENS TO PAUL BUSTI. Buffalo, April 30th, 1820. Sir: We have the honor to enclose you a copy of an Act passed by the Legislature of this State authorizing a loan to construct a Harbor at this place, and being desirous of obtaining some aid from the Holl’d L’d Comp’y in rela-162 THE HOLLAND LAND CO. tion thereto, it may be proper briefly to mention the circum- stances which led to the passage of the Act and also the reasons which have hitherto operated to prevent its being carried into effect—believing from the importance of the Object (particularly to Your Comp’y) that if You should not have already been apprised of the facts that the relation will neither be uninteresting or unprofitable. Many of the Citizens of this Village have settled here and purchased Lots at high prices in consequence of the As- surances of Mr. Ellicott that means were provided and measures would shortly be taken to make a safe and com- modious harbor at the mouth of Buffalo Creek. Years hav- ing passed without any appearance of commencing it, altho’ promises were from year to year repeated, the inhabitants determined to apply to the Legislature for aid, and in 1818 a law was passed under which Wm Peacock was appointed to survey the harbor and report an Estimate of the expence. The inhabitants also applied again to Mr. Ellicott and So- licited some aid, and he on the 14th Decem’r of that year replied, that he had “on account of the Boil'd L’d Comp'y and himself about $3500. which he should appropriate to this object if the plan (Mr. Peacock) should be a feasible one and he was persuaded that that sum alone provided that the business should be conducted with a due regard to econ- omy would effect that object." Believing that sum inade- quate and that there was but little probability of even that being expended, application was again made to the Legis- lature in 1819 for a grant of Money, but instead of a dona- tion, which was expected, an Act was passed authorizing a loan on individual Security. This at the time was sup- posed would enable the persons named in the law to im- prove the harbor without much personal risk or liability as it was believed that the canal would terminate at this place, and that the Canal Commissioners would undertake the work and authorize the loan to be converted into part of the Canal fund; and the other persons named in the law de- clining to give the Security required, the undersigned have executed Bonds & Mortgages and obtained collateral Se- curity and are now authorized to expend the money.AND CANAL CONSTRUCTION. 163 The Commissioners since the passing of the law have procured Surveys to be made at two different times and altho’ they are satisfied of the feasibility of effecting the object they decline making the decision required by law as they have not yet determined on the route of the Canal at this extremity of it. From their Report to the Legislature and from other circumstances we are induced to believe that it may ter- minate at the Tonnewanta Creek. In that event the har- bor at this place would be useless to the State and of but little value to us as the business of this place would be re- moved to the vicinity of Grand Island. The Commissioners also decline giving us any assurances that we shall be reimbursed our expences from vessels en- tering the Harbor. Notwithstanding these discouraging appearances we pro- pose should we receive a favorable reply to this proposition, to construct a pier nearly similar to that proposed by Mr. Peacock and which we understand is approved of by Mr. Ellicott, and we have to Solicit the aid of the Holl’d L’d Com’py in such manner and to such extent as they should be disposed to grant. Should they be unwilling to make any considerable ap- propriation in money (which if made we would give such Security as should be required that it would be faithfully expended) We have to request that if constructed with our means and if hereafter on application, the Canal Com- missioners and the Legislature should refuse us relief in case of our sustaining a loss, that in that case the Holl’d L’d Comp’y should assume such an equitable proportion of the loss as would be proportionate to their interest with ours, or to the benefits which they will derive from the accom- plishment of so important an object. We presume this will not be deemed an unreasonable request as a total loss would be ruinous to us and having only a small interest in it in common with other members of [this] Community. We have deemed it needless to make this proposition to Mr. Ellicott, as we have been even refused the loan of a164 THE HOLLAND LAND CO. pile driver which we understand he sometime since pur- chased for the ostensible purpose of making the proposed pier. We hope and trust this proposition will be received favor- ably and that we shall be enabled to commence the work immediately, as the want of a Harbor is very sensibly felt both in the business of this place and in depreciation of Vil- lage property. The business of loading and unloading Vessels over 30 Tons has for two seasons past been altogether done at Black Rock, which place is improving very rapidly. As it is of the utmost importance that the works should be commenced soon, that they may be sufficiently advanced to be secure before the fall winds set in, we hope you will favor us with a reply as soon as possible. We are very respectfully, Sir, Your most ob’t Serves (Signed) Olv. Forward " Sam’l Wilkeson “ Chs. Townsend “ Geo. Goit P. S. Should the pile driver above mentioned belong to the Holl’d L’d Comp’y we should be much obliged to them for the loan of it and also for the priviledge of Cutting on their land part of the timber and brush, should it be more convenient to the Workmen. Paul Busti, Esq’r, Agent of the Holl’d L’d Company. From a “copy of a letter from Messrs. Forward and others to P. Busti with hi9 reply—from Joseph Ellicott,,, preserved with the Evans MSS. AGENT BUSTl’S REPLY TO THE FOREGOING. Philadelphia, nth May, 1820. Messrs. Oliver Forward & Consors, Buffalo. Gentlemen: Your letter of 30th April conveying me a detailed account of what has passed concerning the project of Constructing works at the mouth of Buffalo Creek capa-AND CANAL CONSTRUCTION. 165 ble of affording shelter to vessels navigating the Erie [lake], terminates with a demand that in case the Legislature should refuse to grant you a relief for any loss to be sustained in the undertaking of that work, the risk of which you seem disposed to take upon yourselves, I should engage on the part of the Holld Ld Compy to refund an equitable propor- tion of such losses. I regret Gentlemen to be under the obligation of declin- ing taking any such engagement, or in any way a share in perfecting a work, the utility of which I am duly appre- ciating, and whose promotion has from all times been one of the wishes of my heart. The apparent contradiction of these last words when compared to the flat refusal of running even the eventual risk of contributing a share in the losses that might be sus- tained requires on my part an explanation. I have to give it in the fond expectation that you will find my expressions perfectly reconciliable. From the very moment the Territory of the Holld Compy was opened for Settlement my plans were formed and I have invariably adhered to them. My rule on die score of public works has been to aid and assist in their confection, whenever they should be undertaken under the authority of the Legislature and by the State. It was there- fore that under the impression that the erection of an har- bour at the outlet of Buffalo Creek would have been deemed a proper object for National enterprize, I had authorized Mr. Ellicott the local Agent, in case the State had assumed its confection, to devote and Contribute to it a liberal pro- portion of the ground of the Village lots. Ready at all times to give proofs to the State that Dutch aliens were de- serving well of the public I acted likewise when the cutting of the Grand Canal was projected. The first offer I made, should the U. S. or that of New York undertake its com- pletion, [was] a free grant of every alternate farm lot lying on both sides of a Canal passing through the Dutch property. To an incorporated Company the same grant was proposed, but with a condition that every acre of the Lands ceded should be valued and paid in Canal Shares.166 THE HOLLAND LAND CO. I quote this fact in order to convince you of my constant practice of making a great discrimination between lending assistance to such kind of undertakings. When assumed by States and Governments the moral certainty that they will soon or late be completed gives me great encourage- ment. It is just the reverse with works undertaken by pri- vate associations. The failure of so many in which the Members composing the Holld Compy have sunk so much Capital in Your, as well as other States of America has made me once for all determine never to recede from the adopted System of refusing all kind of engagements with them. Consistency in acting is one of the qualities I pride myself to possess, and1 as Mr. Ellicott knows my way of thinking he is perfectly justified of every reproach it might be attempted to throw upon him on account of his having at one time hinted his willingness to contribute to the mak- ing of the harbour, and at another Shewn a contrary dispo- sition. He has acted in unison with my principles. There- fore [if] there is any wrong done the blame must fall upon me. I do not take upon me to excuse or condemn his refusal of lending the pile driver, you tell me, he had purchased. As in the Accounts of the Holld Compy no charge of such a machine was ever made it follows that [it] is no property upon which I am entitled to dispose. Mr. Ellicott is the master to do with the pile driver as he thinks fit. I believe him to be too reasonable as to deny to You the use of it on suitable terms. I have the honor to remain Your Obed’t Serv’t Evan. MSS. PaUL BuSTI APPREHENSIVE OF CANAL CHANGES. Geneseo, December 25, 1820. Dear Sir : . . . .In September next the Genese river becomes a section of the grand canal. The location of Rochester from that time becomes comparatively unim-AND CANAL CONSTRUCTION. 167 portant. Batavia for many years will seek the canal in Caledonia. Other villages more favored than Rochester, with a fertile back country, will grow up on the Genesee River. The intercourse among the inhabitants up and down the river will be daily. And a central location for the seat of justice will best accommodate the entire popula- tion. .... James Wadsworth Joseph Ellicott, Esqr. Evan9 MSS. CANAL INTERESTS AT ALBANY. Albany, February 7, 1821. Dear Uncle: The legislature yesterday elected Mr. Van Buren a senator in Congress in the place of Mr. San- ford whose term of service will expire on the 3d day of March. The canal bill which passed the senate at the november meeting has this day passed in committee of the whole in the Assembly and will receive its third reading tomorrow. I am waiting for the proofs to be furnished of the fair expenditure of the $50000 appropriation to bring that affair before the senate and have little doubt to be able to procure the passage of a law to direct the comptroller to settle it. His excellency has not yet commenced the new canal and when he will is quite uncertain. The city is overflowing with office seekers and their importunities are so incessant that I can scarcely steal a moment from them,—fifty will sometimes call in the course of a morning. Doctor Prendergast wishes in case a new canal commis- sioner is to be appointed to become a candidate for the office and requested me to enquire whether you think him competent to discharge its duties if he should succeed in obtaining it, which I promised to do. Yours affectionately ^ J David E. Evans [Addressed to Joseph Ellicott, Esq., Batavia.] Evans MSS.168 THE HOLLAND LAND CO. Albany, Feby 20, 1821. Dear Uncle: ThQ Bill for the erection of the County of Munroe passed in committee of the whole in the house of Assembly this day and will receive its third reading to- morrow and as the Council of Revision will meet on Friday will then become a law. The Livingston County is the or- der of the day for to-morrow and I have no doubt but what it will also pass but I think not by so large a majority— which was I have been told thirty five. The legislature have not yet decided when to choose an- other canal commissioner—who will be appointed I am un- able even to conjecture. There are many candidates. Yours sincerely, D. E. Evans [Addressed to Joseph Ellicott, Esq., Batavia.] Evana MSS. BUFFALO'S CLAIMS AS CANAL TERMINUS. Buffalo, June 25, 1821. Joseph Ellicott, Esquire. Sir: The question as to the termination of the canal is daily assuming an increased importance with all those who favor its approaching the mouth of Buffalo creek, but with none more so than the citizens of this village and vicinity, We feel a very deep interest in this question and wish to unite all the influence in favor of this plan, that exists. It has always been understood that you, Sir, were friendly to our views on this subject. We believe, too, that some of the Canal Commissioners are with us. The ques- tion must be ultimately decided by them, and while it re- mains undecided, it would be desirable, that they could be made acquainted with the opinion of Gentlemen of learning and influence, who are in favor of this plan. Individually I feel a great anxiety on this subject, and which too has rather increased of late, from hearing that the Commission-AND CANAL CONSTRUCTION. 169 ers will not probably decide the matter untill it can be ascertained whether a harbour can be effected at the mouth of the creek. The experiment is now progressing with a prospect of success truly encouraging. As to its practica- bility we have not an infidel in the plan. The Gentlemen engaged in the work, have with aid furnished from the village turned the current of the creek across the point of land between the lake and creek in a direction towards the west end of the pier and are darning up the creek below. I understand the water is now from io to 12 feet deep across the point. By extending the rows of spoils [spiles], form- ing the dam, into the Lake (which work is now going on) so as to contract the channel of the creek between the pier & dam, the channel will be opened and we think kept open from the Creek into the Lake and it is hoped that it may be so far effected before the next return of the Steam Boat so as to admit her into the creek, as the captain declares he will come in as soon as the channel will admit him.1 The funds appropriated for these improvements I fear will fall short of placing the works in that complete and permanent condition, necessary to answer the intended pur- pose. In addition to the Legislative appropriation, a sub- scription of about $1000 has been obtained from Gentlemen of this village, some part of which however is payable in goods and other articles, such as shoes, &c,—the manufac- tures of the place—and in this way it will probably be further augmented. But our ability in this respect does not equal our disposition—other and more resources are wanted —as this is a work, the success of which will be of vast im- portance to all the owners of property in this vicinity, to the Holland Company as well as the residents. Would not, Sir, that company be willing to aid this work? That the com- 1. “The Steam Boat” referred to was the Walk-in-the-Water, the second steamboat on the Great Lakes, and the first above the Falls. Built at Black Rock in 1818, she sailed her first trip, to Detroit, Aug. 23d of that year. On account of the bar at the mouth of Buffalo creek, she made her eastern port at Black Rock, much to the chagrin of Buffalo. She was wrecked Nov. x, 1821, on the beach, near the south pier of Buffalo’s present harbor. For the history of the Walk-in-the-Water, with interesting reminiscences by one who was a passenger on her last trip, see Buffalo Historical Society Publications, vol. V.170 THE HOLLAND LAND CO. pany will be greatly benefited by these improvements, in case the Canal shall in consequence thereof come into the creek, cannot escape the observation of any one. Those Gentlemen who live abroad and are owners of lots &c. in this village, must of course be very considerably interested in the success of these improvements, and I should sup- pose would cheerfully contribute something towards them. I beg you will excuse the trouble I give you respecting this business. I have no private interest whatever to sub- serve save only a small subscription. But I acknowledge I feel a very deep interest in a public point of view, for I am satisfied that the decision of the canal commissioners as to the locality of the western extremity of the canal, is to be suspended, untill it can be ascertained whether we can have a harbour. Should this desirable state of things take place, it must be that men of business and men of capital will find many inducements for establishing themelves at this place, and the value of real property will rise in a ratio corre- sponding with the improvements and importance of the place, and in this way the interests of the Company and of all those who are the owners of land in this vicinity will be extensively promoted. Should they be convinced of this, I think they would not be unwilling to aid in some way the undertaking. Will you, Sir, have the goodness to write me on this subject. I am with great respect Your obd Sert Evans MSS. IT POTTER. BUFFALO VS. BLACK ROCK INTERESTS. Buffalo, Deer 7, 1821. Dear Sir: David Thomas Esquire has recently com- pleted a survey of the canal from the Tonewanda Creek to this place, much to the dissatisfaction of the Messrs. Por- ters, who have a deep interest in terminating the canal at Black-Rock. Mr. Geddes one of the canal engineers, since the departure of Mr. Thomas, has appeared at Black-Rock, and is now employed in surveying the Niagara River, withAND CANAL CONSTRUCTION. 171 a view no doubt of inducing the canal commissioners to enter into the old, and as we supposed long since exploded project, of constructing a harbor by means of a dam, that is to raise the river to a level with the Lake. Whether Mr. Geddes is employed by the canal commis- sioners or by the Messrs. Porters is to us unknown. We believe by the latter. Knowing that you must feel in com- mon with us a great interest in the termination of the canal, we have thought proper to communicate to you these facts, and to advise with you as to the proper course to pursue. Please to inform us if you have any means of ascertaining the time that the question relative to the canal will be finally settled and determined; and whether in your opinion, ii will under all circumstances be advisable for us to em- ploy one or more intelligent men to go to Albany the ensu- ing winter, for the purpose of counteracting all misrepre- sentations that may be made to the commissioners, and of attending to our concerns generally before them. It is here reported and believed, that the commissioners will meet at Albany in the early part of the Session of the Legislature, and that they will then decide the point where the canal shall intersect the waters of the Lake—a question on which the future prosperity of this village entirely depends. It is said that the Messrs. Porters, Barton & Thompson will be at Albany during the winter, with a view of using such influence as they may possess in favor of their own interest; and from the present excitement, which appears to have originated wholly at Black Rock, we are induced to believe that some or all of them will attend. There is now full six feet water at the mouth of Buffalo Creek, and we shall have a channel of ten or eleven feet in the spring that will be entirely protected, and that will afford a safe, permanent & secure Harbor, for all vessels that now are, or may hereafter be employed in navigating the Lake. We are Respectfully &c David E. Evans, Esq. Oliver Forward Samuel Wilkeson Evans MSS.172 THE HOLLAND LAND CO. MORE OF THE SAME RIVALRY. Buffalo, Jany 9, 1822. Sir: We enclose you one of [the] Black Rock pamph- lets,1 which on perusal you will discover a plausible mixture of truth & falshood artfully drawn up for the use of the Legislature. This is only one among many means which Gen. Pforter] \6 resorting to to effect his object and which there is too much reason [to believe] will succeed in imposing on the State, unless suitable measures are devised to resist them. In doing which we much need your advise and assistance. Mr. Roberts who is attached to the canal commission has lately been employed as we believe by Gen’l P. to take surveys of the Buffalo & Black Rock Harbors with a view of reporting as to the expediency of discontinuing the further progress of the canal west of Black Rock. Roberts who we believe is a complete tool of Porter’s openly advo- cates this measure—as well as the probability that two of the canal commissioners will not be reappointed viz. Mess. Clinton & Holley, which we think will be a ruinous measure to the Interests of this Village for it is not contemplated to substitute any person in their place. We think it is absolutely necessary to have a correct survey made of both Harbors and statements made placing the merits of both as they truly are. Cannot you make it convenient to come down and assist us. 1. For data regarding the “Black Rock Pamphlets,” see Buffalo Histor- ical Society Publications, vol. VI., pp. 556, 559> 561. The pamphlet attributed to Geri. Porter is entitled: “Documents, relating to the western termination of the Erie Canal; with explanations and remarks. Published by direction of ‘The Black Rock Harbor Company.’” It was published at Black Rock in 1822. This and the pamphlet which it provoked in reply from the Buffalo Harbor Committee: “Documents and brief remarks in reply to the pamphlet written by General Porter,” etc. (Buffalo, 1823), are among the scarcest of early local imprints.AND CANAL CONSTRUCTION. 173 Mr. Evans has been written to and we hope will meet you here. We fear nothing will be done unless you come. Respectfully Yr obt Sevts Wilkeson Ch: Townsend Cyrenius Chapin R. B. Heacock. Wm. Peacock, Esq. P. S. Unless you feel prepared to submit to the termina- tion of the canal at Black Rock we must rely on your com- ing down. We have just seen Roberts report which is er- roneous in the extreme. Other facts have come to our knowledge which we cannot here state which induces us to believe Porter will succeed in his project. Evans MSS. FATE OF JUDGE WILKESON’S FIRST PIER. Albany, March 20, 1822. Dear Uncle: .... During the great freshet they have lately had the Buffalo Creek rose to an unusual height and undermined 250 feet of Wilkinson’s [Wilkeson’s] pier and tumbled it into the channel. It gouged out the sand to the depth of 18 feet and I am informed has formed a bar at the end of the pier in such a way that only 2-J^ feet of water can be found any where on it. Wilkinson left here during my absence and returned on the same day that I did. I believe his principal business was to promote Col. Young’s nomination he has had no apparent business and I have understood that he intended starting for home to- morrow. .... Yours mo. affectionately D. E. Evans. [Addressed to “Joseph Ellicott Esquire, Care of Wm Evans Esquire, Flour Inspector, Baltimore.”] Evans MSS.174 THE HOLLAND LAND CO. JUDGE WILKESON WRITES FROM ALBANY. Albany, 19th Feb. 1823. D. E. Evans, Esq. Dear Sir: You will probably have heard before this reaches you, that Calculations are making to reappoint the Canal Commission that is to proceed in their apointments, as in that of other offices & Considering their offices as va- cant it will of course produce less feeling to leave out those who the[y] wish to dispose of than it would to vote them out and from present appearances it is pretty certain that Holley Clinton & Vanransalier [Van Rensselaer] will 'be removed in that way when perhaps neither could be re- moved direct. The citizens of Troy are induced to go into the measure in hopes to get rid of the Albany interest in the board the[y] are pressing their claims for a different arrangement and location in the vicinity of their city. Gen. Porters friends are equally anxious to dispose of the members of the board who are oposed to their projects, all economy members are made to believe three commissioners are enough & the peo- ples money must be saved, some others are induced to believe that unfair speculations have been made by Holley and he ought to be removed others say that no man ought to be left in office who has oposed the prevailing party this class altho not the majority are not a few, uniting those who are actuated by various motives. I have no doubt but the[y] will have the power and disposition to exercise it & that Holly, Clinton & Vanranslaer will be removed unless some efforts are made to sustain them. I called on Mr. Norton requesting him to write you his opinion of the absolute necessity of your presence here at this time he has in- formed me that you have been wrote to and advised to at- tend here on other business, and that you would no doubt be here immediately, he agrees with me in the course that the Canal Commisioners business will take unless you Can save it in fact I am so well persuaded myself that I can be of no service myself in sustaining them, that is by di-AND CANAL CONSTRUCTION. 175 rectly remonstrating with members that I can not attempt it. was you here I could do a great deal I have found means to do something by our friends but if the Commis- sioners are preserved you must do it. Porter can not induce the legislature to recognize his projects, at least I have no fears in that Quarter. I have been more fortunate than I could have expected in inlisting various strong interests against him that altho it might not be prudent to attempt the repeal of his law I am clear he cannot at present induce the hous to Grant him any thing further but if one half the board is struck of, we have everything to aprehend and it will be done unless you Can prevent it I am not alarmed without caus I have satisfyd myself of what various feel- ings exist and to what Extent, a notice was given yester- day by Dudley that he would bring in a bill to apoint Canal Commissioners altho he did not think what he was doing, he has since been informed & hereafter will be Quiet, but others will be found to pursue it I hope you will sett aside your business & be here without losing one moment I do believe Every thing depends on your presence & unless you Can come I am satis fyd I may as well go home as stay, as I can not do anything Equal to what will be necessary to sus- tain the board. Redfield is so Cautious I can do nothing with him. I have reed from Buffalo a chart of the lower end of the lake including Porters harbor &c it goes to show that he has in his chart intendid a most rediculous imposi- tion I have ours—now in the hands of the Engravers will be finished on Saterday I will send your friends a copy. I am also procuring a chart of Lake Erie to shew the Gen- eral Com. which will also shew Ps tricks, the whole expense will be $67.50 I yet do not know where the money will come from to defray Expenses I beg of you to Come down the next stage after you receive this I reed a bill of you $10 which is said to be spurious it is on the N. Y. Phenix bank which I will enclose you as you may recollect where you reed it. Sir, your friend S. Wilkeson Evans MSS.176 THE HOLLAND LAND CO. AS TO WATER SUPPLY FOR THE CANAL. (Private) Mayvil, June.30th, 1823. Heman B. Potter, Esqr. Buffalo. Dear Sir: Your letter of the date of the 27th Inst, was duly received, and from it has put beyond rumour the ex- traordinary and unexpected decision of the canal board, a decision, that I cannot account for in any reasonable way; when I know, and every other person knows, that has thought upon the subject, that the only thing necessary for a permanent supply of water in the Canal was to make Lake Erie the Reservoir,—and I do believe that nature never formed a more complete one, and one on a grander scale, therefore all that is necessary to be done is to take the easy and natural course to effect the great object, which is to extend the canal to Buffalo Cr[eek] & the supply of water is obtained, but on the other hand, in darning up the water cf Niagara river & forming an artificial reservoir, attended with an enormous expense and great risk, & no more ad- vantage of the water is obtained than what is had from taking the supply of water out of the natural Reservoir at Buffalo Creek, unattended with far less expense, and no risk; these considerations alone (without mentioning many others) ought to have had a paramount weight on the de- cision of the canal board. Would it not be the most pru- dent and safe course for the canal board to pursue, to have the canal first made and completed to Buffalo Creek? I should certainly say so. When the canal is to run to Buf- falo at all events, it would show a sound and prudent course, because, if it was found to answer the great pur- pose intended (and there is not the least doubt but that it will) it would supersede the necessity of making that great expenditure of Money in darning up the Niagara. . . . . I am most Respectfully Your obt ser’t William Peacock. Evans MSS.AND CANAL CONSTRUCTION. 177 MR. ELLICOTT ADVISES THE COMMISSIONERS REGARDING BUFFALO HARBOR. Batavia, 16th July, 1824. To the honorable Board of Canal Commissioners. Gentlemen : Having seen announced, through the me- dium of the public prints, a resolution of your board, that you have it in contemplation to terminate the grand canal at a basin or harbor, to be formed in Niagara river, by means of a mole or pier, upwards of two miles below the out let of Lake Erie, and probably four miles from Buffalo creek, the original destination of its termination, and have assigned the 21st instant, for a meeting of your board, for your final decision on this question: In consequence, I take the liberty of addressing a communication to you on that subject; be- lieving that the project of constructing an harbor at the site you propose, will be attended with more than treble the expense1 of that of continuing the canal to Buffalo creek, where it unites with the still water of the lake; and believ- ing also, when such a harbor as you have designated, shall be accomplished, that it will not afford the facilities to ves- sels, communicating with the canal, in relation to their free ingress and regress, with the navigation of the lake, as a harbor uniting with, or formed out of the still water of the lake would, on account of the fact, that vessels lying in the lake, one mile from its outlet, near the American shore, are propelled against the strength of current, by the gentle 1. “Note.—In, stating that the mole, or pier, will cost more than treble the sum that would be required to excavate the canal to Buffalo creek, we need only advert to the fact, that the solid contents of the mole, or pier, would be equal to more than two miles of the averaged solid contents of the area of the cavity of the canal; and I presume there are few practical men but will agree, that an area of six square yards, excavated from the canal, (averaged) may be performed in less time by one man, than one man could prepare and convey, of such materials as would answer to form a pier in the Niagara river to the contemplated site, a sufficiency of one square yard of such pier. Indeed, I shall not hesitate to say, that the erection of such a pier as the one proposed, would be attended with at least, if not more expense, than one-fourth part of that of the whole excavation through the Mountain Ridge at Lockport. Hence, if the additional money over and above the sum, (more than $12,000), than it would cost to excavate the canal to Buffalo, is to be furnished by individual means in the construction of this pier, there is little probability of the canal navigation being extended to Lake Erie at an early period.”—Note by Joseph EUicott.178 THE HOLLAND LAND CO. land breeze, which, during calm weather, in summer, sets almost every night from off the land, on the lake; whereas, vessels lying within any distance, much less than one mile from the outlet, derive no advantage from this wind, inas- much as the strength of current, occasioned by the strong suck of the outlet, is too great for such gentle winds to propel vessels against it, as well as that the land towards, and at the outlet of the lake, and for some distance down the outlet, becomes so elevated, as to prevent vessels from any participation with the land breeze. The idea of a breeze setting off the land, upon the lake, during calm summer nights, may, by some, be considered visionary, and of little, or not any importance, as it relates to fixing on the most proper site for a harbor, communicat- ing with the western termination of the Erie canal. But, trivial as it may seem, it is an object of immense magnitude, in facilitating the departure of vessels up the lake. This land* breeze will frequently enable vessels lying at Buffalo creek, to depart therefrom, and sail to the upper or west end of the lake, and return to Buffalo, before a vessel could leave any harbor at or below the outlet of the lake, unless towed up to the still water, by some force or power other than of wind—as well as, that south and south-east winds are fair to sail from Buffalo, while they are head winds at Black Rock. And believing, that if it is contemplated by the commis- sioners, that the harbor they propose forming in the Niag- ara river, by means of a mole or pier, and embankment of Squaw Island, shall constitute part of the continuation of the canal to Buffalo creek, that it will frequently be ex- tremely prejudicial to those using the canal, inasmuch as, during strong gales, which often blow down the lake for many days successively, that the surf in the upper part of the river, or mole harbor, would be so much agitated, that canal boats could not pass between the pier and shore with safety, to the commencement of the canal leading to Buf- falo; hence, they would, of necessity, have to remain, dur- ing that period, in the lower harbor, or unload their freight in store, while the vessels destined to ship their cargoes,AND CANAL CONSTRUCTION. 179 were lying at Buffalo on detention, thereby losing time, and incurring expense; whereas, in case the canal was continued to Buffalo, the boats would pass to the place of destination and discharge their loading immediately aboard the vessel destined to receive it, which might then make sail, and ar- rive at its destination, before a canal boat could pass to Buffalo, through the harbor to be formed by a mole or pier, in Niagara river. - When it is taken into view, that this contemplated harbor can be considered no other than an experiment, and that every day’s experience teaches that experiments which seem most rational, often turn out in disappointment, and not to answer the purpose of their projectors, it would seem that an object so momentous, as that of facilitating transporta- tion by means of a canal, through the great lakes, at an ex- penditure of millions, would have been so determined on, as to have left nothing to depend upon the uncertainty of ex- periment, when a certainty is at hand, and that can be ac- complished at so much less expense, and with so much more advantage to the public. . Should the commissioners, however, not be disposed to change their opinion of the plan they have proposed for a harbor in the Niagara river, in which to terminate the canal, I would suggest to the honorable board, the propriety of locating, along that part of the shore of the Niagara river, contiguous to, and adjoining the harbor proposed to be used in lieu of a canal, a site for a canal, to be appropri- ated for that, and no other purpose, which, when excavated, would continue the canal uninterrupted to Buffalo. This would be only a precautionary measure, guarding against casualties which doubtless will attend the experiment har- bor; and no doubt rests in my mind, that the necessity of the case would render it requisite, that this part of the canal so located, should be immediately excavated, and thereby continue the canal uninterruptedly to Buffalo, as originally designed. Which is respectfully submitted by The commissioners’ obedient servant, Joseph Ellicott.180 THE HOLLAND LAND CO. IN BEHALF OF THE BUFFALO TERMINUS. Batavia, March 2d, 1825. Dear Sir: I have for some time past contemplated writing you on the subject of continuing the canal directly to Buffalo independent of the Black Rock harbor. A con- siderable degree of apprehension, pervades all this section of the country, and in the neighborhood of the canal in the counties of Niagara and Orleans it exists much more ex- tensively that the supply of water may and at times will be cut off by breaches being made in the works at Black Rock. By information which I have latterly obtained and on which I place the most implicit reliance, it seems that a sand bar is rapidly forming at the head of the Black Rock basin, 3 circumstance which was anticipated by many. The im- mense quantity of sand between the mouth of Buffalo creek and Black Rock is by every northerly gale driven down stream and when the current is stopped between Bird Island and the American shore it is evident that the same will when it reaches still water, and is removed below the action cf the heavy swells of the Lake deposit and become sta- tionary. Before the erection of the pier and the temporary dam (the latter of which was swept off by a late gale) the current of the river was sufficiently strong to take off the sand which the waves of the lake washed into it. This has been thus far one of the mildest winters ever known but notwithstanding, I am informed, the ice is 20 feet thick within the pier at the Rock. The late report of the commissioners on this subject I think displays more testiness than talent and this perhaps may be accounted for by the shortness of the time allowed them to make it in, and in point of fact they are in some cases incorrect—as for instance in stating that independent of the waters of Lake Erie there was a sufficient supply last season to feed the canal from Genesee River to Black Rock. It is however a positive fact that there was not a sufficient supply to enable Boats with full loads to get to Lock port, and to get there with boats only partially loaded it was necessary to raise the waters west of Oak OrchardAND CANAL CONSTRUCTION. 181 creek by hoisting the safety gate east of the feeder , to pre- vent the waters discharged by the feeder from passing to the eastward. I was there in October and the water was not more than 20 inches deep at the east side of the gate after it had been hoisted to raise the water between it and Lock port. It is to be observed that there is a descent in the canal between Lock port and Rochester and that conse- quently it requires a greater quantity of water to supply it than it would if it were level. To establish a towing path along the margin of the basin at Black Rock, for any useful purpose, really seems to me to be as impracticable as it would along the Quay at Albany. The space left for it will be constantly crossed, during the season of active business with boxes, barrels &c in such a way as effectually to obstruct the passage of a horse with a towing line attached to him. I say this from the belief that no one supposes the idea of the projecting store houses is ever to be carried into effect. What advantages the commissioners could ever see in the Black Rock project I have not been able to discover and am free to say that my belief is it was intended more to pro- mote the private interests of a political friend than the gen- eral good of the people at large. As far as I can learn the sentiments of the inhabitants of the western parts of the State they are in favor of continu- ing the canal to Buffalo creek without entering the Niagara River at all. Those immediately interested at Black Rock and a few individuals along the Niagara who are still dis- posed to look up to General Porter as their political chief are of course exceptions. It has been the misfortune of our party for the last year to have pursued an unpopular course of measures and if our friends in the senate reject the Bill which has passed the assembly for continuing the canal along the margin of the Niagara to Buffalo it will have a tendency and a strong one to add to the discontent which, it is no secret, prevails at present in the western part of the State. General Porters conduct during the late presidential elec- tion has fully proved that he is not a disinterested politician182 THE HOLLAND LAND CO. and that he is willing to sacrifice his party to the advance- ment of his own interest. How far the Republicans in* the Senate are disposed to go in sustaining measures adopted in the first instance to aid him in his schemes for enhancing the value of his private property and in opposition* to the opinions and wishes of the great body of the people I am unable to say. I however trust not far, and sincerely hope that the bill that has passed the Assembly may also pass the senate and thereby put this unpleasant question at rest, which has long kept and will continue to keep the inhabit- ants of the county of Erie'in an uproar and be made to bear upon the election greatly to our disadvantage until it is finally decided. With sentiments of sincere regard I remain dear Sir, Your ob. sert. David E. Evans. P. S. Mr. Mix has business at Erie and Niagara Coun- ties that will require his attention there and I have requested him to call at Black Rock and ascertain the true state of things there. His report may be expected in three or four days—when this letter was written it was too late to get it off by the mail of yesterday. [March 3, 1825.] Hon. H. I. Redfield. Evans MSS. The outside address of the above letter is: “Heman I. Redfield (Post Master Le Roy), Senate Chamber, Albany, N. Y.” CONTRACTS FOR CANAL WORK IN BUFFALO. Articles of Agreement made this thirtieth day of April in the year one thousand eight hundred & twenty five be- tween* William Peacock of Mayville of the first part, and John G. Camp of Buffalo of the second part, Witnesseth: That the said John G. Camp doth covenant and agree to & with the said William that he will excavate a canal com-AND CANAL CONSTRUCTION. 183 mencing on the dividing line between the lands of the said William & Benjamin Ellicott in the village of Buffalo at the point of intersection of those lands by the State Canal and thence running easterly towards Cazenovia Terrace four hundred & thirty eight feet in length, and in width at bot- tom thirty feet and at top forty feet, and to timber the same so as to leave the bottom twenty eight feet in the clear, all the timber above low water mark to be hewn on three sides—to be at least one foot square and below low water mark to be hewn on two sides—to put not less than two ties in each piece of timber, not less than three feet in length—the two top tiers to have ties not less than three feet apart of ten feet in length—all the ties to be dove tailed —all the timbers above low water mark to be of good white pine or white oak and the ties of the same—the timber work to be in heighth ten feet—the whole of the said canal to be cut, made and excavated to the same level and depth as the State Canal. The whole work to be completed and finished in a good, substantial like manner during the present sea- son that is to say, by the first day of October next, the earth excavated is to be deposited, one half on each side of the said canal at a suitable distance therefrom, at the inter- section of the said canal with the said State Canal, the cor- ners are to be cut off and timbered up in* the same manner as the said canal, agreeable to the diagram hereunto an- nexed. In consideration of which said covenant & agreement on the part of the said John G. Camp to be performed as above, the said William doth hereby covenant and agree to & with the said John G. that he will well & truly pay or cause to be paid unto the said John G. the sum of one thousand six hundred & four dollars & forty cents, the one half thereof to be paid when the said work shall be half completed and the residue thereof to be paid on the entire completion of the whole work—and he the said William doth further covenant and agree to & with the said John G. that he will lay out the ground or cause the same to be laid out, so as to enable the said John G. to commence the said work, on or before the first day of June next. In witness184 THE HOLLAND LAND CO. whereof the said parties have hereunto set their hands and seals the day and year above written. William Peacock Sealed & Delivered John G. Camp in presence of H. B. Potter [Endorsements on back:] Rec’d Sepr 16th 1825 three hundred & twenty dollars. J. G. Camp Rec’d on 6th Augt 1825 from H. B. Potter, Esq., two hundred twenty eight dollars thirty-two cents for which I then gave my rec’t. Rec’d Oct. 19th, from H. B. Potter Esq. one thousand fifty six dollars & eight cents all to apply on the within con- tract. Jno. G. Camp. Rec’d Dec. 2nd from H. B. Potter Esq. one hundred twenty six dollars 82 cents in full of the within contract & also in full of all demands. J. G. Camp. 1604.40 228.32 320.00 548.32 [Wm Peacock & John G. Camp’s Canal Contract 1056.08 April 30, 1825.] Evans MSS. SUPPLEMENTARY CONTRACT. Articles of Agreement made this fifteenth day of Septem- ber in the year of our Lord one thousand eight hundred and twenty five between William Peacock of Mayville of theAND CANAL CONSTRUCTION. 185 first part and John G. Camp of Buffalo of the second part, witnesseth: That the said John G. doth covenant and agree to & with the said William that he will excavate a canal of about forty feet on the eastern end of the canal mentioned in the con- tract between the said parties of the 30th of April last and in extention of the said canal, of the same width, depth and heighth and to be finished in the same manner in every respect as the aforesaid canal and with the like materials. This additional canal to be completed & finished in a good, substantial like manner by the fifteenth day of November next or sooner, weather and the elements permitting. And the said John G. further agrees to & with said Peacock to fill up level with the top of the earth the slip or hole of sixty feet east of and adjoining to the said forty feet by the time of the completion of the said forty feet. In consideration whereof the said William doth covenant and agree to and with the said John G. that he will well and truly pay unto the said John G. the sum of five hundred & twelve dollars and thirty-two cents to be paid on the entire completion of the above mentioned work. It is understood that the timbers are to be put into & across the eastern end of the said forty feet, by the said John G.—and it is also understood that the excavation of the said forty feet is now nearly completed. Witness our hands and seals the day and year above written. William Peacock Jno G. Camp Sealed & Delivered in presence of H. B. Potter [Endorsement] Rec’d November 29th, 1825, of William Peacock Five hundred & twelve dollars and thirty-two cents, being the Amount in full of all demands on the within contract. $512.32. Jno G. Camp Evans MSS.ITHE ERIE CANAL AND THE SETTLEMENT OF THE WEST By LOIS KIMBALL MATHEWS, Ph.D., Instructor in History at Vassar College. Copyright, igio, by L. K. Mathews. All rights reserved.THE ERIE CANAL AND THE SETTLEMENT OF THE WEST' By LOIS KIMBALL MATHEWS,. Ph.D., Instructor in History at Vassar College. The story of the advance of the frontier in this country has but just begun to be told. So many factors, so many different peoples, so many routes are involved, that the necessity for many separate studies is obvious. At last some master will combine them all, and give us on an im- mense canvas a picture of the whole movement by which the frontier has been thrust on toward the west and the northwest until now it has disappeared. The building of the Erie canal was only one of the several factors operative between 1825 and 1840 in peopling the territory between the Hudson river and the Mississippi.* 2 Moreover, it af- fected only insignificantly, if at all, the movement of popu- lation below a line cutting across the middle of Pennsyl- vania west of the Alleghany mountains, Ohio, Indiana and Illinois. For our present purposes, then, the tract most vitally affected by the opening of this waterway lies west x. Paper read at the Conference on Western History, meeting of the American Historical Association in New York City, December 30,1909. 2. See “History of the Canal System of the State of New York,” edited by Noble E. Whitford, I, 213, quoting a report of a committee of the New York Assembly, 1854. Too much stress is laid there by local patriotism on the effect of the canal. 189190 THE ERIE CANAL AND of the Hudson river, east of the Mississippi, and north of the fortieth parallel. It is the purpose of this paper to show first, contemporary opinion as to the necessity for the lcanal; second, by contrasting maps of settlement in 1820, 1830 and 1840, to show the tract affected by its construc- tion; third, the altered conditions in those tracts because of the influx of New Englanders and New Yorkers ; and, fourth, the nature of the traffic and its bulk, with quotations of prices and rates. It is not necessary here to take up the controversy as to who was the real progenitor of a plan for connecting the Great Lakes with the Mohawk river and the Hudson. At least as early as 17841, clear-visioned New Yorkers saw the necessity for better facilities to market those surplus prod- ucts which were raised in central New York; and in 1791 Elkanah Watson put himself on record af-er a journey through the state of New York as to the necessity of “com- pleting the work of nature.”2 Only in this way did he feel that any great and substantial development could come to the land lying back from the Mohawk and bordering on the Great Lakes. Timothy Dwight on a journey to Niagara Falls in 1804 confided to his diary that “The commerce of Ms country has hitherto struggled, and for an indefinite period must continue to struggle, with difficulti ^s.” . . . [The distance from Canandaigua to Albany is 205 miles; from Buffalo 300.] “The transportation of goods over the whole distance, except seventy-five miles, must be by land. From Utica they may be conveyed to Schenectady on the Mohawk; but the navigation is so imperfect, that merchants often choose to transport their com- modities along its banks in waggons. Notwithstanding this incon- venience, Albany is the port, to which they must hold, and probably for a long time hereafter, resort. Now their trade is wholly carried on in this channel. . . . The trouble and the expense of conveying the produce to New York, are always considerable; and, when the commodities are bulky, must ever amount to no small part of their price in the market. Thus grain of all kinds, their principal produce, 1. See Sparks’s “Life of Gouverneur Morris,” I, 497. The question is taken up fully in the “History of the Canal System . . . of New York,” cited above, I, 16-47. 2. Elkanah Watson, “Summary History of the rise, progress and exist- ing state of the grand canal,” 78 (Ed. of 1820).SETTLEMENT OF THE WEST. 191 can be carried to market, only when it commands an extraordinary price.”1 Dwight spoke of the route to Baltimore via the Susque- hanna; but added that the swiftness of that river and its numerous rapids and shoals necessitated a long and tedious return overland, and thus condemned any great use of that market*2 He was inclined to believe that Montreal would be the great port; and the large emigration of New Eng- landers to the lands lying between the northern boundary of the New England states and New York, and the St. Lawrence river for a quarter of a century after the Revo- lution, together with the gigantic plan for waterways, con- ceived by Albert Gallatin, makes one feel that many persons shared his view. James Flint, traveling in Pennsylvania and New York in 1819-1820, noted the large areas of fertile land in both these states which were either sparsely settled or passed over entirely, for want of easy routes for settle- ment and facilities to market surplus products.3 Many other instances might be summoned to support the convic- tion of Governor Clinton and his contemporaries that the future prosperity of New York was dependent upon the building of the Erie canal.4 5 In 1820 the frontier line in the tract we are considering, lay as the map indicates.6 The routes by which settlement was entering that tract were by way of the Hudson, (to the north) ; the Mohawk river; up the Susquehanna and then branching out; up the Delaware, and spreading into the interior; by the Braddock road to Pittsburg; down the Ohio, and penetrating northward by its tributaries into Ohio, Indiana* and Illinois, as well as southward into Ken- tucky; up from the southern states into the counties bor- dering the northern shores of the Ohio; and up the Miss- issippi to the lead-mining regions of Illinois and Wiscon- 1. Timothy Dwight, ‘‘Travels/’ IV, 124, 125 (Ed. of 1822). 2. Ibid, 124, 125. 3. James Flint, '‘Letters from America,” Edinburgh, 1822, pp. 26, 33; also in Thwaites, “Early American Travels,” IX, 183. 4. “History of Canal System . . . of New York,” I, 609, citing an As- sembly committee report of 1824. 5. See accompanying maps.MAP SHOWING CHARACTER AND EXTENT OF SETTLEMENT IN 1820. 192SETTLEMENT OF THE WEST. 193 sin. The character of these districts had been determined by the available means of entering the country, and we find New England settlers flocking at this time into New York, western Pennsylvania and northeastern Ohio, along with their cousins from those parts of New Jersey and Pennsyl- vania, which had been peopled originally by New England stock. Outside of the Western Reserve and Marietta there was as yet but little direct New England influence in Ohio; Virginians and Carolinians had been crowding in ever since the bounty lands were opened after the Revolution, while Sy-mmes’ Purchase had drawn largely from New Jersey “Yankee stock/' now several generations away from its original Puritan background. Indiana and Illinois were practically wholly southern, as the laws and customs plainly testified. Michigan was still almost unknown outside of Detroit and a few frontier villages to the west of the old French posts; while Wisconsin had not yet been invaded save in the southwestern corner, on the Illinois border. Such was substantially the situation in 1825, the year when “Clinton's big ditch" was opened its entire length, and the historic cask of water brought from Lake Erie was solemnly emptied into New York harbor. A glance at the map of settlement in 1830 will show in a graphic way the changes in the frontier line since 1820. The Erie canal was not responsible for it all, but it was a potent factor. The rise of such cities and towns as Buffalo, Black Rock, Tonawanda, Lockport, MiddleporJ:, Medina, and Albion was due directly to their relation to the canal, as the names of two of them indicate/ But many villages sprang up in the “back country” as the adjuncts of increasing farming communities, where the difficulty of transporting household goods and food, in the first place, and later to market grain or cattle, had been a deterrent to anything but the sparsest population. What was left of the Holland Purchase,1 2 the Morris tract, and the Phelps-Gorham district was picked up at once, and an influx of merchants and of artisans of all descriptions raised the figure for population of all the 1. O. Turner, “History of the Holland Purchase,” 653-658. 2. “G. W.,” in Niles’s Register, 21 Dec., 1822, p. 249.MAP SHOWING CHARACTER AND EXTENT OF SETTLEMENT IN 1830. 194SETTLEMENT OF THE WEST. 195 cities and towns along the canal.1 The gain in Rochester be- tween 1820 and 1830 was 421 per cent., of Buffalo 314 per cent., of Syracuse 282 per cent. Utica had 2,972 inhabitants in 1820; in 1830, 4,366. Lockport had 3,007 in 1825; 6,092 in 1835. The population of the state of New York jumped from 1,372,812 in 1820 to 2,428,921 in 1840. That the Erie canal was an important factor in this growth is certain. Western Pennsylvania was affected also, but less di- rectly. The map shows the growth of settlement, but does not record its increasing density. Crawford county, in the western part of the state, had but 2,346 inhabitants in 1800; 9,379 in 1820; in 1830, 16,030. The population of the whole state increased from 1,049,458 in 1820 to 1,724,033 in 1840. Here, as in New York, merchants and artisans flocked into towns already settled, and changed their char- acter completely.2 The Scotch-Irish and the Germans moved on to join the tide of emigration to the West and South, leaving to more recent comers the possession of the field. In Ohio, the movement is more clearly marked, especially after 1815, when the Peace of Ghent opened up lands to the west of Cleveland. Here again the map does not show the increasing density of population. But such towns as Oberlin, founded in 1833, gave a distinct New England character to northwestern Ohio, as the peopling of the Western Reserve had to the northeastern portion of the state since about 1800. Here, again, the Erie canal played its part, for many of the newcomers of 1825 went from Albany to Buffalo by boat, and by steamer to Lake Erie ports. The lands along the south shore of the lake were settled rapidly, and by 1830 were so fully occupied that the 1. “History of the Canal System ... of New York,” I, 90O, 901, 902. Authorities are cited there. Also tables at the end of the volume. Also Ellis O. Roberts, “New York” (American Commonwealth Series), II, 548, 54$. Also Julius Winden, “The Influence of the Erie Canal upon the population along its course,” cited fully by A. B. Hulbert, “Historic Highways of America,” XIV, Pt. II, 152-177. 2. See authorities cited in L. K. Mathews, “Expansion of New England,” note on p. 152.MAP SHOWING CHARACTER AND EXTENT OF SETTLEMENT IN 1840. 196197 SETTLEMENT OF THE WEST. homeseekers passed them by for cheaper lands in Michigan and Wisconsin. Indiana was never a favorite stopping-place for emi- grants from the East, and the typical Hoosier has always been a composite portrait of southern emigrants. Timothy Flint, writing in 1832, said: “Nearly half the counties [on the upper Wabash] have been constituted within the last five years. ... In consequence of the great change produced by the opening of the New York canal, and the canal connecting Lake Erie with Ontario, the north front of Indiana, along Lake Michigan, which a few years since, was re- garded as a kind of terminating point of habitancy in the desert, has begun to be viewed as a maratime [$«V] shore, and the most important front of the state.”1 2 But he found) the greater part of commercial intercourse from the old Northwest Territory was still “with New Orleans, by the rivers and the Mississippi, in boats/’ The population of the State, 147,178 in 1820, was- in 1840, 685,866. Illinois grew very slowly in point of population from 1820 to 1825. Ihe tide of emigration from the states south of the Ohio river had been diverted across the Mississippi by the Missouri Compromise, and Illinois was, for a short period, passed by. Governor Coles, in a message of January 3, 1826, says that the tide of emigration to Illinois had been checked for several years, but had then set in, and 1825-6 had seen an influx greater than for the preceding years. From 1820 to 1825 the population of Illinois increased 1:7,655; from 1825 to 1830 it increased 84,628; from 1830 to 1840 it increased 318,738/ With the opening of the Erie canal, however, New Eng- landers and New Yorkers began to arrive in such numbers as to dismay the inhabitants of the southern portion of the state.3 Southerners opposed the Illinois and Michigan ca- nal because of the fear that if completed “it would flood 1. Timothy Flint, “History and Geography of the Mississippi Valley,” I, 385, 386 (Ed. of 1833). 2. Twelfth Census, abstract of, p. 32. 3. Arthur C. Boggess, “The Settlement of Illinois,” 187, 188; see also 153-164.198 THE ERIE CANAL . AND the State with Yankees-.”1 The influx of settlers increased steadily after 1825, and with 1830 a change in the character of the new state began to be evident. New Englanders came between 1830 and 1840 alone, in groups of two or three families, and by colonies as well, accompanied by emigrants from New York, Pennsylvania, and Ohio, oftener than not of New England stock themselves. The records are full of such stories as this: A colony from New Hamp- shire bound for the vicinity of Princeton, Illinois, set out in 1837, proceeding by canal-boat from Albany to Buffalo, by steamer from Buffalo to Detroit, and overland from Detroit by wagons to their destination.2 Other colonies went down the Ohio and then up the Mississippi and the Illinois.3 But the majority of those from New England seem to have followed the Erie canal, Lake Erie, and wagon roads onward. So great was the influx of Puritan stock, that the personnel of representatives and senators from Illinois had by 1850 changed greatly, and the revision of the State Constitution in 1847-8 provided for the adop- tion of the township system or the county system, as the majority of voters might decide.4 As late as 1830, Michigan was passed by for better known lands to the south and west of her boundary. The real “boom” for Michigan lands began in 1830, when the sale of John Farmer’s map (first published in 1825) reached its largest proportions. Freight rates between Buffalo and New York had dropped from $5 a barrel in 1815, when the only competitors of sailing vessels were pack-horses, to $4.50 per hundred weight from New York to Detroit in 1818 by steamboat, to $2.50 per hundred- weight in 1826 from New York to Columbus, O. The popular feeling with regard to the part the Erie canal 1. Ford, “Illinois,1” 281. 2. E. H. Phelps, in Bradsby, “History of Bureau County, Illinois,” 127. See Patrick Shirreff on the future of Chicago as he foresaw it in 1833, (“Tour through North America,” etc., Edinburgh, 1835, p. 226;) also in A. B. Hart, “American History told by contemporaries,” III, 475, 476. 3. See “History of Henry County,” 138; Carr, “History of Rockton,” 39; Bradsby, “History of Bureau County,” 619. 4. Peck, “Gazetteer of Illinois,” 109; E. B. Greene, “Government of Illinois,” 36; Albert Shaw, “Local Government in Illinois,” 11.SETTLEMENT OF THE WEST. 199 played in peopling the Michigan prairies is well shown in a couple of verses of the song “Michigania,” on every emigrant’s tongue about 183711 “Then there’s old Varmount, well, what d’ye think of that? To be sure, the gals are handsome and the cattle very fat: But who among the mountains, ’mid cloud and snow would stay: When he can buy a prairie in Michigania? Yea, Yea, Yea, in Michigania. “Then there’s the State of New York, where some are very rich; Themselves and a few others have dug a mighty ditch, To render it more easy for us to find the way, And sail upon the waters to Michigania. Yea, Yea, Yea, to Michigania.” A pioneer moving from Woodstock, Connecticut, in 1835, took his family to Norwich, where they boarded a vessel for Albany, and then went out on the Erie canal to Buffalo. From Buffalo they went by steamer to De- troit, arriving a little more than three weeks from the day they left Woodstock.2 Another pioneer started from Cas- tleton, Vermont, in 1838, went by stage road to Albany, by train to Utica, by canal-boat to Buffalo, and by steam- boat to Detroit.3 The story might be repeated almost in- definitely. Lanman, writing in 1839,4 said that the Erie canal “unfolds a new avenue to the prosperity of Michi- gan. . . . The territory [had been] . * . obliged to grapple with the obstacles springing from its remote posi- tion, and the want of convenient modes of transportation of articles of large bulk over the land between Albany and Lake Erie.” . . . [With the opening of the canal] . . . “■emigrants could ... be provided with cheap and easy transportation for themselves and their merchandise, and this line of communication continued to be crowded with settlers who broke up their establishments in the less gen- ii. See Silas Farmer, ‘‘History of Detroit and Michigan,” I, 335, 336. 2. Johnson, “Hillsdale County,” 272. 3. J. P, Hinman, in Mich. Pioneer Society Coll., vol. XIV, 513-570. 4. J. II. Lanman, “History of Michigan,” 231-2 (Ed. of 1839).200 THE ERIE CANAL AND erous soil of the East, and were advancing to plant them- selves in. -the land of promise on the Lakes.” That the ma- jority of the newcomers were from New England and New York, Lanman also testified.1 It was to these New England emigrants that Michigan owed its New England character. Of the first fourteen governors of the state, six came from New England, and six from New York. Its educational system' was shaped largely by such men as S. F. Drury, a native of Spencer, Massachusetts ; John D. Pierce, a graduate of Brown Uni- versity, and Isaac Crary, born in Preston, Connecticut. The preponderance of Congregational churches in Michi- gan points to its New England character, as does the town- ship system, more nearly like that of Massachusetts than is the institution of local government in any state outside of New England. In Wisconsin, as in Illinois, the earliest settlers came from the south by way of the Mississippi river and its tributaries. Galena, in the heart of the lead-mining region of Illinois and Wisconsin, was important long before Milwaukee and Chicago had passed beyond the pioneer village stage of their history.2 In 1830, the wholevpopula- tion west of Lake Michigan was less than 3,000; in 1840, it was 30,945.3 These new-comers were for the most part from the East—from New England, New York, and the settled portion of what had been the “Old Northwest Ter- ritory.” They made constant use of the Erie canal as far as Buffalo, proceeded by steamboat to Detroit, from there followed the old Chicago road around the end of Lake Michigan, and then went by the various trails to Wisconsin.4 The early history of the territory was marked by the same development in local government that we have noted- in Illinois—the southerners of the lead-mining region adopted the county system, the eastern emigrants around Milwaukee, 1. Ibid., 295, 296. Also Judge Cooley, “Michigan” (American Common- wealth Series), 240 ff. 2. Tenney and Atwood, “Fathers of Wisconsin,” 14. 3. Ibid., 13. 4. Thwaites, “Wisconsin” (American Commonwealth Series), 246, 247.SETTLEMENT OF THE WEST. 201 Racine, Kenosha, and Madison adopted the township method.1 2 A few figures as to the tonnage of the Erie canal are significant: 2 1835 No. tons No. tons coming to leaving tidewater from tidewater for Ohio 23,267.7 8,976.5 Michigan 588.6 7,225.9 Pennsylvania 15-6 760.5 Illinois 95-4 2,132.9 Indiana 1,695.7 A table of prices at Cincinnati gives :3 1826 1835 Flour, per barrel $3.00 $6.00 Corn, per bushel .12 32 Lard, per pound .05 .08 That there was a wider market, an increased demand, and consequent rising prices, is evident. Figures concerning the character of the traffic over the canal during the years from 1824 to 1834 also repay ex- amination. The tonnage of agricultural products increased greatly, especially of wheat and flour; of manufactured products, the quantity was small; but there was a large traffic going west,4 of furniture and merchandise. The traffic of less than 100,000 tons passing West Troy in 1824 grew to about 500,000 tons in 1834, and increased steadily thereafter, in spite of the panic of 1837. The influence of the Erie canal in directing commerce across the country instead of down the Mississippi and Ohio rivers was a decided one; the railroads which were later built parallel to its route probably only emphasized a movement already on foot. That this movement was ac- celerated by the fact that the new-comers by way of the 1. “History of Grant County,” 507. 2. Whitford, “History of Canal System of New York,” I, 909, Table 3. 3. Ibid., I, 821. 4. Ibid., I, 898, 899.202 THE ERIE CANAL AND canal were from New York and New England was at once a cause and an effect: they knew their eastern markets as •the southerner knew New Orleans and Baltimore, and they desired to send their surplus products to the former rather than to the latter. The effect of the canal in binding the old Northwest Territory, especially the parts last settled, to the East rather than to the South, had its effect probably by 1850, and certainly by i860. Moreover, the Erie canal played a large part in deter- mining the New England and the New York-New England character of those same states. Had conditions continued and crystallized as they were in 1820, the stream of New England emigration would have poured into the uninhab- ited or sparsely peopled portions of Maine, New Hamp- shire, and Vermont; the eastern half of Pennsylvania and New York; and then have been diverted to Upper and Lower Canada. The New Englander has never been especially eager to expatriate himself; the situation has had to be desperate before he; has done so. The tide which flowed over the northern border of the northern states just after the Revolution was stayed by the opening up of New York and Ohio, but the Erie canal settled, temporarily, at least, the question of diverting the stream to Michigan and the other states bordering on the Great Lakes.1 The South might have received acquisitions along the Ohio and the Mississippi in far greater numbers, had not these lake states been opened to the New England stream in the decades between 1820 and 1840. The Erie canal, then, was a very substantial aid in pushing the frontier farther to the west and the northwest. Owing its inception to a time when New York and Penn- sylvania were on the frontier, its completion was the signal for making the more sparsely inhabited portions of those states as densely settled as the banks of the Hudson. It was by this route that the descendants of those Pilgrims 1. The Erie canal was used, however, by English emigrants bound for Canada. A family now living in Hamilton, Ontario, has the story of the mother and her parents arriving in New York, going to Albany and over the canal route to St. Catharines, Ontario, with other English families, about 1838-1840.SETTLEMENT OF THE WEST. 203 and Puritans who had been frontier-builders in 1620 and 1630, pushed on to build states on new lines in the old Northwest. Here they met descendants of that other line of pioneers who began their frontier-building upon the James river in 1607. Forced to yield in some points, the New Englanders could force their own standards in some other respect, and so preserve certain of their traditions, such as the free public school, almost in their original form. To the Erie canal, then, may be ascribed, in no uncertain measure, certain distinctive Puritan traits and characteris- tics which have entered into the making of what is today the northeastern portion of our great “Middle West.”FROM NEW YORK TO NIAGARA JOURNAL OF A TOUR, IN PART BY CANAL, IN 1829. By COL. WILLIAM LEETE STONE.FROM NEW YORK TO NIAGARA JOURNAL OF A TOUR, IN PART BY THE ERIE CANAL, IN THE YEAR 1829. By COL. WILLIAM LEETE STONE. Now first published, in full, from the original manuscript.1 Thursday, Sept. 10, 1829. Left New York at 5 p. m. for Albany in the New Philadelphia, with between two and three hundred passengers; had an elegant run during most of the passage. She passed West Point before 9 o'clock, and Poughkeepsie before 11. The night was cold as No- vember; but the sky being clear, and the moon nearly at her full, we had a glorious view of the Highlands, and the other beautiful and magnificent points of scenery along the Hudson. There were too many noses pealing forth noc- turnal hymns, to allow much sleep to a nervous man. But still, after the stentorian cry of “Passengers for Hyde Park," I succeeded in lulling myself into a doze, which continued in fitful slumbers until about 3 o'clock this morn- 1. Courteously entrusted to the editor of this volume by the author’s grandson, Mr. Wm. L. Stone of New York City. Extracts from the journal were printed in 1888 in the Magazine of American History, but with many omissions and changes. The journal affords an excellent view of the condi- tions of travel in this State, particularly by canal, three years after that waterway was first opened from the Hudson to Lake Erie. Of Col. Stone’s long and distinguished career in political, editorial and educational work, it would be superfluous to speak here, with inadequate brevity, of what is fully set forth in many encyclopaedias and biographical works. We must add, however, an expression of our satisfaction at being able to include in these Publications this original journal of New York State travel by the author of “Wyoming,” “Brant,” “Red Jacket,” and other works which fill a unique place in the annals of the State. 207208 FROM NEW YORK TO NIAGARA, ing, when a loud and sudden crash brought every passenger in an instapt to his feet—and in the next instant upon the deck. A thick haze, or fog, had come over the atmosphere, which rendered it impossible to discern objects at any dis- tance. But the engine was instantly stopped, and it was immediately discovered that we had run down a small sloop, freighted with stone. In an instant afterwards she went to the bottom; but the hands on board, consisting of two men and a boy, were picked up and saved. It seems that this vessel was lying in the stream, without a light! No blame can, therefore, be attached to the captain or to any officer of the New Philadelphia. The violence of the shock was so great, that two of the paddles of the larboard wheel were broken off, some other timbers slightly shat- tered, and the axle of the wheels started out of place. The panic among the passengers was of but short duration. The ladies did not scream, and as Capt. Seymour attended to his duties with coolness and skill, the gentlemen soon retired to their berths and settees. The boat lay to until half past 7 this morning, when the fog began to break away; and the axle having been put into place, we re- sumed our way, and arrived here at a quarter before 9. The accident took place about half a mile above Coeymans. Found my wife awaiting my arrival at the Eagle, and remained during the day. Attended the Circuit Court, Judge Duer1 presiding, and heard an important trial for slander—Foot vs. Whipple. Connected with the murder of John Whipple by Strang in 1827. Verdict 6 cents for plaintiff—equivalent to a defeat. This day (Friday) the anti-Masonic party celebrated the abduction and supposed death of William Morgan, who is believed to have been murdered as a punishment for re- vealing some of the secrets of Freemasonry. The proces- sion was a shabby affair. The address was pronounced by Samuel Miles Hopkins, Esq., a gentleman of talents and character, who ought to be engaged in better business. Saturday, Sept. 12, 1829. Left the Eagle Tavern at Albany at half past 5 a. m. for Cooperstown. The weather j. Justice John Duer.COL. STONE'S TOUR IN 1829. 209 for several days had been uncommonly cold for the season. The morning was raw and chilly, so much so that it was uncomfortable for Mrs. Stone. A heavy hoar frost cov- ered the ground, spangling the meadows with millions of gems, as the sunbeams glanced over the landscape. After the sand-plains of Albany and Guilderland were crossed, the country opened beautifully. Had never trav- elled this road before, Duanesburgh struck me as being a very excellent township, occupied by thrifty farmers. Sev- eral pleasant country seats, and one or two elegant ones, met the view. Crossed the Schoharie Kill before noon, at the little village of Esperance, where there are some manu- factories, and some artisans. This creek is an impetuous stream, between Esperance and its estuary in the valley of the Mohawk. Above this place, its current is more tran- quil and the beautiful valley through which it winds its course, both picturesque and fruitful. The country grew yet more hilly, on ascending from the vale of the Schoharie Kill. But the scenery of a hilly region is more varied and pleasing to the eye, than that of a level country, even though less beautiful. Many of the hills in our course swelled to the size of mountains. The town of Sharon was rough, but well cultivated, and evidently possesses a healthy population. From the sum- mits of several of the hills, very extensive and magnificent views of the country were presented, stretching into the valley of the Mohawk and far beyond. Our fellow-passengers were not of the most interesting description. All were ignorant, and some dissipated. One of them had but one leg, and one arm. He had been a schoolmaster in Ohio, and the Jamaica-like odour of his breath, sufficiently indicated the divinity he most loved to worship. He said he had rather go to the State prison than again teach school. If the Ohioans have any more teachers like him, they had better send them there. Among other divertisements in this poor pedagogue’s autobiography, he informed a boon companion by his side with great apparent satisfaction, that he had had his nose twisted. But, he said, it cost the fellow 36 dollars! One honest fellow from210 FROM NEW YORK TO NIAGARA. Cazenovia, finding a schoolmaster on board, started a learned conversation upon the subject of ancient history. He had been to see the mummy, in Albany, and it brought vividly to his recollection divers and sundry passages of Josephus and Rowland's [Rollings] Ancient History. The pedagogue had to give it up. He had never heard of them there authors. At one of the postoffices on the way, the honest keeper of the keys of Uncle Sam’s mail-bags read to the mail contractor who was of the company, a letter from the new Postmaster General,1 by which it appeared that attempts were making to reform him out of office. “I don’t think they ought to trouble me,” said the worthy postmaster, with solemn visage, “I have not electioneered any, and I have always been with the strongest party!” Good reason enough. He should have electioneered, and cried “Hur- rah for Jackson,” with all his might. One of our company was an honest anti-Mason, from the West. He inquired whether anti-Masonry was not gaining where I came from ? I told him that sort of people were becoming scarce in my part of the country. He looked solemnly thereat, and heaving a long sigh, said, more secrets were now coming to light. Ah, said I, what are they ? “Why,” he replied, “one of my neighbors, a captain, and a man I have always looked up to—a good pious man, was last week on his death-bed, as we all thought. He confessed that he was a royal-arch Mason; and he said that in that degree, they used human skulls to drink out of.” When asked where they got the skulls, he “didn’t like to tell!” “But,” said I, “are you sure, my friend, that he said they drank from skulls in the royal- arch degree ?” He said he was; for a dying man had con- fessed it. “Then,” I replied, “this dying man is the only royal-arch Mason who ever saw the skull, or used it, in that degree.” My friend thereupon gave a look, as much as to say that he did not expect the truth from me. “Ah,” said he, “it was a great secret. It wras never known that they had skulls in lodges before.” “But, my friend,” I re- i. William T. Barry of Kentucky, Jackson’s first Postmaster General.COL. STONE'S TOUR IN 1829. 211 plied, “l have drank from a skull; and Lord Byron had one mounted with silver, and used it as a drinking-cup. And besides/' I continued, “it never has been a secret; for here is a lady who has heard me state the fact that they are used in some of the degrees, more than ten years ago." I then asked him how he supposed the Masons got the skulls. He shook his head, and rolled up his eyes, and said, “the dying man could not tell that." “Do you, and the anti-Masons suppose then," said I, “that the Masons mur- der people to get these skulls for the lodges?" “Why," said he, “that is pretty much our opinion." Alas! When will the days of humbug and imposture cease! The descent from the “hilly regions" into the vale of Cherry Valley is surpassingly beautiful. The village itself is a handsome one, and the residence of a number of gen- teel families. The houses are all, or nearly all, white with Venetian blinds at the windows. This place was a frontier post at the time of the American Revolution. There was a fort and a considerable settlement. But soon after the destruction of Wyoming, it was surprised by the Indians, under Brandt [Brant], and a general massacre ensued. But few escaped the dreadful slaughter. A small creek winds its course through the valley towards the south for several miles, until it mingles its waters with the Susque- hanna. And the valley itself is one of the most beautiful and lovely sequestered spots that I have ever seen. We dined here; and towards the close of the day continued our journey through a fine variegated country of hill and dale, to Cooperstown, where we arrived soon after seven o’clock, and were greeted with a hearty welcome by our friends, who had, unknown to us, been apprised of our ap- proach. The evening was too far advanced for us to enjoy much of the wild and picturesque scenery which greets the trav- eller’s eye on approaching the “sources of the Susque- hanna," but as the dusky twilight saddened into darkness, a burning field of felled timber, on the side of one of the Middlefield hills, which swell almost into mountains, pre- sented a beautiful and sublime spectacle in the dark dis-212 FROM NEW YORK TO NIAGARA. tance. The terror necessarily inspired by large conflagra- tions in cities, and the awful certainty that even if lives are not lost, poverty and desolation must probably result to some of the sufferers, destroys those sensations of pleasure which otherwise would flow from the contemplation of such scenes of grandeur. But there is no cause of apprehen- sion from the burning forest, when the flames, kept within their bounds, are lighted by the hand of the woodman in the regular process of subduing the primitive growth of timber. When therefore the dark forest, and the darker night are lighted up in this way, we can look out upon the ascending flames and the wreathing and curling smoke, and listen to the crackling of brush-wood and the crash of falling trees, with feelings of intense and elevated in- terest, unalloyed with painful or unpleasant emotions aris- ing from extraneous circumstances. And few objects more grand and imposing than a night-view of a field of fire, can be presented to the human eye. Cooperstown was the favorite spot of my boyhood. From childhood to youth, and even manhood, I grew up in the vicinity of this delightful village, which, until I was of legal age to become my own master, was the nearest approach to a city that I had seen. And my present visit to a scene consecrated by so many early recollections and endearing associations, was after an absence of fifteen years. I had left it a poor young man, without experience in the world, with but little knowledge, without means and without friends to aid or influence my destiny, or to push me forward in the great world. And through the blessing of a kind Providence, I now returned, accom- panied by an intelligent wife, in prosperous, if not in af- fluent circumstances, and known for more than fifteen years in political life and ten years as the editor of one of the oldest and most respectable daily papers in our coun- try. From a handful of village friends, my acquaintance was now co-extensive with the Union, embracing Presi- dents and Governors and gentlemen of every grade of public and literary distinction. When I departed, it was with the determination of one day reaching the head ofCOL. STONES TOUR IN 1829. 213 the profession I had chosen. I had now attained it; and a glow of pleasure thrilled my bosom, as I looked upon the change but if I know my own feelings, this pleasure was unalloyed with pride or vanity; on the contrary, such are my demerits and deficiencies that I cannot but wonder at my own success. And I am constrained to raise my heart in humble thanks to that God who has thus prospered my earthly career. The village had undergone but little change since I last gazed upon it. And the general aspect of the scenery was the same. Many new and: substantial houses had been erected upon the sites of less commodious and elegant wooden ones. But the size of the town had not materially increased. There lay the lake, bright, placid and beautiful as ever; and there rose the crest of the lofty mountain, its sides darkened by the tall evergreens as before; and there ran the rivulet which swells as it advances, into the noble and impetuous Susquehanna. In all directions I met with objects dear to my memory: . . Every copse deep-tangled, Each tree irregular and bush Were prodigal of harmony.” There stood the little Episcopal church in which I had first heard the Episcopal form of worship from my ven- erable friend, and my father’s friend, the Rev. Daniel Nash. There, too, had I first seen the rite of confirmation admin- istered by the late venerable Bishop Moore/ of New York, whose blessing I had received a few days before, on an introduction by Mr. Nash. And on that hill, stood the Presbyterian church, in which I had so often, twenty years before, listened with rapture to the glowing and impassioned eloquence of my late lamented friend, Dr. John Chester, who is now tuning his golden harp to the praise of that God in heaven, whose faithful servant he was on earth. O, may my latter end be like his! 1. Bishop Benjamin Moore, coadjutor bishop of New York, rector of Trinity church until 1811, when a stroke of paralysis ended his active service. He died in 1816.214 FROM NEW YORK TO NIAGARA. Among the people, I found many of my old friends— many who were really delighted to see me. Many others had fallen asleep! Children, too, had grown to manhood; and little girls & infants, scarce from their nurses’ arms, had grown up, married, and were now settled in life, staid matrons, with as many children as they could well attend to. Time’s changes, when occurring daily around us>, are passed by almost unperceived. But how numerous and how mani- fest do they become on returning to a community from which you have been absent for a few years only! The changes most obvious in this place however were in the situation and prospects of the family of the late Judge Cooper,1 who had been the first distinguished enterprising settler of this country soon after the close of the Revolu- tionary war. Judge Cooper was the original of the Judge Templeton of the novel of “The Pioneers,” written by the distinguished novelist, his youngest son. He was the founder of the village and of the county likewise. He died towards the close of the year 1809, leaving five sons and one daughter, heirs of handsome estates. All these were living —and in affluent circumstances—when I was last in the village. Now, four of the sons were dead, and their families left all but destitute! One son, my friend James F. Cooper, distinguished as an author, is now residing in Florence (Italy). To him, the loss of property, has probably been of more real advantage, than the money ten times over would have been. It has called forth the slumbering energies of his mind, and given vigor and richness to his imagination, by the exertion of which he has acquired a proud name among the distinguished writers of the age, and added to the literary reputation of his country. Sunday, Sept. 13. Attended the Episcopal church in the morning, and heard a sensible discourse from the Rev. Mr. Tiffany, a brother-in-law of my friend the Rev. Charles S. Stewart—formerly a missionary to the Sandwich Islands, and now absent on a missionary cruise in the Pacific ocean. I met Mr. Tiffany afterwards in society and was much 1. William Cooper.COL. STONE’S TOUR IN 1829. 215 pleased with him. In the afternoon I attended divine service in the Presbyterian church. Sermon by Rev. Mr. Smith, the successor of Dr. Chester, in 1810. Monday, Sept. 14. Took a ride in the morning to Hart- wick, with Col. Prentiss. Occupied the remainder of the day in the interchange of greetings with my old friends and acquaintances; Sept. 15. Made a visit with my wife to Burlington, a town ten miles west, in which- my father once resided1, as the settled minister. Several years of my childhood were passed in this town, which was originally poor, and has held its own pretty well. Rode in a gig, and took a circui- tous route by way of the Tunnicliffs, the family and settle- ment of which and whom I have spoken in “A Border Tale,” written for the Atlantic Souvenir of the ensuing year. This plantation was settled long before the war of the Revolu- tion; and within my recollection was a handsome flourish- ing place. But, alas! the old mansion was burnt some twenty-five years ago, and a poor substitute was erected. The family has run out, and! the whole establishment looks ruinous and neglected. Called at Exeter, at the residence of my old friend, Parson Nash, but he was absent. Since I have seen him (during one of his visits at New York) this old gentleman has lost his wife, and his family are in a great measure broken up and dispersed. At Burlington found but few evidences of improvement. Lodged with my father’s old friend and family physician, Dr. Richardson, who, with his wife, gave us a hearty welcome. In company with Dr. R. walked a mile to the ancient premises of my father, and strayed for an hour over the fields which I had assisted in clearing and cultivating, and looked with mingled emotions of pleasure and affection upon the mature and vigorous fruit trees which, many years before, my own hands had planted. Dear are the days of youth! Age dwells fondly on their remembrance through the mists of time. I visited the stump of the old oak, and the only one on the premises; and again stopt216 FROM NEW YORK TO NIAGARA. beneath the shade of the only pine which within my recol- lection had ever stood upon the farm. Everything else had changed but that remained as in the bright and sunny hours of childhood. May the woodman’s axe never be upraised against it! Talked much with my friend the Doctor, of old times and old scenes; though of the neighborhood in which I was reared, but a few only remained here—many were already in the tomb, and many more were removed to different and distant parts. My father had been cruelly displaced as a minister here, and they have never had a prosperous society, or a well-established clergyman, since. And as to the “march of mind,” it must surely have trav- elled on some other turnpike! Wednesday, Sept. 16. Returned to Cooperstown and found the yeomanry “all furnished—all in arms”—that is, arms of some sort. But yhough it was a field day, arid Gen. Morell was prancing about with a brilliantly arrayed staff, surely I never saw so forlorn a regiment on duty. Some had sticks, and some muskets, and some not even a corn-stalk. While many were “ragged as Lazarus.” In the evening we attended a small party at the house of John M. Bowers, Esq. Both he and his lady were absent, but the little entertainment had been got up by his daughters, of whom he has a most lovely and interesting group. Received a letter from my friend John Cox Morris, Esq., of Butternutts, giving me a most kind and pressing invitation to visit him before leaving the county. Com- pelled, most reluctantly, to decline it. Thursday, Sept. 17. Rode with my friend Col. Pren- tiss, with Mrs. P. and Mrs. S. along the eastern margin of the lake, to Springfield, and had an excellent external view of the magnificent seat and beautiful grounds of George Clarke, Esq., upon which I had promised to call, but who was now absent. In the evening attended a brilliant party given in com- pliment to Mrs. S. and myself by Joseph Dottin Husbands, Esq., of Hartwick. Mr. D. Husbands is an English gen-COL. STONE’S TOUR IN 1829. 217 tleman of education and fine talents. He was formerly sec- retary of the Colonial Government at Barbadoes, but has resided here for about 12 or 14 years. His habits are re- tired, and his manners those of a perfect gentleman—a gentleman born and bred. His lady is a very amiable woman. They have a promising son, in the study of law, and two or three charming young daughters. The enter- tainment was sufficiently rich and various and served in excellent taste. The circle of ladies and gentlemen was numerous and genteel. There was much beauty among the ladies, and the circle of gentlemen embraced much learning and intellect. Among other literary gentlemen, . was the Rev. Dr. Hazelins, the learned and excellent prin- cipal of the Hartwick Classical School. Mr. Husbands himself appears to excellent advantage in conversation upon every subject. The whole evening’s entertainment, intellectual and otherwise, was of an elevated order and passed very pleasantly away. Friday, Sept. 18. Spent the morning at the request of Col. Prentiss in writing an article for his paper—the Free- man's Journal. Dashed off something in the shape of a letter respecting my visit to the village, my reminiscences, &c.—and signed it Hiram Doolittle, Jun. Lounged the afternoon away, for I can never read- to advantage, or write willingly or creditably to myself, when out upon a visit. In the evening Col. Prentiss and his lady gave an ele- gant party in our honor, which was graced by a brilliant circle of ladies and gentlemen. To my regret, Mr. D. Husbands, for whom I have contracted a very strong par- tiality, was unable to come, though his lady and family were present. The evening passed delightfully off;—and as we were to renew our journey on the following morning, we bade adieu to our friends who were collected on this occasion. Saturday, Sept. 19. Rose at 5 to take the mail coach for Utica. Our friends Col. Prentiss and his lady, who had most kindly and hospitably entertained us during the week, were up to bid us a hearty farewell, and we parted218 FROM NEW YORK TO NIAGARA. with regret. The morning was cloudy and cold, and our stage route first westwardly upon the turnpike, over a most hilly and disagreeable region, and thence up the woody valley of the Oaks Creek, to the foot of Schuyler’s lake, was cold and cheerless. After warming ourselves by a good fire, we proceeded on our journey, as the mist was breaking away. The sun now began to shine brightly over the hills, and the clouds disappeared as we crossed the out- let of the lake, over the bosom of which the mist yet hung thick and heavy, but white and beautiful as can be imag- ined. Half an hour afterwards, as we were ascending along its eastern margin, this beautiful cloudy pillow broke into many a graceful wreath, and rolled gently away, dis- closing the clear bosom of the lake as brightly as I had often gazed upon it a quarter of a century before. This little lake is but six miles long, and has not the advantages of such majestic scenery as that which adorns and exalts the Otsego lake; but its shores are beautified by^a fertile country, rich in farms and fruit-fields—woodlands and meadows; and is a very charming spot. We arrived at Richfield Springs at 9 o’clock, and after watering our horses, passed on three miles further, over a fine road and beautiful country, to the little village of Mon- ticello, where we partook of an excellent breakfast. Re- suming our journey, we travelled to Bridgewater, through the town of Winfield, Herkimer Co. The country from Schuyler’s lake to Bridgewater, is one of the finest regions inland, that I have ever travelled over. The farms were well cultivated and the orchards more numerous, and more heavily laden with fruit (apples), than any I recollect ever to have seen. Winfield, in particular, is a superb township. At the Four Comers, in Bridgewater, I was surprised to find a thrifty-looking village of fifty or sixty houses, where, in passing, nineteen years before, I recollect to have seen not more than three or four. Found an: old friend, Willard Crafts, Esq., prosperously settled here, as a lawyer. He was engaged in a neat little flower garden when I arrived. After passing some twenty minutes with him, the tin trum- pet sounded the note of our departure, and we resumedCOL., STONE’S TOUR IN 1829. 219 our way once more. From this place to New Hartford, the country is rich and beautiful; but God has done much more for it than man, under whose culture it has not visibly improved for the last twenty years. The environs of New Hartford appeared to be as rich and beautiful, and the valley of the Saquoit creek as luxuriant and charming as ever. But the village itself has been stationary these many years. Between five and six o’clock we entered Utica, which, nine years ago, the period of my last visit to it, ranked only as a flourishing village. It had now grown as if by magic, to the dimensions of a large city; and it was with utter amazement that I beheld the long streets and rows of blocks of large beautiful country seats, stores and dwell- ings, through which our coach conveyed us in driving to the lodgings I had selected. I had heard much of the march of improvement in Utica since the completion of the Grand canal. But I had no idea of the reality. Rip Van Winkle himself, after his thirty years’ repose in a glen of the Kaatsbergs, was not more amazed than I was at the present aspect and magnitude of this beautiful place. Baggs’ Hotel, to which I directed my driver, was in the very heart of the village, and the center of business at the period of my last visit. Now, it was quite in the suburbs. The houses were then scattered, excepting in two or three principal streets, though some were spacious and elegant. But now they are closely built, lofty and spacious; and the length of some of the streets, like New York, began to look like a wilderness of bricks. After dinner, sent my card to my old Hartford friend Elizur Goodrich, Esq., now settled in this place, and we were soon honored with a call from himself and lady. Sunday, Sept. 20. A cold and cheerless day, during most of which the rain descended in torrents. Attended the Rev. Mr. Aikin’s church in the morning, but heard the Rev. Mr. Frost, of Whitesborough, on the Unchange- ableness of God. It would have been a good sermon, had the preacher stopt when he had done his best. But its effect was killed by its length. The church itself is a new220 FROM NEW YORK TO NIAGARA. and noble structure, finished with great taste and elegance, and planned with the utmost convenience. A fine organ added its full rich tones to the music of an excellent choir; and considering the inclemency of the weather, the audi- ence was a far more numerous and genteel one, than could have been collected on a similar day in the city of New York. Did not go out in the evening. Monday, Sept. 21. Alternate showers and sunshine, rendering it quite too wet and uncomfortable to visit the different parts of the city, and impossible for Susannah to go out. Called upon a few friends, Messrs. Tracy, for- merly of Lansingburgh, Dakin, editor of the Sentinel, Gen. Ostram, R. R. Lansing, Esq., Ezekiel Bacon, Esq., and some others; and talked of politics and anti-Masonry. Visited a new museum, containing one or two dried alli- gators, a few worm-eaten snakes, a number of wretched daubs in the shape of portraits, &c. Poor John Quincy Adams and Harry Clay! Never have the wicked cannibai Jackson men abused you half as much as the cold-blooded artist has done! The other parts of the collection were miserable enough. The baked sharks & turtles would have been ashamed of their present condition* From the top of the building, however I enjoyed a glorious view of the whole village and the surrounding country for many miles. What a beautiful country! Heard from Trenton that the roads were so bad as to render a visit to the Trenton falls unadvisable for the present. Left Utica, therefore, at 7 in the evening, in a new and splendid canal packet boat for the West, called The Superior. She is truly a superior boat, fitted up with the elegance and taste of a North-river steamer, though on a smaller scale, of course. An excellent band of music was on board which had come by invitation from Rochester —it being the first trip of the Superior. The musicians were very respectable young men. But a few of the pas- sengers were so exceedingly vulgar in the eyes of all but themselves, that all on board were rendered uncomfortable. Upstarts, of both sexes, who are innately vulgar, but who have seen just enough of the world to render themselvesCOL. STONE'S TOUR IN 1829. 221 pert and impudent, who, in the consciousness of inferiority are over-anxious to command respect, and who imagine money a substitute for manners, are the most disagreeable travelling companions in existence. The night continued dark and rainy; and nothing was seen of the country until the following morning. Tuesday, Sept. 22. Arrived at Syracuse at half past 10 o’clock and had the unexpected pleasure of being greeted on landing by my old and intelligent friend Seth Hunt, Esq., a gentleman of extensive travel and vast general informa- tion. I looked about upon the village as I stept on shore, with still more astonishment than at Utica. Another en- chanted city, I exclaimed, as I glanced upwards and around upon- splendid hotels and rows of massive buildings in all directions—crowded, too, with people, all full of life and activity! Nine years before I had passed a day here, among some five or six scattered tenements, one of which had just been erected, and was then occupied by my friend Joshua Forman,1 Esq.; the whole being surrounded by a desolate, poverty-stricken, woody country, enough to make an owl weep to fly over it. “Never mind,” said Forman, “you will live to see this place a city yet.” And truly this prediction is already realized. For if noble ranges of buildings, two or three large and tasteful churches, busy wharves and streets, and all the life and animation of a large commercial place, will constitute a city, then, most assuredly, Syracuse may be called by that name. And as the county buildings, now erecting upon an extensive scale, have been located midway between Salina and Syracuse, the two towns will be soon united, as Greenwich now is to New York. Within twenty years, therefore, Syracuse will equal the present size of Albany. Salt of the purest quality can here be pro- duced, at the cheapest rate, for the whole continent. Dined at 1. In the afternoon took a walk with Mr. Hunt over the 1. Of Joshua Forman, founder of the city of 'Syracuse, there is ample and deserved record, in encyclopaedias, State and local histories. His early prominence as a projector and ardent advocate of the Erie Canal, especially in the Legislature as early as 1808, has been noted in these Publications (Vol. XII, pp. 71, 439; Vol. XIII, p. 334), particularly in Vol. II, in the canal papers of M. S. Hawley and George Geddes.222 FROM NEW YORK TO NIAGARA. village* and among some of the salt fields in the neighbor- hood. These fields are of great extent, and are intended for the manufacture of salt by solar evaporation; many hundred acres being covered with vats into which the brine is brought from the springs at Salina, one mile and a half distant. As the sediment, which consists of iron sulphate of magnesia and sulphate of lime, are deposited in the upper chambers, the water is drawn off into successive lower ones, until it becomes a pure brine. It is then suffered to stand until it crystallizes in the sun, when it is raked up and taken to the warerooms for inspection and sale. A crop is pro- duced in about two months of the warm season. In the wet and winter months nothing is done. The old process was that of evaporation by the application of artificial heat; nor has this process gone at all into disuse, as more than a hundred establishments for boiling salt, were in active operation on the following day, when, in company with Mrs. Stone and Mr. Hunt, I visited Salina, and the great salt fountains. Neither process of evaporation can be prosecuted in the winter, as there is not sufficient power in the sun when in the winter solstice, and the cold immediately condenses the steam as it rises from the kettles, thereby causing it to fall back in drops of water into the brine again. Attempts are now making by a Mr. Stagg of New York, to remove the difficulty, by boiling the water by means of steam, in wooden boilers, and carrying the steam gen- erated in the several tubs, through the other tubs in pipes, and ultimately away. Whether this project will succeed, remains to be seen. Mr. Stagg has full confidence in the scheme. The main fountain will furnish an abundant supply for all the existing works and probably for many more. The water is thrown up by machinery, after the manner of the Mount Fair1 Water works, near Philadelphia. There are two lifts, or elevations to be overcome, the machinery of both being worked by water power, derived from the Oswego canal, which runs along the brow of the high bank i. Fairmount.COL. STONE'S TOUR IN 1829. 223 above the Springs. There are other springs moreover, at Liverpool three miles north on the margin of the Onondaga lake, and also at the village of Geddes, two miles south of Salina. At the last mentioned place, a new spring has just been found by boring, the waters of which are said to be six degrees stronger than those at Salina. Should this strength continue, and the supply prove abundant, this will be a most valuable discovery. The village of Salina has grown prodigiously since my last visit, in 1820. It now contains many large and well built stores and warehouses, handsome streets and dwell- ings, and three or four beautiful churches, including a neat edifice belonging to the Roman Catholics. I found here an old and valued friend—Mr. Hunter Crane, with whom I had no time to say much more than “how d’ye do.” Large flouring mills. Wednesday, Sept. 23. Last evening the inmates of our hotel were all thrown into confusion by the breaking open of sundry trunks while we were at tea. The trunk of my friend Lott Clarke, Esq., of Lockport, was robbed of $1800 in bank bills. No clue as yet to the robbery. At 1 o’clock, I left this village, in a carriage, in company with L. H. Redfield, Esq., editor of the Syracuse Gazette, and his lady. As we wished to strike the mail stage road at Onondaga Hollow, to take the western stage that evening, Mr. R. kindly provided thus handsomely to facilitate our object. Between Syracuse and Onondaga Hollow the road passes through the marsh where the great battle between the French and the Six Nations of Indians was fought, in the old French war.1 A field piece used on that occasion has recently been dug out of the marsh. The village of Onondaga Hollow is pleasantly situated; and there is an academy here but it will never be greater. The same remark will also apply to the village of Onondaga West Hill, two miles west of this, where our friends parted 1. Probably Frontenac’s expedition of 1696, which passed up Onondaga lake. But there was no “great battle” on that occasion, the Onondagas burn- ing their own cabins and fleeing, leaving an uncontested field, where the French, with singular short-sightedness, destroyed the corn and precipitated a famine.224 FROM NEW YORK TO NIAGARA. from us. For a long time the county buildings have been located here; but as they are now to be removed, the village must decline. There is a magnificent prospect from this hill, embracing the Onondaga lake, and all the villages around it, together with a slight view of Oneida lake, stretching away, in the blue distance, in a long line almost to the “gates of Rome”—but not the gates of that Rome called the city of the seven hills. The mail coach came along in due season, and received us on board. We found it filled with agreeable passengers, several of whom were acquaintances. Wheeling rapidly over a rough but rich and beautiful country, we soon passed through the pleasant village of Marcellus, situated in a deep valley, through which runs the outlet of Otisco lake; and arrived, soon after the shades of night drew on, at the village of Skaneateles—by all allowed to be one of unsur- passed loveliness. Before we had finished a hasty though excellent meal, of which we were much in want, we were honored with the calls of Mr. Burnett, his son, and a brother, Mr. Bishop Burnett, lately from England, who came to New York with letters of introduction to me, and who soon proved to be a gentleman of great intelligence and much experience in the world—of extensive travel, and agreeable manners. Thursday, Sept. 24. Rose at 7, and looked out of our window for the first time upon the Skaneateles, the lake of which we had heard so much. It is indeed a beautiful sheet of water, extending up for the distance of sixteen miles, through a charming country, well cultivated and variegated by farm houses, woodlands, orchards, country seats, &c. The village is very pretty, and many houses in that, and at a distance on the borders of the lake, are built with taste and environed with shrubbery, as houses in the country always should be. But there was one grand mis- take made in building this village, which has marred its beauty exceedingly. The main street was laid out so as to sweep round upon the margin of the lake, at its foot. On the northern side of this street and fronting on the lake, the houses of the citizens were erected; and one wouldCOL. STONE’S TOUR IN 1829. 225 have supposed that even the Goths & Vandals would have had good taste enough to have preserved an open view to the lake, by having a smooth lawn of green-sward, planted with locusts and the willow, between the road and the lake. But contrary to every principle of taste or beauty, one of the churches and several blocks of stores and artisans’ workshops, have been erected upon the shore which in most cases entirely intercept the water-prospect! So that but for the privilege of taking now a sail, and now a mess of fish, the good people might as well have no lake at all. The stores should be burnt by the common hangman, and the church taken quietly down and reared in a more suit- able place. After breakfast we took a long and delightful walk upon the western shore of the lake; and on our return, found the Messrs. Burnett together with Mrs. and Miss Burnett waiting for us at our lodgings. We repaired home with them, and staid during the day, enjoying society that was highly agreeable, and such simple social unstrained hospitality as is always most pleasing. I spent a portion of the morning with the gentlemen, in fishing upon the lake, and took a turn with the gun in a neighboring forest, in the afternoon; but was most successful in the morning’s sport. It was a clear and beautiful day; but night brought with it a tempest of wind and a deluge of rain. Friday, Sept. 25. Two thunder gusts and much rain this morning. But the weather cleared up about 11 o’clock, and we resolved to proceed on to Auburn. Mr. Burnett, his lady, and brother, being about to proceed to Geneva, Mrs. Stone was kindly accommodated with a seat in their carriage, while Mr. B. Burnett & myself proceeded to Au- burn in a chaise. As the sun came out, it shone with in- tense heat, which, with very muddy roads rendered the ride rather unpleasant. We arrived in Auburn just after a large portion of an immense stone bridge had broken in, and fallen with a tremendous crash. The arch, not being properly constructed, nor properly secured at its base, had given way. A large crowd of people had assembled and stood around the ruins in such numbers as to prevent ourFROM NEW YORK TO NIAGARA. seeing what was the matter., A fragment of the bridge yet stood, over which we drove, tottering, and gradually yield- ing as it was, and as we were strangers, nobody thought we were of sufficient consequence to inform us that we were perilling our lives. On arriving at the hotel we were in- formed of the catastrophe; and running back to look at the ruins, there was ample cause of felicitation at our own narrow escape, for a large additional mass was then sink- ing down. Auburn is a large, and appears to be a flourishing vil- lage; but it is my intention to visit it on my return and speak of it more at large, than I have now time to do, since I can but pass hastily through it. The State prison, at a distance, wears a commanding appearance; & a large mas- sive stone edifice, for the Western Theological Seminary,1 is nearly completed. The Messrs. Sherwoods,2 moreover, of the good old line of mail stages, have nearly completed a hotel, which will be one of the most extensive and ele- gant establishments in this country. The main edifice is fifty-six feet square, and four stories high, exclusive of the basement. From the rear a wing runs back ninety-six feet, which contains a long dining hall below, and single bedrooms in the several stories above. The main edifice is divided in the most convenient manner, into private par- lours and bed rooms adjoining. The whole is massive, built of hewn stone; and three successive piazzas will af- ford most beautiful places for promenading, and surveying the neighboring country, which is rich and luxuriant as the 1. The original building of the Auburn Theological Seminary was erected 1820-21. The institution was not officially styled the “Western Theological Seminary,” but may have been popularly so called, being the seminary of the Presbyterian Church of Central and Western New York. 2. In 1809 Isaac Sherwood of Skaneateles and Jason Parker of Utica, y established a stage line which reached Auburn. In 1816 a line of stages left Canandaigua every week-day, and ran to Utica via Auburn, in 36 hours; the proprietors were Thomas Powell, J. Parker, J. Wetmore, Aaron Thorpe and Isaac Sherwood & Co. This “old line mail” had a monopoly of passenger transportation in the region until the canal era. In 1828, a few months before Col. Stone’s tour, the “Pioneer Line” of stages was established, and a stage war begun, the records of which would make a long and lively chapter in the annals of transportation across New York State. The hotel referred to by the author was the American, afterward the St. James, built 1828-30 by J. M. Sherwood & Co.COL. STONE’S TOUR IN 1829. 227 valley of Egypt. We dined with our friends, at the pri- vate residence of Mr. Weed, a relative of Mr. B’s and a former acquaintance of mine. We then reluctantly separ- ated from our agreeable friends, and took a post coach for Weed’s Basin, at which place it was promised that we should arrive in season for the canal packet to Lyons-— our next point of stopping. But the road was intolerably bad—our harness broke—and on our arrival the packet had. been past a full hour by Shrewsbury clock. The conse- quence was that after snatching a hasty supper, we were compelled to crowd ourselves into the narrow accommoda- tions of a merchant’s boat. We passed a night, uncom- fortable enough for any body, but of absolute wretched- ness for poor Susannah. The cabins were too small to turn round in, the beds dirty, and the passengers very good for universal suffrage folks—all Jackson men, as the color of their shirt collars abundantly attested. Fleas and bed-bugs are as fond of Susannah, as they are her utter aversion. And the moment she entered the cabin allotted to the fe- males they collected to feast upon her blood from every part of the boat. Poor thing! she suffered as much pen- ance as the holiest Catholic father could have imposed upon the veriest heretic in Christendom. But morning at length arrived, and we were safely disembarked at Lyons. Saturday, Sept. 26. This village, too, was all but a wil- derness, at the period of my last visit. Now it has grown into considerable importance. It is the shire town of Wayne county, and in addition to a number of shops and stores, and the county buildings, it contains many respect- able and soiiie elegant residences. Among the latter, is the seat of Myron Holley, Esq., formerly one of the lead- ing and most notable and efficient of our canal commis- sioners, whose names will be perpetuated as long as the lakes and the ocean are connected by the golden commer- cial chain forged under the direction of the Great Clinton. Mr. Holley showed me through his grounds ; and I was much surprised to find one of the richest and most beauti- ful gardens that I had ever beheld. It contains something like six or eight acres, which was woodland, I presume, at228 FROM NEW YORK TO NIAGARA. the time of my visit in 1820. Now it was elegantly laid out and cultivated, and planted with fruit trees, plants, shrubs, vines, &c., &c., in rich variety, and profusion. The size to which cherry, apple, peach, pear, & plum trees, quince bushes, to say nothing of the beautiful shade, trees in the lawn, had attained since this land was appropriated to its present purpose, was truly wonderful. Cherry and apple trees, planted eight years since, now measure ten and twelve inches in diameter, and every vegetable seems to flourish in this genial soil and climate, with the same unequalled vigor and thrift. The peach, pear and cherry season was over; but the yield of all had been proportion- ately great. And such a crop of quinces & so fair, I had never seen. A great profusion of melons of the most deli- cious variety, covered a portion of the grounds, and were decaying for want of consumers. Grapes, too, in thick and inviting clusters, were hanging most invitingly from the trellis-work upon which the vines were trained ; while of flowers, of every variety, and flowering plants and shrubs, of countless varieties, indigenous and exotics, there was a profusion. Mr. H. is a gentleman of high intellectual powers, of fine education, and extensive scientific acquire- ments. Latterly he has turned his attention to horticul- tural pursuits, for his amusement. And already have his labors been most fruitful. Everything upon his premises is disposed in the most admirable order, and according to the most correct principles of taste and beauty. After Mrs. S. had enjoyed a few hours of repose, which [was needed] after the fl^a-botomy she had endured the night before, and after I had made a visit to the Court House, where the Court of General Sessions was at work upon some rioters from Swate Ireland, we took our depar- ture in a private carriage, over “a rough, ragged road,” to the humble residence of my venerable parents, in the Parish of East Ridge, township of Sodus, where we arrived at 3 in the afternoon—finding the family all well saving my dear sister Rachel, who was languishing upon the bed of sickness. This visit to the paternal roof was after an absence of nine years.COL. STONE’S TOUR IN 1829. 229 Sunday, Sept. 27. Attended church this morning at East Ridge, and heard an excellent sermon from the Rev. Mr. Townsend. Meeting with this aged clergyman, at this place, is another instance of the mutability of human affairs. I had known him, slightly, and1 a part of his family inti- mately, some eighteen years ago, at Herkimer—he then being a well-settled clergyman in Madison county. Subse- quently he and all the members of his family emigrated to, and commenced a settlement in the wilds of Illinois. Of course I never anticipated the pleasure of seeing him more. But our destinies are always uncertain to human ken ; and he for whom I should have looked among the prairies of the Great West, I have now found as the humble minister of Christ in this new and obscure parish. After service, paid a visit to the tombs of my two deceased brothers, Samuel Matthias, who died on the nth day of October, 1818 ; and Ebenezer G., who died at this place on the nth of December, 1828. I have caused a monumental stone to be erected to the memory of the for- mer, and have ordered another to be executed for the latter. I was much affected while looking upon the narrow house which now contains their remains, and prayed fervently to be prepared for the solemn hour when I shall be called to lie as low as they! Monday, Sept. 29. Spent the day chiefly within doors, at home. Took tea with my good mother and Susannah, at the Rev. Mr. Townsend's. Tuesday, Sept. 30. Rainy morning. Clouds broke away between 11 and 12 o'clock, when Dr. Loomis called to invite Susan and myself to take a ride to Sodus Point, and spend the day at his house, which invitation was cheerfully ac- cepted. After a pleasant ride of between four and five miles, we came suddenly upon a full view of Lake Ontario— its dark rolling waters stretching like a mighty inland ocean, farther than the eye could reach. The emotions with which I first looked abroad upon this wide sheet of water, now lashed almost into a tempest, were strange and undefinable. I had been familiar with many of the lesser lakes of our country; with our largest northern rivers; and' with theFROM NEW YORK TO NIAGARA. face of the ocean. But upon the waters of this lake I had never befoie gazed, as they were locked in the icy arms of winter at the time of a former visit to Sackett’s harbor in February, 1813. Perhaps it was the circumstance of the prospect bursting suddenly and somewhat unexpectedly upon my view, that it brought with it more sublimity and grandeur, and inspired me with more elevated1 and inex- pressible feelings than did my first view of the great Atlantic itself. Perhaps, too, the ocean was at first beheld with less awe and wonder because I was prepared for an illimitable expanse of waters; whereas I was now only prepared for the sight of a lake—without having reflected that such was its extent that it would appear equally bound- less with the ocean. Be these things as they may, I was struck dumb and breathless with wonder, admiration, and amazement, at the first gaze upon Ontario. Leaving Mrs. Stone at the house of my agreeable and hospitable friend, I proceeded with him to take a view of the great harbor and bay of Sodus. Our route for two miles to the old Point lay much of the way upon the high and precipitous banks of the lake, the waters of whjich now wrought into a billowy foam by an increasing gale from the northwest, came rolling onwards and dashed their white crests with great fury at our feet. At one point the pros- pect was so grand and truly magnificent, that I could not resist the inclination to spring from the carriage and stand alone and in silence upon the projecting brink of a precipice, while I contemplated for a moment the glorious scene before and around me. The shore, on either hand, indented with bays and inlets, clothed in most places with stately forests to the verge was picturesque and beautiful ; while the view of the mighty expanse of heaving waters beyond, was full of majesty and grandeur. The opening of the bay upon the view, as we arrived from the west, upon the point which on this side forms one of the chops of the inlet, was very beautiful. The point itself, which was settled and planted with orchards by my worthy and enterprising companion in the present excursion, is one of the most beautiful of spots on earth. The villageCOL. STONE’S TOUR IN 1829. 231 is small though pleasant; but probably it is- by no means as well built as before the late war, when the principal houses were destroyed by the torch of the enemy. But the bay itself is charming beyond description and appeared peculiarly so now, as its placid surface lay calm and almost unruffled while the lake itself was tossing and heaving, and its waves breaking with angry and resistless force by the rude tempest without. The bay stretches back eastwardly to the distance of about six miles, and measures probably sixteen or eighteen miles in circumference. The shore is not much elevated, the lands descending towards it from each direction, in a pleasing slope. Several elegant farms have been cleared upon its margin; and towards its eastern section, the Shakers from New Lebanon have planted a colony, which like the present establishment, has already become a bee-hive of neatness, order and industry. But the greater part of the shore of this bay, and the two delight- ful island's, planted in its bosom, yet proudly wave with their stately and majestic forests. For some distance westwardly of this capacious harbor, the banks wear rapidly away by the force of the waters wrought into action by the northwestern gales; and the soil thus washed away being deposited in the entrance of the harbor, has in the process of time formed an arm which stretches obliquely into the harbor like a peninsula to the distance of more than a mile; and the deposites without this peninsula threaten the formation of a bar which may greatly impede the entrance into the harbor—the most safe and commodious of any upon the south side of the lake. To guard against this, an appropriation was made by the last Congress, for the construction of substantial piers from the shores on each side of the channel, extending out into what is called deep water. Across the ends of these piers, others are to be constructed, defining the width of the channel, by which means the entrance into the harbor is to be so much narrowed as to create currents which it is believed will for- ever prevent the formation of bars to interrupt the naviga- tion. This current will be caused by the north western winds, which will drive the waters and heap them up in the232 FROM NEW YORK TO NIAGARA. bay, leaving them to flow out again as the winds cease. It is believed that by this flux and reflux of the waters, a current equal to a tide running at the rate of four miles an hour will be produced. At the present time Sodus is not a place of much busi- ness ; although before the completion of the Erie rcanal much was done in the flour and potash business, in connec- tion with the Montreal market. In former times, moreover, when Mr. Jefferson and Mr. Madison were exerting what were called the restrictive energies of the Government, the smuggling business was believed to have greatly flourished at this place. Many were the cargoes of flour and ashes which were loaded at the docks here, and got well under way while the deputy custom-house officers were artfully detained by cards and the bottle in the little hells of the neighborhood. It is intended, however, to increase the importance of this port by the construction of a canal from its eastern extremity to intersect the Great Erie canal at Montezuma. A charter for a company to effect this object, has been granted by the Legislature; and there can be little doubt that when the advantages of the route, and an investment of capital in such an object, are well understood by the public, the stock will be readily taken. Without making any invidious comparisons between this place and1 Oswego it may safely be asserted that this harbor is a better, a more accessible and a safer one than that of Oswego. The canal can be completed, such are. the natural facilities for the work, for the moderate sum of 180,000 dollars. It will run through one of the richest sections of land in the United States, and the whole contiguous country is fruitful beyond the power of natural rivalry. Added to which circum- stances, this canal will be an effectual measure for draining the Cayuga Marshes on the Seneca outlet, to effect which most desirable object so many abortive attempts have been created; and it’s moreover believed' that the water power to be created by this canal, will more than pay the interest on the cost of the whole work. Under all these circum- stances, I cannot but believe that if the subject was under-COL. STONES TOUR IN 1829. 233 stood, there would be a struggle among capitalists who should be favored with the most of the stock. And from the moment that this canal is seriously commenced, Sodus will become one of the most important inland towns in the State. Salt springs have recently been discovered on the margin of this bay, from which salt of an excellent quality is now manufactured. These waters, as yet, are not as strong as those of Salina, but still, even should stronger not be dis- covered by deeper boring, in the absence of the duties, which it is believed cannot be extended to private property, it is thought the manufacture of this article can be successfully prosecuted here. I returned from this excursion towards evening, highly gratified in all respects. Wednesday, Sept, 30. Spent the day at home. In the evening took tea with Dr. Gaylord. Weather wet and uncomfortable, and both Sue and I had a sad time in getting home. Thursday, Oct. 1. Left the residence of my father, and resumed my journey to the West, in the Oswego stage, for Rochester, where we were to have been set down at 7 o'clock. The preceding night and the morning, had been stormy. But the clouds broke away before noon ; and at 3 P. M. when we started, the weather was fine. The road aiso was good, and we made the first stage with celerity. But soon after commencing the second stage, the clouds began to gather darkly up, and at twilight we broke down. A rail was placed under the body of the coach, and we dragged slowly along for many a weary mile—having exchanged the Ridge Road for one infinitely its inferior. The darkness concealed many of the terrors of the descent of the dangerous pass of the dug-way, into the gulf of the Irondequoit; but the flickering lamps of the coach occa- sionally disclosed more than we cared about seeing. How- ever, we got through in safety, and reached the Clinton House at about 11 o'clock instead of 7. Friday, Oct. 2. And this is Rochester! the far-famed city of the West, which has sprung up like Jonah's gourd! Rochester, with its two thousand houses, its elegant ranges234 FROM NEW YORK TO NIAGARA. of stores, its numerous churches and public buildings, its boats and bridges, quays, wharves, mills, manufactories, arcades, museums, everything—all standing where stood a frowning forest in 1812! Surely the march of improve- ment can never outstrip this herculean feat. But I must leave a description for another day. It was my purpose to have proceeded on my journey this evening but the severe indisposition of Mrs. S. compels me to desist. Hope she will be better to-morrow. Saturday, Oct. 3. The day being comfortable for travel- ling, and Susannah’s health considerably improved, we recommenced our journey, and left Rochester at half past 10 o’clock, in a convenient mercantile boat on the canal. The general appearance of the country has appeared much the same, ever since we left Auburn, which seems to lie near the eastern margin of the great plain known by the name of “The Genesee country ” The country appears almost a dead level in all directions. Not a mountain, even in the remotest distance, lifts its blue crest towards the heavens—not a hill swells the bosom of the landscape, which, robbed altogether of the sublime, reposes in quiet beauty. Every where as we proceed, however, the fields bear ample testimony of the unbounded fertility of the soil, while the forests yet standing in their native maturity and vigor, seem to bid defiance to the feeble arm of man, before which, however, so many myriads of the tribe of trees have already fallen. Those who have spent their whole lives in cities, or in the older parts of our country, where the primi- tive growth of timber has long since disappeared, can form no just idea of the majesty and grandeur of the native forests which clothe a luxuriant soil. The secondary growth of timber on our reserved woodlands, and the dwarfish productions of our sterile mountains, are mere brush-wood in comparison with the towering pines, the lofty wide-spreading elms, the gigantic maples, white-wood and sycamores of the West. We had a strong head wind which prevented opr horses from beating ahead as fast as we could have wished. It was therefore past 5 o’clock before we reached Brockport,COL. STONE'S TOUR IN 1829. 235 a goodly-sized new and flourishing village, twenty miles w;est of Rochester. This village is well built, and appears to be the center of some considerable business. After a stoppage of 20 minutes, we resumed literally "the even tenor of our way,” and did not reach Albion, fifteen miles farther, until 11 o’clock at night. This trav- elling by canal boats, save when the roads are excessively bad, is but a tedious process. The charm of novelty is soon lost, and the sameness becomes overpoweringly wearisome. Even good company, or an excellent author, will scarce serve to charm away the irksome hours. I tried the experi- ment of both to-day—talked' about the crops-—the trees— the weather—General Jackson and antimasonry—and read 100 pages of the captivating author of "Pelham,” in his “Devereaux,” his latest work. But all to little purpose.1 . Sunday, Oct. 4, This is Albion, the shire town of the county of Orleans—the last created county in the State.2 It much resembles its sister village of Brockport, save that it it not quite so large. As in that, the main street runs north and south, crossing the canal at right angles. The country is rich and very beautiful. But here, as in most if not all the villages which have sprung into existence with the canal, every thing looks raw and naked. In most of them not a shade tree is to be seen. Even in Rochester, scarcely a green bough greets the eye, weary with burning brick and white paint. The mistake, however, made in cutting away all the trees, has at length been discovered by some gentle- men, who are beginning to plant saplings, the grateful umbrage of which may perhaps be enjoyed by another generation. This is a fatal error in the clearing up of new lands, more especially as in the cases of this line of villages, where the trees were removed for the very purpose of erecting houses in their stead. Every woodman seems to regard each and every tree as an enemy to be vanquished, and when a forest is assailed, without regard to lawns or building lots the whole mass of timber is forthwith levelled 1. Bulwer-Lytton’s “Devereaux” was first published in 1829, “Pelham” in 1828. 2. Orleans Co. was set off from Genesee, Nov. 11, 1824.236 FROM NEW YORK TO NIAGARA. with the earth. Whereas by a little forethought and a little care, the most vigorous and beautiful ornamental trees, of suitable sizes and variety, might be spared at once to adorn the courtyards and pleasure grounds of the citizens, and mitigate the fervid rays of a vertical sun. But according to the present practice, people only think of shade trees after they are gone, and they are consequently compelled to go without for some twenty or thirty years, until they can cultivate others. Attended church to-day, the services being conducted in the courthouse. The Rev. Mr. Cheeseman, a young man full of ardor and1 zeal, officiated. Both as to matter and manner, his discourses reflected more credit upon1 his heart, than his head—upon his feelings than his discretion—upon his zeal, than his knowledge of the simple truth as the Gospel, the attributes and the government of the Deity. The congregation was quite respectable as to numbers, and atten- tion. There was not an old person of either sex in the house. This is a most striking feature in the character and the appearance of our newer settlements and villages. Let a stranger visit a New England church, or public assembly, and he will be astonished at the disproportion between the aged and the middle aged and young—the former greatly preponderating over the latter. Let him then make a like visit in our newer, but still well peopled districts of country and he will be equally astonished to find the whole popula- tion comparatively so vigorous and young—but very rarely finding an old man, with whitened locks, and not very fre- quently those which are even slightly frosted with age. Emigration is the cause of these differences—the aged remain at home, to lay their bones with those of their ances- tors, while the young & vigorous swarm forth to make their fortunes by subduing and cultivating the wilds of the West. The tide yet rolls on, wave succeeding wave, like the heaving ocean. When it will be checked, or what barrier is to form the boundary of the West, time alone will determine. Monday, Oct. 5. Called up at half past 4 o'clock, to take the packet for Lockport. Found the boat a very comfort- able one, with an attentive and obliging captain. TheCOL. STONE’S TOUR IN 1829. 237 morning was clear and very cold for the season—the frost lying heavily on the ground, and' the surface of the smallest pools of water congealed with ice. The day, however, came mildly on, and proved to be remarkably fine. The general aspect of the country to Lockport, 28 miles, continued the same as latterly described. We passed two or three small villages, but no place requiring particular notice, unless it be Oak Orchard creek, and the village thereat. For a few rods before reaching the creek, the canal is formed by deep cutting through a rock. It passes the creek by a large stone aqueduct, firmly built; and the creek itself descends over a rocky bed towards the lake, through a deep dark and wild- looking ravine, sufficiently romantic without having been rendered more so by the romance relative to the body of Morgan having been found in- its estuary, but which proved to be the harmless corpus of one Mr. Timothy Monroe.1 The village contains some clean buildings and one or two lar£e mills or other manufactories. Stepping ashore a moment, while the boat stop’t to water the horses, in order tc look more at the village, I was surprised to find on turning round that the boat was off, and a bend in the canal had thrown it out of sight, as if by magic. I lost some moments in the vain endeavor to procure a horse, to follow on; but was compelled to test my own speed, which, hin- dered with a heavy overcoat and an asthmatic affection, was none of the fleetest. However, after running about a mile, I came near enough to hail the boat, at the moment I was so much exhausted that I could not have run another rod for an estate. We arrived at Lockport at half past 12 o’clock. The approach to this place is rather imposing. It is here that by a succession of douible locks, of massive structure, the canal climbs to the summit level of lake Erie; and it is here that the deep cutting through the compact limestone of the Mountain Ridge, commences. This work is here a splendid monument of the ingenuity and enterprise 1. William Morgan of Batavia disappeared in September, 1826. The body of a man was found near the mouth of Oak Orchard Creek, in the autumn of 1827. As to the identity of that body see Thurlow Weed's “Recollections of the Abduction of William Morgan,” etc., Chicago, 1882; also Mr. Stone's “Masonry and Anti-Masonry.”238 FROM NEW YORK TO NIAGARA. of man, in surmounting obstacles seemingly insurmount- able. Before reaching the locks, the canal penetrates the elevation several rods, by means of a natural ravine or glen, along the sides of which large flouring mills have been erected, and other mills and manufactories are in process. The water power is abundant for a hundred mills. It is taken from the canal, which at this end has for its feeder, lakes Erie, Michigan, Huron, Superior, and I know not how many more. The principal village of Lockport stands on the hill and is much larger than I had anticipated. A new village, on the plain east of the first, has been com- menced, and those engaged in the enterprise confidently predict that it will speedily rival or exceed it. This is the shire town of Niagara county, and here stand the public buildings of the county. It was in the jail here, that the unfortunate Morgan was for a short time confined by his blind and bigoted5 Masonic kidnappers. There are four newspapers published here, which no. is at least three too many. One of them is entitled “Priest Craft Exposed”— and the sign is painted upon the broadside of a house in letters so large, that the O in the last word is large enough for the head of a rum-barrel! We left the canal-boat here, and dining at the hotel (where we had a very good dinner), we met a pert half- Quaker-looking sort of a man, very well dressed, with whom a conversation ensued. Mrs. S. rallied him about the Priestcraft sign, and the poor fellow colored to the tip of his ears. He was doubtless the editor, from the warmth of his defence, and he was genteely roasted. We left Lockport in a mail coach at half past I. Our travelling companions hence to Lewiston, were a boisterous gang of Universal Suffrage Jackson men, on their way to attend the exhibition got up by the hotel-keepers at the Falls, to collect a crowd of customers in a dull season. Our road was across to the “Ridge Road,” which we did not reach until within two miles of Lewiston, was over a new country, some of the way almost entirely unsettled. The land was higher than for the last hundred miles, and the soil apparently somewhat inferior. But the forests wereCOL. STONE'S TOUR IN 1829. 239 yet more lofty and imposing. Oaks and occasionally syca- mores of immense size, now mingled with the towering maples and elms. We passed through a section of the Indian reserved lands, partially settled by a portion of the Tuscarora tribe of Indians. These improved lands, with a very few exceptions, appeared in a sad state of neglected cultivation. For several miles, while traversing the northern verge of this mountain ridge, our admiration was engrossed by the prospect of. one of the most glorious uncultivated landscapes upon which the eye of man ever reposed. Be- neath our feet on the north, and extending from east to west as far as the eye could reach, was stretched a belt of woodland, apparently perfectly level, from the base of the mountain to the southern shore of the lake. Although the whole of this tract of land is sparsely settled, yet the forest so far predominates over the occasional spots of cultivation, that the latter were entirely merged in, and lost in the former. To the eye, the tops of the trees presented the even surface of a parlour floor; and the forests having changed the verdant foliage to those numberless bright and beautiful hues which are the peculiar mark of our American autumn, rendered the whole surface far more beautiful than the most gorgeous carpet ever imported. All the colors and hues which Nature can paint, were here blended together in the sweetest harmony; and had the whole extent been covered iby a grand collection of all the blossoms that ever bloomed since the gates of Paradise were closed, glowing in their richest and brightest tints, they could not have con- stituted a richer flower garden. But . . expression cannot paint the breath of Nature and her endless bloom!” Beyond this, the most delightful region that “ fancy's footsteps ever trod,” rolled the dark waters of Ontario, bounded on the north by the azure hills of Upper Canada, which rose dimly in the distant horizon! Soon after we descended upon this lovely plain, we came in sight of Lewis- ton beyond which the monument which Canadian patriotism has erected to the memory of Gen. Brock, upon Queenston240 FROM NEW YORK TO NIAGARA. Heights,1 rose loftily in view. Lewiston is a very pleasantly situated, and pretty town. We did not stop at the spacious and inviting hotel, but as the sun was yet shining brightly upon us, we rode directly down to the ferry. And here, for the first time did I behold the troubled waters of the Niagara—the mighty river, the name of which of all others was the most deeply implanted in my memory in my school boy days! the grand outlet of the great inland seas of the still greater West! The banks on either side above and on either hand, on the American shore, were high, rocky and precipitous; and the river itself is confined by its massive barriers, to a narrower space than I had supposed. The current is rapid, and it boils and whirls, and in sorne places breaks into a surf, as though not yet restored to tranquility after its angry leap over the great cataract seven miles above. None but a small row-boat was plying upon the ferry, into which we should, as. strangers, scarcely have ventured, had we not seen it safely rowed across the river by a single hand, for our accommodation. We passed over the dark and troubled current, however, speedily, and in safety ; and for the first time I found myself in a foreign country, and under the power of one who “a kingly crown has on.” I am as decidedly a Republican in principle, as any man. But I am no Jacobin—no democrat. I hate the mob: and I have such an utter loathing of the character of Jackson—such a thorough and hearty detestation of his scurvy administration, that it was a relief to me to get be- yond his jurisdiction. I seemed to breathe a purer air; and although I love my own country best, and its institutions, yet I regretted that my circumstances were such as to compel me to return within the United States, until the people shall have returned to their senses, and this disgrace- ful state of things terminated. At the tavern, near the ferry, I was detained nearly an hour, for the want of a carriage to take us over to the falls; and here I fell in with i. This was the first monument to Maj.-Gen. Brock, erected 1824, blown up and ruined April 17, 1840, supposedly by Lett, a refugee from Canada be- cause of his share in the Upper Canada Rebellion. The present stately monu- ment to Brock on Queenston Heights dates from 1853.COL. STONE’S TOUR JN 1829. 241 an old friend, who had removed to the province, from Otsego, seventeen years ago, and whom I had not seen since. . The village of Queenston stands at the foot of the heights, and is not a town of much consequence, though rendered memorable during the last war with England, by the brilliant, though in the end unfortunate, expedition of Gen. Van Rensselaer, in 1812. I gazed for some time upon the heights, and upon the steep ascent up which the gallant Solomon Van Rensselaer led his troops, cutting his way through a line of British troops, with his sabre, as he fell covered with wounds. I gazed also, but with feelings of mingled shame and indignation upon the opposite shore, where our own recreant militia stood, refusing to pass over and secure the victory which Van Rensselaer and the brave Col. Fenwick had won—refusing to cross even to save their brethren, who had gallantly carried the heights in the morning, from the tomahawks of a savage foe, which they were brandishing with hellish delight. We rode on to the Falls in a light open waggon, drawn by a pair of Canadian ponies. The sun sunk to his nightly rest, as we ascended the heights, tinging with his golden hues the top of the noble column of granite, reared to the memory of Brock, the British commander, who fell in the battle to which I have just referred. Not a stone yet marks the spot where the ashes of a Washington repose1—the Father of his country is denied the poor boon of a block of marble—but the British captain of a distant and humble province, is honored with a massive obelisk piercing the skies. Night shut in upon us before we passed the seat of Sir Peregrine Maitland, late Governor of the Province, which is said to be very pleasant; and the hazy atmosphere deprived us of the pleasure of even a moonlight view of the grounds. The premises are now for sale. Sir Peregrine expended £5,000 in beautifying these grounds; and I was 1. At the time Col. Stone wrote this, the body of Washington was in the old family vault at Mt. Vernon, where it had rested since his death in 1799. In 1831 it was removed to the brick tomb where it has since reposed.242 FROM NEW YORK TO NIAGARA. assured that they could now be purchased for £2,000.* The country is very level to the falls. During the last mile of our ride, we passed over the ground memorable as the scene of the bloody battle of Bridgewater, as it is called in our annals—in the British it is called the Battle of Lundy’s Lane. It was here that Brown and Scott, and the troops and commanders on both sides, covered themselves with renown; for never was a battle more fiercely and obstinately contested, and both armies claimed a brilliant victory! ! The moon shone out, though rather obscurely, as we reached Forsyth’s Hotel, near the Falls, for some time previously to which our ears had been filled with the heavy sound of the rush of mighty waters. Without looking at the river, however, we took supper, and retired to our apartment, which we found to overlook the far-famed cataract. I repressed my curiosity and did not lift a curtain, being resolved not to dissolve the charm of a first look upon the mighty, the glorious whole! But the roar of the tumbling torrent long banished sleep from my pillow; and when all was quiet arid still in the house, I could distinctly feel that the earth, and the building and my own body trembled.' And when some fitful slum- bers stole over me, it was only to dream of whirlpools, cliffs, crags and cataracts. Tuesday, Oct. 6. Breakfasted at 8, and after surveying the rapids above the principal proemption from the veranda of the pavilion, we descended the high and steep bank to the Table Rock, from which the best view of the Great Cataract, on both sides of Goat Island is obtained, unless it be from below. It was fortunate for us, perhaps, that while sur- veying the rapids, from the piazza of the Pavilion, the heavy and dense clouds of vapour which arose from the cauldron into which the torrent pours, effectually obscured the broken view of the main fall which otherwise would 1. Sir Peregrine Maitland, Lieutenant Governor of Upper Canada, 1818- 1828, built a residence, grand for the time and region, at Stamford, in a romantic location not far from the Whirlpool of the Niagara. The residence burned, but the lodge at the entrance to the grounds, and some fine trees marking old avenues, long recalled the pretentious establishment.COL. STONE'S TOUR IN 1829. 243 have been presented from that situation. Meantime the rapids themselves, where the torrent rushes impetuously onward, leaping in foaming billows from rock to rock for a distance of more than a mile, during which period it descends more than 140 feet, afforded a prospect sufficiently interesting to render the senses keenly alive to the more sublime and glorious spectacle that was to come. Arrived at Table Rock, we were struck silent and breathless for some moments, with wonder and dread admiration of this stupendous monument of almighty power. It seemed, indeed (to borrow the metaphor of my lamented friend Brainard), as though “God poured the waters from his hollow hand!” And the evident ravages which the heavy and resistless torrent has made in the crumbling rocks, at once illustrated the fitness of the other figure of the same beautiful bard, where he speaks of these waters as “ Notching the centuries in the eternal rocks.”1 It is not my design in this loose diary to attempt a description of this mighty cataract. Such an effort must be a work of thought and labor. No just picture can be elaborated at a sitting. In this place, therefore, I shall content myself with recording a few memoranda, for future reference, or use, should I ever attempt a more finished and perfect sketch. Many descriptions of this greatest of cataracts have been written, and some of them by men of far loftier powers and richer treasures of language, than I can ever hope to possess. Several of these I have read. 1. John Gardiner Calkins Brainard, the young Connecticut poet whose lines on Niagara have often been styled the finest poetic tribute to the cataract, died in 1828, never having seen the great fall that had so inspired his imagina> tion. Col. Stone does not quote him accurately; the lines he seeks to give occur in the following extract: “It would seem As if God formed thee from his ‘hollow hand’ And hung his bow upon thine awful front; And spoke in that loud voice, which seemed to him Who dwelt in Patmos for his Savior’s sake, *The sound of many waters’; and bade Thy flood to chronicle the ages back, And notch his centuries in the eternal rocks."244 FROM NEW YORK TO NIAGARA. That of Chateaubriand,1 though I have not seen it in many years, strikes me as being the most glowing and picturesque which has fallen under my observation. President Dwight’s2 account is highly spoken of, but it has escaped my attention. A very animated description was published some eight or ten years since, by, I think, a Lieutenant Hall,3 of the British Army;. I read it at the time it appeared with much interest. The last I have seen is the elaborate account of Capt. Basil Hall,4 which, though probably cor- rect in respect of its facts, is neither graphic nor animated, but on the contrary very tame. His comparison of the deep-toned thunder of the mighty torrent, to the noise of a grist-mill, is supremely ridiculous. Persons unaccustomed to measuring heights and dis- tances by the eye, are often disappointed in the apparent height of this cataract, at the first view. And doubtless there are many whose feelings arid perceptions are no more awakened' by the prospect, than were those of the tailor whose notions of the sublime were indicated by the signif- icant exclamation-—“O, what a fine place to sponge a coat!” But to one who has an eye alive to the glorious works of the Creator, as manifested in this beautiful world ; who has a heart to feel his power and his goodness ; and perceptions to admire and appreciate their vastness and magnificence; I can think of no other spectacle in nature more calculated to thrill the bosom, and call all those faculties and percep- 1. There are numerous passages descriptive of Niagara in the writings of Chateaubriand. One much-quoted passage, probably that to which Col. Stone alludes, occurs in the “Essai Historique . . . sur les Revolutions/* etc., and is repeated, in part word for word, in the “Genie du Christianisme,” under the title “Deux perspectives de la Nature.** The description of Niagara in “Atala** is strikingly like that in the “Essai Historique.** 2. Timothy Dwight’s visit to Niagara* described in his “Travels; in New England and New York** (New Haven, 1822), was in October, 1804. 3. “Travels in Canada and the United States in 1816 and 1817,** by Lieut. Francis Hall (London, 1818). 4. “Travels in North America in the years 1827 and 1828. By Capt. Basil Hall, Royal Navy** (3 vols. Edinburgh, 1829). Hall*s comparison, t© which our author objects, is as follows: “The sound of the Falls most nearly resembles that of a grist-mill, of large dimensions. There is precisely the same incessant, rumbling, deep, monotonous sound, accompanied by the tremour which is observable in a building where many pairs of millstones are at work.’*COL. STONE’S TOUR IN 1829. 245 tions into elevated' and delightful action, and to lead the mind from the contemplation of Nature up to Nature's God, than this wonderful cataract. “These are thy works, Parent of Good Supreme! Thine this universal frame, thyself how glorious then!” From the numerous drawings of these falls, which have been published by various eminent artists, and particularly from the model lately constructed from actual surveys and admeasurements of heights and distances, by my ingenious friend Mr. Geo. Catlin, I had conceived a very correct idea of the position, form and extent of them. But I had no adequate notion of the overpowering sensations an actual view of them would produce upon the mind. The channel being upon the British shore, and separated from the American shore by Goat Island, the column of water which is here precipitated into the deep abyss, is vastly greater than upon the American shore. And in the lapse of ages, the rocks forming the bed of the river have been worn away so much more rapidly than on the other, that the line of the verge of the cataract now runs diagonally across the river:—and this line is broken or worn into the deep curve Called the Horse Shoe, by the increased action of the water at the deepest point of the channel. By the estimates of scientific men, it is computed that the depth of water when it breaks over the verge, is fifteen feet. The action of such a prodigious column of water, must of course have worn for itself a cauldron of amazing depth—but how deep it will forever baffle the power and skill of man to determine. The colour of the descending torrent for several rods across the channel, is of a rich emerald green, but the sheet is soon lost in the thick volumes of spray which are continually rolling up from the chasm into which it is impetuously plunged. These ceaseless clouds of spray, white, and in the glancing sun-beams glittering as liquid silver, ascending in heavy masses continually—now rolling up to a majestic height, and now borne along like a pillar of cloud—now curling and wreathing around in every beautiful and fan- tastic form, among the shelving rocks below, or floating246 FROM NEW YORK TO NIAGARA. gracefully among the contending currents of air which sweep gently over the bosom of the gulf, form one of the most striking beauties of the spectacle. These appearances are ever changing, so that the view of the falls can never be precisely alike at any two visits, or for even a single instant of time. Hence no painter will ever succeed in giving a perfect or satisfactory representation of this won- derful work. The task of the artist represented in a beau- tiful fable by the venerable author of “M’Fingal,”1 as attempting the portraiture of a cloud, varying and changing in the breeze, and alternately reflecting at different points the vermil-tinctured hues of the sun sinking to rest in glory, would be easy in comparison. Another very striking feat- ure, equally beautiful and terrific, is the foamy whiteness of the waters as they boil up in ceaseless agitation from the bottom of the chasm into which they are precipitated with such unmeasured force and velocity. The whole body of water over an area of several acres, seems beaten into a perfect foam, boiling and whirling about with appalling fury, until, removed from the immediate vicinity of the cataract, the waters assume their natural color, and are hurried off in many an eddying and contending current, over their dark and rocky bed in the direction of Ontario. The sensation is sufficiently overpowerful as beheld from' above; buf when contemplated from below—at the foot of the spiral staircase standing at the base of the Table rock, impending fearfully over the head of the beholder—it be- comes intensely and awfully sublime. No passion con- tributes more to the sublime than terror. And he who can unmoved look up from the dread gulf, and gaze upon hang- ing rocks and rushing waters above, and the dizzying whirlpools beneath—upon the clouds of ascending vapour, now dense and humid and now light and fleecy, and reflect- ing the melting and beautiful tints of the rainbow, must be made of sterner stuff than I. But I am becoming too prolix and must draw this imperfect outline to a close. I spent the greater part of i. John Trumbull.COL. STONE’S TOUR IN 1829. 247 three days in viewing this wonderful curiosity from differ- ent points of observation—above and below, on both sides of the river, upon Goat Island, and at its base, and from the Terrapin rocks on the northern side of the island, at the brink of the preemption; and each moment so occupied was of still more thrilling interest—of more special wonder —of higher and more elevated enjoyment. And when at last I had the last, and yet another, and still another last look—my desire for another visit was far stronger than for the first. It was during this sixth of October, that the landlords, on both sides of the river got up a variety of shows, by attempting to add such interest to the natural glories of the place, as it was supposed would collect a multitude of people together upon both shores, and thus give them some additional business in the way of their vocation. For this purpose several rocks were blasted off at various points of the rocks overhanging the gulf. But it was a sorry affair. The gun-powder explosions, in comparison with the ma- jestic roar of the waters, might be likened to the report of so many pop-guns mingling with the thunders of Jove— the tumbling fragments like pebbles cast into the valley from the brow of Olympus—the smoke, like a capful of fog compared with the volumes rolling up from the crater of Vesuvius. Indeed the whole affair was as contemptible as it would be to attempt to add to the majesty of the cataract the pouring of a bucket of water by its side from a tea- kettle. Several thousands of people, however, collected on both sides, many of whom probably had never before had curiosity enough to see the falls themselves—if even they saw them now. The descent and wreck of the vessel among the rapids, was an interesting spectacle, however. I have written a full account of the whole affair, and sent it to the Commercial for publication under the signature of Hiram Doolittle, Jun.1 1. This account will be found at the end of the journal. The Buffalo Journal of Oct. 13, 1829, has the following: “Niagara Falls.—The fete at this place, on the 6th inst., was little short of a failure. The vessel that was to descend the cataract struck upon the248 FROM NEW YORK TO NIAGARA. I had the pleasure today of forming some acquaintance with a Canadian gentleman, by the name of Stuart,1 now engaged in the practice of the law, at Niagara. He is a great-grandson of the late Sir William Johnson, and is a gentleman of intelligence and genteel address. He was an officer during the late war, in the Canadian service and was engaged in all the active affairs along this frontier, while ic was the seat of the contest. He communicated many curious and interesting facts and anecdotes to me touching the events of that unprofitable contest. But few Canadian gentlemen attended the fete to which I have referred above —to their credit be it spoken. Wednesday, Oct. 7. Spent the day in studying the cataract. Crossed to the American side, visited Goat Island, and descended the new stairway at the northern extremity. 1. This was Alexander Stewart (not “Stuart/* according to records at Niagara, Ont.), the second of that name at Niagara. His father, Alexander Stewart, was an officer , in a British regiment, and afterwards was one of the ten who, in 1797, formed the first Law Society in Upper Canada. At his resi- dence Sir Isaac Brock was often entertained. He died in 1813, as stated in St. Mark’s parish register at Niagara: “Alexander Stewart, Barrister.’* His home was at the corner of Prideaux and Regent streets, and was burnt in the destruction of the village by the Americans in 1813. On the same site his son Alexander, also a lawyer, built the brick home still standing. The first Alex- ander Stewart married Jemima Johnson, a grand-daughter of Sir William Johnson and Molly Brant. The second Alexander Stewart, to whom Col. Stone refers, was buried in the Mohawk burying-ground near Brantford. rapids, where she still remains; Patch, the Jumper, did not jump and the blasting off of the rocks was but partially successful. There were about three thousand persons present, and the only accident we believe, connected with the affair befel the Steam-Boat Pioneer, while on her return to this port. In passing Black Rock this boat ran upon an ice breaker, beat a hole in her bottom and sank, in about twelve feet of water. The people were all safely landed upon the pier and the boat has since been raised. Patch jumped on the fol- lowing day, from a height of eighty-one feet into the pool below the falls.’* The Buffalo Republican thus reports subsequent exploits of Sam Patch: “Steam-Boat Niagara, 1-2 past 12 o’clock October 17th,—Niagara River “Preparations were made to enable Mr. Patch to amuse the passengers by leaping into the river. The Boat was stopt.—The foreyard was raised about 50 ft. from the water, on which the intrepid Sam Patch appeared precisely at 12 o’clock.—The jumper took his leap, ana a beautiful leap it was. When he came up, the passengers gave three hearty cheers.—From the manner of his striking the water, it was feared by some that he had hurt his back; but he came on board in fine spirits, perfectly sound. “Whitney’s Eagle Hotel, 1-2 past 4 o’clk. “Sam has just made his great jump.—The day was lowering and rainy. However, the number of 300 persons assembled on the Island, to witness theCOL. STONE’S TOUR IN 1829. 249 It is surprising how near to the falls themselves, the ad- venturous watermen will ply their boats upon the surface of these angry whirlpools, and with perfect safety. The day was dark and rainy much of the time. In the afternoon the celebrated Sam Patch, of jumping notoriety, leapt from a ladder no feet high, into the abyss, at the end of Goat Island, and picked himself safely up. The village of Manchester, the seat of the Hon. Augustus Porter, is a brisk and thriving village, with several mills and manu- factories. There is no lack of waterpower! Thursday, Oct. 8. A clear sky and warm sun rendered it an inviting day for a ride, and we availed ourselves of it to visit what is called the Whirlpool, at the distance of five miles below the falls. This is a very wild and romantic spot, and second only in interest to the cataract itself. The whirlpool is formed by the full torrent of the Niagara rush- ing through a pass narrowed to the toss of a biscuit, into a bay or cove, bounded by high precipitous rocks, and cover- ing perhaps the space of six or eight acres. The river rushes into this cove, with great impetuosity, towards the northwest; and after whirling round' in the basin, escapes through another narrow pass, towards the northeast—thus turning an acute angle. The walls of the river are here as lofty, as wild, and as picturesque, as. at the cataract; and it fete: the Canada shore was crowded. To view the platform, erected for the fearless Patch, from the Biddle Stair-Way, did not appear so grand as the platform reached only about two thirds the height of the bank; but to descend to the margin of the water, in the gulf beneath, and then look up at the per- pendicular ladder, made you imagine that it would require superhuman powers to accomplish such an enterprise. Sam ascended the ladder and remained on the top, about ten minutes, resting himself and adjusting his position, for the leap; during which he was repeatedly cheered by the spectators.—At length he rose,—every eye was bent intently on him—he waved his hand, and kissed the star-spangled banner, that floated gracefully o'er his head, and then pre- cipitated himself ‘like an arrow* into the flood below! *Twas a matchless and tremendous leap. He very soon reappeared, and swam to the shore with great ease. Then it was, that a painful and unpleasant, yet indescribable sensation was driven from each breast, by the flood of joy which succeeded, on seeing that he was safe. Then it was that the benumbing spell which had reigned a minute or two, from the moment he arose on the platform, was broken by the burst of the voice of congratulation—all rushed forward (who were below) to take the Jumping Hero by the hand: and the intrepid Sam spoke to the first: •There’s no mistake in Sam Patch!* And by the waving of handkerchiefs and the huzzas of the company, there was no mistake. For with one consent they exclaimed, ‘This is the Real Sam Patch!’ “A gentleman present, who ascended to the top of the ladder, is of the opinion that but few could imagine or appreciate the sublimity of the scene, without they ascended the ladder, which was rising of 120 feet high. Mr. Patch crossed the gulf in the evening, to see his Canadian friends.”250 FROM NEW YORK TO NIAGARA. is altogether a scene of peculiar grandeur. The waters boil darkly up in the bay, as if in great volume* and from immense depths; and some have conjectured that soon after tumbling over the falls, the bulk of the waters arc driven through a subterranean channel, from the mouth of which they boil up in this place. The ride through Lundy's Lane and Drummondsville to and from this wild and rarely visited spot, was delightful. We returned to the Pavilion to dinner; and in the afternoon took the stage for Buffalo. The ride to Chippewa thence to Buffalo, three miles,1 was by moonlight. Friday, Oct. 9. After breakfast this morning we as- cended to the cupola of our excellent hotel and had a fine view of the village, the foot of Lake Erie, and of the sur- rounding country. In the course of the forenoon we like- wise walked pretty extensively over the town. It is a very large village, regularly laid out, and handsomely built, and appears like a place of some commercial importance. The harbor is an artificial one, formed by running out a pier of massive stone, in such a direction with- the shore as to form a perfectly secure roadstead for the largest vessels of the lakes. It is computed that there are upwards of one hun- dred vessels engaged in the commerce of this lake, and this number will be increased from year to year, as the rich countries bordering on the lakes become peopled. The United States Bank has recently decided in favor of locat- ing a Branch of that Institution at Buffalo, in preference to Utica or Rochester, at which the inhabitants are much elated, as hitherto they have been quite unfortunate in their banking undertakings. Buffalo is the shire town of Erie County. There is a seminary for the education of young ladies at this place and also an academy in which a military feature is incorporated. The examination was now in progress and the principal, Mr. M'Kay,2 politely invited me 1. An obvious slip; the distance is about 12 miles. 2. James McKay, who in 1829 founded in Buffalo the "Literary and Scientific Academy,” afterwards continued by Silas Kingsley as a boarding and classical school, with fair success for several years. Mr. McKay was also a member of the first board of trustees of the Buffalo Female Academy, 1851.COL. STONE? S TOUR IN 1829. 251 to attend. I was glad to find that the military instruction is only intended, however, to relieve the other, and principal studies, so far as exercise is necessary. Rathbun’s hotel is decidedly the best ordered, the best arranged, the neatest and best kept, of any public house or hotel I have been in since leaving New York. It deserves to be received as a model; and the land-lady ought to establish a seminary for teaching new beginners in this important branch of the science of Political Economy. At half past 2 o’clock we left our elegant quarters, though not without much regret, and took the canal packet boat for Rochester. The afternoon was uncommonly fine, and the sail was truly a delightful one along the margin of the river, through Black Rock, to the mouth of the Tonne- wante Creek. In passing Grand Island, we were shown the site of the famous city of Ararat, founded by Mordecai [Noah] the Governor and Judge of Israel. Like Thebes and Palmyra, Troy and Babylon, however, those mighty monuments of human glory and power, not a vestige of this ancient capital now remains. Its palaces have disappeared, its towers and battlements have tumbled into ruins; tail- trees now choke up its beautiful streets and avenues, and even the corner-stone, once consecrated by a great Rabbin, now lies in the cellar of a distinguished Gentile in Black Rock. Historians have neglected all notice of this great eity and its illustrious founder.1 At the distance of 13 miles from Buffalo, the canal leaves the margin of the Niagara, and ascends for eight or ten miles in the bed of the Tonne wante creek. This is a 1. For a full and true account of this “city” of Ararat, see Buf. Hist. Soc. Pubs., I, 305-328. Maj. Noah’s visit to Buffalo and famous cornerstone laying had occurred only four years prior to Col. Stone’s visit. As they were both active in New York newspaper work, and undoubtedly acquainted, the above passage obviously is not to be taken seriously. He is usually styled “Col.” McKay, but is not known to have had military rank or service; the “colonel” was perhaps given to him because of the mili- tary features introduced in his school. He built the quaint stone house known as the “castle” which for many years has served as the commandant’s residence at Fort Porter, Buffalo. He was father of the distinguished playwright Steele Mackaye, who was born in the “castle” in 1844.252 FROM NEW YORK TO NIAGARA. deep sluggish stream, and the lands on both sides low and marshy, and consequently unhealthy. This distance was mostly passed in the evening—and a beautiful evening it was. Shakespeare might truly have exclaimed— “How sweet the moonlight sleeps on yonder bank/’ The air. was mild, and the silvery light of the moon played upon the surface of the waters, causing them to reflect the sparkling stars from above and every surround- ing object with the accuracy and clearness of a mirror. Leaving the Tonnewante the canal now entered the deep cutting of the mountain ridge. This work appeared if possible still more formidable, by moonlight, than when we had surveyed a part of it at the other end, a week before. The evening was so beautiful, and the scenery so interest- ing, that we enjoyed both upon the deck of the slow-sailing vessel, until we had passed across the mountain, and descended to the plain below towards the east. Saturday, Oct. io. Arrived at Rochester from the west at half past 12 o’clock P. M., and' took lodgings at the Rochester House, where I was exceedingly gratified to fall into the company of my old and valued friend Simeon Ford, and his family, formerly of Herkimer county. Mr. F. is a lawyer of eminence and character. Sunday, Oct. 11. Rain in the morning, and a cloudy unpleasant day. Attended church with our friend Mr. H. Ely,1 with whom we took dinner. The preacher was the Rev. Mr. Eddy, an able and eloquent young man, settled at Canandaigua. His subject in the morning, was the duty of the Christian world to diffuse the gospel among the heathen. In the afternoon he preached an able and deeply interesting sermon, upon the means of regeneration, and the freeness of the Gospel to all mankind. Our personal intercourse with the preacher, at the house of Mr. Ely, was of the most agreeable description. 1. Hervey Ely. It was to him that in 1831 was consigned the first cargo of wheat ever brought to Rochester from Ohio, passing through the canal by the old Hudson & Erie Line.COL. STONES TOUR IN 1829. 253 Monday, Oct. 12. Spent the morning in a lounge.at the Athenaeum, and went through the spacious flouring mill of General Beach.1 It is the largest establishment of the kind in the United States, being calculated for 16 runs of stones, 10 runs of which are now in motion. It is not so com- pactly built, however, as the new mill of Mr. H. Ely, which I examined during my short visit 10 days. ago. An immense business is transacted in the flour trade, and manufacture in this business [jic]. Mr. Ely’s mills grind from 12 to 15 bushels per hour, from each of the six runs of stones, and the flour is cooled and packed as fast as it is made. And the mills of Gen. Beach afford an average of 500 barrels per day. But these, though the largest, are by no means the only ones. There are a great number of large milling establishments here besides', besides those of the Messrs. Strang’s, and Mr. Atkinson’s, at Carthage, two miles Below. Visited this morning, also, in company with Mr. Johnson and Dr. Ward, the new Episcopal church in St. Paul’s street, called, also, St. Paul’s. It is a noble gothic structure, of stone, but not yet completed. The cost is estimated at 16,000 dollars. In New York it would have cost 50,000. Dined with my friend, Mr. H. Ely, with Mrs. Stone, and some other female guests. In the afternoon, Mr. Ely politely took Mrs. Stone, Mrs. Simeon Ford (the lady of an old and valuable friend of mine, now settled at Rochester), and myself in a carriage to. visit the falls of the Genesee river at Carthage, and also the falls just below the village of Rochester. The water was very low, and the cataracts were both consequently divested of a portion of their interest. The Carthage fall is perhaps the most imposing, though the actual plunge of the water is not so great as the fall above. But the gulf into which it leaps, is deeper from the high precipitous banks. The water falls 76 feet in a single leap, after a very rapid descent above of some 10 or 15 feet, within the space of a rod. The rocks upon the west side hang shelving over 1. E. S. Beach, who with John H. Beach and Henry B. Williams, under the style of Henry B. Williams & Co., carried on the Eagle Mills.254 FROM NEW YORK TO NIAGARA. the abyss* as at Niagara. The water breaks into a spray, and after falling and lingering for a moment in a dark basin, runs off through a narrow rocky channel to the lake. It soon descends to the level of the lake, when it becomes navigable; and within a mile from the falls, is an inclined plane, by means of which the articles of export and import are lowered to, or raised from the river. It was over the gulf of this cataract, that the celebrated Carthage Bridge was constructed, by Elisha B. Strong and Levi H. Clarke, Esq. It was a noble structure, passing by a single arch, a gulf of 300 or 400 feet in depth. But it fell within a few years of its completion, by reason of the insecurity of the bases of the arch, and has not been rebuilt.1 Some of the timbers yet remain standing upon the eastern side, at a dizzying height from the bottom of the precipice which they overhang. The upper falls are 96 feet perpendicular descent. The bed of the river is here much broader than at Carthage; and when the river is high, the cataract must present a spectacle as grand and imposing, as it is now beautiful. The water now descends the falls at several places, in thin sparkling & silvery sheets ; whereas in time of freshets and floods, it must thunder down the precipice in one broad impetuous torrent. The formation of the rocks, and the scenery generally at this spot, is beautifully picturesque; and as you stand gazing at the chasm from the eastern verge, the cascades issuing from the long line of mills and other manufactories placed upon the western banks, to supply which the water is conducted from above the falls in race-ways, present a beautiful spectacle as they 1. Carthage was on the east bank of the Genesee near the lower falls; afterwards absorbed in Rochester. The bridge referred to, built 1819, was a wooden single arch, “the chord of which was over 352 feet, the entire length of the bridge resting upon this being 718 feet, 30 in width and the roadway 196 feet above the surface of the water. Its span was longer than that of any other bridge in the world at the time, and, though it was built in less than nine months, its strength had been so carefully tested that it was expected to last for ages, but there was fault in its construction, for in a year and three months it was destroyed by the springing upward of the arch. It was succeeded immediately by a bridge built on piers a little further down the river, and that by still another, which stood till 1835.“—“Landmarks of Monroe Co., N. Y.’% P- 73.COL. STONES TOUR IN 1829. 255 tumble in foam into the deep bed of the river. From its peculiarly advantageous position, and the exhaustless ad- vantages of water power, Rochester must always be a place of extensive business as long as wheat grows and water runs. The village was commenced in 1812, when Col. Rochester and two friends, from Maryland, perceiving the natural advantages of the place, purchased 100 acres of land, at 17 dollars an acre, and at once began building a village, which is already a city in size and opulence. Spent the evening at Mr. Ely’s, with a few friends. Tuesday, Oct. 13. Left Rochester in a coach for Canan- daigua, after a very agreeable visit. Passed on the way, the pleasant village of Pitts ford, built principally of brick, and the celebrated Irondequoit embankment of the canal— an Herculean labor. We arrived at Canandaigua to dine. The weather being fine, I chartered a horse and gig, and took Mrs. S. out for a ride over the village, and round about the suburbs, and a most lovely ride it was. Canandaigua is principally built upon one long street, extending from the foot of a sweet lake, westwardly, upwards of two miles. The easternmost half mile of the street is the business part of the town. Then come the hotels, the public square, the county-buildings, &c. And above these we came upon the residences of the citizens, nearly all of which are handsome —many spacious and elegant, and some splendid dwellings. These houses are not crowded together in imitation of city style, but stand at goodly distances apart, with pleasure grounds, gardens, etc., etc., delightfully shaded with flower- ing shrubs, fruit and ornamental trees. I met a number of my friends here, but Mr. Granger,1 who occupies the princely mansion, erected by his late eminent father, [was] absent. In the evening I took a long and pleasant moonlight walk with my eccentric friend, W. Wood, over the pleasure 1. Francis Granger, second son of Gideon Granger. The latter, who was the first of this distinguished and influential family to make his home in Canandaigua, died there Dec. 31, 1822, aged 55. Francis Granger, born 1792, served in the State Legislature, i826-*32, in Congress, i835-’4i, was twice nominated and defeated for Governor of New York, was an unsuccessful can- didate for Vice-President, 1836, and in 1841 became Postmaster General under Harrison. He died Aug. 28, 1868.256 FROM NEW YORK TO NIAGARA. grounds of Mr. Gregg,1 a gentleman of taste and fortune, who lives as such a gentleman should. I had a pleasant call at Mr. Gregg's and passed a very agreeable hour at the house of John C. Spencer, Esq. For retirement, and a life of elegant leisure, Canandaigua presents more attractions than- any other place in the circuit of our travels. The prin- cipal citizens are wealthy—there is much refined society, and several eminent professional gentlemen located here. Wednesday, Oct. 14. After breakfast took another walk through the Main street of the village, up to the academy, a rude old-fashioned, large and tasteless edifice, and in com- pany with my queer friend Wood, visited the church, upon the rough side of one of the rude basement stones of which he has caused the words “Heber, of Calcutta” to be in- scribed, in letters of gold. A marble tablet, with an inscrip- tion in memory of the same eminent and lamented prelate, was shown me in the portal of the church, which is to be erected within the body. Mr. Wood has recently caused the windows of this church to be painted, in imitation of the stained glass of former ages, which yet adorn the old abbeys and cathedrals of Europe. Mr. W. is a gentleman of leisure, yet always busy. Are charities wanted for public or private objects, to relieve individual distress, or to soften the rigors of a prison, Mr. W. is always the first to know the fact, and solicit the contributions. And in the getting up of useful institutions, such as- apprentices and mercantile libraries, he has done more than any other indi- vidual in the United States. Mrs. Gorham, the lady of N. Gorham, Esq., one of the founders of the village, is a sister of this eccentric gentleman, with whom he has passed most of his summers for more than thirty years; and I was told that it was chiefly to his exertions, and his good taste, that the village is indebted for its nice clean gravel walks and its ornamental trees. The grounds of many private gen- tlemen have moreover been beautified in these respects by his influence, and under his superintendence. 1. Probably John Greig, a prominent citizen of Canandaigua at the time of Col. Stone’s visit. He was eminent as a lawyer, served a term in Congress, was president of the Ontario Bank, and succeeded DeWitt Clinton as Regent of the State University.COL. STONE’S TOUR IN 1829. 257 At 10 o’clock we left Canandaigua, with regret, for Geneva. In the coach was a Scotch gentleman by the name of Gibson, to whom I had the evening before been intro- duced as the guest of Mr. Gregg. We found in him a very intelligent and well-bred travelling companion. After din- ner, at Geneva, I took a ride with an old friend, Mr. Haskell, through the village, and around its outskirts. Subse- quently I had the pleasure of enjoying a similar ride with Mrs. Stone, in the carriage of my friend. Geneva, or at least the trading part of it, is much larger and built more city-like than Canandaigua, and in some respects is still more beautiful. The Seneca lake, at the foot of which it stands, is much handsomer than that of Canandaigua; and the street of private residences, extending southwardly upSon the elevated bank of the lake, is one of the most lovely places I ever beheld. But the beauty and richness of the dwellings are surpassed by those at the former place. The Episcopal college1 stands upon this last mentioned street, and is a substantial edifice of stone. In the course of the afternoon, I had a pleasant interview with Bowen Whiting, Esq., an old and intimate friend, and called with him upon Col. Bogert,2 Editor of the Geneva Gazette—an old political associate, but now an apostate among the warmest friends of Gen. Jackson, and the bitterest foes of his old friends. The Mr. Haskell, of whom I have spoken above, is brother of the late president of the Burlington College, Vt.3 He has 1. In 1821 the theological school under Protestant Episcopal auspices at Fairfield, was transferred to Geneva. A full charter under the title “Geneva College” was granted by the State, Feb. 8, 1825. In 1852 the corporate title became Hobart Free College, modified in i860 to Hobart College, the present style. 2. Col. James Bogert established the Expositor at Geneva in 1806, re- named it the Gazette in 1809, and continued its publication until 1833, when it passed into other hands. Originally a Federalist, at the time of the War of 1812 Mr. Bogert became a Democrat. He was on the frontier in 1812, with a captain’s commission, and was afterwards commissioned colonel. 3. The University of Vermont, at Burlington. The “late president” re- ferred to- was the Rev. Daniel Haskell, third president of the institution (i82i-’24> which he was doing much to build up, when fire in 1824 destroyed the college building and library. The calamity unsettled his reason, but after some years his health improved, and he engaged in authorship and lecturing, dying in Brooklyn Aug. 9, 1848.258 FROM NEW YORK TO NIAGARA. been, deranged several years, and is now here. His derangement is of a very extraordinary character. He believes that the world and everything around him, is unreal and unsubstantial. He supposes that he has passed into another state of existence, and is not living in this world. And yet, when he speaks of former events, he dates them as having occurred “when I lived in this world” His wife lately made a visit to him here, with his children. But he would not have any intercourse with them; and only be- lieved them to be very excellent representatives of those who were his wife and children, when he was in this world. He draws maps, and applies himself to the mechanic arts, and manufactures many articles—believing that all is delusion, and that every thing is unreal! We left Geneva at twilight, and had an evening ride to Auburn. The moon being but just past her full, the even- ing clear and weather mild, we had a charming time of it. We had a very good view of the village of Waterloo, the shire town of Seneca county, founded in 1815, by the valu- able and eminent friend Elisha Williams, Esq., of Columbia County, and now grown to a large and handsome town. It is said that Mr. W. is about to leave the bar, of which he has so long been one of its most brilliant and eloquent mem- bers, and settle down for the evening of his life in this his favorite spot. We had also a tolerable view of the thriving manufac- turing village at the Seneca Falls, and nothing could be more charming than the moonlit waters of the Cayuga lake, which we crossed at a rapid rate upon a bridge of more than a mile in length—the longest in the United States. We arrived at Auburn late, and retired to rest much fatigued. Thursday, Oct. 15. On coming down to the breakfast table was greeted by Mr. Dwyer, formerly of the Theater Royal, Drury Lane, now on a tour giving recitations and lectures on elocution. Called upon several friends, and afterwards occupied the morning by a most interesting visit through the State prison, the admirable arrangement andCOL. STONES TOUR IN 1829. 259 discipline of which has become so extensively known, and elicited so much applause. Our visit was rendered agree- able by the polite attention of the keeper, Gersham Powers, Esq., and the chaplain, the Rev. Mr. Smith. Among the convicts, I recognized a man, once a gentleman, and an editor, now an inmate for a second time. A lawyer was also pointed out to me, and also one who had once been an eminent mathematician. After going around the work- shops, we saw them called off to dinner, to the number of 600, and marched in squads, with the lock-step—the heavy tread of which yet sounds in my ears. It was a most painful and humiliating spectacle—-yet a necessary one. After din- ner we rode over to Skaneateles, and had a pleasant call from our friends the Bumets. Friday, Oct. 16. The weather yet continuing mild and pleasant,,a morning visit to Lieut, and now acting Governor Throop1 at his seat on the Owasco lake—a distance of eight miles. The elder Mr. Burnett and lady, Mr. B. Burnett, of London, Mr. Pearsons, of London, Mr. Charles Burnett, and Mrs. S. and myself made up the party. We found the Governor and his lady at home, engaged in their domestic duties, and enjoyed an agreeable visit of above two hours. The Owasco lake is not quite so large, but equally as beau- tiful as the Skaneateles ; but as no great road runs along its borders, it is less spoken of than its neighboring fountain. Gov. Throop’s situation is a delightful retreat, upon the margin of this lake. His apple orchards abounds with that fruit in great profusion, variety, and perfection. Returned to Skaneateles, and dined with the Burnetts—took a twilight sail upon the lake and went to hear Mr. Dwyer’s recitations in the evening. 1. Enos Thompson Throop. It was before him as circuit judge, in 1827, that the alleged kidnappers of William Morgan were brought for trial. In 1828 Judge Throop was elected Lieutenant Governor of New York, Martin Van Buren being elected Governor; the latter being appointed Secretary of State, Judge Throop became acting Governor, and at the next election was made Governor, serving one term (1831-33). He subsequently was naval officer at the Port of New York—a Jackson appointment—and when Van Buren be- came President was made Charge d'Affaires to the Kingdom of the Two Sicilies. He died at Auburn, Nov. x, 1874.260 FROM NEW YORK TO NIAGARA. Saturday, Oct. 17. Left Skaneateles at 5 in the morning for Utica, in the mail coach. In turning our backs upon Auburn, we also turned them upon the level region of the West; and! the ride was a very hilly one to Vernon. It had been our intention to stop for the Sabbath at Chittenango; but on arriving there, we learned that our friends were absent; and we were so little pleased with the place, that Mrs. S. preferred proceeding onwards. In passing through the Oneida reservation, we found but a few Indians, the greater portion of this tribe having emigrated to the western shores of Lake Michigan. It was late when we arrived at Utica. The principal villages through which we passed to-day, and which have not before been noticed, were Manlius, Chittenango, Vernon, and Manchester, on the Oriskany creek. The two former need not be mentioned to be praised; the third is a snug little busy-looking town; and the fourth we could not see because the sun had gath- ered up his rays and departed, and the moon was lingering behind the eastern hills. Sunday, Oct. 18. A wet drizzling morning. As I feared, the length of yesterday’s ride has quite done Susannah up, and she is compelled to keep her room. I attended church morning and evening, and heard two excellent sermons, from the Rev. Mr. Aiken.1 The last was from the Apostle James—“The fervent, effectual prayer of a righteous man, availeth much.” And it was incomparably the best sermon upon that subject which I ever heard. It is subject of regret to us, that our most intimate friends whom we expected to meet here, are all absent. Monday, Oct. 19. Rose early, having a second time travelled myself out of money, and it being of course neces- sary for me to “raise the wind” before I could proceed on my journey. Succeeded in obtaining cash for a draft, very readily, and felt relieved; for, unpleasant as empty pockets are at any time, it is particularly disagreeable to have “pockets to let,” when on a journey, and among strangers, 1. Rev. Samuel C. Aiken, whose ministry in Utica, over the First Presby- terian Society, was from 1818 to 1835, when he went to Cleveland, O.COL. STONE'S TOUR IN 1829. 261 or friends, whose friendship you would much rather not bring to the test by a direct appeal upon such a subject. Immediately after breakfast, we resumed our homeward journey in a canal packet-boat, which we soon found to be uncomfortably filled with passengers. Beautiful as we had found much of the country, over which we now passed, none was more so than the delightful vale of the Mohawk through which we now commenced winding our way upon the bosom of the canal. Soon after leaving Utica, or rather immediately after leaving it, that most luxuriant and delightful little section of New York, known as the German Flatts, opens upon the river, bounded on all sides by hills of gentle elevation, most of which are well cultivated, and enriched, like Egypt from the Nile, by the periodical over- flowings of the stream which tranquilly courses its way through its fruitful bosom. After skirting the town of Frankfort, leaving the still richer town of Schuyler on the left, the canal enters the township of German Flatts—so called from the name of the valley which comprises parts of several*towns. One of these, upon the north side of the riyer, is Herkimer, the shire town of the county, the village of which is built upon a stony ridge which rises in the midst of the broad sweep of alluvial bottom, lying north- wardly of the Mohawk, and westwardly of the Canada creek, a noble stream which here intersects the former. The rich bottom-lands of the town of German Flatts, are situated south of the Mohawk, and extend from the estuary of the Canada creek to the Little Falls, seven miles. The canal runs through the midst of this beautiful tract of country. Directly east of the before-mentioned creek, north of the river, a high point of land runs down almost to the junction of the two streams, from which a charming view is had of nearly the whole valley. It is all in a high state of cultivation, and when clothed in the splendid and grateful attire of vegetation—“the spreading woodlands/' on the hills and “the garniture of fields” below—-I think it decidedly the most beautiful landscape of its size I ever beheld. The views of the valley of the Connecticut river, from Talcott Mountain, near Hartford, and from Mount262 FROM NEW YORK TO NIAGARA. Holyoke, are very fine, and considerably more extensive. But Herkimer and its environs rival them in all respects. This delightful region was settled at a very early day in our American history, chiefly by the Germans—and the German population yet predominates, and that language is yet gen- erally spoken. The Mohawk Indians once inhabited this garden, and it has been the scene of several battles, both in the American Revolution, and in previous wars. There is yet an ancient stone church in German Flatts, which served as a refuge and a fort during some part of the revolu- tionary war. It has been repaired within a few years ; but twenty years ago, I have seen and examined many marks of British violence, perpetrated by cannon balls. About a mile southwest of the church, upon a pine plain, the trees yet bear many marks of the shot by which they were struck, and in some instances shattered. Several settlements have been massacred in former times, by the Indians, in this valley, and there was an instance of desperate heroism by a female, which occurred at Shell’s hush, 4 miles north of the river, which deserves to be recorded, but the particulars of which I do not distinctly recollect. Col. Guy Johnson, I believe, or one of the Butlers associated with Brandt [Brant], was killed in the valley of the Canada creek, soon after the massacre of Cherry Valley.1 Upon the village of Herkimer, I gazed to-day with much interest, as we passed it upon the opposite shore of the river. It was in this romantic spot, that I commenced my political life as an editor—having taken charge of the Herkimer American in February, 1811—nearly 19 years ago. Formerly, it was a place of much business and much good society, it having been the ancient seat of justice for the sparse settlements of the great West, before other western counties were set off. Now, however, it has sunk down to a poor, dull, third-rate village. Still, however, many of the most interesting and lively associations of my early life, are associated with this place, and it was with 1. The allusion is to Walter N. Butler, who was killed by an Oneida Indian, Oct. 24, 1781, on the West Canada creek, some fifteen miles above Herkimer, at a point still called Johnson’s Ford. Maj. John Butler died at Niagara in 1796, and Col. Guy Johnson died in London, March 5, 1788.COL. STONES TOUR IN 1829. 268 much regret that I now found myself unable to make it a visit, as I had purposed to do. Dinner over, we arrived at the Little Falls of the Mohawk-—the village bearing that name being built chiefly of stone and situated upon the north side of the river, directly in the gorge of the mountains between which the river rushes down to another steppe of this charming valley. This is one of the wildest and most romantic places with which I am acquainted. The rapids of the river, the descent of which is probably eighty or one hundred feet in the course of half a mile, furnish water pressure for mills and manufactories to any extent. And this is the only reason that could have induced the founding of a village upon such an inhospitable spot, for the whole area of the town consists of solid rock. The houses, many of which are large, and several of which are elegant, are built from the stone excavated in digging the cellars; and earth is brought from a distance for the gardens. The rocks in the bed of the river are rough and of a very unequal surface, over and among which the water dashes with much violence. For the distance of half or three quarters of a mile below the village, the mountains approach so near as to form but a narrow pass, and rocks piled on rocks, hang fearfully from above, many of them standing out in bold relief, with even surfaces, like so many battlements and towers of rocks hewn out and raised by the labor of giants. On the north side of the river, the turnpike threads its way among the rocks and glens; while on the southern brink of the tum- bling stream, the channel of the canal has been cut with prodigious labor; and a succession of locks brings this artificial river down to the level of that which was made to feed it. Geologists opine that the vale of German Flatts was once a lake, which in some great convulsions of nature, burst through this rocky barrier, creating in “the wreck of matter” a scene of wild magnificence and grandeur, unsur- passed by any combination of rocks and woods and floods this [side of the] river of the Great Father of Cataracts. From the Little Falls to Schenectady, the country con- tinues equally pleasing, with an agreeable variety of hill264 FROM NEW YORK TO NIAGARA. and dale upon either side, but as night shut in upon us before we had advanced many miles farther, nothing par- ticular of a descriptive character occurs for entering upon this hasty diary. The day had not been very pleasant, and before night it commenced raining. I performed a heavy job of reading, by perusing a large volume presented me by my friend Bishop Burnet, giving an account of his travels from 1820 to 1825, at the Cape of Good Hope, with Lord Charles Somerset, and the subordinate officers in the Government of that Colony. Mr. B. seems to have been the victim of persecution, in some respects; but he prob- ably acted hastily, and impetuously, in some instances ,* and he has very clearly shown Lord Charles’ government to have been as corrupt and rotten—as that of Gen. Jackson! I have already intimated that our boat was much crowded and to speak the truth, the majority of the company was not the most select in the world. Every berth and settee, and all the space upon the floor, was occupied before 10 o’clock, with horizontal exhibitions of the human frame divine; and a squalling child in the lady’s cabin, and a bull- necked snoring man in the other, kept up such a duet between the lungs of the child and the nose of the monster, that refreshing sleep was banished from the eyes of all others. It was a sad night for all—especially the ladies. N. B. Little children, and people who snore, have no business on board of a packet-boat. Tuesday morning, Oct. 20. Arrived at Schenectady at 5 o’clock. Went ashore and breakfasted in this Dutchified city, at half past 7. Took a carriage, and started for Saratoga Springs—calling at the college by the way, upon Mr. Prof. Jocelyn, and Mrs. Yates (a bride), late Miss Henrietta Cobb, an intimate friend of the young ladies of Mrs. S’s family. The weather from mild and genial tem- perature of the Indian Summer, suddenly changed this morning, and a cutting northwest wind rendered our ride to Saratoga Springs chilly and rather unpleasant. We arrived just in season for dinner and found our father’s (Waylarid’s) dear family all well, and our welcome was most cordial.COL. WILLIAM L. STONE'S VISIT TO NIAGARA IN 1829 THE FATE OF THE SCHOONER SUPERIOR—EXPLOITS OF SAM PATCH—A NOTABLE EPISODE In the memoir of Col. William L. Stone, printed with the “Life and Times of Sa-go-ye-wat-ha, or Red Jacket,” it is stated that on his return to New York from the tour to which the foregoing journal relates, Mr. Stone published a series of articles “which con- firmed more strongly than ever in the public mind, the forecast and wisdom of the originators and executors of the Grand Erie Canal.” Careful examination of the files of the New York Commercial Ad- vertiser, with which Mr. Stone was connected, fails to find any articles dealing particularly with the canal. Of the letters signed “Hiram Doolittle, Jr.,” which he sent to his paper during the trip, two are reprinted in the “Red Jacket,” with some short extracts from the journal. The letter referred to in the journal (see p. 247), and which apparently has not been reprinted, is as follows: DIVERSIONS AT NIAGARA FALLS IN 1829. Pavilion, Niagara Falls, Oct. 8, 1829. You will have seen by the frontier newspapers on both sides of the border, if not by the numerous handbills scattered in all direc- tions, that “several gentlemen,” not the least interested, and in the most liberal manner possible, “lately associated for the purpose of giving a treat to the ladies and gentlemen of the United States, and of the provinces of Upper and Lower Canada.” This “treat” was not to consist of eatables, or drinkables, unless they were paid for extra, but was intended as a mental “treat,” for the mind's eye. a6s266 COL. WILLIAM L. STONE’S The design was to embellish a very tame spot in the map, formerly an object of some interest to the curious, and the lovers of the sub- lime and beautiful, known as the cataract of Niagara. It is called a cataract, because the waters of Erie, Michigan, Huron, Superior, the Lake of the Woods1 and a few other small ponds out here, trickle over a ledge of rocks just below Mr. Forsyth’s piazza, and drop down after a while into Lake Ontario. Charlevoix, Chateaubriand, President Dwight and several other humbugs have made a wonder- ful ado about these falls; but it was left for an intelligent gentleman by the name of Capt. Basil Hall, an Admiral, I believe, in the Hun- garian Navy, whom, I am told, you have recently been poking fun at, to undeceive the world and tell them exactly what sort of a place it is. Capt. Hall had travelled all over the universe, and had seen the two falls of Bonaparte, the falls of Tivoli, Kinderhook and Melsingah, and who so well qualified as he to give an opinion? Well: having been here a week, as you will see by his book, after ranging over the wide world for a simile, he could find nothing in the storehouse of universal Nature whereunto befittingly to liken the noise of this cascade, but the rumbling of a big grist-mill! ,Now, as I have remarked above, it was for the purpose of ornamenting and beautifying the water-works of Capt. Hall’s grist-mill, that the benevolent gentlemen referred to, resolved upon serving up this great entertainment, for the mutual benefit of the loving subjects of George the Fourth and Andrew the First. But do not suppose, good Messrs. Editors, because I happen to be here just at this time, that I came from an idle curiosity to see the exhibition. Like a good many other gentlemen from the provinces on both sides of the Niagara rivulet, I was called here upon pressing business; and being here, I must either shut my eyes, or see the show. The arrangements contemplated the blowing up of a large pro- jecting rock, near the Indian Ladder, at half past 12 o’clock on Tuesday the 6th; the blowing off, of a part of Mrs. Dawson’s island, on the margin of the British falls, 1 o’clock; and the bursting of the outer Terrapin Rock, at half past 1 o'clock, on the margin of the American Falls, near the termination of the bridge, which projects out to the verge of the precipice, from Goat Island, towards the Canadian shore. It was originally intended to have made a still greater blast, by throwing off near a quarter of an acre of the sur- face of Table Rock, immediately below where the large fragment fell some two years since. There is a fissure of 60 or 70 feet long, 1. The Lake of the Woods finds outlet in another direction, as the writer no doubt knew. The facetious vein of his letter must be kept in mind by the reader.VISIT TO NIAGARA IN 1829. 267 by more than 100 deep, which seems now almost to separate this immense block from the mighty rampart o’er which it fearfully im- pends. And to tell the truth, from the rapid disintegration of the shale at its base, it already hangs but insecurely, and threatens, ere long, to tumble into the abyss by its own specific gravity. And it is feared that some rash and inexperienced young travellers may be standing upon its summit at the time of its separation, unless it should chance to fall in the night, as others have fallen before it. Under these circumstances, Mr. Forsyth had determined to shake off this crag, by an artificial earthquake, on the 6th. But the Colonial Government heard of the project; and Sir John Colborne, fearing perhaps that the whole cataract would be blown up, and the upper lakes let out to drown his beautiful capital of York, leaving the Welland canal high and dry, issued an order at once to prevent the explosion and avert the dire catastrophe. However, the other gunpowder attractions, added to the intended descent over the Horseshoe Falls of the schooner Superior, to all of which was to be appended the jumping of the illustrious Mr. Samuel Patch of New Jersey, and the exhibitions of a forlorn corps of equestrians, and a ragged company of strolling players, it was supposed would be sufficient “to call the folks together,” as the old Yankee song has it. As the day approached, handbills were issued from time to time, to, keep the gentle public on the tip-toe of expectation. The last of these winged messengers appeared on the evening of Monday, an- nouncing the arrival at Whitney’s, on General Jackson’s side of the water, of the Mighty Jumper. For several days before this event, however, numbers of gentlemen began to cluster together in this region, all brought hither, like myself, on “special business,” but who thought that they might as well, now that they were here, stay and see the show. But not until Tuesday morning did the universal suffrage subjects of both nations pour forth and line the borders in countless numbers—not as in days of yore, with eyes flashing with fiery indignation at each other, but with feelings of mutual friend- ship and curiosity. Booths were erected on both sides, with flags streaming, bearing mottoes as full of liberty and patriotism on one side as on the other —■just as though King George’s subjects were as free as Gen. Jack- son’s. As the lazy hours for serving up “the treat” drew on curiosity rapidly increased; and many were the spy-glasses pointed towards the brave fellows, who like insects seemed to hang upon the beetling cliffs which they were charging with villainous salt-petre. But few of the crowd, if any, as it is supposed, were foolish enough to lose268 COL. WILLIAM L. STONE'S their time by gaping and gazing at the falls themselves. These they could see at any time; and all that they cared about them now, arose from the fear that the confounded roaring they made, would prevent the hearing of the gunpowder. However, the time arrived—the explosions took place, and the rocks went off—-to the infinite delight of the multitude. I know not whereunto to liken the subljme effects of these displays, being as much at a loss for a simile as Capt. Hall was in describing the falls themselves. But TO try. Imagine, then, a volley of popguns inter- fering with the thunder of Jupiter; or, that when the giants had done piling Pelion upon Ossa, some of Gullivers Liliputians had been seated upon the loftiest cliffs firing off pocket pistols, and dropping pebbles into the valley below. Suppose also that while with an eye keenly susceptible of the grand and glorious, you were gazing with wonder and admiration upon the huge volumes of vapor which roll majestically upwards from the cnasm of this cataract, curling and wreathing in every beautiful and fantastic form that a poetical fancy can imagine, you should discover with a glass half a dozen German smokers puffing the vapors of their tobacco-pipes into the ascending pillowy masses of mist! For this part of the exhibition, these are the most apposite comparisons I can give you. But the good people, the sovereigns of our country, and the subjects of the other, were marvellously delighted. The next treat was to be the descent of the schooner, at 3 o'clock. Punctually to the hour, she was towed to the foot of Grand Island, and left to her own guidance, a few degrees north, northwest of the celebrated city of Ararat, founded by a great rabbi of ancient times, but the numerous spires and turrets and the frowning castles of which I could not see, on account of the dense and beautiful forests with which the suburbs of the city are ornamented. This was truly a beautiful spectacle. At first the Superior looked like a little dark spot upon the water, increasing in size as it was borne down the current. The waters above the rapids were as smooth as a sea of glass, and the sun shone upon them as upon the surface of a pol- ished mirror. How deceitful the calm! And here I might moralize, if I had time. It was intended that the schooner should be swept down the main channel near the Canadian shore. Her velocity be- came quicker as she glided gracefully onward, running like a youth in the smooth sea of pleasure, to swift and certain destruction. By and by, her masts were discernible; and then the streaks upon her sides. And now she approached the rapids. It was a moment of breathless interest. Now she plunged into the breakers, and with a loud crash away went both masts in an instant. Now she wasVISIT TO NIAGARA IN 1829. lost in the surf; and now again she rose proudly upon the surge, and though dismasted, plunged gallantly among the successive breakers, like a noble war-steed in battle. But her struggle was short. She had entered the rapids at too great a distance from the shore; and wheeling round in an eddy, broadside to the current, she struck upon a flat rock, about midway between Goat Island and the shore, where she now lies, the hull entire, bidding defiance to the impetuous torrent which comes dashing against and rushing by her. Thus ended the aquatic amusements of the day; for the Ameri- cans, who had promised to illuminate the falls, by a beacon, which was to float down from Judge Porter’s bridge, failed of the engage- ment, probably fearing that it would set the river on fire, and thus give cause of war with his British Majesty; though we ought clearly to have the right of burning up our half of the river, if we have a mind to do k. The preparations of Mr. Sam Patch to jump, were, moreover, incomplete, and the people on both sides went home heavy and displeased. Indeed, they began to think it was all a hoax, the moment the schooner refused to travel any farther down the falls. On the Canadian side, however, his Majesty’s colored and Killarney subjects added to the divertisement of the evening by sundry displays of pugilism, which were enacted to the life. Whether the sovereigns, on our side, did any damage to each other’s knowl- edge-boxes, I have not heard. Thus closed the memorable 6th of October, 1829, on the Niagara frontier—witu a promise which no- body believed would be performed, that Mr. Samuel Patch, Gent., should leap the cataract on the day following, at 12 o’clock pre- cisely. Yesterday morning came, and with it a succession of heavy show- ers. But Sam was determined to have his jump. His reputation was at stake. True, the people were gone; but Sam was to jump for glory, not for filthy lucre. It was arranged that he should leap from a ladder, erected at the foot of the precipice below Goat Island, midway between the British and American falls. A boat was to be manned, to ride among the whirlpools, and pick him up, i. e., if he did not go off subterraneously, after the manner of poor Morgan. At about 11 o’clock the ladder, 125 feet in length, was completed, and half erected, when down it came by the parting of a chain, with a crash which broke off fifteen feet of its length. This was a damper—to say nothing of the rain. Mr. Patch wept. This is no joke. Mr. Patch was visibly and very sensibly affected, inso- much that the big tears did roll down his manly cheeks in pearly drops. Indeed it must be conceded that Mr. Patch carried himself270 COL. WILLIAM L. STONE'S well throughout. I have somewhere read of a sentimental tailor, whose perceptions of the sublime were almost equal to those of Capt. Hall; and who, after the first emotions on beholding these stupendous falls were over, broke silence by the eloquent and mem- orable exclamation—“Oh, what a fine place to sponge a coat!”1 In like manner did Mr. Patch, after a solemn pause when he first be- held this tremendous cataract, exclaim in an ecstacy of delight: “What a darned fine place to jump!” But I am digressing. The friends of Sam—and he was the lion of the day—declared he should not be disappointed; and if he would jump, he should. The hour was changed from 12 to 4; and the ladder was mended, and erected before the appointed time. At 4 o'clock, precisely, he was there; and both shores were sprinkled with people, while the trees and cliffs of Goat Island bore respectable testimony to the public curiosity. It now came on to rain furiously, and Sam, who is more of a wag than most people take him to be, concluded that it was not prudent to jump in the rain, lest he should get wet. But with the most good-humored patience the audience endured the peltings of the pitiless storm for an hour, until they were all as wet as so many drowned rats. It now broke partially away, and Sam crawled out from a cleft in the rock, dressed in white, and quickly ascended the ladder, amidst cheers so loud that they would have been heard far abroad, had it not been for the roaring of the turbulent Niagara. At length he reached the pinnacle, where he sat for a moment like a seagull upon the corner of a cloud. Now he stretched himself to his full length, bowed as gracefully as he could to the gentlemen, kissed his hand to the softer sex, and made his fearful leap. “What a fall was that, my countrymen.” He sank down gen- teely, and disappeared in the whirling cauldron, which closed upon and boiled over him. “He has made an everlasting leap,” said an old man, wiping away a tear. “I wonder if he was told to look for the bones of Morgan,” inquired a little old man who looked as though he wanted to go to the Assembly. And some said one thing and some another. But Sam heard none of them—he being “full 1. An allusion to a Niagara Falls classic, the origin of which is lost in antiquity, but which occurs In the old “Table Rock Albums’' in the following form: “To view Niagara Falls one day, A parson and a tailor took their way. The parson cried, whilst wrapped in wonder, And listening to the cataract’s thunder, ’Lord, how Thy works amaze our eyes, And fill our hearts with vast surprise!’ The tailor merely made this note: ‘Lord! what a place to sponge a coat!”’VISIT TO NIAGARA IN 1829. 271 five fathom deep, down below.” It was indeed a wonderful, a prodigious jump, such as mortal man had never made before; and the fishes must have stared some, I reckon, when he popped in so suddenly upon their unvisited kingdom—a province which even Neptune himself, nor any of his tritons, had ever yet dared to visit. It was now time to look about for the new messenger to the deep; and the boat plied briskly round the eddy, to seize him by the crown as soon as he should rise to the surface. But Sam didn't choose to favor them with his custom, as he continued to scull himself ashore unperceived by anybody, and the next that was seen of him he was discovered clambering up the rocks like a soaked muskrat! He was received with hearty cheers, and the people all scampered home to dry their clothes and talk grandiloquently of the hero of the day. At our house, it was voted nem. con. that Sam Patch is but a scurvy name for the hero who was the first to leap the cascade and lave in the basin of the Niagara, and that hence- forward he shall be known by the more appropriate cognomen of Samuel O’Cataract, Esq.1 N. B.—There is to be a hanging at Niagara next Tuesday week; and Mr. O'Cataract is to jump the day afterwards from an elevation of 200 feet. I am, gentlemen, yours, etc., Hiram Doolittle, Jr. P. S.—No accident of moment, save the breaking of the ladder, occurred during all these transactions, except the sinking of a steamboat. It was the Pioneer. She came down from Buffalo to Chippewa with passengers; so did the Henry Clay. In returning up the river, it is said the Pioneer attempted a race with the other boat; but struck a snag near Black Rock harbor, and went down. Being a Jackson man, I don't like this sign at all. I fear that it is the sign of an omen, or the fore-end of a runner, I don't know which. It is plaguey hard that Henry Clay should always run ahead thus. However, the Pioneer has been got up today. Good-bye. H. D., Jr. Following Sam Patch's exhibition which Col. Stone describes, the famous jumper issued the following Proclamation: To the Ladies and Gentlemen of Western New York and Upper Canada : All I have to say is, that I arrived at the Falls too late to give you a specimen of jumping qualities, on the 6th inst., but on 1. As early as 1818 John Neal had published his “Battle of Niagara” un- der the pen-name of Jehu O’Cataract.272 COL. WILLIAM L. STONE’S VISITjt Wednesday I thought I would venture a small leap, which I ac- cordingly made of 80 feet, merely to convince those that remained to see me, that I was the true Sam Patch, and to show that some things could be done as well as others; which was denied before I made the jump. Having been thus disappointed, the owners of Goat Island have generously granted me the use of it for nothing; so that I may have a chance, from an equally-generous public, to obtain some re- muneration for my long journey hitherto, as well as affording me an opportunity of supporting the reputation I have gained by aero- nautical feats, never before attempted either in the old or new world. I shall, ladies and gentlemen, on Saturday next, the 17th inst., precisely at 3 o’clock p. m., leap at the falls of Niagara, from a height of 120 to 130 feet, being 40 to 50 feet higher than I leapt before, into the eddy below. On my way down from Buffalo, on the morning of that day, in the steamboat Niagara, I shall, for the amusement of the ladies, doff my coat and spring from the mast- head into the Niagara river. Sam Patch of Passaic Falls, N. J. This drew out the following challenge, which was printed in the papers of the day: Sam. Patch, who has immortalized himself by his leaps at Passaic Falls, N. J., from sloops’ mast-heads at New York, and more recently at Niagara Falls, may now oppose his skill to that of W. P. Moore, who is willing to jump with him any distance, from 60 to 170 feety for a small pecuniary consideration. He will “doff his coat” and follow Sam Patch from the Niagara steamboat into the river. W. P. Moore. On Oct. 17th Patch carried out his programme. To make his jump from the steamboat “for the amusement of the ladies,” “the foreyard was raised about 50 feet from the water,” and the hero jumped from it and regained the boat without harm. Nothing fur- ther is heard of Moore. Patch’s last jump below the falls has been noted (p. 248, note). He made his first jump at Rochester, Friday, Nov. 6th, and his last jump—to his death—on Friday, Nov. 13th. A long “Monody on the Death of Sam Patch,” 171 lines of verse, in the New York Commercial Advertiser of Dec. 2, 1829, was prob- ably written by Col. Stone.HON. GEORGE W. CLINTON. From a Portrait Owned by the Buffalo Historical Society.JOURNAL OF A TOUR FROM ALBANY TO LAKE ERIE BY THE ERIE CANAL IN 1826. By GEORGE W. CLINTON.•41/4 *! iir 4^£ui/tdkl— iL l£z£ FACSIMILE OF TITLE-PAGE OF CLINTON'S JOURNAL, l8^6. 275NOTE ON THE CLINTON JOURNAL The Journal of George W. Clinton, in the following pages, is now first printed from the original manuscript, courteously placed at our use by the Buffalo Society of Natural Sciences, which owns it. It tells the story of a school excursion across New York State by the Erie canal, in 1826. Although it says but little about the canal, it has its value in recalling conditions and features of the time. In the party were men who shared in the founding of the Rensselaer School—long famous as the Rensselaer Polytechnic— and several youths who in this same year of 1826 were members of its first graduating class. It touches various matters of some his- toric interest in Western New York: the naming of Gasport; the entertainment by Gen. Porter at his mansion at Black Rock; and the association with Constantine Rafinesque, most ardent and unre- liable of naturalists. As to the author himself, and the distinguished family to which he belonged, it may suffice here to refer the reader to the compre- hensive and appreciative sketch of Judge Clinton, by David F. Day, printed in Volume IV., Publications of the Buffalo Historical So- ciety. We may recall in this connection the journal in which Judge Clinton’s father, DeWitt Clinton, has recorded the incidents and ob- servations of his own tour across New York State in 1810, as one of the commission charged with reporting on the best location for the proposed canal. This journal, published in 1849 in Campbell’s “Life and Writings of DeWitt Clinton,” is unique and unrivalled in value as a record of conditions along the canal route a century ago. Here we learn, for instance, that in Buffalo in 1810, “the whole village is supplied by hogsheads from a great spring, as tea water was for- merly distributed from New York.” Again of Buffalo (Aug. 5, 18x0), he wrote: “There are five lawyers and no church in this vil- lage”! It was this tour of 1810, beyond question, that gave DeWitt Clinton that minute and accurate knowledge of conditions that later contributed to his rare efficiency as canal commissioner. The same habits of inquiry, and an even greater love of nature, characterize the journal of his son. It should be added that, in printing, the peculiarities of the author’s style have been adhered to. He was 19 years old when the tour was made. The botanical nomenclature is that of Eaton, now much modified, but readily understood by any one familiar with our native flora. 276JOURNAL OF A TOUR FROM ALBANY TO LAKE ERIE IN 1826 By GEORGE W. CLINTON. Some time in April, 1826, Dr. James Eights informed me that Dr. Eaton,1 with some of his scholars, intended to make a tour from Troy to Niagara for the purpose of collecting specimens in natural history, and that he was empowered to give invitations to whom he pleased—and gave me to understand that if I chose I might accompany them. I likewise understood from him that Professors Cleaveland, Dewey and Silliman2 might be expected. Being highly desirous of obtaining a practical knowledge of the natural sciences, I could not possibly be otherwise than delighted with this suggestion, especially as I was thus to be brought in contact with men so celebrated for their attainments. Upon more minute inquiry I found that they intended to charter a canal-boat, so that they might not 'be subject to the caprice of those whom the interests of science did riot affect. This plan was preferable to almost any other that 1. Amos E^aton, botanist and geologist, senior professor of the Rensselaer school, and author of a “Geological and Agricultural Survey of the District ad- joining the Erie canal/* Albany, 1824. He died at Troy, May 6, 1842. 2. Parker Cleaveland of Bowdoin, eminent mineralogist; Chester Dewey of Williams; and Benjamin Silliman, “the Nestor of American Science/* who at this time was editing the American Journal of Science and Arts which he had founded in 1818. *77278 GEORGE W. CLINTON’S TOUR could have been adopted, on account of its permitting us to carry a larger quantity of clothing than would otherwise have been possible consistently with the objects of the expedition, and leaving us at liberty to examine at our leisure any objects worthy of attention. On the evening of the 27th, Mr. Eaton being in town, I called upon him; from that interview (which, however, was very short) I consider him as a man of strong , mind and of great observation. I am told that he is very inquisi- tive and has an extraordinarily retentive memory. His person is of a middling height; he is very fleshy and appar- ently incapable of enduring much fatigue. He informed me that the boat would leave Albany on Saturday for Troy and start from thence on Tuesday the 2d May; and that his colleague in the Rensselaer School1 (Dr. L. C. Beck) would join us before we reached the termination of our journey, which would consume about six weeks. He like- wise shewed me a letter from Professor Cleaveland stating his inability to accompany him on account of an attack of the influenza. Professors Silliman and Dewey had likewise declined, the former on account of the precarious state of his health, the latter on account of his business. Thus the party was reduced to Dr. Eights and myself from Albany, and Dr. Eaton and 16 or 18 of his students. There was a probability, however, of Mr. Joseph Henry of Albany joining the expedition, and also, as before men- tioned, of Dr. Beck’s overtaking us. On Saturday the 29th I visited the boat. It is very hand- some and convenient, having (judging from appearances) been built for the accommodation of passengers; it is called the La Fayette, and had uncommonly large decks behind and before, and the cabin was roomy. On this day I was informed that Mr. Cassidy had volunteered a barrel of beef and Mr. Fidler a barrel of beer towards the expedition—a most kind and generous action and peculiarly deserving of 1. The Rensselaer School was founded at Troy by Stephen Van Rensse- laer, last but one of the patroons, Nov. 5, 1824. It had opened for instruction, Jan. 3, 1825. It became the Rensselaer Institute in 1832, and the Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute in 1849.ON THE ERIE CANAL., 1826. 279 gratitude on account of the hearty good will with which they were tendered. The boat departed for Troy. My accoutrements are at present as follows: 3 or 4 shirts, 1 pair blue broadcloth pantaloons and 1 summer coat, 1 black and 2 or 3 white cravats, 2 waistcoats, 4 pr. stockings, 1 pr. shoes, 1 pr. boots, 1 pr. stout cowhide laced boots, to which I expect to add a pair of stout corduroy breeches and a gray coatee. My headpiece is of that kind commonly known by the name of a "student's cap.” Besides clothing I carry with me a small trunk and a carpet-bag, in the latter of which the greater part of my goods being stuffed will make it a com- fortable pillow, while my blue camblet cloak will serve as a bed—the former will contain my hammer and chisel, my few books (Testament, Eaton's Geology, Eaton’s Manual of Botany, Bell’s anatomy 1st vol., &c.), my press (con- sisting merely of two very thick cards of pasteboard tied together by tape) for plants, my portfolio containing writing materials, and a trout-line;—so that I can place minerals, &c., there. I likewise have the latest map of the Erie canal done up in a very small compass and which I expect to be useful. Being desirous of having a fowling- piece along for reasons which will readily be imagined, I wrote to a friend of mine in Hamilton College, who had in his keeping a gun of mine, to send it to Utica so that in passing I might take it, and likewise to send there some minerals which he had promised me. Dr. Eights told me that the expense of the jaunt would not exceed $20. My Father, however, being desirous to avoid even the possibility of my being in want of the root of all evil1 gave me $30, and free permission to draw upon him for more if that should be exhausted. I had the pre- caution to get my money entirely in one dollar notes of the Albany Mechanics and Farmers Bank—thus precluding the 1. Not even the exceptional precision of the young Clinton kept him from fhe error of misquoting this most misquoted of sayings. The reader of course now recalls that it is not money, but “the love of money,” which, according to Paul’s observation to Timothy; is “the root of all evil.” Moral philoso- phers assure us that there is a difference!280 GEORGE W. CLINTON’S TOUR possibility of my being imposed upon by spurious or uncur- rent bank notes during my dealings with our western brethren. Monday, May ist. At 3 A. M. myself and brother (who was going to Salem to school) left Albany in the stage, having passed the night at a tavern in order that our early departure might not inconvenience the family. The road was good and we arrived in Troy at 5. My bed cost 25, my passage 35. Breakfast 3s. Called at Mr. Eaton’s who received me very kindly. His house is ij4 miles from the city. In returning to the town with Dr. L. C. Beck, Emmons & Eights we found juniperus communis, 7. vir- giniana, j. sativa (Q.), Arabis lyrata, Saxifraga virginica. On our return we stopped at Titus’s tavern where we had a long conversation on chemical subjects but elicited no before unknown truths. Tuesday 2d. Bought a jackknife for 3s. Bill $1. Started across the river at past 12. Travelled very siowly on account of the locks and no. of boats by which they were thronged. I took advantage of this circumstance and walked as far as the Cohoes. During my walk I ob- served the Sanguinaria Canadensis in great abundance on the banks of the river and of the small streams; the Erythronium dens-canis in nearly the same situations and on the hillsides; the fragaria Virginica; on the low grounds the equisetum arvense (female), Hepatica triloba, anemone thalictroides, carex varia and C. plantaginea, Thlaspi-bursa- pastoris, aronia botryapium. I put up at the locks some specimens of glazed slate which at the falls embrace graywacke and metalliferous limestone. It goes under the graywacke about 4 miles beyond the falls and is seen no more. In the evening we stopped at the first acqueduct where we received a speech from Dr. Eaton on the subject of the government of the expedition. He said that it was better on such an expedition to be governed by a fool than to have no government. The laws that he read were characterized by the greatest wisdom, and if adhered to will certainly renderON THE ERIE CANAL, 1826. 281 the issue of this expedition favorable. I shall set them down as soon as Mr. E. furnishes me with the means. After some confusion we finally succeeded in arranging ourselves for the night. Wednesday, 3d. Near our stopping-place near a swamp we found the viola blanda. We started at about 7. The banks for some miles were composed of Bagshot sand and marly1 clay—two strata which have always been found together under which plastic clay resides. About — miles below Alexander’s bridge the grauwacke twists and turns in every possible manner, now being nearly vertical, now horizontal* now gently undulating. In this formation we observed some ferns (antennae?) and I picked up an orthocerite and a few quartz crystals. Eights gave me a specimen of the Unis purpureus, of the Helix tfidentata and H. altemata. The Corydalis cucullaria in flower was likewise brought in. The ante-diluvian formation is always stratified. Diluvian, irregular, for which we cannot point out a sufficient existing cause. Post-diluvian, unstratified, for which a sufficient existing cause can be pointed out. We arrived at Alexander’s bridge at ^ past 10, and started from there at past one. Mr. Arms (one of the Rensselaer students) gave us an exposition of the principles of geology before we arrived at Schenectady, where we halted some time. Anchored in the evening between 7 and 8 miles from Schenectady. The rocks on the banks of the canal for all the distance gone today were common grau- wacke and its varieties, generally covered with a diluvial formation. I observed the Leontodon taraxacum in flower today. In the evening Mr. Arms was appointed assistant vice Mr. Henry, who held that office during this day. Mr. Eights was appointed purveyor when our constitution was first read. We halted for the night 9 miles above Schenectady. 1. Marly clay always effervesces with acids—plastic clay never.—Note in original MS.282 GEORGE W. CLINTON’S TOUR During the day Mr. Eaton remarked that he could prove that before the deluge America contained fewer animals than Europe. This opinion he supported by the fact that a far less variety of organic remains have been found in our alluvia. Thursday, 4. We arrived at Flint Hill at about 6 o’clock a. m. Here the calciferous sandstone of Eaton (transition sandstone of Werner) makes its appearance. It lies or is supposed to lie directly upon the gneiss of the Macomb range on which 8 strata are wanting that exist on the Green Mountain range, but, they are at any rate very confused at their junction. Imbedded in this rock are found at this place carb. lime of white, black and some of a red tinge; hornstone passing into semi-opal and chalcedony agate, quartz crystals. On the hill I observed a trifolium erectum almost in flower, and picked up the Helix albolabris. A small specimen of solid horn-stone of a whitish color con- taining carbonate of copper was picked up by one of the party. Before we reached Schoharie Creek a lecture was deliv- ered by Arms on the class Syngenesia, having a particular reference to the Tussilago farfara, large quantities of which were growing on the banks of the canal. Specimens of the Caltha palustris and of the Claytonia spathulata. About 1 mile above Caughnawaga on the canal side we found some petrifactions (among which were two very small trilobites) in calciferous slate, which there makes its first appearance. It lies directly above the metalliferous limestone. Professor Eaton expressed some doubts as respects it. A short distance above the metalliferous lime- stone makes its appearance. At lower Root’s Nose gneiss makes its appearance covered by the calciferous sand rock. Here we obtained specimens of that rock and of oxide of iron embedded in it. At upper Root’s Nose it is confined to the lower corner. Here we found the Hepatica triloba var. acuta. We stopped at Spraker’s for the night. I was appointed assistant for the following day.ON THE ERIE CANAL, 1826. 288 Friday, 5. In the morning we crossed the Mohawk and examined the calciferous sand rock on that side. We found in it quartz crystals, one or two of which were rounded! on part of their sides as if they had undergone fusion; coarse agate, semi-opal hornstone (with carb. copper), ox[ide] iron, coal. Oh Spraker’s side, brown and rhomboidal spars are disseminated. In digging on the opposite side I observed a very strong scent of phosphorus. My hands retained it for some time. Copy of the laws: 1. Professors Eaton and Beck or either of them are to conduct the expedition, and to have the same authority over every individual of the party, whether student or not, as they had over students of the school during the last term, or by the laws of said school, as passed April 3d, 1826. 2. Assistants may be appointed in the same manner and with the same authority as at the Rensselaer school. A daily assistant shall be appointed daily, who shall, for the time being, cause the morning bells to be rung, control the whole party as it respects order and decorum, and perform the duties hereafter mentioned. The professor or pro- fessors present, being the only persons having control over him. 3. The captain shall have uncontrolled authority, as to the method of managing the boat, so far as respects its safety, he alone being responsible for its safety. But in all other respects the captain and all hands employed are to be subject to the orders of the professor or professors; which orders shall be given by themselves or by the daily assist- ants. Any member of the party may make requests to the captain and hands, but no one shall give orders excepting professors and daily assistants. 4. No member of the party shall whistle, sing, or make any loud noises or be guilty of any ungentlemanly or uncivil conduct. If boatmen or other persons address any of the party with vulgar or abusive language no reply shall be284 GEORGE W. CLINTON'S TOUR made, and no one shall hail or speak to (in a voice above that of common conversation) any person on the canal or near it; but any person wishing to hail a boat or call to a person, may apply to a professor, assistant, or captain, whose duty it shall be to make such call if it be decent and reasonable. 5. Every member of the party shall immediately resort to the cabin whenever the bell is rung, and shall come on board at the sound of the bugle, and put up his bed in order for the hands to pack up at the ringing of the second morning bell. 6. A purveyor and paymaster shall be elected by a majority of the party, to hold his office during the pleasure of the party or until he resigns; but no one shall resign without the consent of a majority of the party in a less time than two days. He shall perform the common duties of steward, but no labour shall be required of him. 7. There shall be no conversation in the cabin above the breath, on the following occasions: From the ringing of the bell for a lecture, or for examination, until the close of the exercise. From the ringing of the bell for writing notes, until the end of the period assigned to that exercise, which period shall be announced by a professor or daily assistant. 8. Every member of the party shall collect and label a complete set of the geological specimens of the canal line, and of such other natural substances as he can conveniently obtain, and shall keep a complete journal of every important occurrence, with a description of every interesting natural or artificial object. 9. Each member shall pay his daily ratio of expenses to the purveyor when called upon. 10. Any member of the party may be expelled and compelled to leave the boat, not to return to it, by a pro- fessor, with the consent of half the members of the party, for vulgar or ungentlemanly conduct, for intoxication, or for any other conduct which is calculated to degrade the character of a gentleman or of a scholar.ON THE ERIE CANAL, 1826. 285 About Yz mile south of the village of Fort Plain, Town of Minden, we saw the calciferous sandstone overlaid by metalliferous limestone, which last was capped by the cal- ciferous slate. The lower strata of the limestone contained very few or no petrifactions besides stylastrites. The upper layers were made up almost entirely of organic remains, among which I distinguished the madrepore nodosa. Near Little Falls the gneiss again made its appearance. It may be considered as of two varieties : 1 containing a large quantity of black minutely laminated hornblende, the other deficient in hornblende and with red feldspar. The latter mineral is sometimes found green. Granite in small veins and sometimes in small beds is found in it. A short distance above the village the calciferous sandrock overlays it again. Saturday, 6. We started from Little Falls at about 8 o’clock. We stopped for some time about 12 miles above that place. Here we saw the bodies of the anadonta mar- ginata swimming on the canal in great abundance. Some had the shell on, but all were perfectly dead. My father mentioned to me that he had seen the same phenomenon. [Small fish were swimming about in considerable numbers and some of them as well as some larger fish (I did not see them myself) were floating dead. One of the larger fish (the only one I saw) was a small sucker, but one of my companions said that he had seen catfish in the same condi- tion. The small fish is a very common one, much resem- bling the spawn-eater in appearance, but much smaller and his side marked with a dark instead of a silver streak.]1 Flowers found within the few days past are Viola cucullata, Xylosteum ciliatum, Thalictrum dioicum, Uvu- laria lanceolata, Trillium erectum, T. e. var. album, Asarum Canadense, Caulophyllum thalictrum, Trillium pictum, Panax trifolia, Acer saccharinum, Aronia botrychium, Vi- burnum lantanoides, Taxus Canadensis, Arabis rhomboidea, Fragaria Virginica, Viola rostrata, Mitella diphylla, Cory- dalis formosa, Laurus Benzoin, Panax trifolium, Ribes —? 1. Matter in brackets has a line drawn across it in the original manuscript.286 GEORGE W. CLINTON’S TOUR We stopped for the night about three miles south of Utica. Sunday, ?th. We arrived in Utica in the morning and attended divine service. In the afternoon we went to Whitesborough. Monday, 8th. About one mile beyond the village of Oriskany, near the battleground, we procured specimens of the millstone grit from immense boulders scattered around. Some of it contained small fragments of grauwacke slate. We stopped for the night in Lennox. In examining the swamps we found some salamanders and Helices, but no new plants. We had a geological lecture in the morning and a botanical one in the afternoon. Tuesday, pth. We went up Chittenango Creek and visited the Polytechnic Institution, where we were kindly received and treated kindly by the professors who gave us a dinner. The great “water-lime” locality is about three miles from the village and gypsum abounds in its vicinity. About 50 or 60 rods from the village on a side hill we found the remnants of trees converted into calc, tufa, exhibiting wood, bark and gum as perfectly as their living prototypes, and often embracing snails and leaves. The shells were apparently very recent—one of which was the Helix albrolabris. On the timbers of the locks the------* Campanulatus was adhering in great abundance. We stopped for the night at Manlius Centre. The hills behind it yield large quantities of gypsum embedded in a variety of calciferous slate called vermicular slate. This last is by some considered as oolite, the holes being in most cases nearly spherical; but others say it cannot be as the holes are generally empty and in many cases vermiform. Some of those specimens that I saw were filled by gypsum. In the evening a gold-finder brought in for inspection a finely powdered mineral of great weight. I thought it anhydrite,—Prof. Eaton fluor spar. Wednesday, 10. In the marl above Salina we obtained some shells, most probably recent. At Nine Mile creek we went ashore and obtained some water lime. The sped-ON THE ERIE CANAL, 1826. 287 mens that I got I found on the roots of some trees that had been blown down, as I could find none in place. We stayed in Canton. Thursday, n. At Jordan the lock and acqueduct are made of a very coarse grained limestone containing fine terebratulites. The saliferous rock was found in place near this village. At Montezuma we stopped and collected some shells from the marl on the west side of the Seneca river; they appeared to me to differ in naught but size (being much larger) from those procured in a similar situation at Salina. We put up for the night at a lock about six miles beyond Montezuma. During our journey we observed several water-snakes, one of which had a small catfish in his mouth, and although chased about for some time pre- served his hold until being knocked on the head by a pole, he sunk. Friday, 12. As our beds are generally ready to receive us at 10 o’clock, and bed-making commences immediately 01 at least very soon after our supper (which meal is taken between 6 and 7) we have had recourse to fishing in order to pass away pleasantly this tedious period. The thing once commenced, of course it was not long confined to such narrow limits. Our success has never been sufficient to add to our resources, but has been sufficient, generally speaking, to kill the evening pleasantly. The fish heretofore caught consisted of suckers, dace, and a small fish exactly resembling in everything but size the one called shiner by the Albanians. This day I caught a yellow perch. We stopped for the night at Palmyra. During the day we ob- served large numbers of the Anadonta marginata floating on the canal, differing in naught but size (larger) from those before observed. Saturday, 13. Stopped at Bloss’s within 5 miles of Rochester. Sunday, 14. Remained at Rochester. Monday, 15. In the morning before breakfast, walked back on the canal about 1 mile to examine some lime rock that had been thrown out of it in excavating. Some cubical288 GEORGE W. CLINTON’S TOUR crystals of fluor spar were found, the largest of which was Yz inch. In the afternoon, visited the falls and procured specimens of the saliferous rock, gray band, ferriferous slate, iron rock, ferriferous sandrock, and of the minerals imbedded in the overlying calc, slate, as shell limestone. Is Uot Mr. Eaton’s ferriferous sandstone rather poorly char- acterized. Some of the layers resembled shell limestone, containing petrifactions, and effervescing strongly with acids; others exactly resembled in external appearance the calciferous sandrock obtained at Nose Hill, and contained the same imbedded minerals, viz., hornstone, chalcedony, semi-opal, and agate. Is he right in considering shell-lime- stone, vermicular limestone and gypsum as mere beds in calciferous slate? In the secondary limestone in some part of Vermont a large tract is almost entirely made up of fish. This might with equal propriety be termed pisciferous limestone and considered as a distinct bed, for the calcifer- ous slate varies so greatly in composition in the same layer that its becoming nearly pure limestone is by no means improbable in the same continuous layer. Will this reason- ing hold? Do not gypsum and coal render his opinions almost certain? In the shell limestone I observed that the shells often crossed each other apparently in the greatest confusion, i. e., one would be cut by another without an alteration of the plane of its position. How can this be accounted for? In the evening Professor Eaton was seized with a faint- ing fit brought on probably by fatiguing himself so much during the day. He was delirious for nearly i hour, during which time the soundness of his remarks proved that his mind although uncontrollable, was by no means defective in strength. The physicians called in administered repeated doses of sulphate of zinc and ipecacuanha. As soon as their operation had ceased, his reason returned and he is now (io p. m.) enjoying an apparently sound slumber. A specimen of the shell limestone that I procured con- tained in a small geode wavy blende in cubical crystals. In some specimens a reddish tinge is observable which isON THE ERIE CANAL, 1826. 289 produced by the dissemination of minute portions of a mineral which I suppose to be blende. Rocks in meeting seldom meet abruptly, but in most cases pass into each other by almost imperceptible degrees, or at least in some degree mutually communicate to the contiguous strata their most distinguishing characteristics. Thus at this place where the geodiferous limerock and calciferous slate meet, the latter becomes geodiferous. The two rocks which meet the most abruptly in our section are the millstone grit and the graywacke, but even in this case there is something of this kind' observable as the former rock contains imbedded frag- ments of the subcumbent stratum. Good resolutions are so easily forgotten that we cannot take too numerous precautions to establish them in our memories; hoping therefore that if I should neglect to fulfil the intentions which I shall now record, this page may have the effect of bringing me back into the path of improvement. I here declare that I have been too remiss in taking notes, neglecting to set down many things of import- ance from sheer laziness, and that I will reform in this particular. Tuesday, 16th. We started from Rochester at 7 o’clock a. m., I being captain for the day. Mr. E. is much better although still very weak. 2 or 3 miles beyond Rochester the ferriferous sandrock makes its appearance for a short distance in place in the banks of the canal. Mr. E. men- tioned a curious formation which existed at Montezuma, viz., after penetrating through the soil above you came to disintegrated rock retaining its correct relative position. He was somewhat in doubt as to a term to comprehend this and all soils formed directly from the rock upon which they recline. I proposed that he should divide all earthy sub- stances into stratified and unstratified, the latter compre- hending the diluvian and post-diluvian. This he objected tc, not liking to innovate upon a system so well established as that of Conybeare and Buckland. He likewise objected to considering it as belonging to a new class of formations to be called the unalluvial, in opposition to the alluvial, orGEORGE W. CLINTON’S TOUR to its being simply distinguished as permanent soil, or per- manent rock soil. It is evidently distinct from any forma- tion before named, and is well worthy of the attentive study of the geologist, being in reality that branch which has most reference to agriculture. New fish caught in the canal within the few days past, are the chub, the red fin, and some small Otsego bass. We stopped for the night at Holley (Wednesday, if), about 6 miles beyond which we found in a loose mass of saliferous rock on the bank of the canal the mytilus (?) in considerable perfection. Within about i mile of Oak Orchard Creek myself and Eights found the Mytilus in great perfection in Grey Band which likewise contained fragments of ferriferous slate. At Oak Orchard Creek we stayed for some time, it being perhaps the best place on the whole route for the examina- tion of the saliferous rock, which here contains an abund- ance of stylastrites ( ?). A variety picked up by Mr. Henry had the appearance of numerous small members which rose apparently from the torulose ridges. Another found by myself was of nearly an oval form. About 30 rods below the acqueduct is a small fall of about 20 or 30 feet; it would possess but little to interest, however, were it not for the fact that it is entirely formed of a grey sandstone, effervescing very strongly with acids, coarse and rather pulverulent, which Mr. E. considers as a mere bed. We stopped for the night at Middleport. Thursday, 18. About 6 miles west of our last stopping- place the ferriferous sandrock of Eaton made its appearance in place. On examination the greater part if not the whole was an imperfect limestone embracing shells, and horn- stone passing into chalcedony. Mr. E. accounted for this by saying that we are near the meeting of the sandrock and of the calciferous slate. All of this rock that we have heretofore seen has been exactly the same as that in this locality. May it not therefore be considered as a calciferous rock—Mr. Eaton having been deceived by an examination too partial? This would account more readily for the bedsON THE ERIE CANAL, 1826. 291 of shell and water limestone embraced in the calciferous slate? About Yz mile further on in a small basin on the left hand considerable quantities of gas bubbled through the water. It was inodorous and burned with a pale flame. The name of the place is-James’- port. Although there can be no doubt respecting its being carburetted hydrogen, we collected two decanters full for experiments. Finding upon inquiry that ‘James Port” was not the name of the place, but had been put up without authority, and that it was des- titute of a name, we proposed for it the appellation of “Gas Port,” and prevailed on one of the principal inhabitants that it should be adopted. In order to test the gas for sulphuretted hydrogen water was introduced into one of the bottles and violently shaken. No sensible absorption ensued. The water was poured into a glass and ammonia added, but nitrate of silver produced no precipitate in it, so that it may safely be concluded that it is the carburetted hydrogen. In looking over and comparing the petrifactions men- tioned on the 17th, they appeared to Eights and myself to approach the pinnite rather than the mytilite. At Lockport the calciferous slate is overlaid by the geodiferous lime rock, a pretty thick bed of shell limestone containing immense quantities of encrinites of a reddish tinge being interposed. Among the various interesting minerals which are found here the sulphate of strontium and anhydrous gypsum are most scarce, $10 having more than once been given for a single specimen owing to the folly of collectors. The persons who excavated this section of the canal did not know how high an imaginary value was attached to these productions of nature until it was more than half completed ; consequently many of the best speci- mens are hidden in the immense piles of stone that line the banks of the canal for more than 3 miles. Petrifactions of gypsum are generally scarce; here the favosite and encrinite abound, their substance being it is said a species of anhydrite. Also the fibrolite of Rafinesque. Almost itn-292 GEORGE W. CLINTON’S TOUR mediately upon our reentrance upon the marly clay, mag- netic iron sand was found in it. We stayed for the night within 4 miles of Tonnewanta. Some of us fished around and caught about 20 fine catfish. Friday, ip. We breakfasted at Tonnewanta. It is said that an abundance of fish can be caught by going to the mouth of the creek in a boat and making a noise with the paddles, as in jumping about in all directions some must jump into the boat. After our morning meal some of us started on foot for Niagara falls, the rest intending to come on in a wagon, until they should overtake us ; we were then to ride and they to trudge on foot; but finding that there wrere too many applicants for the privilege of riding to be gratified, I and three others walked the whole distance (11 miles). In the evening we returned to Tonnewanta, part in the wagon and the rest in a stage. I have now seen the greatest fall (all circumstances considered) in existence, and must confess that it did not make a durable impression on me. I have stood on the point of Goat Island, on Table Rock, and have viewed it from every point. I have hung with my body partly on Table Rock and gazed at the rage and turmoil below, and have felt that nought that I had ever witnessed could so powerfully have affected me. I recollect but little of it, now, and would most probably speak but coldly of its beauties. Such things affect me only when present. Only two strata are visible at the falls—the calciferous slate and the geodiferous lime-rock. At Devil’s Hole, 5 miles below, the rest are visible, in the same order in which they are at Genesee falls. This place we intended to have visited, but want of time prevented it. During the excur- sion two porcupines (Histrix dorsata) were slain. Their quills were not more than 3 or 4 inches in length. On Goat Island (by some called Iris) we were shown a piece of a grapevine about six feet long, which must have averaged six inches in diameter. The podophyllum peltatum was in flower, and vegetation seemed to be far more forwardON THE ERIE CANAL, 1826. 293 in the immediate vicinity of Niagara than at points more remote, owing probably to the continual moistness of the atmosphere. They say that they are exempt from the late frosts which are so injurious to the agricultural interests of this section of our country. The bridge to Iris was constructed under the direction and at the expense of Augustus Porter. Every pier is pro- tected by an eddy or by an immense rock there placed by the hand of nature, a circumstance which was particularly remarked by Red Jacket, and drew from him the exclama- tion, ".The damned Yankees take advantage of everything!” On the island and on the shore we were shown some of the Lockport specimens which were for sale at the moderate price of $3 apiece—that is, common ones—the better ones sometimes rising much higher (one he asks $25 for) and the worst being rather lower. They were handsome, but any man can procure as good ones for the trouble of detach- ing them from the rocks at Lockport. On inquiry I found that this rascally attempt to impose upon the public orig- inated as usual from the ignorance and extravagance of our Southern brethren, those pigeons for every knave to pluck. At the foot of the American stairs once was a large block of stone containing considerable sulp. of strontium, but the greediness of collectors has demolished it. I picked up a little coarse agate, snowy gypsum, brown spar, dog- tooth spar and blende. Saturday, 20. In the morning we had a thunder-storm which prevented our departing until the sun had ascended to some height in the heavens. When we were within about 6 miles of Black Rock, we were accosted by Capt. Ransom, an officer in the division removing from Sackett’s Harbor to Green Bay, requesting us to convey himself and family (wife, mother, 3 little girls, 2 boys and a maid servant) as far as Black Rock. We of course complied. The cabin was immediately , in a bustle and in less than y2 hour dirty shirts were scarce and disorder resigned' the throne he had so long occupied. At Black Rock they left us.294 GEORGE W. CLINTON'S TOUR B. R. stands in the corniferous limerock. I was here introduced to Mr. Tracy,1 a distinguished botanist, formerly of Albany. From him we learned that the rock here often contains large quantities of true water limestone. Major Fraser2 presented to Mr. Eaton for the Rensselaer school a specimen of the Menobranchus lateralis preserved in spirits. He says that a belief here maintains that this animal cannot be injured by fire. It is asserted by Mr. Sill, a very respect- able man, that one got off after having been kept for 2 or 3 minutes in a red-hot potash kettle, and other stories of the same kind are in circulation. Mr. F. very politely offered me a sight of his curiosities from the Lakes—an invitation which I shall surely make use of on my return. We spent the night in Buffalo, and on Sunday the 21st, attended divine service there. Monday, 22, We engaged a small sloop-built vessel of 10 tons to convey us to Eighteen-mile creek, the fare for the whole party being 20s. We were however disappointed, the captain declaring that on account of the strong head wind it would be impossible to leave the harbor. We then engaged two wagons: The distance to the place of our destination was 16 miles, the first 8 of which passes over the beach and of course is a most abominable road. Five or six of us, tired of waiting for our vehicles, started ahead and accomplished the first half of our journey. Here we found Floerkea uliginosa. Here the pyriteous rock makes its appearance and extends as far as we proceeded. It varies, as we found upon examination, considerably in external appearance, being sometimes massive, sometimes slaty, sometimes inodorous, and sometimes so strongly impregnated with iron pyrites and bitumen as to smell strongly. In the latter case it varies from a blue to a dark black, and is perfectly well characterized bituminous shale. It contains embedded nodules of a roundish form, varying from a few inches to 18 in diameter. They in some cases consist of concentric layers enveloping as a nucleus a petri- 1. Cyrus Mason Tracy. 2. Major Donald Fraser of Black Rock.ON THE ERIE CANAL, 1826. 295 faction or a rounded pebble; they burn into good lime; in others they are massive, fetid, and containing minute crystals of carb. of lime blackened by bitumen (?) Iron pyrites abound in this rock, and the sulphate is frequently seen efflorescing on the slate. It is said to occur in cubes, and often constitutes the substance of petrifactions, it occurs in beautiful mammillary masses, on the exterior of the blocks—never on the shale. We found a little coal. Petri- factions noticed there, were encrinites, anomites, terebratu- lites, mytilites, favosite, cornumadreporite, celle porite, trilobites and ortho cyritite. Their substance generally con- sists of the rock itself, sometimes of carb, of lime, some- times of pyrites and often of a mixture. Anomites are by far the most abundant. The pyrites petrifactions were very scarce. Our quarters were taken at a tavern y?. mile from the mouth of the creek. For want of beds I and another were obliged to lie down before the kitchen fire, where we enjoyed the most refreshing slumber. Tuesday3 23d. O11 our return we noticed marly clay jutting out on the beach in several instances. Magnetic iron sand was likewise scattered about, and likewise a reddish-colored sand, which on examination proved to be composed of transparent grains. We went as far as Black Rock this day. Wednesday, 24th. We examined before breakfast a meeting of the cornetiferous and geodiferous rocks, which takes place a few rods above the village. Between them is interposed a layer of about 8 inches in thickness, consisting of white and dark-colored stripes, sometimes without any order. The dark is lime. The white adheres to the tongue and may be cacholong, proceeding from the decomposition of hornstone. This layer is often colored by a greenish substance (carb. of copper?) which likewise sometimes makes its appearance in the comitiferous limerock above. The rock near their junction is called (and I believe used as) water limestone by the inhabitants. Why should this rock be considered a distinct one? All the specimens of theGEORGE W. CLINTON'S TOUR main body of the rock that I could meet agreed perfectly with the geodiferous limerock. Mr. Eaton says that it con- tains hornstone, and therefore ought to be separated; but the quantity of this mineral varies extremely, some parts being almost entirely destitute of it. He says it is in some cases almost entirely made up of shells. The geodiferous 1. contains them often, and even were it not so, the reason would be insufficient, for. acting upon the same principle the metaliferous limerock (see May 5!) might with pro- priety be considered as two distinct rocks. In these rocks we found botryoidal, mamillary and fibrous carb. copper (?) ; brown spar, sulphate of strontiam, and found a layer of bituminous shale. This last seems to form a strong argument against the admission of the cornitiferous lime- rock into the list of our rocks, as, it proves that it cannot at most be more than a few feet in thickness. The petrifac- tions were madrepores, corallinites, and some shells. Gen. Porter having sent an invitation by Professor Eaton to every individual of the company, we went to his house at 11; we were treated very handsomely.1 Major Fraser took me to his house after our collation at Mr. Porter's and presented me with some specimens in mineralogy, among which were strontian from Strontian island, por- phyritic conglomerate and conglomerate from the Sault of St. Mary, and various petrifactions from Lake Erie, among which were several madreporites contained in a block found in the loose sand in digging the Erie canal at its very ter- mination. He accompanied us across the river to Fort Erie, and explained to us the various manoeuvers which there took place during the last war—especially the sortie, in which he was wounded, being shot in the leg while spiking a cannon of the enemy's. Thursday, 25. Major Fraser, to whom I was before so much indebted, to use a vulgar expression, capped his kind- 1. This was in the fine house which Gen. Porter had built, overlooking the Niagara, in 1816. The Erie canal had passed through his grounds, on the river side; and in later years, as all Buffalonians know, the beautiful premises were to be still more invaded. The house, absorbed by a factory, was finally torn down in 1909.297 ON THE ERIE CANAL, 1826. ness by this morning presenting me with a fine meno- branchus lateralis. We started from Black Rock at about 6 p. m. In passing through the Tonnewanta creek we picked up large quantities of a very large unio (?)... From the marly clay a few miles beyond Pendleton we saw brownish petroleum exuding in considerable quantities. We stopped to examine the rocks at the western extremity of the Lockport ridge, and collected specimens of geodifer- ous limerock, passing into very perfect stink-stone. The rock contains very thin seams of apparently perfect bitum- inous coal, and drops of bitumen are , in some places seen exuding from it. A curious fibrous petrifaction abounds in this rock. I found it in some cases partly formed of sulphuret of zinc, and even of a beautiful pink fluate of lime. In this place we found the. rock externally of a botryoidal appearance, but not distinct enough to form a petrifaction—retaining the same appearance, however, on breaking. A man gave me a specimen of galena contained in this rock. We likewise collected specimens of a reddish sandy clay (the professor called it brick-earth) imbedded in the marly clay, the appearance of which induced the pro- fessor to suppose that some of it might be plastic, but the application of mur. ac. soon undeceived him. We moored for the night at Lockport. Friday, 26th. At the eastern extremity of the ridge is the meeting of the geodiferous limerock and calciferous slate; and beds of a shell limestone containing an abund- ance of red encrinites were there cut through in excavating the canal. Mr. Smith gave us the pick of his collection for the Rensselaer school. The slate here exactly resembles in external appearance the pyritiferous rock on Lake Erie— like it contains bituminous coal and shale, and its petrifac- tions are the same. Mr. Smith gave me some specimens of a petrifaction called echinite by Eaton—the cariocrinitus lociratus of Say. About six miles from Lockport we came to the little village mentioned Thursday, 18th, and had the pleasure to see painted on the bridge Gas-Port. We found in the woods here st ell aria media, hydrophyllum virginicum,298 GEORGE W. CLINTON’S TOUR Grobanche Americana, orchis spectabalis, and uraspermum Claytonia (see Eaton’s manual), the latter having both general and partial involucres. Some distance further on I found the corallorhiza hiemalis; the rubus villosus every- where in flower. At Oak Orchard we collected some more mytilites and a coarse-grained rock (mentioned Tuesday, 17th, Albany) which evidently passes into the calciferous rock in the same stratum, and is a sandstone with a cal- careous cement. From the recent appearance of the shells I imagined that they might belong to the Conservata of Martin, but on applying an acid I found that none of those I tried effervesced more than the rock in which they were imbedded. We stopped for the night at Newport. The only rock in the district through which we have passed today is the saliferous, which has made its appearance at intervals. Saturday, 27. Found the convallaria bifolia in flower. Slept in and spent the next day in Rochester. Found in shell limestone sparry anhydrite. Monday, 29. Before breakfast we went about one mile east on the canal and examined the. geodiferous limerock. We there obtained the same minerals as when here before. Dr. Eights supposes a white substance scattered indiscrim- inately over the various minerals to be calamine. Is not this incorrect? After breakfast we visited the Genesee falls. I collected vicia cracca, a lathyrus palustris, convallaria racemosa, and the houstonia purpurea, geranium sanguineum. Below the lower falls I obtained a few nodules of radiated sulphate of barytes (?). It was embedded in the saliferous rock, prob- ably near its junction with the millstone grit, as it was much coarser and contained more gravel than usual. The mineral was separated from the rock by a soft reddish substance. We started at 5 p. m. Mr. Rafinesque, formerly pro- fessor of natural history in the University of Transylvania, Kentucky, proceeded with us, having joined us on Sunday evening. He is French to the backbone, a great enthusiast*ON THE ERIE CANAL, 1826. 299 a truly scientific man, but rather flighty. Common report says that he has written a little in a great deal.1 In the afternoon we showed him the skin of a fish that was shot in Buffalo creek. He was much delighted, said that Mitchell had described it, but imperfectly; then said it was a new genus and called it Osteognathus chloripterus, the generic name (boney chin) from a remarkable boney plate below the jaw; the specific.(green fin) from the greenness of its fins. We stayed for the night at Bellinghurst’s, 5 miles west of Pittsford. Tuesday, 50. About 9 miles beyond Pittsford I collected specimens of the orchis spectabilis, arum triphyllum, vibur- num acerifolium, actaea rubra, viola canadensis, a senecio, a cornus and viburnum oxycoccus. A few miles further on we found the cypripedimn parvidorum, ranunculus bulbosus, and a single specimen of the orchis dilatata. In a swamp still further on we found Xylosteum ciliatum, lysimachia capitata, iris versicolor, phlox divaricata, geum rivale, saxi- fraga virginica, and a ranunculus in some respects resem- bling the [R.] palustris of Beck. The saliferous rock commencing at Palmyra lines the canal for a considerable distance. It is of a marly nature and very soft—almost a clay. We stopped for the night at Newark. During the day the only rock seen was a very soft variety of the saliferous rock which pierced the allu- vial in some places. At Newark the marl commences. It contains numerous shells, and is used by the inhabitants for whitewashing and for mortar. In the latter case it is used without being burned. The tufa on the bottom of the Watertown caves likewise is (as I was told while there) also used for the same purposes in the same manner. Does not our theory of mortar need some alteration in order to account for this fact? Wednesday 31. In the morning I picked up under old 1. Not an unjust criticism on the work of this eccentric naturalist, whose many adventures and misfortunes are given in the encyclopaedias. His “Life of Travels and Researches in North America and South Europe” (Philadelphia, 1836), contains a meager account of his visit to Niagara Falls.300 GEORGE W. CLINTON'S TOUR logs 2 salamanders, one with a red back, the i'. erithronota of Green; the other brown, and named S. fuscata by Mr. Rafinesque, who claims the honor of first describing it. We have met with both of them in great abundance in every place that we have examined, especially the first. Farther on we found the triosteum major (perfoliatum?) and also a Salamander punctata. At Clyde I picked from under a log a Triturus miniata, so named by Mr. Rafinesque, its dis- coverer. The genus Triturus consists of salamanders with tail flattened and adapted for swimming, and was first sep- arated by Dumesnil under the name of Triton, which hav- ing been appropriated to a genus of mollusca was altered by Mr. R. The new plants here found were the anemone aconiti- folia, barbarea vulgaris, nuphar advend, and an utricularia. I obtained a Triturus punctata, erroneously called salaman- der, this morning. We stayed within a few miles of Mon- tezuma. Thursday, June i. All the shells found in the marl here are (we were told by the inhabitants) found recent in the lakes and Seneca river, except the largest of the Limnia: and therefore as it is probable that accurate research will discover this likewise, we are warranted in considering this as a very modern formation. At. Montezuma I found the vaccinium st amine uni, vicia cracca and asclepias quadrifolia. [At] Weed’s Basin, acer spicatnm, medeola virginica. The common bluish black lulus is the tinctorius. At Jordan we stopped and examined the stone of which the lock is made. In going up {vide Thursday, H) I was told by Dr. Eights that it was a coarse-grained limestone, he having dissolved it entirely. Seeing him so confident and not having an acid by me, I was fool enough to take it upon trust, maugre the evidence of my senses. It is noth- ing more or less than a sandstone (approaching very near the millstone grit), not even in the least effervescing with muriatic acid. Mr. Eaton inferred that it occurred here imbedded in calciferous slate, from having observed a stone of similar character, with the same, petrifactions, in that situation at Seneca lake.ON THE ERIE CANAL, 1826. 301 Friday, June 2d. We stopped a few miles from Nine Mile Creek to collect specimens of the marl. At the creek I picked up two leeches—olivaceous green on the back, with yellow spots; belly red. Mr. Rafinesque considered it as new and called it hirudo-chloronotus (green-back). Some of [us] struck off to the Onondaga lake when op- posite to it. On its beach (a mixture of sand and marl) the same shells found throughout the great swamp were found. It was likewise strewed with recent petrifications and incrustations of water plants. A new ranunculus was found near the beach which in some places was covered with tufts of the Triglochin paiustre. We went by the side cut to Salina. In the swamp between Salina and the lake we found the ranunculus mentioned this morning, which Mr. Rafinesque calls R. Cymbalaria, the lathyrus palustris, potentilla anserine, and the gymnocladus canadensis, the last not in flower. We picked up living shells on the shore exactly the same as those found in the marl, excepting the cyclus and the planerbis. The vermicular limestone of Eaton is brought here and used in constructing their fur- naces. The rock here Mr. Eaton calls the saliferous rock; it is soft, slaty and variegated. Here however there is nothing like grey-band, the thing so named by him being nothing more nor less than the green variegations, as we find the red above it again. In it I and Eights found par- ticles possessing a metallic brilliancy, and likewise in holes in the rock frustums of quadrilateral pyramids, apparently composed of the substance of [the] rock. They exactly resemble the hopper-shaped crystals of salt—are they not pseudo-morphous, being formed in the mould of that min- eral? During the evaporation of the salt water a hard white substance settles and is removed every fortnight. It is called Bittern. Professor Eaton supposes that it is en- tirely or at least consists essentially of sulphate of mag- nesia. This I think is correct, because that salt is obtained from the water remaining after the salt has been extracted from Sea-water. At Salina we saw a curious lusus naturae, which was found about two weeks ago loose in the soil: having it is302 GEORGE W. CLINTON'S TOUR supposed received a little assistance from art it might ap- pear to a person of a lively imagination what it was repre- sented to us as being—a petrified monkey's head. We returned to Syracuse at about 6. In this place, so intent are they on gain that a deserving young man by the name of Arms from the Rensselaer school was unable to collect a respectable class in chemistry and botany. Saturday, 3d. At Manlius we stopped and again ex- amined (vide Tuesday May 9) the formation here, arid were well rewarded for our trouble by the discovery of the same pseudo-morphous crystals found at Salina. They were imbedded in the calciferous slate (which approaches the water limestone in appearance) which lies directly over the gypsum. Some of [them] were large varying from 2 to 6 or 8 inches in diameter. We found in the slate and vermicular limestone on the top of the hill striae (generally superficial) bearing some remote resemblance to the strange petrifaction found in the geodiferous limestone of this re- gion. May it not be the same with this ? On the shore we found the symphytum officinale (?). About two miles from Manlius on the south side of the canal J4 mile from its banks lies the Green lake. It is a beautiful little sheet of water, receiving its name from the predominating color of its waters; it abounds with fish, some of which are said to weigh 20 pounds; its banks on the north side (the only one we examined) are composed of shell marl; a sulphur spring is said to exist near it; in it we caught an immense number of salamanders, agreeing exactly with Mr. Rafinesque's descriptions of his Triturus viridescens, found in Lakes George and Champlain. Mr. R’s. genus Necturus is distinguished from Triturus by hav- ing teeth, four toes to all the feet, and the external gills persistent to a very late period. This he says must of course form a peculiar sub-genus, and he names it Diem. .tylus [ms. blotted]. He says that he has not seen a single reptile (Turtle, lizard, salamander, Necturus, Tri- turus, frog, snake) in America similar to any one in Europe. We stayed during the night at Oneida Creek, 15 miles from Rome.ON THE ERIE CANAL, 1826. 303 Sunday, 4. We arrived in Rome at 12 and attended di- vine service in the afternoon. One of our party here left us, so that our party, besides the hands, now consists of Professors Eaton and Rafinesque, Dr. Eights, myself; Cady from Johnstown; Fitch, McManus, Weston, Pelton, Hale, Hanks, and Danker of Johnstown, the Rensselaer school.1 Feeling a great desire to visit Trenton falls, all of us ex- cepting the professors and Fitch started on foot at past 5 and reached Trenton village (14 miles) at 10 o’clock, having left Hale and Weston 4 miles behind at Holland Patent; they came up the next day (Monday, 5), at break- fasb-time, after which meal we walked to the falls (2j4 miles) where we were kindly treated by Mr. Sherman. In his collection was an orthocerite embracing in its siphuncle a perfect nautilis. I afterwards picked up a nautilis, within which was a limb of an encrinite, and a trilobite embracing an . . . ., a madrepora nodosa(?) formed in a portion of the shell of a trilobite. All the orthocerites that I saw ter- minate in calc. spar. Having viewed the falls and collected some petrifactions we left the falls for Utica (14 miles) at past 3. After proceeding four miles all but McManus, Danker, Hanks and myself stopped in order to inquire for a conveyance to Utica; 2 miles further McManus and Hanks stopped; my- self and Danker (having made trifling stops) arrived at Utica at past 8, where we were rejoined in about Yi an hour by our party who had procured a wagon. Tuesday, 6. We left Utica at 7 o’clock, having procured specimens of ferriferous sand rock that was brought for building stone from Whitestown. During our absence Pro- fessor E. visited Starch Factory creek and discovered that, contrary to his supposition, the graywacke and millstone grit did alternate, and that several times. 1. Qf these boys of the Rensselaer school, the Register of the institution records the following as graduate members of the class of 1826—the first class: Stillman E. Arms (mentioned above, p. 281), physician, Elizabethtown, N. J.; Albert Danker, civil engineer, Troy; Philip C. W. T. McManus, farmer, Bruns- wick, N. Y.; William S. Pelton, physician, Ithaca. Asa Fitch, Jr., class of 1827, became a physician and New York State Entomologist; and Charles L. Weston, *27, became a lawyer at Davenport, la. The others mentioned do not appear in the list of graduates.304 GEORGE W. CLINTON'S TOUR We stopped within about 7 miles of Little Falls and ob- tained pudding-stone and blue marly clay of the crag for- mation. Myself and Eights left the boat when within about a mile of Little Falls, in order to examine large quantities of the calciferous sandrock that had been thrown out of the canal. We were well rewarded for our pains by find- ing imbedded in it, anthracite, quartz crystals, brown spar, rhomboidal calc, spar both black and white, brown spar, iron pyrites, lamellar sulphate of barytes, and sulphuret of zinc. We remained at the falls. Wednesday, 7. Near the village we found the cypripe- dium humilia, cornus canadensis, viburnum pyrifolium and Sorbus Americana. Seven and miles from it, we exam- ined an excellent locality of Eaton’s calciferous slate: the thicker varieties of it have a very conchoidal fracture and in everything but smell strongly resemble the bituminous shale of the pyritiferous rock at Lake Erie; the resem- blance between it and the rock at Trenton that contains the petrifactions is such as to induce me strongly to suspect their identity. The petrifactions here formed were prin- cipally trilobites. Mr. Rafinesque considered them as form- ing a new genus. I found a few orthocyrites and shells. We stopped some time and examined the metalliferous limerock at different points. From what I have seen I feel confident that no more of this substance is visible at Tren- ton than what might with propriety be considered as em- braced in beds. The shell-limestone is in beds (according to Eaton) in the calciferous slate west of the Little Falls- why should it not be in the same state on the east side. We halted for the night at Sprakers. Thursday, 8. On examination of some surplus speci- mens of calciferous sandrock, collected at Sprakers for Mr. Eaton, I found one containing some of that supposed petri- faction abounding so much in the geodiferous limerock at Lockport, Rochester, etc.. Mr. Rafinesque calls it dbrolite, a name inadmissible, it being bestowed upon a mineral. I did not find a particle of barytes in any of these specimens. We stopped to examine the calciferous sandstone once more at Flint Hill; Mr. R. says that it is the gres calcaireON THE ERIE CANAL, 1826. 305 of the French. In it we found no barytes; black, brown, greenish and reddish rhomb spar. Small quantities of iron pyrites, green specks of carb. of copper. We stayed dur- ing the night at Putnam's, 8l/2 miles from Schenectady. The tubus odoratus was here in flower. Friday, p. We found at Alexander’s Bridge the pent- stemon pubescens in great abundance. In the gray-wacke a trilobite was found. About 1 mile further on we found the menispermum canadense and the cornus paniculata. In this rock and in the calciferous slate at Trenton and other places, petrifactions supposed by Mr. Rafinesque to have been the antennse of the trilobite or some other insect are found. Further on I found the Erigeron Philadelphicum, polygonum fagopyrum, oxalis stricta, erigeron heterophyl- lum, Agrostemma githago and the asclepias quadrifolia with only 2 leaves; likewise the Heracleum lanatum. At the 6th lock from Alexander’s Bridge, within 2 rods of the boat, I found the apocynum androsaemifolium, cornus cir- cmata, stellaria longifolia, Achillea millefolia, cicuta ma- culata, and sparganium ramosum, We stayed for the night at the lower acqueduct. Saturday, 10. Arrived at Troy at past 4. On the way thither I picked up the following plants : potamogeton natans, var, Americana (Rafinesque), hieracium venosum, galium strictum, juniperus communis, var. depressus, /. Virginiana, /. Sabina, diervilla humilis, geranium sangui- nenm. Mr. Hale gave me a collection of silicious conglomerated spheres much resembling pisolite, found on an island op- posite the school in great abundance. Sunday, 11. Started from Troy at Y2 past 2, and hav- ing experienced considerable detention, reached Albany at about 8 p. m. N. B. I assert naught but what I have seen. //BUFFALO AND BLACK ROCK HARBOR PAPERS AND RELATED DOCUMENTS OF EARLY DATEINTRODUCTION In the following pages are brought together a number of letters, reports and other documents, most of which relate to the original construction of the harbor which formed the western terminus of the Erie canal, and all of which deal with one phase or another of the canal construction in Western New York. Most of the letters, from the collec- tion of the Porter papers in the possession of the Buffalo Historical Society, are here printed for the first time. Several broadsides, or political handbills, are also reprinted in order that this phase of the canal history may be con- veniently preserved. It would be desirable, as a matter of record, to bring together as fully as possible the documents, pamphlets, memorials, and other publications which marked the original harbor construction at the western canal terminus. Many of them are, however, accessible in the various official publications of the State, and a complete collection would be by far too voluminous for the present work. In view of the importance, however, of this original harbor con- struction, we here offer a summary of the more important papers, with some account of the episodes for which they stand in our local history. The Publications of this Society contain much bearing on the subject. Nowhere, however, has any exhaustive record of it been made. It was a strife so bitter that traces of it are to be seen in more than one phase of the region long after the original cause had ceased to exist and the rival villages had merged their destinies in one. The rivalry was as old as the canal idea itself—in fact, was older, and no doubt found its origin in the different systems of land titles in the two places, Buffalo being the child of the Holland Land Company, Black Rock being a settlement on State lands not included 309810 BUFFALO AND BLACK ROCK in the purchase. It seems never to have occurred to the residents of the rival communities that in another genera- tion their interests would be merged in one municipality. Prior to the visit of the Canal Commissioners to Buffalo in 1816, there was much skepticism as to the ultimate extension of the canal to Lake Erie. Many expressions can be found which show that even the leaders of the com- munity doubted that so great a work could be carried through. But from the summer of 1816 a new spirit is noticeable throughout Western New York. The enthusiasm of De Witt Clinton seems to have communicated itself to the doubting Thomases of the Western district. After the passage of the original canal bill, in 1817, we find gradually developing a spirit of rivalry between Black Rock and Buffalo keener than had before existed. By .1819, each com- munity was putting forth strenuous efforts to secure State aid for harbor construction. Some of the expressions of this rivalry are to be found only in the yellow pages of the local newspapers of the day and of the pamphlets and broadsides which were issued by the rival factions. Against General Peter B. Porter, the leader of the Black Rock party, Buffalo's two little newspapers, the Journal and tht Patriot, directed an unceasing assault. The Journal, edited by David M. Day, was particularly outspoken, even attacking the character of General Porter, and allowing a contributor, over the signature of “Vindex,” broadly to intimate that the general had plundered the defenseless inhabitants of the Canadian frontier in July, 1813, of a large amount of private property. This brought forth vigorous denials from General Porter, which fill several columns in the Black Rock Beacon. Libel suits were also brought, May 1, 1823, against the offending journal. On the other hand, Judge Wilkeson was as bitterly assailed by certain champions of Black Rock. During the four or five years preceding the completion of the canal, the warfare was kept up between the two communities. When a freshet destroyed part of the piling at the mouth of Buffalo creek, and when the Walk- in-the-Water was wrecked, the advocates of Black RockHARBOR PAPERS. 311 professed to see in these casualties the doom of the Buffalo harbor project. When the Superior was built on Buffalo creek and successfully launched, Buffalo rejoiced again. There was no lack of small shipping, in the early 20’s, and the port list of both places is surprising. JA hint of the partisan feeling that existed is found in the action of a resident of Buffalo, who ordered his subscription to the Niagara Patriot (printed in Buffalo), discontinued, because it printed the list of vessels arriving at and sailing from Black Rock! ^On one day in July, 1823, there were 23 vessels in Buffalo harbor. The story of the original construction of a harbor at the mouth of Buffalo creek, has been told at length in these Publications. Through the zeal of Samuel Wil'keson and his associates, State aid was secured and construction was begun in May, 1820. That summer a pier of squared timbers, seven feet above the water filled with stone, was extended lakeward some fifty-five rods. The next year, it was extended eighteen rods further, giving a channel of twelve feet draught. The harbor work of the first season greatly strengthened Buffalo’s claim as a desirable canal terminus. The citizens of the village met at Rathbun’s hotel on December 16, 1820. Isaac Kibbe was chairman and Absalom Bull secretary of the meeting. A committee of seven was appointed to correspond with the Canal Commis- sioners "on the subject of connecting the canal with Lake Erie at the mouth of Buffalo creek.” The committee con- sisted of Reuben B. Heacock, Asa Rice, John G. Camp, Absalom Bull, Isaac Kibbe, Heman B. Potter and Joseph W. Moulton. They met again on December 26th, when Mr. Moulton submitted a Memorial which was adopted and ordered printed and circulated for signatures. That Memo- rial, one of the most important documents in the early history of Buffalo, is printed in full in the following pages. The first official expression of Buffalo’s citizens regard- ing the canal project,, was the Memorial of February 6, 1816 [Publications Buffalo Historical Society, XIII, pages312 BUFFALO AND BLACK ROCK .211-213].-. From that date until the end of 1820, there is nothing that may be called a community expression on the canal subject. This Memorial, undoubtedly written by Joseph W. Moulton, is based on the success of the initial harbor work and is, in the main, a fair and temperate state- ment of Buffalo’s claim to become the terminal of the canal. The Memorial had its weight with the Legislature and the Canal Commissioners. The annual report of the com- missioners for 1822, took up at length the conditions on the western extension of the canal and on February 26th word came from Albany that the commissioners had decided to terminate the canal at the Buffalo creek. This, however, by no means put an end to the contention which residents of Black Rock were vigorously making for their own vil- lage. The Act of April 17, 1822, authorized the construc- tion of harbors at both Black Rock and Buffalo and stipu- lated that, if the Buffalo Harbor Company by June 1, 1824, had secured an eight foot channel and could guarantee its permanence, the State would grant in payment for such work a sum not to exceed $12,000. As to Black Rock, the commissioners were authorized to contract with her citizens for the construction of a harbor work “from the head of Bird Island to a point below the rapids near the lower end of Squaw Island,” said work to be completed by December 1, 1823, according to the plan of Engineer James Geddes. Various conditions were stipu- lated which, if carried out, were to bind the commissioners to an allowance not to exceed $12,000. The policy of the State towards the two rival villages up to this point would appear to have been most just, with every disposition to recognize the claims and advantages of both points. The citizens, however, of the two communities, arrayed themselves in hostile camps and carried on for more than two years a cainpaign of mutual charge and countercharge, accusation and misrepresentation which filled the columns of the village papers, attracted attention of the country at large and left seeds of bitterness which rankled in various rivalries for many years to come.313 HARBOR PAPERS. As already noted, the leaders of the forces were Judge Samuel Wilkeson in Buffalo and Gen. Peter B. Porter and his business associates at Black Rock. At the outset Buffalo had the advantage, as it had1 two newspapers through which its claims could 'be urged. Black Rock had no newspaper until. December, 1822, when the Black Rock Beacon was established, with Lewis G. Hoffman as editor. If, however, that community was slow in having a journalistic mouth- piece, it soon made up by the vigorous and outspoken char- acter of its paper. General Porter was regarded as having brought about the establishment of the Beacon, and it was at once his ardent champion and in its attacks upon the citizens of Buffalo went to: lengths and forms of expression which probably General Porter himself never indulged in. Some months before the establishment of the Beacon, General Porter and nineteen other citizens of Black Rock, issued a long statement to the public in refutation of various charges which had appeared in the Buffalo Journal. They claimed that the hew canal law was just and that the Black Rock harbor which it provided for would have five times the capacity of the Buffalo harbor. They charged the Journal with an effort “to force the Canal Commissioners to abandon a village laid out and in a great measure still owned by the State and in which, of course, every citizen is interested and to compel them to expend the whole of the public monies in scraping sand arid digging mud for the exclusive use of Buffalo.” This statement was issued on May 20th. It was promptly replied to by the Buffalo organs, which never tired of directing attention to the success of the new harbor at the mouth of Buffalo creek. A great point at this time in Buffalo’s favor was the. use of Buffalo creek by the new steamboat Superior. The pioneer steamboat of Lake Erie, the Walk-in-the-Water, had been blown on the beach and wrecked about one hundred rods above the old lighthouse in the gale of Thursday, November 1, 1821. Her successor, the Superior, had been built on the banks of Buffalo creek and successfully launched in the waters of that stream,314 BUFFALO AND BLACK ROCK April 13, 1822. There had been no lack of predictions on the part of the Black Rock contingent that disaster was sure to befall her; but as Fate ordered it, the only mishap at the launching befell a worthy citizen of Black Rock, who had his leg broken. The Superior was soon making regular trips up the lake and making her eastern port, not at Black Rock, but at Buffalo, entering the newly dredged mouth of the creek without difficulty. In June, the Canal Commissioners came to Buffalo to inspect the situation, and on the 12th inst. adopted this resolution: “Whereas, Some doubts exist as to the permanency of the works connected with the plan submitted for constructing a basin at Black Rock; therefore, Resolved, That Peter B. Porter and his associates be advised that, if they succeed in a fair experiment by constructing, ten or more rods of the pier on the plan submitted by them, at some point nearly central, between Brace's storehouse and the second angle east from Bird Island, by the first day of May or June next, to the satisfaction of the Canal Commissioners, that they will then con- tract with them for making a basin and harbor according to their proposition, or recommend to the Legislature to pass a law refund- ing the amount of such expenditure and that the acting Canal Com- missioners on the Western section of the Erie canal be advised to put under contract the canal line from Little Buffalo [Creek] to some point nearly opposite Bird Island this season.” While the contest between Buffalo and Black Rock was at its height, there appeared in the Albany Argus, over the signature of “Projector/’ a suggestion that the future great city at the east end of Lake Erie should not be developed either on Buffalo creek or four miles down, the river, but at the upper end of Grand Island, which “Projector” argued was “beautiful, highly elevated, healthy, and the property of the State/’ “The lake vessels and canal boats,” he con- tinued, “may pass all around it; a bridge thrown over to the island, and the future city of Erie laid out there, the sum raised from the sale of lots in one year would defray all the expense of the mound, lock and bridge.” Nearly aHARBOR PAPERS. 315 century has passed, Buffalo and Black Rock, Tonawanda and other points have grown into one great community, peopling the whole east bank of the Niagara; but Grand Island still remains a rural, sylvan spot, with no commercial or urban development, and unconnected with the mainland by a single bridge. Before the close of the year 1822 there was issued from Hoffman's press at Black Rock a pamphlet entitled: “Docu- ments relating to the Western Termination of the Erie Canal; with explanations and remarks. Published by direction of the Black Rock Harbor Company/' It is the first book bearing a Black Rock imprint, nor has it, indeed, many successors, that community never having greatly developed as a publishing center. This pamphlet of 60 pages is a book of no little importance in our local literature. Undoubtedly prepared by General Porter or under his direction, its purpose was to demonstrate the desirability of a harbor constructed as canal terminus at Black Rock. “Whether a harbor can or cannot be made at Buffalo creek/’, said the preface, “every consideration connected with the usefulness and reputation of the canal or the economy of the treasury, conspires in recommending the construction of one at Black Rock, in case the experiment now in operation shall succeed.” The pamphlet contained David Thomas’ report of October 15, 1819, which was favorable to Buffalo interests, and which had encouraged Judge Wilkeson and his friends to secure a loan from the State and improve the entrance to Buffalo creek. William Peacock had made the first survey of Buffalo harbor, acting for the Holland Land Company. His report, submitted to the Legislature in 1819, favored a stone pier, to extend 990 feet into Lake Erie; but the cost was against the use of stone. David Thomas arrived in Buffalo, September 3, 1819,— after Mr.; Peacock had made his survey—to examine the situation and report to the canal commissioners as to local harbor conditions. Some record of the work of Mr. Thomas should be preserved in local annals, for he bore an316 BUFFALO AND BLACK ROCK important part in the making of Buffalo’s harbor—and the builders of Buffalo’s harbor made possible the building of Buffalo, Born in 1776 of a Quaker family, in Montgomery Co., Pa., he had gained a high reputation as a civil engineer before New York’s: era of canal construction set in. In 1805 he settled near Aurora, Cayuga Co. In the summer of 1816, he made a western tour, which brought him to Buffalo, May 25th. In the account of his travels, which he published at Auburn in 1819, he gives a brief but graphic glimpse of Buffalo: “This village consists of more than 100 houses; many are frame, several of brick, and a considerable number are large and elegant. They have been principally built during the last season, on the site of the old village, which was burnt down by the British and Indians, near the close of the year 1813. The black sills of former buildings still remain, and in him, who looks on man as his brother, it must excite painful reflections. At this place, a ship navigation com- mences of more than one thousand miles in length. The term of ‘Inland Seas’ may be hsed here with much propriety; and from its general excellence, the soil that surrounds them, must one day sup- port a vast population. Give their commerce an outlet to the ocean, and these shores will rival in prosperity those of the Mediter- ranean. ... “Our course, a few miles east of Buffalo, had been to the south- west; but now we turned southeastwardly, and went up the creek of that name, a fine smooth stream, 15 or 20 rods wide, one mile to the ferry. On both sides, the soil is a cold yellow clay, timbered with shrubby beech. The manner of conducting business, at this ferry, merits severe reprehension. In jumping from the wharf, into the boat, our horses were in danger of breaking their legs and necks; and on landing on the opposite shore, we were compelled to climb a causeway of large logs, over which, for a considerable distance, the wagon was kept bouncing, and the horses in continued jeopardy. Whether the proprietor has been licensed to exact money from the traveler in this manner, or not, merits an enquiry.” Mr. Thomas continued his journey along the Lake Erie beach,, making numerous observations of interest. His remark above italicized shows that he foresaw the effect of the proposed canal. A few weeks after Mr. Thomas had passed through Buffalo village, De Witt Clinton and othersHARBOR PAPERS. 317 arrived on the spot, to make their first reconnaissance for the great work. Mr. Clinton’s impressions of Buffalo in July, 1816, are given among the documents that follow. Soon after his return from his western tour, which had extended into Indiana, Mr. Thomas was employed as an engineer on the canal. Throughout the period of construc- tion and for some years thereafter, he was prominent in his field of work. He was made chief engineer of construction west of Rochester, and remained in the State service until 1830. He later became principal engineer of the Welland canal. Our ^ immediate interest in him, however, relates to his part in ‘the original harbor construction and the controversy with Black Rock. In their report for 1820, the Canal Com- missioners approved his survey, plans and estimates; and Buffalo thereupon proceeded with construction, using the $12,000 loaned by the State. The next year Mr. Thomas, now in the employ of the State, made harbor and canal surveys at Black Rock; but General Porter and his friends at that place, protested that Mr. Thomas was superficial in his examination, prejudiced in favor of Buffalo, and lacking in skill and judgment. He made, at this time, a report recommending the extension of the canal along the river bank, to a junction with Buffalo creek. : In December, 1821, James Geddes, an engineer of experi- ence, made a study of Black Rock harbor conditions. He reached the conclusion that the project of uniting the islands in the river by mounds, was not practicable. A year of con- tention but no results, went by. The decision as to just what should be done was referred by the Canal Commis- sioners to a board of four engineers—Benjamin Wright, David Thomas, Nathan S. Roberts and Canvass White. They reported* February 12, 1822, that “the canal ought to be continued to, and terminate in, Buffalo creek, near the mouth of Little Buffalo creek.” This report did not satisfy Black Rock. Memorials were submitted to the Legislature, and on April. 17th the act was passed which provided for harbor construction at Buffalo and Black Rock. When the318 BUFFALO AND BLACK ROCK Canal Board met in Buffalo, in June, the Black Rock Harbor Company submitted an elaborate project for a harbor at Black Rock. It was signed by General Porter, Nathaniel Sill, Sheldon Thompson, James Rough, Augustus Porter and Benjamin Barton. It proposed, in brief, the building of a mole some two miles long, connecting Bir*d and Squaw islands, with a dam at the lower end. Two places, varying in detail, were submitted, and their advantages argued at much length. As the commissioners entertained doubts as to the permanency of such a work as the Black Rock Harbor Company advocated, they adopted a resolution to the effect that the Black Rock company should build io or more rods of the pier or mole as an experiment; and that if, by the first of May or June following, it was found satisfactory, the State would refund the cost and contract for the completion of the work. At the same time, the extension of the canal along the river bank to Buffalo was ordered put under contract. The above outline of steps taken, it is hoped, will make plain the purport of some of the documents that follow. The Black Rock Harbor Company, in the pamphlet referred to, printed the various reports and other documents. They added a few pages of criticism, directed especially against Mr. Thomas and his recommendations. William A. Bird contributed a statement regarding the current opposite the mouth of Buffalo creek; and other statements, from Cap- tain W. T. Miller and Elijah Leach, were printed, all to the general purport that the currents and sand deposits made harbor conditions less favorable at Buffalo creek than at Black Rock. The Buffalo Harbor Committee promptly issued a pamphlet in defense of their side of the case. It is entitled: “Documents and brief remarks, in reply to the pamphlet written by General Porter,” etc. It was first published at Albany, in December, 1822, and the following January was issued in Buffalo by David M. Day, editor of the Buffalo Journal. This work has not the documentary value of the Black Rock publication, and consists chiefly of a ratherHARBOR PAPERS. 319 heated argument designed to show that General Porter's project was “wild and unattainable/' It charged him with having tried to block the construction of the canal in Western New York, the theory being that he feared it would ruin his profitable business at the Niagara portage. Various other charges and insinuations were made, and although it was an able and vigorous argument in behalf of Buffalo the tone of the pamphlet was bitter and vin- dictive. A sworn statement from Captain Miller was printed, by way of offset to his contribution to his Black Rock friends in which he set forth that it had been the practice of vessel masters, bound down, if they found they could not reach Bird Island by daylight, to lay to in the lake above Point Abino, and wait for daylight to run down to Black Rock; but since the construction of the harbor at Buffalo creek, which he testified was “safe, secure and commodious for all vessels navigating the lake," vessels coming down could enter it both by night and by day. During the past season, he added, while sailing master and pilot of the steamboat Superior, “he arrived at the mouth of Buffalo creek, during a dark and hazy night, and by causing a light to be placed on the outer end of the Pier, he brought the said vessel into the harbor with great ease and with the most perfect safety." He testified further regarding the channel in the Niagara, and the whole was sworn to before Justice of the Peace Philander Bennett, on February 3, 1823. This and other sworn statements of similar purport, brought out an in- teresting statement from another veteran navigator of the lakes, Captain James Rough. As his letter is probably nowhere to be found except in the scarce and forgotten files of the Black Rock Beacon, it is given place among the documents in our collection. In Buffalo, the first actual work on the great enterprise was on Friday; August 9, 1823, on which day ground was broken at the bend of Little Buffalo creek near the place originally pointed out by Mr. Peacock. The citizens assem- bled at the Eagle Tavern at 9 in the morning and, to quote826 BUFFALO AND BLACK ROCK the account given by the Buffalo Patriot, ‘'marched in handsome order'through the village to the place where the canal is to terminate and first receive into its bosom the waters of Lake Brie; Here was hoisted a National flag and a cannon planted upon an eminence at a little distance from the interesting spot.” The Rev.. Miles P. Squier offered prayer and was followed by the Rev. Elon Galusha, wh6 made a long and ardent discourse. When these cere- monies were ended, several of the oldest citizens threw up the first earth with shovels. Six men were selected as haying lived in Buffalo longer than their neighbors. They were Vincent Grant, Major Wells, Gpl. \Cyrenius Chapin, Judge Barker, Ebenezer Walden and Benjamin Hodge. The first: few shovelfuls being removed, several teams, which had been placed upon the line of the canal, were moved forward and followed by the procession marching to music, while the little cannon thundered another salute. The throng moved down the line of the canal about half a mile towards Black Rock, “where,” says the Patriot, “the citizens partook: of a beverage furnished by the contractors.” The nature of the beverage is not specified, but a few weeks later we find this loyal Buffalo paper making what defence it could against the ribald accusation of Eastern journals which managed to present this great occasion in the light of a wild orgie. To the Buffalo citizen of 1823, it was an event full of promise and encouragement. To quote once more from the enthusiastic Patriot, “All were united in the same in- terest, the same feeling and the same sentiment. Political views and personal animosities were lost in the greatness of the scene and nothing was heard but one universal expres- sion of heartfelt approbation.”1 The initial work on this westernmost section of the canal was divided up into seven parts, extending from the junc- tion of Little Buffalo creek to a point on the Niagara river 1. For an account of these proceedings by one who shared in them, see "How Buffalo Dug the Canal,” by William Hodge, Publications Buffalo His- torical Society, XIII, pp. 387-390.HARBOR PAPERS. 321 bank opposite Bird Island, about one and three fourths miles. The contractors for this work were: First section, Zerah Averel; second and third, John G. Camp; fourth, fifth, sixth and seventh, Lester Brace. These contracts were awarded by Col. William C. Bouck, acting commissioner for the western section, on August 2, 1822. For a time, excavation was pushed ahead with great vigor. On one occasion, during the summer, the Patriot devoted a paragraph to the handsome record which eight men had made, in removing 203 cubic yards of earth in eleven hours! The day of great steam diggers and electric shovels had not yet arrived. * The contractors soon found unforeseen difficulties in excavation. Qn account of the excessive cost, for which they had no guarantee of being reimbursed by the State, they abandoned their contracts and in August, 1823, all work on this section was suspended. Once more Buffalo was on the verge of despair lest the full benefits of the great enterprise were after all to be denied her. Her citizens, even before the cessation of the work, foreseeing the difficulties, on July 22, joined in a petition to the Commissioners that the work be continued and offering to build the canal along the margin of the river from the Black Rock harbor to Buffalo creek, guaranteeing its com- pletion by October r, 1824, provided the State would agree to recompense them to the amount of $30,000. This peti- tion, signed by Albert H. Tracy, Samuel Wilkeson, Oliver Forward and Reuben B. Heacock, beyond question had great weight with the commissioners. When1 the work was discontinued, engineers had been instructed1 to provide, if possible, for a canal of higher level, thus lessening the amount of excavation and still securing to the canal the desired supply from Buffalo creek and Lake Erie as a head. By October, however, the engineers had decided to make no change of level. New contractors were found to undertake the work and it was resumed, with the glad assurance that it would be completed according to the origi- nal plan to a junction with Little Buffalo creek.HARBOR PAPERS. The preceding notes, it is believed, will sufficiently ex- plain the situation to make readily apparent the bearing of the letters and documents that follow. The letters have never been published. The other documents are scarce, but little known, and seldom available to students. This is par- ticularly the case with the old broadsides or posters, which, like the first one in the collection, recall the political aspects of the matter. This handbill, the heading of which is here reproduced in reduced facsimile, was issued soon after the passage of the Act of April 17, 1816, which fixed the number of canal commissioners at five instead of thirteen, and limited their expenditure to $20,000. It illustrates the state of political feeling in the “Western District,” which included the sixteen westernmost counties of the State- several of them, like Niagara, subsequently being divided. In general, the people of the Western District were strong Clintonians, and ardent advocates of the canal.A PARTISAN POSTER OF 1816 The Grand Canal DEFEATED, BY A Democratic Senate. To the Electors of the Western District.1 During the last session of the Legislature, at Albany, the House of Assembly passed a bill for the purpose of commencing that stupendous work, the formation of a Canal from Lake Erie to the Hudson river. It passed the House by a large majority: if we are correctly informed, about 84 to 15. The bill appointed thirteen directors, and author- ized them to proceed to fix on the proper route for the Canal, to commence their operations from the village of Rome to the Seneca river, and appropriated the sum of two hundred and' fifty thousand dollars a year, to be laid out in the formation of the Canal, until the sum of two millions of dollars should be expended. This bill went to the Senate, where it was very soon apparent it would meet with direct or indirect opposition from the democratic majority of that house. At the same time, as it was a popular object, it became very necessary 1. The entire heading is in reduced facsimile of the heading of the original poster. 32J324 BUFFALO AND BLACK ROCK to conceal the hostility of the Governor, Lieutenant Gov- ernor, and their strongest friends in the Senate, to that great national work, lest it might affect their popularity at the approaching election. Accordingly, want of time to discuss the subject, was urged as a reason for not passing it, although it had been, in one shape and another, before the public, long previous to the commencement of the session, and had occupied the attention of the Legislature more than any other matter before them. To suppose that the Senate wanted time is absurd. The first step towards its destruction was a motion by Mr. Van Buren to strike out a large portion of the Bill which the house had passed—- and the second was to form a new one, which leaves the business in a worse situation than if it had never been taken up. This Bill from the Senate, reduces the number of Directors to five, and appropriates the sum of twenty thousand dollars, to enable the Commissioners to explore and survey the country, fix the route and to beg contribu- tions to carry it on—and that is all. On Mr. Van Buren’s motion to strike out all the sections of the Bill, after the 5th, the yeas and nays were as follows1: Yeas—Messrs. Barker, Bates, Bicknell, Cantine, CLARK, Crosby, Dayton, Elmendorf, Frey, Hager, Hascall, Keyes, Livingston, Loomis, Ogden, Ross, Swift, Van Buren, Verbryck—20. Nays—Messrs. Allen, Atwater, Cochran, Radcliff, Seymour, Stewart, Tibbits, Van Vechten, Wendell —9.2 After the Bill from the Assembly had been amended by striking out in the manner just mentioned; a substitute was introduced and carried by a large majority, and among 1. These were all members of the Assembly, 40th session, which ended April 14, 1817. The full names with corrected spelling are: Jacob Barker, Stephen Bates, Bennet Bicknell, Moses I. Cantine, Archibald S. Clarke, Darius Crosby, Jonathan Dayton, Lucas Elmendorff, Henry J. Frey, Henry Hager, Ralph Hascall, Perley Keyes, Peter R. Livingston, Chauncey Loomis, Isaac Ogden, William Ross, Philetus Swift, Martin Van Buren, Samuel G. Verbryck, David Allen, Russell Attwater, James Cochran, Peter W. Radcliff, Henry Seymour, Samuel Stewart, George Tibbits, Abraham Van Vechten, Gerrit Wendell. 2. A footnote on the original handbill asks: “Where was Mr. Bloodgood?” This and the capitalization of Clark’s name perhaps indicate in whose district, or special interest, the poster was issued.HARBOR PAPERS. 325 them are the names of Messrs. Atwater, Bates, Bicknell, Bloodgood, Clark, Loomis, Seymour and Swift. In this way, and by democratic opposition, this great object, so interesting to the whole state, and' particularly to the Western District, has been defeated. Had the demo- cratic majority in the Senate been at all sincerely disposed to forward the Canal, it was completely in their power, because they were a very large majority.—Instead of which, Mr. Van Buren, the confidential friend of Governor Tomp- kins, and confessedly the most influential man with his party in the Senate, destroyed the bill passed in Assembly, by moving to strike out its most essential provisions. The pretence that the Senate had not time to discuss the subject is shewn to be a mere pretence, because on the last night of the session, they found' time enough to form a new bill, in the room of that which had gone through the Assembly, and pass it also. But the loss of the measure is not the whole extent of evil. The bill passed is a disgrace to the state. After a spirit almost enthusiastic had been kindled up in all parts of the state, & petitions from every quarter had been poured into the Legislature, and the opinions of an immense num- ber of the most learned, skilful and distinguished men in the community had been obtained in favor of the practicability of the project, the Senate force the Assembly to accept of a bill going no further than to provide for surveys, &c. which had already been made, & to appropriate the pitiful sum of TWENTY THOUSAND DOLLARS, to commence opera- tions on the most magnificent, and when completed, the most useful measure that was ever undertaken.—The eyes of the whole United States have been directed towards this canal, and the admiration of some of them, and the jealousy of others, greatly excited at the spirit and liberality with which it was brought into notice. What is the result? The cities, towns and villages and individuals, who have peti- tioned that it might be undertaken, are disgraced, and the interests of the Western District sacrificed by its own Senators, as well as others, to mean party spirit.326 HARBOR PAPERS. At the same time, the Canadians are pushing their project of Canalling on their side, with great spirit. They will at least have the start of us by one year, and if, as appears by an article from a late Montreal paper, they do accomplish their object, they calculate with certainty that it will entirely defeat ours. Will the electors support men who are thus regardless of their most important interests? It appears that but 2 federal Senators voted in favor of Mr. Van Buren’s motion to strike out the bill from the Assembly. The federalists as a body, have adhered closely to our interests—To the per- manent interests of the Western District especially, while the Senators from this part of the state have generally voted against them. Let us then turn our attention to a different set of men—to men who will consult the good of their own constituents, and the honor and welfare of the state—not sacrifice them to promote the views of an in- triguing and selfish party. N. B. Notwithstanding the complaint of the want of time, to discuss the Canal Bill, time sufficient was found to raise the salaries of the Governor $2000; Supreme Judges each $1000; and those of one of the Clerks of the Supreme Court, and of the Superintendent of the Salt Works at Salina.DE WITT CLINTON’S CANAL VISIT TO BUFFALO IN 18161 Buffalo, 28 July, 1816. My dear Sir: ... All the commissioners are here except V. Rennselaer. . . . We had a full board at Utica, with the exception of Ellicott, who was detained at home by indisposition. We have as hitherto proceeded with the most perfect harmony, and everything presages well. The whole route of this as well as the Champlain canal will be finished in season. Our measures will unite prudence and energy. Our business here is to locate the source of the canal. We will then move eastwardly, examining the land and the water with a scrutinizing eye, superintending our operations, and exploring all our facilities and embarrassments. I have had the pleasure of seeing many of our friends, and all seem to be so. The people of this country are un- commonly intelligent. The pretended constitutional diffi- culties are viewed with the most supreme contempt. I write this with a view of Lake Erie from my open window. The wind northerly, and the surface of this sea gently ruffled—a square-rigged vessel sailing up the lake— a sail-boat passing to Canada, and a British vessel of war in sight. A little to the right is the site of Fort Erie, and before me I see the remains of a house destroyed in the general conflagration of this place. Some of our red brethren are in the street, and on the ruins of an old battery are some young gentlemen from the South contemplating the magnificent scenery of the lake. When we look to the 1. This and the following letter, were written by Mr. Clinton, during his tour of inspection as canal commissioner, to his friend Col. Henry Post of New York City. The letters are given in John Bigelow’s article, “DeWitt Clinton as a Politician,” which appeared in Harper’s Magazine, February, 1875, but are not known t BLACK ROCK ADVOCATES TO ENGINEER THOMAS. Black Rock Deer 4, 1822. Sir: We are informed, we know not how correctly, that one object of your present visit to this place is to make an estimate of the expense of cutting a canal along the shore opposite to Black Rock.BUFFALO AND BLACK ROCK You are aware, we presume, that such an estimate may have a most important bearing on the contract which the Legislature have authorized the Canal Commissioners to make with the citizens of Black Rock for the construction of a Harbor, and that the B. Rock Harbor Company of which we are the agents, have already expended consider- able sums of money in anticipation of such a contract. The strong interest which the Company has in this esti- mate must constitute our apology for this letter, the object of which is to request the favour of you to inform us whether such an estimate is about to be made? and, if so, whether it is done by direction of the Companies, or any or either of them, & for what purpose? Mr. Bouck left here this morning and as he was [ms. defective] you [ms. defective] similar inquiries were made of him, to which he replied that he had directed no such estimate himself, nor was he aware that any other Comr had done so—and he added that, in his opinion, such an estimate at this time would be premature & unadvised. To prevent any future mistakes on this subject, we shall esteem it a favor to receive your answer in writing. Should this be declined we will call on you personally to make the inquiry. Yours respectfully N. Sill S. Thompson D. Thomas, Engineer &c &c. BUFFALO TO BLACK ROCK—A FAIR WARNING! Buffalo 7 Jan 1823. Gen. P. B. Porter Sir: The citizens of Buffalo will Shortly proceed to Examine your Black rock pier measuring the depth of the water the distance from shore etc and will also proceed to take such measure of the depth of watter in Buffalo har- bor & creek & ascertaining such other facts as is proper to be known relating to both places (Buffalo & Black rock).HARBOR PAPERS. 361 & to prevent contradictory statements it would be desirable that at the proposed Examination you or some of your friends should be present understanding that you are about leaving home for albany we deem it proper to advise you of our intentions that previous to your departure you may arrange with some of your friends to attend when we shall give them notice. Yours very Respectfully S. Wiliceson Ch. Townsend. [Endorsed in Gen. Porter's hand: “Rec'd Jany 8, 1823, nj^ a. m.”] CYRENIUS CHAPIN TO GENERAL PORTER. Buffalo Jan 8 1823. Sir : According to notice given to you here to fore we are this afternoon about examining your harbor or pier to ascertain persisely the Depth the with [width] &e There- fore you will send or come your self imrnediately that every think [thing] might be done fair Yours with respect Cyrenius Chapin To General P. B. Porter. GENERAL PORTER URGES THE CLAIMS OF BLACK ROCK. Sir: In accordance with the views expressed to you in conversation last evening, I now declare, That if the State should think proper to terminate the Erie Canar at the lower end of the proposed harbor of Black Rock on the Niagara River, and thereby save not only the expense of 4^2 miles of very difficult canal from that place to Buffalo Creek, but also the expense of con- structing any harbors or harbor at either place, I will pro- cure a company of undoubted responsibility who will un-362 BUFFALO AND BLACK ROCK dertake to construct a harbor to connect with the canal on the plan submitted by the Black Rock Harbor Company to the Canal Commissioners in June last, and who will give satisfactory security to complete the work by December 1824, and to keep it thereafter in constant repair. Provided however & on condition that the State shall grant to the company for the accommodation of its estab- lishments one half of the narrow strip of land lying be-* tween Main street & the river. That the company shall be allowed to charge a reasonable port or harbor fee on all vessels using said harbor, and have the exclusive right of using the waters- of the harbor for hydraulic purposes, in such manner as not to injure the navigation—and provided further that the State will not, at its own expense, construct a free harbor in the vicinity of that place, altho’ no objec- tion will be made by the company to the construction of any harbor, whether free or subject to charges, if the same be made by the private enterprise either of the citizens of Buffalo or any other persons. I have not thought proper to make this proposition to the Legislature as a substitute for the Bill now depending before the Assembly relative to the Black Rock harbor— Because after witnessing the violent & extraordinary oppo- sition making by certain citizens of Buffalo to the simple & just proposition contained in that Bill, and their ungenerous attempt to defeat it by casting an unmerited obliquy on my conduct, 1 can readily foresee the storm which would be raised against a proposition so much more seriously affect- ing their interests, however advantageous to the State. Avoiding therefore to connect this proposition in any shape with the Bill now before the house, I can only say that if the Legislature should at any time hereafter think fit to pass a law authorizing the Canal Commissioners to make such proposals, I pledge myself that they will be read- ily accepted. ,r .. J 1 Yours respectfully P. B. Porter Mar. 22, 1823. Honble Mr. SeamanHARBOR PAPERS. 363 AN AFFIDAVIT FAVORABLE TO BLACK ROCK. Black Rock, June 7th, 1823. I certify that during the last, as well as the present Sea- son, I have saild in the capacity of Master of the Schooner Erie, burthen 77 Tons belonging to S. Thompson & Co. of Black Rock. That in November last I went into Buffalo creek with said schooner & took a cargo on board for De- troit. That in attempting to go out of the Harbor my vessel grounded on what is called the inner or Clay Bar nearly abreast of the light house, there not being sufficient depth of water to float her across ; but I was enabled after discharging a large flatt load of her cargo, to draw her over the Bar by her cables, when (supposing that I had pass’d the shoalest water) I reshipped the goods I had taken out. The next morning however in attempting again to proceed into the Lake I again grounded on a sand or gravel Bar near the outer end of the pier, although I found my vessel directly in the channel or deepest water; and here I was obliged to discharge three flatt loads (being about one third of my cargo) two of which I landed on the shore, before I could get my vessel over the Bar. William T. Pease. Erie County ss. William Pease master of the schooner Erie being duly sworn deposeth and saith that the facts set forth in the foregoing certificate which is signed with his hand are true —and further this deponent saith not William T. Pease. Sworn & subscribed before me this 9th day of June, 1823. Nathaniel Sill Justice of the Peace.BUFFALO AND BLACK ROCK ORIGINAL BLACK ROCK HARBOR WORK. Statement of Expenditures on the B. Rock Harbor to March 18, 1824: Building 90 rods pier at the average cost......$14,727.00 “ Squaw Island Embankment 210 Rods. 3,372.80 40,000 feet timber on hand at 4^/2 cts pr foot ... 1,800.00 4,200 cords stone on hand at 12/ pr cord ..... 6,300.00 Advances to timber contractors and framers ... 5,540.91 Building 18 scows @ $90 ea. .................. 1,620.00 advanced for building 2 stone boats........... 300.00 Building shanties ............................ 200.00 Paid for 10 yoke oxen @ $65 ........... 650.00 “ “ Tools rigging &c. ..................... 350.00 “ “ plank & scantling ................. 200.00 $35>o6o.7! Excavation on the rock section of canal according to a measurement made by Mr. Price ass't Engineer ........... .$4,850.19 Expenditure in procuring timber and other materials for ship lock ...... 1,500.00 6,350.19 $41,410.90 The above statement is only of such monies as have been actually paid out for timber, stone, &c. We have paid out large sums for Provisions & have contracted for others, and the moment the navigation opens the Timber & other con- tractors will call on us for very heavy amounts. W. A. Bird.HARBOR PAPERS. 365 URGENT NEED OF A GUARD DAM, 1824. Mess. A. Porter S. Thomson & W. A. Bird, Esquires, Agents for the Black Rock harbor company: Gentlemen : The condition of the Ship Lock & of the Dam now constructing in and across the branch of Niagara River (which is to connect the Embankment on Squaw Island and the Piers from thence to Bird Island to the Erie Canal) at the lower end of Black Rock Harbor, is, such as to make it necessary in order that the same may be secured from accidents and be properly constructed that a Guard Dam of moveable piers be constructed across the said Black Rock Harbor for the purpose of diverting the current, so that said Ship Lock & Dam may be suhk gravelled & com- pleted in still water,—-and As the risque and expense of sinking said Lock & Dam is very great it is absolutely necessary that a Guard- dam should be built & not only for the proper construction of said Lock & Dam, but to guard them in their unfinished state against those violent storms which so frequently agi- tate Lake Erie at this season of the year & which might be attended With disasterous consequences especially to the Ship Lock, and which I consider it my duty to take meas- ures to guard against, as far as my duty will authorize, or warrant. The most suitable plan for constructing said Guard Dam is in my opinion near the old Ferry where the shore & bot- tom of the river is Rock and the Harbor though deep is not so wide as usual. Said Guard Dam to remain across said Harbor till the works below are completed and until the canal commissioners shall order its removal. Prudence and Economy makes it necessary that I should request you to construct said Guard Dam immediately but whether the expense of it is to be borne by the Harbor Company, or by the State, is not my province, but that of the canal commis- sioners to determine. Yours with respects. Nathan S. Roberts Principal Engineer Black Rock, ist October, 1824.BUFFALO AND BLACK ROCK ONE OF ENGINEER THOMAS' REPORTS.1 As the plan of connecting the Canal by a harbour ex- tending from the Tonnewanta creek up the Niagara river could only be completed at an enormous expense; as the prevailing winds down the river would occasion the most injurious delays to vessels navigating the lake; and as large bodies of valuable land would be converted into pes- tilential marshes, it is presumed that our enquiries may be limited by the proposed harbour at Black rock & at Buffalo. At Buffalo the channel of the creek forms a harbour about 12 rods- wide and 11 feet deep with a bold shore & a clayey bottom. It preserves this character more than a mile from its mouth. No sand or gravel is carried down the creek, and that which obstructs the entrance has drifted from other quar- ters. It must therefore be evident that two piers, like those now erected, but of greater extent, made so tight that sand cannot wash through, will effectually guard the passage: and that if the alluvial matter now lying between them be removed, which would be a work within reasonable limits of expense without the aid of freshets, a secure harbour for all vessels navigating the lake, will be obtained. Any sand bar which might hereafter form within the piers would ac- cumulate very slowly, and be removed without difficulty. I have made an estimate of the expense of a Canal from the site of the dam below Scajaquada creek to Buffalo, which is $68,000. To connect the west part of Bird Island with the upper point of Squaw Island will require a pier 133 chains in length. The bottom is limestone with a considerable dip 1. For David Thomas’ report on survey of Buffalo Harbor, dated Oct. 15, 1819, see “Laws ... in relation to the Erie and Champlain Canals,” etc., Albany, 1825, vol. I., pp. 482-489. Other documents pertaining to this subject, now in print, include: “Memorial of Samuel Wilkeson, on the subject of the Black Rock and Buffalo Harbors,” in Assembly, March 6, 1823; “Propositions by the Black Rock Harbor Company, to the Canal Commissioners,” June 1, 1822; “Memorial of the Black Rock Harbor Company to the Canal Commis- sioners, June 20, 1827; and various papers accompanying the annual reports of the Canal Commissioners, and the legislative committees on canals and in- ternal improvements.HARBOR PAPERS. 367 towards the Canada shore but. perhaps a right line ought to be preferred. This will give an average depth of about 14 ft. and the greatest depth of water nearly 19 ft. The soundings taken parallel to the shore, indicate rock, for small distances interrupted by removals of part of the strata, in places to the depth of 2 feet. In the most rapid part of the current, the velocity has been stated at 7 miles an hour; but this doubtless varies with the fluctuations of the lake, and in heavy gales must be considerably increased. From the upper point of Squaw Island to the most eligible site for the dam is 65 chains, and this will require an embankment. The length of the dam will be nearly 40 rods, the average depth of water 11 feet and the greatest depth more than 14 feet. The breadth of the harbour will average about 40 rods which is nearly the distance of Squaw Island from the main shore, but opposite to the warehouses at Black rock it will be contracted to 30 rods and near Bird Island ex- panded to 80 rods. At Scajaquada Creek, the surface of the river was 9 inches higher than the bottom line of the Canal; and just above the proposed termination of the pier the surface of the lake was 1 foot lower than at Buffalo; but it is be- lieved that this defect will be more than supplied by ob- structing the current on the east side of Bird Island. This advantage however is not unattended with diffi- culty. We have no right to inundate the shores of our neighbors; and though there may be no complaint from the governments of Pennsylvania, Ohio, or Michigan, yet we can expect no indulgence from the commercial jealousy of Britain, for independent of any damage from that cause, by turning the waters of the Niagara on the Canada side, we should greatly increase the velocity of the current. This harbour would afford but little anchoring ground. The channel from Bird Island down to Scajaquada Creek is rock with the exception of a small tract of clay in front of Black Rock village. In winter it will be incommoded by drift-ice. This may be driven in by the wind; and unless the pier be raisedBUFFALO AND BLACK ROCK higher than necessary for calm weather, a great body of water must fall over it in heavy gales, and consequently a current would set into the harbour. A bar would soon be formed at the entrance. Sand is collected in vast quantities on the shore near Bird Island, and would be taken up by the waves and rolled into the har- bour, in the same manner as it has been deposited in Buf- falo creek. Sand is also brought down by drift-ice. The pier will be in danger from the fields of ice which are driven down the lake by, the winds, and drawn into the Niagara with increased velocity; but should it have weight and strength enough to withstand the pressure, the timber in a few years must be cut away by the angles of such pon- derous bodies. It is dangerous for vessels to approach the reefs above Bird Island in rough weather; and' to bear round them on the right renders it necessary to tack near a lee shore. It has been suggested however that vessels coming down the lake in heavy gales, may take the Fort Erie channel, which though narrow is straight, and sheltered by the Canadian side; and after sailing below Squaw Island, pass into the harbour through a lock to be provided for that purpose. Should a light house be erected near the channel, this plan would doubtless remove the difficulty. But in case of an enemy’s possessing the opposite shore this privilege must be relinquished, and indeed every part of the harbour would be within point blank shot of their cannon; nor would this be the greatest evil, for a part of the pier could be readily destroyed, and in summer more than 90 miles of canal be rendered useless. The difficulty of repairing such a work ought not to be overlooked; and when the bottom shall be strewed with logs partly covered by stone, it will [be] an arduous task. The prevailing winds will be unfavorable to the depar- ture of vessels from this harbour. By adopting this plan, the ferry at Black rock which is a great convenience to travellers, and a source of some rev- enue to the State, must be relinquished. From all these circumstances, I consider the erection of, 369 HARBOR PAPERS. a pier in the Niagara River as an experiment of great risk for very inadequate advantages, and which may embroil us with other governments while for less sums a canal may be [made] of imperishable materials and which could not be extensively injured by any sudden irruption of an enemy. D. Thomas "copy OF A LETTER FROM DAVID THOMAS, PRINCIPAL ENGINEER ON THE ERIE CANAL, WEST OF THE GENESEE RIVER TO A GENTLEMAN IN ALBANY/’ 1 I have read the Black Rock Harbour Company’s pamphlet: had I not known some of these characters, I would have hoped that difference of opinion would call forth argument, and not abuse; but I am not disappointed, and can readily make an explanation, if not an apology for their conduct. They have been engaged more than 3 years in a neighbourhood quarrel; and though to be on the wrong and weaker side, may have improved their rhetoric, it is unfavourable to good manners and1 elevation of sentiment. I looked, indeed, for some account of my speculations in Buffalo lots, which they or their friends so liberally circu- lated last winter, but found it not. I cannot determine whether this was an oversight ; an indication of returning shame; or some remaining trace of decency; whether I am to be thankful for lenity ; expect the slander to circulate in whispers; or wait its appearance in pamphlet form. I offended by reporting against their plans; and in issuing this pamphlet they have consulted their interests not less than their resentment. To impair the confidence of the commissioners and the public in my capacity, had become their only resort, nor would I object to this course had they conformed to the principles which govern honorable men; and had not by their disregard of truth, distortion of facts, 1. This letter, not dated, hut evidently written soon after the appearance of the Black Rock Harbor Company’s pamphlet in 1822, was printed with the heading as here given, in broadside form, and no doubt had 3 wide distribution.370 BUFFALO AND BLACK ROCK and malicious aspersions, evinced1 their belief that “the end will sanctify the means." It is true, that much of the language is so intemperate as tc defeat its own purpose; and many of the arguments so perverted as to apprize the reader of their insincerity; but some of their calumnies, it is proper to repel. It is not true that I have not consulted and paid due respect to the people of Black Rock, as well as of Buffalo. It is not true that I have adopted any man’s opinions in regard to the harbor, without carefully considering the motive and the tendency. It is not true that I made no personal examination. I spent parts of three days in taking soundings in Black Rock harbor, and afterward sent my assistant, now a resident engineer, to ascertain some farther particulars. I expected to receive orders to make a report, and informed myself of all the principal facts. It is characteristic of that author to deal in irrelevant matter, and by enlarging on trivial subjects induce his reader to think that something has been said to the purpose. For example: In 1819, a very respectable lake captain mentioned to me the velocity of the current opposite the mouth of Buffalo Creek, and which I inadvertently copied from my memoranda into the report. It had no bearing on the harbour question, nor did I found on it, any argu- ment whatever; yet two whole pages are devoted to raising the wind round this trifle. Whether it is so or not, I have never thought it worth while to examine. I shall be compelled to leave many things for another letter; but the pretended extracts from my report are mere fabrications, and the harbour company knpw who invented them. I have never felt any hostility to the interest of Black Rock. I was gratified last season when I found we should confer on them all the benefits of the canal, and preserve to them all the advantages of their present navigation. I have never wished to favour Buffalo at the expense of the public. If it were a desert, my judgment in regard to the termina- tion of the canal would not vary. Neither my friends nor371 HARBOR PAPERS. enemies will long inhabit either place; for the present age is but a moment compared with those which follow to enjoy our labours; and the statesman who is so mercenary as not to look above the petty interests of the present day in con- templating such a work; or the engineer, who could be awed by threats to swerve from his duty, or cajoled by offers of any kind to desert his trust, is unworthy of participating in the glory of its construction. The Harbour Company are doubtless well acquainted with the Niagara River, and one of them has succeeded in a work of great difficulty; but they have not been exempt fiom disasters, and the old store house at Bird Island, may be referred to, as a case in point. At what period "some” of them were "led to consult books, and' acquire a theoretical knowledge of the principles of natural philosophy,” whether before or after that catastrophe, perhaps we may learn from their next publication. The great questions now pending in regard to the western termination of the canal, are, Shall we from a point above the lower end of Squaw Island, continue that work up the shore of the river, by Black Rock, in the rear of the storehouses, to a point above that village; and then extend it on a light line, through the Buffalo Swamp, in the rear of the sand bank, into Buffalo creek? Or, shall we from the first point erect a dam across the arm of the river to Squaw Island, with a lock in it; make an embarkment up to the head of that Island and then run a mole up the channel of the river nearly parallel to the shore "in from 9 to 12 feet water,” and after making an offset, shelter its head under the lee of Bird Island? The first plan was adopted by the canal commissioners in 1816, on account of taking the highest level from lake Erie, and consequently of reducing the excavation across the mountain ridge as much as possible. In 1822, also, they "were of opinion that the termination of the canal at Buffalo creek zvould secure a supply of water, and be most free from accidents or casualties of any kind.” It is said, how- ever, that the canal ought to terminate in a spacious har-372 BUFFALO AND BLACK ROCK bour, sufficient for the vessels of the upper lakes ; that Buffalo creek is too contracted' in its dimensions ; and that even were it not so, its entrance will be obstructed by sand, brought down by the floods. Let us consider the first objection. The average breadth of Buffalo creek is about 12 rods, and generally from n to 15 feet deep. In 1821, I carefully examined it as far up as the ferry 11-4 miles from its mouth. In sounding, nearly at equal distances, across the creek at the ferry, where it > has about the average breadth, we had the following depths in feet 6, 12, 13, 15, rd. I considered it not necessary to extend the survey, but have reason to believe that it nearly preserves the same character, as far as I stated in my report of 1819. Yet the author of the pamphlet* with a disregard to truth which must shock every candid mind, asserts, “by an actual survey which he made 2 years afterwardit was ascertained that its navigable distance from the mouth for lake vessels is only a little more than a mile ” Bad must be that cause which requires such support. When this harbour shall be insufficient for the vessels which crowd to the ware houses on its shores, an outer har- bour may be formed in the lake, opposite to the ferry, afford- ing the best anchoring ground, and communicating with the creek by a very short canal. This site was originally ex- amined and selected by Joseph Ellicott, and such a harbour on account of its safety and advantages would be worthy the munificence of the state. But Black Rock, in the mean time, would retain its portion of the commerce of the lakes ; and with shipping in front of its ware houses, and canal boats in the rear, would have great conveniences for business. To keep the neces- sary number of oxen to tow, would be but a small draw back. How many teams may be kept on the interest of 25,000 dollars? The second objection relates to the alluvion of Buffalo creek. In 1816, I passed on or near the beach of the lake from Buffalo to Cattaraugus, observed the accumulations of sand at the mouths of the creeks, and hastily inferredHARBOR PAPERS. 373 that it was brought down by the floods : but in 1819, when it became my duty to examine the channel of Buffalo creek, I was satisfied' that the freshets of this stream at least, brought down no sand or gravel; and this change of opinion has been a fine theme for the harbour company. In no place, however, where I am acquainted, is it held dis- reputable to reject error for truth, except at Black Rock. In 1816,1 observed little or no sand on those rocky parts of the shore which project into the lake ; nor is it difficult to understand that it could not accumulate on such points, which are exposed to the winds or washed by the waves ; and from which it is driven to the more retreating parts of the shore, as the mouths of the creeks, and the low border of Buffalo bay. In considering the removal of sand along the shores of the lake, though the operation may be slow, yet thousands of years are allowed in the computation. It is well known that sand is also transported by drift-ice, and Buffalo beach from its position may have received much in this manner, as well as the Canadian shore near fort Erie. Apropos, is there any creek above fort Erie to “disgorge” those sands? It is remarkable, and entirely favourable to this side of the question, that of all the streams which flow westerly through the great plain of the mountain ridge, only those which discharge into the lake are obstructed by sand at the entrance. Scojaqueda creek, Cornelius’s creek, Two-mile creek, and the Tonnewanta, exhibit no traces of sandy alluvion, but terminate in long oozy pools ; and even where Ransom’s creek and Ellicott’s creek join the Tonnewanta, no sand or gravel is deposited. Some of the harbour com- pany, indeed, could inform me whether Chippewa creek is not a deep sluggish stream and therefore free from sandy alluvions; but I will not put their veracity to a test so severe. The affidavit of P. B. Porter & co. is a valuable document on this subject. It shews that although they examined the banks of Buffalo creek and its branches, doubtless with proper desires to make discoveries, they found nothing to374 BUFFALO AND BLACK ROCK prove, or. even to render it probable, that any sand is carried down through Buffalo harbour. By washing the subsoil they found sand as near as 4 miles from the lake; but coarse gravel or pebbles, such as abound at the mouth of the creek, were only discovered on the west branch 5 or 6 miles from the lake. No attempt to complete the chain of evidence was made by tracing the spoils of these banks through that long deep pool down to the beach, and, indeed they evinced better judgment than appears in the Harbour Company’s plans by declining the service. In excavating the canal through the flats on the moun- tain ridge, which might as well be called alluvial as those of Buffalo, sand or gravel occurs- in various places,—some within a few rods of the Tonnawanta creek, and doubtless many localities might be found on its banks ; yet its channel, like that of Buffalo, is not obstructed by any such deposi- tions; nor is it pretended that either has undergone any change from such causes since the earliest settlement of the country. Buffalo creek has no indications of a channel scoured by sand. The ooze on its bottom, the wild rice on its sides, and the slender forms of other aquatic plants clearly prove this position. The growth of the wild rice itself affords a dem- onstration. It is an annual plant, and when ripe is as easily detached from the soil as stubble. In autumn, the seed falls through the water in some places where it is 6 or 8 feet in depth, settles on the soft mud, and germinates in the spring. But this could not happen where gravel is swept down the stream. Buffalo Harbour answers every purpose that its warmest advocates predicted. Some of the largest vessels on the Lake, as well as the Steam boat have regularly passed in and out without difficulty; nor have I heard of any failure or accident for attempting to enter in the heaviest gales. I now approach the Black Rock project. If the design was not to identify it with the canal, and under this cover to divert the funds of the state to other purposes than public good I would be silent, and assuredly leave them to manageHARBOR PAPERS. 375 their own business in their own way; but the Harbour com- pany will pardon me for a few comments when their present exacerbation is over. There are some luminous views of this plan in the Black Rock memorial, presented to the legislature (I think) in 1821, and' which both on account of its logic and details, ought to have another edition. It is therein stated that “the navigation into the river is [at present] perfectly safe and easy, and every part furnishes a good and safe harbour”— “and the only important difficulty arises from the rapids.” The inference is therefore conclusive that the only important advantage to be conferred on the traders at Black Rock is to relieve them from the expense of keeping a few yoke of Oxen ; because, by this means they have easily and regu- larly towed their vessels up those rapids. But why is Black Rock harbour exempt from the turbu- lence of the lake? And by what magic is “the power and effect of waves—after a range of 280 miles” so suddenly suspended? Let the Black Rock memoralists, so well qualified to know, answer first. “The entrance of Niagara river is protected from the winds and swells of Lake Erie by Bird Island.” But can a rocky reef, not deserving the name of an Island, 40 rods from the east shore, only 40 rods long, perhaps 4 or 5 times as far from the western shore, and always level with the water in heavy gales pro- tect the river from the winds and swells of the lake? No, the rapids destroy them by imparting a new motion, and of this any observant person may be satisfied by standing near Bird Island in a gale, where the swells instantly diminish as they enter the sluice. But it is the design of the harbour company, who pretend to have “weighed every danger to be avoided, and every advantage to be improved,” ta destroy this safeguard, and to let the swells of the lake burst into their harbour through an opening 40 rods wide. Such are the principal features of one plan for “a wind- ing up of the grand canal” The harbour company claim the confidence of the commissioners because they (the com- pany) have confidence in their own projects; but the com-376 BUFFALO AND BLACK ROCK missioners are not strangers to the views and temerity of such projectors. Peter B. Porter & Co. have enumerated nine advantages of their harbour “over any thing that could be possibly formed at Buffalo,” and as these appear to be the union of their strength it is proper to examine them with attention. 1. “It would shorten the canal about 4 1 -2 miles.” It is no object to shorten the canal by increasing the expense and decreasing the facilities of transportation. A boat may pass in safety on the canal from the lower end of Squaw Island, into Buffalo harbour in an hour and a half, when the vessels at Black Rock are wind bound; and vessels may leave Buffalo harbour and go up the lake when the vessels at Black Rock are wind bound. To shorten the canal be- tween two given points is a clear saving in distance to the navigator: but to shorten the canal by lengthening the lake presents no such advantages. 2. “The superficial extent—would be six times greater than that of Buffalo.” A very large proportion is rocky channel; and no inconsiderable part near the upper end would be open to the winds and swells of the lake. It would not contain as much good anchoring ground as Buffalo creek. 3. “It would be more accessible, and could be easily entered in the night or during a gale,” i. e. by taking the Fort Erie channel, sailing below Squaw Island and coming up through the lock; but what commander in his senses would trust his vessel among rocky reefs and a lee shore at night or in a gale? 4. “It would1 save—the excavation of 1 foot in depth of canal for 7 miles,” i. e. by raising the waters of the lake on the shores of our neighbours, and involving us in contro- versies with other governments. 5. “The construction of a harbour at Black Rock would add more than 100,000 dollars to the public property at this place.” If Black Rock should become the great emporium of the west, the value of lots in its vicinity would be much enhanced, but building the pier would not ensure its pros-377 HARBOR PAPERS. perity for from its location it must be subject to many con- tingencies. The number and position of the state lots may be ascertained at the public offices, and but little weight can be attached to this argument till more is known than appears in the pamphlet. 6. “The communication between the town and harbour of Black Rock would be vastly more convenient than at Buffalo.” 7. “The Black Rock harbour by means of a lock in its lower extremity would extend the sloop navigation from Lake Erie about 18 miles down the river.” Without either lock or pier, the river is now open for sloops quite as far down as it will be hereafter. The inhabitants of Grand Island and Tonnawanta will discover whether it is cheaper to send their merchandize along the canal in 4 hours to Black Rock or Buffalo, than to wait as many days in a sloop for a fair wind. Should the latter be preferred they may get up the rapids as other vessels do. 8. “Black Rock Harbour from its protected situation and broader mouth would receive most of the vessels that could not enter at Buffalo.” Not a word of its rocky reefs and lee shore, but we arrive at the truth by reversing the statement. 9. “Black Rock Harbour would furnish a perfectly safe and convenient depository for boats and vessels during the winter.” Very doubtful. What would be the effect of closing the present channel between Squaw and Bird Islands in regard to drift ice? Such are the proposed advantages of this celebrated project. Now let us enquire into its disadvantages. Could vessels leave the proposed harbour during the prevailing winds of the lake without the assistance of teams or some equivalent power ? Would it not become innavigable from the accumulation of sand ? Would not the pier be in danger from fields of ice? Would not a breach made in its side by an enemy render the canal useless for 90 miles ? Such breach could be more378 BUFFALO AND BLACK ROCK easily made in the pier than in the solid banks of the canal, but would be repaired with much greater difficulty* Would not the harbour be incommoded by drift ice ? Would it not prevent in spring the warm discoloured waters of Buffalo creek from thawing the ice in the canal, and opening the navigation of Tonnewanta some weeks before the river is clear of ice? Would it not ruin the Black Rock ferry, and deprive the state of a part of its revenue ? Would it not be rejecting the safer and cheaper route, to adopt the more expensive and dangerous ? Would it not be placing the wealth of our citizens within the reach of an enemy on the Canadian shore ? Would it not infringe the rights of other governments by raising the surface of the lake, and compel New-York to descend from the eminence of her glory as an aggressor? Let us therefore preserve the unity of the canal—avoid all partnership business—and trust not its safety to cob- work of any description. To sum up; if the Black Rock pier should answer the purpose, notwithstanding the numerous casualties that await it, then the traders of that place may tow up their vessels with fewer oxen, but if it should be (as it most probably will be) ruined1, then the Canal shares, the same fate with the western merchants. And with such prospects before them I do think that the Black Rock harbour com- pany is the only one to be found which have assurance enough to press such claims on the state. To insolence, abuse and misrepresentation, they chiefly trust for the support of their cause; even the canal Board has been insulted, and they openly avow their determination to drive me from the line,—and I may be driven; but Peter B. Porter and his associates may be assured that I will not retreat from my post in silence.HARBOR PAPERS. 379 CAPT. JAMES ROUGH'S TESTIMONY. To the Editor of the Beacon: Sir—Observing in the Buffalo pamphlet, an affidavit signed Wm. T. Miller, the purport of which is to prejudice the public mind in favor of Buffalo harbor, at the expense of Black Rock, and lest it should have that effect, I am in- duced to make the following observations. I navigated Lake Erie for twenty years previous to the late war; six of which was in a vessel owned at B. Rock. There were no teams at that time to haul vessels up the rapids. We were of course obliged to depend entirely upon the wind. When it was fair, no matter whether during the day or night, it was instantly embraced. In no instance during that time, or any other, did I meet with any acci- dent. On the 25th of November, 1807, I ascended the Rapids in the night for the first time, under circumstances which some people would now think impossible. In the evening the wind suddenly changed to the northwest, and soon became a gale, accompanied with snow—the vessel then drawing 10 feet water. Having understood1 that several vessels were lying up at Bird Island, roadsted, I ordered a lantern to be hoisted at the foremast head, in order to apprise them of our approach. One of the vessels that lay farthest in the offing, had no light on board, and was only discovered by their hallooing and begging us to steer clear of them. Capt. Miller, the signer of the affidavit, who was then a boy, and a passenger on board, conveyed the intelli- gence to me (then at the helm) that a vessel was under our lee, and in danger of being run down by us. This was at the very spot where those dreadful rocks are represented to be by our harbor opponents. It is true, vessels do not gen- erally come into the harbor in the night, but for quite a different reason from the one stated in the affidavit. Those who are acquainted with the currents of wind in this coun- try, know that they are very generally from the southward380 BUFFALO AND BLACK ROCK and westward. Masters of vessels therefore when they cannot gain the port before night, especially those who are not acquainted with the channel, commonly gage their time so as to be able to enter at daylight, thinking they have lost nothing by the delay. Had the gentleman correctly in- formed himself of the channel into the river, he would have found that the bottom on each side of the channel is com- posed of very different materials. They are so distinct, that by throwing the lead overboard, information may be had in a moment which side of the channel the vessel is on. This being the case, is it surprising that a seaman should know when and how to bring his vessel into deep water, when it shoals? On the 20th of October, 1808, I was lying a little above Fort Erie, waiting for a wind, when a most tremendous gale came on from the southwest, between 12 and 1 of that night. In a short time the vessel parted both anchors and cables; and such was her speed, that when we got her before the wind, she had passed all the rocks, shoals, and quicksands, and landed safe on the upper end of Squaw Island, before we had time to hoist three feet of jib. This vessel drew 10 feet 4 inches water. These rocks and reefs, of which so much has been said, are dangerous only in the imagination of some men. I will mention another instance of a more recent date, and under circumstances peculiarly fitted to test the good- ness of the channel. On the night of the 9th or 10th of October, 1812, the brig Adams, and scow Caledonia, were cut out from Fort Erie; and such was the darkness of the night, that when in the Rapids; they were not visible, although there were hundreds of eyes on the lookout for them, and it was only by the noise and confusion on board, that those oft shore could judge of their position. These vessels did not sustain the least injury, or even experience the least difficulty in passing these very frightful lime kiln rocks, although they were taken out but a short distance above them. Indeed, from the confusion incident to taking a vessel in such an unprepared state put of a harbor, that itHARBOR PAPERS. 381 may be said they literally drifted down. There is now a gentleman in Buffalo, who was on board one of these vessels, and took a very conspicuous part in the transaction, and should I have stated anything erroneous, it will be in his power to correct me. Who among us has forgot the steam boat Walk-in-the- Water, when Mr. Davis was mate of her? Did he not bring her at all hours of the night into the river? Have we not heard the gun, sometimes just after dark—at midnight— and often just before day? I have no hesitation in saying, that the Niagara River possesses decided advantages as a harbor, over any other river I have been acquainted with. I am certain that there is no river harbor in Europe, that can be entered at night, immediately from off the sea; nor have I heard or known of one in America; and it is ques- tionable whether there is one in the world, that can be entered with the same facility and safety at night, as the Niagara river, without a pilot from land. If the canal commissioners, or any of the engineers should deem this a subject worthy of personal examination, I pledge myself to substantiate the above statements by occular demonstration. James Rough.1 Black Rock, March 27, 1823. 1. For some data regarding this most interesting early navigator of the Lakes, see Publications, Buffalo Historical Society, Vol. I, pp. 56, 57, 106; V, pp. 293*294.BLACK ROCK HARBOR CONTRACT, 18231 Articles of Agreement made & concluded this twenty fourth day of July in the year 1823, between Peter B. Porter, & Sheldon Thompson of the one part, & the Canal Commissioners of the State of New York of the other part Witnesseth: That the said parties of the first part covenant & engage to construct a harbor or basin on the plan proposed by James Geddes Engineer with the following modifications, to wit: To commence a mole or pier of timber under the lee of Bird Island; to extend this mole down the stream below the Island in a line nearly parallel with the shore about 50 or 60 rods, thence turning nearly a right angle, carry it across the east channel until you approach within about 16 or 18 rods from shore in not less than 10 feet of water; then turning at right angles down the stream & continue it in not less than 10 feet water until within a few rods of Squaw Island, & connect it with the same, & from thence to raise an embankment of earth to such point near its lower extremity as may be directed by the Canal Commis- sioners or either of them or of their engineers,—from which point a dam is to be thrown across to the American shore. The said mole or pier to be constructed in a substantial & workmanlike manner of suitable substantial materials. The said mole or pier to be constructed in conformity to a plan & profile made by Nathan S. Roberts, Engineer, sub- ject to such alterations as may from time to time be directed by the said Commissioners, or either of them, or of their engineers. The said mole of earth on Squaw Island, to be 1. Here printed from a manuscript owned by the Buffalo Public Library. Although no$ signed, it appears to be an original draft, made at the time of the contract. The style of the original manuscript is here followed.384 BUFFALO AND BLACK ROCK made of good materials, & as preparatory to its formation, all the timber, brush, roots & muck shall be thoroughly removed. The dam at the termination of the embankment of. earth to connect the Island with the American shore, to be con- structed of substantial materials & put together in the same manner as the mole or pier, & in addition the dam is to com- mence with a sufficient base, that a recess of about 20 feet may be left to serve as an apron. The said mole or pier & dam to be raised to such height as may be requisite to sus- tain the highest lake level, & in addition thereto the mole from Bird Island to the first angle to be raised four feet above said level & the residue of said mole or pier to be raised one & a half feet above said level; & for the pur- pose of removing any deposit that may form within said harbor or basin, the said parties of the first part agree to construct, if required, such number of waste gates in the dam & traverse angle of the mole or pier as may be deemed necessary. And the said parties of the first part do further agree to construct a tow-path from said dam along the margin of said basin or harbor to the intersection of the lateral cut from little Buffalo Creek with said basin. The work in- cluded in this contract to be in every respect fully completed & finished by the first day qf December in the year 1824. And the Commissioners agree to pay to the said parties of the first part for completing this contract the sum of $83,819 being the estimated cost of constructing a boat canal along the shore or margin of said harbor or basin, & also the sum of twelve thousand dollars in pursuance of “an Act to authorise & encourage the construction of Harbors at Buffalo Creek & Black Rock,” ip such proportions from time to time as the progress of the work in the opinion of the Commissioners or either of them may render proper. Every part of the work comprised in this contract shall be done according to the plan & directions of the said Com- missioners or either of them or of their engineers & subject to such alterations from time to time as they or either ofHARBOR PAPERS. them may direct. This contract in every stage of its progress shall be subject to the inspection of the said Com- missioners or either of them, & to prevent all disputes & misunderstandings, it is agreed that said Commissioners or either of them shall be authorized to appoint such person as they or he may think proper to be the inspector of said works, & such appointment may be made from time to time at the pleasure of the said Commissioners or either of them, & the inspector thus appointed shall decide every question that can or may arise in the execution of this contract on the part of the party of the first part, & his decision shall in all cases be final & conclusive on the parties of the first part; & when in the opinion of the said inspector this con- tract shall be fully completed on the part of the said parties of the first part, he shall certify the same in writing, where- upon, within 30 days after notice thereof the said Com- missioners shall pay to the said parties of the first part such sum as may then be due them, provided said sum be not demanded before the expiration of this contract. And the said parties of the first part do further agree, that if, at any time in the opinion of the said inspector, the said parties of the first part, shall unreasonably neglect or refuse to prosecute this contract or shall not conform to such directions as may be given them from time to time by the said Commissioners or either of them or of their en- gineers relating to the manner in which any part of the work included in this contract or any alteration therein as aforesaid shall be made, in either such cases the said- in- spector shall have power to declare that said contract is abandoned, & on such determination the said Commissioners shall be released from all obligation to the said parties of the first part, & may let out said contract or any part thereof to any other person. And the said parties of the first part do further covenant & agree that if at any time during the progress of this work any damage shall be sustained, on any part of said works by the operation of ice water, or any other cause, the same shall be borne by the said parties of the first part. And if said work in any stage of its progress386 HARBOR PAPERS. shall fee abandoned by the said parties of the first part, they do covenant & engage to refund on dam, all monies with interest they may from time to time have received. And the said parties of the first part do further covenant & agree that every part of the work comprised in this contract shall be & remain in a good & perfect condition for navigation during, & at the expiration of five years from & after the completion thereof. Signed &c.FROM THE ATLANTIC TO BUFFALO BY CANAL, 1825 The first boat to arrive in Buffalo harbor, from the At- lantic, was the canal packet “Seneca Chief,” on November 23, 1825. The following account, from the Buffalo Journal of November 29, 1825, may fittingly close this collection of papers relating to Buffalo harbor: RETURN OF THE SENECA CHIEF TO BUFFALO. This boat arrived in our harbor, from the Atlantic, on Wednes- day the twenty-third instant, after a pleasant and quick passage, laden with a rich cargo of merchandise, from New York, having on board a goodly number of passengers, a healthy crew, and an elegant keg filled with water taken from the “briny deep,” which was presented by the Corporation of New York to the citizens of this village, for the purpose of being mingled with the waters of Lake Erie. This keg was handsomely ornamented with the arms of the city, over which were the words, in letters of gold “Neptune's Return to Pan,” and under the same, the words “New York, 4th Nov. 1825.” Upon the other side of the keg were the words “Water of the Atlantic.” After welcoming the return of the boat, with the Buffalo Com- mittee, it was resolved that the ceremony of mingling the waters should take place on Friday, the twenty-fifth instant. On that day a large and respectable number of ladies and gentlemen, with the village band of music, repaired on board the boat, at the upper dock, and were towed from thence through the basin into the Lake, by several yawl boats, which were politely furnished by the masters of the different vessels then lying at the wharves. At ten o'clock a. m. the ceremony of mingling the waters, under a salute from Captain Crary's artillery, was performed by Judge Wilkeson, who delivered the following address: “Fellow Citizens : The joyful event of the completion of the Erie Canal was a few days since announced to us, since which we have heard or witnessed the congratulations of a grateful people, and the honors which seem, by a simultaneous impulse, to have been awarded to the founders of this great work. 387HARBOR PAPERS. “The delegation sent by you, in the first boat from the Lake, to receive and reciprocate the civilities upon the borders of the Canal and the Hudson, have performed the duties assigned to them, and from the Western Seas to the Atlantic, have had the gratification of beholding all the evidences of public gratitude, which could be elicited by one continual round of joy and festivity. “It would be ungrateful in the Committee, not to notice the hospitality which distinguished their reception at the great com- mercial emporium of our country. There, in pursuance of ar- rangements marked with peculiar splendor and magnificence, the waters of the Lake were mingled with those of the Ocean; and we, in return now unite those of the Ocean with the Lake* “This, fellow-citizens, closes the ceremonies which have grown out of an event hereafter to be held in grateful remembrance, and commemorated by annual demonstrations of gratitude, as one of the most important which has distinguished the history of mankind, and one from which not only the present, but generations yet un- born, even to the latest posterity, are to derive innumerable bless- ings.” After which the boat was towed back to the dock, and the com- pany dispersed, with all those feelings of gratification which the interesting ceremony was calculated to produce. In the evening, the gentlemen of the village assembled at the Eagle Tavern, and unani- mously expressed the following sentiments: “Resolved, That the citizens of this village do with unfeigned pleasure tender to the Corporation and citizens of New York, their sincere acknowledgments for their very polite and hospitable treat- ment to the Committee from this place, in the late celebration. “Resolved, That the Corporation, Committees, and citizens of Albany, are entitled to the like thanks and acknowledgments, for their highly esteemed and patriotic conduct on the same occasion. “Resolved, That it is due to the different Committees and citizens of their respective villages on the whole line of the Canal, who were engaged in the late proud celebration, to acknowledge the exceeding kindness and hospitality to the Committee and guests on board the “Seneca Chief,” while performing her first voyage from Lake Erie to the Atlantic.”HON. ISRAEL T. HATCH. From a Photograph Owned by the Buffalo Historical Society.NOTES ON THE SERVICE OF ISRAEL T. HATCH IN BEHALF OF NEW YORK’S CANALS A long honor-roll might be made of the citizens of Buf- falo who have rendered to their city and to the State con- spicuous service in behalf of canal maintenance and devel- opment. Few men have been more devoted to that cause than was Israel T. Hatch; nor has any other citizen of Buf- falo received such signal assurance of the appreciation of his townsmen. Israel T. Hatch was born in Johnstown, N. Y., June 30, 1808. He graduated from Union College, studied law at Auburn, and in 1828 came to Buffalo for the practice of his profession. When his half brother, Enos T. Throop, was elected Governor of New York, in 1829, Mr. Hatch was appointed Assistant Secretary of State, and served in that capacity until 1831. For some ten years he practiced law in Buffalo, in partnership with H. K. Smith, retiring from the firm on account of the failure of his eyes. Both Mr. Hatch and Mr. Smith, at different periods, i83i-’34, were political editors of the Buffalo Republican. In 1840 he became president of the old Commercial bank, located on Main Street, between Exchange and Seneca. Two years later, he retired from that post and engaged in banking with Oliver Lee, some years later forming partnerships with Erastus Corning and Watts Sherman. In 1847, he built the Marine elevator, and subsequently the Empire elevator, the latter being owned and managed by him until it was turned over to the Elevating Association, about 1865. The old Hatch slip was named for him. 389390 CANAL SERVICES OF His public service had begun, as noted, in 1831. In 1832 he was elected to the New York Assembly and- served two terms. He was again elected in 1851. Ini 1857-58 he was a Representative in Congress, succeeding Solomon G. Haven. At the expiration of his term as Representative, President Buchanan appointed him Postmaster of Buf- falo. He held this office until the beginning of Lincoln’s administration in 1861. In 1867 he was elected a member of the Constitutional Convention, serving in that capacity until the fall of 1868. During the succeeding two years, he was one of the commissioners of the Reciprocity Treaty between the United States and Canada. In 1832 Mr. Hatch married Lydia A., only daughter of County Judge Gershom Powers of Auburn, N. Y. She died in 1862. Seven children were born to them. At his death, Sept. 24, 1875, Mr. Hatch left a son and1 two daugh- ters living. Mr. Hatch was a Democrat all his life, but in 1872 came out in favor of General Grant for President against Horace Greeley. Indeed on more than one occasion he took an in- dependent stand, and this at a time when political inde- pendence, in defiance of the mandates of party, was far less common and perhaps more difficult, than it has since be- come. In 1851, although a Democratic nominee, his advo- cacy of canal enlargement—really the only important ques- tion at issue in the campaign—was more ini harmony with the Whig than the Democratic platform. This is attested by the following letter in which he accepted the nomination : Buffalo, October 6, 1851. Gentlemen: I am in receipt of your letter advising me of my nomination as a candidate to represent the first Assembly District in the Legislature. Always identified with the fortunes of the Demo- cratic party I feel grateful for this mark of their partiality and con- fidence, although the main inducement, doubtless, on the part of the convention, in placing me in nomination at this time was, as alluded to in your letter, my known and firm friendship to the immediate en- largement of the Erie canal. It is true that I am in favor of that measure under the law passed by the last Legislature on all the grounds named by its friends and391 ISRAEL T. HATCH. especially as on its fate rested, in my opinion, the destiny of our hitherto prosperous city. The completion of two great railroad lines and now the third extending from the Lakes to the ocean, within the last year, has given us competitors in front, rear and flank for the great western trade, and nothing now can preserve to the Erie canal its steady and increasing flow of business except the imme- diate enlargement of its capacity, thereby enabling us to place the cost of transportation so low as to defy all competition. In view of this pressure of competition on us from all points, it is truly a cause of congratulation to our citizens that a law has been passed by our Legislature securing the immediate enlargement of the Erie canal. Influenced by the consideration that a state of circumstances might exist in which, if I am elected, I might render some humble service in facilitating the speedy execution of this law, I shall accept your nomination. Your obedient servant, Israel T. Hatch. In the Legislature of 1852 Mr. Hatch made a most vig- orous attack on the fraudulent canal lettings—he would not use the word “contracts” for what he deemed to be wholly iniquitous and illegal dealing. In all the vast literature pertaining to the State’s waterways, there is not to be found a more outspoken, indignant protest against the misuse and waste of public funds, than in this speech. He showed that the Canal Board, having some nine millions of dollars to expend in canal enlargement, had actually rejected a method of contract-awards which conformed to the law,, and sub- stituted a method of political distribution; the awards were to be divided as equally as possible between the two poli- tical parties. Proceeding on this astonishing plan, com- petent bidders were ignored, and lowest bidders were set aside. In this rule of favoritism and corruption, rich con- tracts were given to persons who did not even bid, and others to persons who at once assigned them. It was a system which guaranteed unfit work and the squandering of millions of dollars. When abused by a political opponent for his attitude on canal issues, Mr. Hatch retorted: “Thank God, I did support the Canal Enlargement bill, but I never pledged myself -to cover up the fraud and corruption per- petrated under it.”392 CANAL SERVICES OF Eminent authority had declared the Canal Enlargement bill of 1851 (Chap. 485) to be unconstitutional. This was the opinion of the Hon. Samuel Beardsley; of Utica, Chief Justice of the State, whose views were issued as a pamphlet. The Hon. William L. Marcy wrote to like effect. In April, 1851, twelve members of the State Senate had resigned, as a protest against the then pending bill, authorizing a loan of nine millions of dollars on a pledge of “the remainder of the canal revenues in each fiscal year.” This “canal revenue certificate plan” was in 1852 declared unconstitu- tional by the Court of Appeals. Under subsequent legisla- tion, an annual appropriation was to be made for canal en- largement. Throughout all this period, no one was more clear- sighted as to the right course for the State to pursue, or more vigorously outspoken, than Mr. Hatch. His devotion to the canal interests, and to what he held to be the true welfare of the State, found a unique recognition. On the evening of Monday, April 10, 1854, the forwarders and commission merchants of Buffalo gave a supper to Mr. Hatch at the Clarendon Hotel—then the favorite Buffalo hostelry for such functions—at which was expressed their approbation of bis course in the Legislature of 1852, and a handsome silver service was presented to him. It in- cluded a graceful vase, some sixteen inches high, bearing the following inscription: TO ISRAEL T. HATCH, THE INTREPID AND ABLE CHAMPION OF THE ERIE CANAL FROM HIS COMMERCIAL FRIENDS OF BUFFALO. In the polished panel which contains this inscription, is engraved a representation of a harbor, in which are seen a full-rigged ship, a steamboat, two canal boats of the size to run on the enlarged canal of that day, on the side of one of which is engraved the words, “220 tons”! One of theSILVER VASE PRESENTED TO HON. ISRAEL T. HATCH By Citizens of Buffalo, for His Services in Behalf of the New York State Canals. In the Possession of His Son-in-law, Mr. William Braids, BuffaloISRAEL T. HATCH. boats is made fast to a wharf, partly unloaded, a portion of the loading being on the wharf. In the center of the en- graving is a canal lock, the canal winding off in the dis- tance. Canal boats propelled by steam power are seen ply- ing on the canal ; and in the background is the Buffalo lighthouse, with Lake Erie beyond. The presentation of this testimonial to Mr. Hatch was the occasion of much speech-making, in which a good deal of canal history was given. To the influence and labors of Mr. Hatch was credited the passage of the Act of February 15, 1854, providing for the enlargement of the canal on a safe, constitutional system. In his address of presentation, Hiram* Niles said to Mr. Hatch: “Your intrepid and in- depemdient stand, taken in the contest against the stupendous frauds then attempted to be perpetrated, resulted in the over- threw of a conspiracy, which, had it been successful, would have been subversive of the great principle of self-govern- ment, and forever defeated the canal enlargement.” In his response, Mr. Hatch declared that “the Erie canal is the proudest work upon which the energies of a people were ever exerted, whether regarded as a work of ait, of State pride, or National utility.” At the banquet which fol- lowed, Buffalo was toasted as “the child of the canal,” and the Great West as “a garden to look upon;, prolific to pro- duce, waiting patiently for our enlarged canal, to pour forth upon us its measureless wealth.” It may be noted in this connection that a few days later —April 22d—the Hon. H. K. Smith was given a gold watch as a testimonial of approval for his support of canal in- terests, especially his advocacy of enlargement. In the list of those who contributed to the gift, appears the name of Israel T. Hatch. In a letter of acknowledgment, April 21st, Mr. Smith said: “Fortunately for the true interests of the State, the old opponents of the canal policy were too malignant to be cautious. Working secretly, they might have chanced to succeed from the paucity of the vote, but they grew bold and attacked openly. The friends of the measure were aroused. Buffalo was the first city to organize for the contest, and to impress upon the people the necessity of action.394 CANAL SERVICES OF . . . The vigorous and well-directed measures from this point, were mainly instrumental in securing a corresponding effort elsewhere, particularly in Western New York. The official returns show this. The majority in the State, in favor of the amendment, was, in round numbers, 125,000. Of this majority, over 68,000 were given in the counties lying west of a line drawn from Lake Ontario, through the center of Seneca lake to Pennsylvania, and formerly constituting the county of Ontario. Buffalo, on the day of the election, demon- strated how earnestly and with what determination its citizens had entered upon the canvass. Out of a poll of nearly 12,000 votes de- posited here, only two ballots were found against the amendment. The county towns acted with similar unanimity and effect; and the county of Erie placed upon the record a majority of 17,877 votes in favor of the constitutional amendment.”1 Mr. Hatch and Mr. Smith, it is believed, are the only citizens of Buffalo who have been made the recipients of gifts or public testimonials because of their services in. pro- moting canal interests; but Buffalo has abundant ground for gratitude to many of her sons for their effective devo- tion to the same cause. During his term im Congress, Mr. Hatch made several able speeches* One, Feb. 16, 1858, was on the Maryland contested elections case and the equal rights of adopted citizens. On the 30th of March following, he spoke at length on the admission of Kansas as a State under the Lecompton constitution. His special qualifications, how- ever, were for formulating commercial and economical leg- islation and most of his later speeches are along that line. In February, 1867, at the request of the Secretary of the Treasury, Mr. Hatch made a studied report upon our com- mercial relations with the British Provinces, and the com- parative importance of American and Canadian commercial channels of transportation of property from the West to the seaboard. The next year, under instructions from Sec- 1. Mr. Smith’s figures were not quite accurate. In. Erie county 18,117 votes were cast for the amendment, and 120 against it, making the majority r7>997* In the city of Buffalo there were only three adverse votes. The Commercial-Advertiser was moved to call for the daguerreotypes of these three, that they might be preserved as curiosities for future generations! This poll of Feb. 15, 1854, was preceded by a great canal meeting, held Feb. 9th in the old Court House, where the Public Library now stands, and addressed by both Mr. H. K. Smith and Mr. Hatch.ISRAEL T. HATCH. 395 retary McCulloch, Mr. Hatch made a second report on the commercial relations of the United States and Canada. This was transmitted by the Secretary of the Treasury to the House of Representatives, January 12, 1869, and' re- ferred to the committee on commerce. * A little earlier than this—July 14, 1865—-at the Commer- cial convention in Detroit, he spoke on “Reciprocity.” In the Constitutional convention of 1867, as a member of the committee on finance, he made a long minority report, not being able fully to agree with the majority of that commit- tee. Again, at a meeting of the New York Produce Ex- change, March 23, 1869, to take into consideration measures for the improvement of the State canals, we find Mr. Hatch making an address which so met the views of that body, that it was at once printed in pamphlet form for general distribution throughout the State. In the fall of 1869 Mr. Hatch was appointed by Governor Hoffman a delegate to a convention at Portage, Wis., to consider the improvement of navigationi of the Fox and Wisconsin rivers. He was unable to attend, but wrote a letter, October 16th, assuring the/convention that Buffalo and New York interests were in favor of a free commerce. The next year he served as vice-president of a State con- vention held in the interest of the canal by the Commercial Union of the State of New York. In this same fall of 1869 Mr. Hatch was invited by pron> inent citizens of both parties to accept an independent nomi- nation to the Assembly, where it was believed he would be an efficient exponent of a wise canal policy. Among the 269 signatures to this invitation were the pames of many who did not reside in his district. Although unusual for one who has served in the national Congress to accept the offer of a seat in his State Legislature,. Mr. Hatch did so. His letter of acceptance, October 4, 1869, states that “how- ever distasteful it may be to return to the humblest position of my early political life, I cheerfully do so, with the hope that in the present critical condition of our canal affairs I may contribute some service in inaugurating such a sound and beneficial policy as will arrest the diversion of our396 CANAL SERVICES OF ISRAEL T. HATCH. trade, and restore to the canal its natural commercial su- premacy in regulating the cost of transportation between the West and East, and at no distant time render its naviga- tion as free as that of the lakes, rivers and ocean united by it.” He discussed the canal situation at length, and accepted the independent nomination. The Democrats met in a few day® and gave him their regular nomination. The Repub- licans, however well disposed they may have been at first towards Mr. Hatch’s candidacy as an independent, fell into line under the arguments of their party organs, and the regular Republican1 nominee was elected. This defeat did not end Mr. Hatch’s devotion to canal interests. The funding bill which he had caused to be pre- sented to the Legislature of 1869 had passed the Assembly, but was too late for the Senate. In 1870 a new funding bill was brought forward. Mr. Hatch raised money for the em- ployment of able counsel, soliciting what he could from business men of Buffalo, and contributing liberally of his own means. The Legislature of 1870 passed the funding bill, under the influence of which tolls were reduced 50 per cent. Mr. Hatch’s activities in this campaign- brought forth certain veiled charges and insinuations reflecting on his conduct. A communication in the Buffalo Courier charged him with collecting money for canal purposes and not using it therefor. Mr. Hatch replied with a “card,” a long state- ment addressed to the editor of the Courier, dated June 21, 1873. It was printed as a circular and widely distributed. In it Mr. Hatch reviewed his part in the promotion of canal legislation in- 1869 and ’70, made a detailed statement of receipts and expenditures, denounced his anonymous ac- cuser as a liar, and held the journal publishing the accusa- tion as responsible. Always a forceful writer, he wais fully able to maintain his reputation and defend his character. The incident in no wise impaired his standing, or lessened the public regard for his honor and integrity. He had been honored by his townsmen, as no other canal advocate ever was in Buffalo before or since, and bis name and memory should be preserved, for he did much for the good of the State.APPENDIX A PROCEEDINGS BUFFALO HISTORICAL SOCIETYPROCEEDINGS OF THE BUFFALO HISTORICAL SOCIETY FORTY-SEVENTH ANNUAL MEETING The forty-seventh annual meeting of the Buffalo Historical So- ciety was held at the Historical Building, Tuesday evening, January 12, 1909. In the absence of the president, Vice-President Henry W. Hill presided and made a short address. Mr. Severance made the annual reports for the offices of secretary and treasurer. Messrs. R. W. Day, Charles W. Goodyear, Hugh Kennedy, G. Barrett Rich and Henry A. Richmond were reelected members of the Board of Managers for the ensuing four years. At the annual election of officers, Thursday, January 14, 1909, the officers of 1908 were reelected. THE SECRETARY'S REPORT. The Secretary's report to the Board of Managers for the year ending December 31, 1908, is as follows: I shall depart from the usual character of my report, in order to dwell at some length on one topic of peculiar interest. I refer to the society's most important acquisitions during the year, the Marshall books and the Fillmore manuscripts. First, however, let me inform you, as briefly as possible, as to the state of our society and the different phases of our work. The society was never more prosperous. Whatever useful end it may serve in the community, whatever good we may accomplish, is mainly due to the fact that we have an interested and sustaining body of members. Without members—without interested members— we would cease to be a society. The losses by death from our mem- bership during 1908 were as follows: Jan. 24. Augustus F. Tripp .... . . . . . resident member “ 27. David R. Morse............... . life “ Feb. 16. Charles E. Brinkworth . .... . resident “400 PROCEEDINGS OF THE Mch. 11. John McManus . . . resident member Apr. 5. James Ash tt u “ 22. Charles D. Marshall . life tt May 4- Stephen C. Clarke . resident tt June 11. William Leete Stone, 2d .... Mt. Vernon, N. Y. . honorary tt “ 24. Grover Cleveland, Princeton, N. J. . tt tt J«ly 1. George W. Maltby * life u tt 22. Hiram C. Day . . resident a Sept. 2. Theodore S. Fassett ....... tt it “ 27. Walter T. Wilson . . life tt Nov, 30. Andrew J. Rich . resident tt Dec. 7. Mrs. Maria Storrs Bigelow, Willimantic, Conn. . corresponding tt u 16. Joseph Fowler, M. D . . resident tt There were many faithful friends to the society in this list. Few in Buffalo took a greater interest in local history or did more to preserve it, than John McManus. Mrs. Maria Storrs Bigelow, for many years a resident of Buffalo, the widow of a former secretary of this society, died in December at the home of her only surviving sou, in Connecticut. For some years she had been on our list of corresponding members, but no resident took a greater interest in the welfare of the society than she. While her husband, the Rev. Albert Bigelow, was our secretary, he edited and his sons Allen and Walter printed and published the first two volumes of the Publica- tions of this society. Several of these names, which we now have to strike from our roll, should have a lasting place in our grateful remembrance. Mr. McManus, Mr. Walter T. Wilson and Mr. A. J. Rich, had from time to time contributed to our library or our museum. Mr. Maltby’s name will always be associated with the construction of this build- ing, to which he gave able, faithful devotion. Two of our short list of honorary members have also died during the year 1908: William Leete Stone and Grover Cleveland. Mr. Stone, son of a distinguished father of the same name, was, like the elder Stone, an author and editor. His "Life and Times of Sir William Johnson/’ “Burgoyne’s Campaign,” "History of New York City,” and other works of worth, bear witness to his zeal and thoroughness as a historian. I may add that your secretary has been in correspondence with Mr. Stone’s family regarding certain manuscripts of his father, Col. Wm. L. Stone, relating to Western New York in the early years of the canal era, and that it is pro-BUFFALO HISTORICAL SOCIETY. 401 posed to include some of these writings in an early issue of our Publications.1 Mr. Cleveland was not an active member of the society during his residence in Buffalo. On being elected an honorary member he sent the following appreciative acknowledgment: f Executive Mansion, Washington, Geo. G. Barnum, Esq., -^ay ^ Corresponding Secretary &c. Dear Sir : I have received with much pleasure a certificate of my election as an Honorary Member of The Buffalo Historical Society. In these days of ever-grasping care and responsibilities I recall with peculiar pleasure my connection with the government of the city which I deem still my home. All that pertains to its history is of interest to me; and I am glad to be identified even in a com- plimentary way, with the objects and purposes of its Historical Society. Yours sincerely Grover Cleveland. Mr. Charles D. Marshall’s sudden and untimely death is gener- ally believed, by those who knew his purpose, to have prevented him from adding to the library of this institution the manuscript and printed Americana which formed a considerable part of the valuable library gathered by his father, O. H. Marshall, and further enriched by the son. It had long been understood that such a gift was Mr. Marshall’s purpose. Understanding this institution to have been selected by Mr. Marshall as the permanent repository of these literary properties, his niece and heir, Mrs. Hazel Marshall Koerner, has done what she could to carry out Mr. Marshall’s wishes; and has deposited here the books and papers belonging to the estate which relate to American history, and especially to the history of this region. They are placed here with the understanding that it is Mrs. Koerner’s wish, as it is believed to have been Mr. Marshall’s, that they shall remain permanently in the keeping of the Buffalo Historical Society. The Marshall collection consists of some noo volumes. They are for the most part preserved in two handsome black-walnut cases from the Marshall residence. They now stand in the office, where you are invited to inspect them. Over them hang oil portraits of Mr. and Mrs. O. H. Marshall, the very welcome gift of Mrs. Koerner. The Marshall collection is especially strong on books—many of them rare—relating to the Indians and the period of French ex- i. Col. Stone’s Journal of a Tour to Niagara in 1829, etc., will be found in the present volume.402 PROCEEDINGS OF THE ploration and control. It also includes many useful works on the periods of the Revolution and the War of 1812, and on the settle- ment of the Middle West. A small collection of atlases includes some of the rarest of the early maps relating to this region. The books have all been marked by the insertion of a book-plate with the following inscription: Orsamus H. Marshall Charles O. Marshall 1813-1884 1841-1908 AMERICANA FROM the: marshall library PLACED WITH THE BUFFALO HISTORICAL SOCIETY AS A MEMORIAL BV HAZEL MARSHALL KOERNER 1 909 But your especial interest, I think, centers in the collection of Fillmore papers, which has been deposited with the society. Before speaking further of these papers, I desire to add a word of deep appreciation—in which, I am sure, every member of this society will concur—of the generous and public-spirited action of Mrs. Koerner. THE FILLMORE MANUSCRIPTS The private correspondence of Millard Fillmore while Vice- President and President, for many years supposed to have been destroyed, was discovered in the garret of the Marshall residence on Main street, shortly before it was torn down, and is now safely placed in the keeping of the Buffalo Historical Society. Millard Fillmore was the most methodical of all our Presidents. He seems to have preserved all of his correspondence, even the re- quests for his autograph. But he was President at a time when public issues engendered ardent and excited correspondence. The public questions of his day brought to him a great many strenuous letters. He apparently filed them all away, and when he left office in March, 1853, took the whole lot with him. Subsequently, at his residence in Buffalo, these letters were gathered into volumes and indexed.BUFFALO HISTORICAL SOCIETY, 403 Not long before his death, which occurred in Buffalo, March 8, 1874, Mr. Fillmore was visited by General James Grant Wilson, who was preparing a biography of the ex-President for an encyclo- paedia, Pointing to a cabinet in his library containing the volumes of correspondence, Mr. Fillmore said: “In those cases can be found every important letter and document which I received during my administration and which will enable the future historian or biographer to prepare an authentic account of that period of our country’s history.” General Wilson, apparently, made no use of these letters, nor has any one else, with one exception, which will be noted. President Fillmore’s literary property passed on his death to his only surviving child, Millard Powers Fillmore. There is no reference in President Fillmore’s will to this col- lection of correspondence. The son, however, who died a bachelor in 1889, left a will directing that his executors “at the earliest prac- ticable moment . . . burn or otherwise effectively destroy all cor- respondence or letters to or from my father, mother, sister or me.” And this was supposed to have been done, the understanding being that in compliance with the son’s will all of the letters received by President Fillmore had been included in the holocaust. At any rate they disappeared from sight and passed out of the memory of the few who knew of them. A few months ago the Buffalo Historical Society published President Fillmore’s speeches, miscellaneous writings and corre- spondence in two volumes, and at that time made diligent quest for any letters received by him, but was assured that all had been de- stroyed. Since their publication, the sudden death of Charles D. Marshall, the last surviving executor of the will of President Fill- more’s son, led to an overhauling of Mr. Marshall’s effects. He was the last surviving son of Orsamus H. Marshall, for many years a prominent lawyer of Buffalo, a close personal friend of Millard Fillmore, and one of the most devoted students of the literature of Western New York and the Niagara region. Mr. Marshall’s library, formed by both father and son, was large and valuable. Among its 10,000 and more volumes are many of the rarest Americana, in- cluding 25 volumes of the original issues of the Jesuit Relations, one of the finest collections of these prized volumes in private hands in America. In dismantling the old residence, many books, maps and papers were found stored in the garret, and among them came to light the entire collection of letters received by Millard Fillmore from March, 1849, to March 4, 1853, while Vice President and President.404 PROCEEDINGS OF THE The whole number of letters is 8436, gathered in 44 volumes, each with its index. The collection may be characterized in general as consisting of letters received from members of Mr. Fillmore’s Cabinet, United States Ministers to foreign courts, consuls, repre- sentatives of foreign powers (who for one reason or another chose to address the President rather than the Secretary of State) ; from members of Congress, Governors of states, and others in public service; from personal friends, from office-seekers, from obscure individuals asking pecuniary aid, and last, but by no means least, from “cranks” without number. No doubt every President is the target for this sort of annoyance. Probably the begging letters, the threatening letters and many others addressed to the President now, do not get past his secretaries. In Fillmore’s day, everything the mails brought seems not only to have been laid before him, but to have been read, endorsed and filed by the President. There are 345 letters from Daniel Webster, While many of them are brief notes, memoranda of appointments, etc., a very large number are of historical value. Some of them were copied, with Mr. Fillmore’s permission, by G. J. Abbot of the Department of State, and are published in the two volumes of Webster’s private correspondence edited by Fletcher Webster and published in 1857. These are reprinted in the “National Edition” of the writings and speeches of Daniel Webster, issued in 1903. The whole number of printed letters from Mr. Webster to Millard Fillmore is in. It is probable, therefore, that among the 345 Webster letters in this col- lection, there are many others of some value to the student of our political history. Here is preserved Mr. Webster’s original “slate” for Mr. Fill- more’s Cabinet with a blank space after “Sec’y of State,” but the rest of the list filled in, in Webster’s handwriting, and various al- ternate names suggested on the margin by Mr. Fillmore. There are 124 letters from Edward Everett, who succeeded Webster as Secretary of State in President Fillmore’s Cabinet; a few letters from Henry Clay; 16 from Abbott Lawrence—most of them written while he was our Minister to the Court of St. James, some of them delightfully detailed and graphic regarding not only the international questions of the hour, but the men and women of the Court; others are from Horatio J. Perry, U. S. Minister at Madrid; Daniel D. Barnard, U. S. Minister to Prussia; Thomas Corwin, Alex. H. H. Stuart, and others of Mr. Fillmore’s Cabinet; President Arista of Mexico, George and Edmond Lafayette, Kos- suth, Sam Houston, Sir Henry Bulwer, British Minister to the United States; Gen. Winfield Scott, Dorothea L. Dix the philan-BUFFALO HISTORICAL SOCIETY. 405 thropist; Henry Schoolcraft, J. T, Headley, S. G. Goodrich (“Peter Parley”) ; Francis Lieber, whose educational work, and narrative of travels in this country, will be recalled; Horace Greeley; Ossian E. Dodge, the singer, whose entertainments, somewhat on the order of the Hutchinson Family concerts, made him in his heyday the most popular entertainer in America, and who in 1851 was an American delegate to the World’s Peace Congress in London; David Dudley Field; Reverdy Johnson, who nothwithstanding his great eminence as a constitutional lawyer, wrote just about the blindest style of penmanship to be found in all these thousands of letters; Richard W. Thompson (Secretary of the Navy under President Hayes), to whom Mr. Fillmore offered the recordership of the U. S. Land Office ; Joseph Henry, naturalist and electrician, whosb statue now adorns the Smithsonian Institution grounds; and scores of others of varying degrees of eminence in the spheres of politics, letters and science, not to mention still other scores of con- spicuous but not eminent office-holders and office-seekers. A President’s mail is probably never without contemporary in- terest, could it be made public. After the lapse of half a century, much of it that was obviously of high consequence when penned, relates to men and issues not now worth recalling. Of all the thou- sands of letters written to President Fillmore none have greater interest today than those written by men and women who hold some place in our literature. Here for instance is a long, exquisitely penned epistle from John Howard Payne, written in Washington, August 17, 1850, when the poet had lodgings in “14th street, opposite Willard’s, next door to the Bowling Saloon.” He had already served as our consul at Tunis, from which post he was removed by President Polk. The actor-poet had now been five years out of Government employ, and sought to interest Mr. Fillmore in his claims for reappointment. The long letter is a unique autobiographical document, as may be judged from the following extract: “In 1832, on my return to my native land, from a long residence in Europe, I was welcomed with a somewhat remarkable public re- ception. As the < best acknowledgment in usefulness that I could make for the spirit which prompted this honor, I devised a periodical work upon an entirely original plan and more comprehensive than any which had or has ever appeared upon the anticipation of our intimate intercourse with Europe which steam has since realized. I announced that the work would not commence until there was a subscription of 5,000. “With the prospectus containing this declaration, I set out on a tour through the United States, in quest of patrons, knowledge of my country and literary connections. I had obtained about 1500 of406 PROCEEDINGS OF THE the best names in the republic, when a pursuit of information con- cerning the history, antiquities and present state of our Indians, led me among the Cherokees, then in Georgia. I happened to find them in the midst of treaty discussions with General Jackson’s agents. I was amazed at the disingenuous conduct I saw exercised against them and when asked my opinion considered myself entitled as an American citizen to express it plainly. . . . While transcribing historical papers at the residence of John Ross, in Tennessee, an armed band from Georgia broke into the house at midnight, made prisoners of him and of me, without any notice of the cause* or the production of any legal warrant. I was detained in close confine- ment about a fortnight—was interdicted all correspondence and all unwatched oral communication—and after being frequently led to apprehend an immediate execution by Lynch law on some pretended suspicion of abolitionism, I was turned out of prison with insult. The Georgia legislature spontaneously apologized by a joint resolu- tion of both houses for the injury I had suffered in their State; but without offering any indemnification to me for the losses that injury inflicted. ...” Payne’s long recital of his misfortunes was evidently not without its effect. A few months later President Fillmore reappointed him consul to Tunis, where he died. That S. G. Goodrich—the “Peter Parley” who wrote not merely books but libraries—was a persistent applicant for office is proved by his numerous letters in this collection. On being; appointed to the Paris consulate, he sent to the President long and detailed re- ports of the European political situation as he understood it. Fifty odd years ago these letters would have commanded the attention of the nation; but their interest has pretty much evaporated, long ago. J. T. Headley wrote to Mr. Fillmore, Sept. 13, 1850, begging a note of endorsal regarding a work on the Hungarian struggle for freedom, which the author had projected: “I already possess letters from distinguished Hungarians to many of Kossuth’s generals, but I feel it important also in com- municating with them and Kossuth to give some guaranty to the latter that Hungary and her noble struggle for independence shall not suffer under my hands,” etc. There is much in this correspondence regarding Kossuth and his “mission,” but nothing more to the point than the following note to the President, marked (as is much of this correspondence) “pri- vate”: C. Street, Washington, Jan. 23, 1852. To the President. Sir: . . . I have no national position, and will not speak to the Nation; but if Gov. Kossuth holds forth in my State, as he has doneBUFFALO HISTORICAL SOCIETY. 407 here and in other places, I will speak to the people of Missouri; and the rest of the Nation may know what I say, if they please. Very respectfully yours, Thomas H. Benton. There are letters from educators, editors and others, urging the President to proclaim a national Thanksgiving Day, in each year of his term; but he did not do so, evidently regarding such an act as the proper function of the several states. Among the numerous letters in the characteristic bold free hand of Sam Houston is one of a dozen large pages, sent to Mr. Fillmore two days after Gen. Taylor’s death. Houston, then in the Senate, was seven years older than Fillmore, and of a vastly more varied and strenuous experience. It was obviously good will that prompted him to counsel, in a vein of rare insight and good judgment, with the suddenly-made President, “You have it in your power, I verily believe [he wrote] to render your country more important benefits than have been rendered for the last quarter of a century by any one individual* . . . You have only to compass the whole country, and not feel that you are of, or belong to, any one section. . . . For my part, as a Senator and a citizen, I feel that the object of restoring peace and tranquility to the people of the country, rises high above all party considerations and would be worthy of the fame of Washington if he were now on earth. . . . You do not lack material from which to select your Cabinet. If I were asked for suggestions upon this subject, I would advise that you should trust no man upon whose friendly personal feelings you could not rely, nor any man whose opinions are extreme upon any subject. Select no man who would be willing to compro- mise his opinion, or his present position, to obtain a place in your Cabinet. ... No gentleman should be willing to enter into a Cabi- net unless he felt assured that he had been chosen independent of all extraneous influences, and no one who would be willing to obtain place upon any other principle, would deserve to be trusted. . . . If you pretermit your own judgment, and allow the recommenda- tions of others to govern you in the selection of a new Cabinet . . . you will (perhaps) at some future day, liken yourself to Gen. Jackson, in the only capital error of his political life as President. His first Cabinet was chosen, in part, because they were urged upon him by his friends, and they knew the fact. You know the history!!” One Gilbert Davis of New York wrote in detraction of President Polk, saying that he was heartless and cold, and that he vacated the White House several days before the President-elect came to Wash- ington “for fear of opening his heart so far as to ask him to his house and table.” Mr. Fillmore replied to Davis, that he knew this to be untrue: “Genl. Taylor and myself were both invited to dine with him, and did dine with him before he left the White House, and I have no408 PROCEEDINGS OF THE doubt all the civilities ordinarily extended to the incoming adminis- tration were extended by President Polk to General Taylor and according to my recollection he did not leave the White House till the 4th or rather the 5th of March, which was Monday. The con- fusion incident to the closing of a session of Congress and the breaking up of housekeeping by the President’s family must neces- sarily prevent any President from doing more than Mr. Polk did in the case of Gen’l Taylor, and if I am rightly informed many of his predecessors did not do as much.” The matter reached the notice of Mrs. Polk, in her retirement at Nashville, whence she sent a grateful letter to President Fillmore, Feb. 8, 1853, “a tender of her thanks for the just and generous denial of the false imputations” against her lamented husband. “President Polk,” she adds, “did offer all the courtesies due on such occasions, to Gen’l Taylor as President-elect. They were accepted ; and he did not vacate the White House until Saturday eve, March 3d at six o’clock.” There is but one letter in the collection from Zachary Taylor, wholly in the veteran’s peculiar hand, and addressed to “M. Fil- more.” It relates in part to James Buchanan, from whom there is also one letter in the collection. After Gen. Taylor’s death, there was some correspondence between Mr. Fillmore and Mrs. Taylor. There are numerous letters from Richard Rush, who relinquished the Ministry to France in 1851. Others are from Lewis Cass, Ham- ilton Fish, Samuel P. Chase, W. H. Aspinwall, Benson J. Lossing, Elisha Whittlesey, Alexander H. Stevens, Theodore Freylinghuysen, John Bell of Tennessee, Gov. P. S. Bell of Texas, George D. Pren- tice, Robert C. Winthrop, Thadeus Stevens, Jared Sparks, and many other prominent men and women of the day; among them Emma Willard, educator of girls, and Dan Rice, the showman. There are fine letters from Rev. Wm. Ingraham Kip, at this period rector of St. Peter’s Church, Albany, later the first Protestant Episcopal bishop of California, author of “Early Jesuit Missions in America” and other works still profitable to read; and from Elihu Burritt, “the learned blacksmith,” who writes from Frankfort-on- Main, July 9, 1850, chiefly in regard to the death of Sir Robert Peel, suggesting that some official notice be taken of it in the United States Senate. “As in private life [he writes] the sympathies of friends are most precious in circumstances of affliction, so the mutual good will of nations must be most sincerely expressed by sympathy with each other in days of mourning. As one of the friends of universal peace and brotherhood, I have derived new encouragement to hope for the speedy realization of that condition among men, from the universal manifestation of sorrow at the death of Sir Robert Peel.”BUFFALO HISTORICAL SOCIETY. 409 There was recently published an account of the superb collection of manuscripts owned by Mr. J. Pierpont Morgan. Not without in- terest in that connection is the following note received by President Fillmore: Hartford, July 31, 1851. Dr Sir : As I am collecting autographs will you do me the favor to write yours on the red side of one of the accompanying cards & if you can obtain for me those of your cabinet vou will greatly oblige your humble & obedient servant J. Pierpont Morgan. There is also a letter from Russell Sage, who was a stalwart Whig, and was elected to Congress in 1853, the last year of Mr. Fillmore’s term as President. Many of the letters, now mildly amusing, may well have given the President some concern. He had scarcely taken the oath as President, after President Taylor’s sudden death, when he received a long, well-written epistle, warning him against death by poison in his food and drink, and declaring that Gen. Taylor had been killed in that way by his enemies. Naturally, most of the letters of this class are unsigned, or bear assumed signatures. “Pegrin Pickle,” writing from Worcester, Mass., after calling the President “a man devoid of all moral principle—lost to every feeling of humanity,” impressively adds: “Now, Mr. President, mark my words: Do as one of old did, turn your face to the wall and pray before you are visited by some dreadful calamity,” adding the direful threat: “You may expect to hear from me again unless you mend your ways.” Another New Englander, enraged over the case of the fugitive slave Shadrach, denounces the President as a “Lier,” with other epithets not supposed to be approved by gentlemen of Boston. The signing of the Fugitive Slave act brought upon the President an avalanche of epistolatory imprecation; but one and all, whether commendatory or damnatory, he endorsed—no doubt with the placid impurturbability, characteristic of his demeanor, no matter how fierce the disturbance within—and filed away, where they will yet serve a purpose in illustrating a period of our history. Among the correspondents who wrote in an intimate vein, as though sure of their relations with the President, were, naturally, several of his old neighbors in Buffalo. His former law partner, Hon. Nathan K. Hall, who became Postmaster General, always scrupulously observed the proprieties in writing to his long-time associate, and invariably began his letters: “To the President.” Governor Washington Hunt wrote frequently from the old capitol410 PROCEEDINGS OF THE at Albany, discussing freely the ins and outs of New York state politics and patronage. So did James Brooks, founder of the New York Express and for many years one of Mr. Fillmore’s close friends; as was Hugh Maxwell, collector of the Port of New York, whose letters in this collection throw much light on Law’s Cuban filibustering venture and other affairs of the time. It will be understood that in so large a mass of correspondence, much of it from the most active participants in public affairs of the time, all the great problems and issues of the Fillmore Administra- tion are discussed. Whig and Democratic claims to office; aboli- tion, slavery and state’s rights; Kossuth and Hungarian independ- ence; Perry’s mission to Japan; the Hiilsemann correspondence; the Lopez filibustering expedition to Cuba; the Armistad affair; the Lobos islands contention ; the Mormons (it was Fillmore who appointed Brigham Young Governor of Utah territory), our rela- tions with Peru, with Mexico, with Nicaraugua, the establishment of cheaper postage, the enlargement of the Capitol—these are some of the subjects treated of in these thousands of letters. I recom- mend that at the earliest opportunity a selection from these letters be published.BUFFALO. HISTORICAL SOCIETY. 411 FORTY-EIGHTH ANNUAL MEETING The forty-eighth annual meeting of the Buffalo Historical Society was held at the Historical Building, Tuesday evening, January n, 1910. President Langdon being out of town, Vice-President Hill presided, and made a short address on the work of the society. Messrs. Henry W. Hill, Henry R. Howland, J. N. Larned, J. J. McWilliams and Charles R. Wilson, whose terms of office as mem- bers of the Board of Managers had expired, were reelected for the ensuing four years. THE SECRETARY'S REPORT. The secretary submitted the following report: The year 1909 was one of substantial achievement for the Buf- falo Historical Society. Besides minor activities, lectures and other entertainments, we issued two volumes of our Publications, and completed our building with the construction of a marble cornice and copper gutters. With the exception of the publication work, the task which has taken most of the secretary's time has been the classification and cataloguing of the manuscripts belonging to the society. Although the society has been accumulating manuscript material for forty- eight years, apparently no effort has heretofore been made to sys- tematize it, or make it readily available to the student. This task, though still unfinished, is so far along that the secretary expects to finish it and to publish a catalogue of the manuscripts in the keep- ing of the society during the present year.1 Building. Beginning in January, sealed proposals for cornice construction were advertised for, according to law. The following bids were received: J. H. Tilden Co..............................$15,852 Geo. W. Maltby & Sons .......................15,648 Chas. Berrick's Sons Co. .... ...............15,250 Through an agreement with the city, the unexpended balance of a park bond issue was made available for this work. The society at present could not have completed the building without the aid of the city. This aid being now guaranteed, the secretary was author- ized to sign a contract with Chas. Berrick’s Sons Co., whose bid 1. The ©atalogue follows this report.412 PROCEEDINGS OF THE was the lowest. In February the plans and specifications were filed with the Bureau of Buildings. The sub-contract for procuring the marble from the quarry, shipping to Buffalo, dressing and delivering at the Historical Building, was given to Geo. W. Maltby & Sons. They proceeded with their work during the winter and spring. The marble was quarried at Proctor, Vt., and is uniform with that of which the walls of our building are constructed. The work of re- moving the old galvanized iron cornice was begun July 3d; and by the end of September the last stone was set. The season on the whole was favorable to the work, and the building sustained no material damage, when portions of the roof were off, from exposure to the elements, the contractor taking all possible means to protect us. It was not found necessary to close the building, or any part of it, to the public, and the inconvenience from the scaffolding which surrounded the building for several weeks was but slight. # The work was carried through with expedition and with no accident. The possibility of mishap is evident when it is stated that some of the marble blocks which were raised to the roof were 11 feet 6 inches long, and weighed several tons, and that there was the usual con- stant coming and going of visitors, at the building, including many children, while the work was in progress. The copper and tile work was done by the G. H. Peters Co. The Board of Managers authorized certain pointing, renewing of tile, etc., not included in the city estimate, and this, with the architect’s commission, the society has paid for from other funds. The work appears to have been well done, and the building now for the first time may fairly be called completed; for although the soul of our architect longs to see it decorated with the elaborate carvings which his drawings provide for, these can not be deemed essentials, how- ever desirable they may be from the aesthetic point of view. From the day of our moving in, early in 1902, to the present time, this building has called for constant work, either to complete its unfinished portions, or to repair work which was bad. We have had to repair and patch and renew a leaky roof; have been flooded in the basement, obliged to rebuild broken sewers, and to go to the very foundations and reconstruct the steps and approaches. What will happen next we hazard no guess on; but the hope is, that for the next few years at least we may abide in economical peace, with^ out having to waste our substance in any more repairs. Probably the next structural work we will be called on to meet will be the building of a new sewer. We now sewer by license through the grounds to the northward as far as Amherst street, there being no trunk sewer in Elmwood avenue at this point. Ac- cording to report, the grounds now occupied by the Park Club are soon to be laid out for residence. We can no doubt combine with whatever sewer system is adopted for the tract. It would seem, in view of several improvements in this neighborhood, that it is time for the city to provide a more adequate sewer system, including an extension of the Elmwood-avenue sewer. Note should be made of the installation, during the year, of a so-called still-alarm burglar apparatus, and of the laying of a grano- lithic walk from the street to the north entrance. This last im- provement was made, on the request of the society, by the Park Department.BUFFALO HISTORICAL SOCIETY. 413 Publications. In May the society issued volume XII of its Pub- lications, being Senator Henry W. Hill’s “Waterways and Canal Construction in New York State.” This was followed in December with volume XIII, relating to “Canal Enlargement in New York,” and kindred subjects, including a history of the Buffalo Board of Trade, Merchants’ Exchange and Chamber of Commerce. It may be said of this latest volume, that it is in one important respect a radical departure from the usual character of historical society pub- lications. For it, we solicited and secured special contributions, dealing with important phases of New York canal history, from the greatest authorities on the subject presented—from the men- who have been instrumental in bringing about the present canal policy of New York State. These two volumes have been well received, especially outside of Buffalo. The reviews, notably in historical journals, have been in general appreciative and often complimentary to our work. To libraries and other institutions with which no exchange is made, we have materially extended our sales, thus deriving a revenue which substantially reduces our publication charges. A minor publication of the year, a pamphlet entitled “Means of Education and Self-Culture offered Dayworkers by the City of Buf- falo,” was issued by this society in conjunction with the Public and Grosvenor Libraries and the Society of Natural Sciences, for free distribution, its object being to inform the public of what facilities are offered free by these institutions, and to increase the use made of them. Library. There have been added to the library, by gift and pur- chase 752 volumes, making the number of catalogued volumes in the general library 18,925. The Lord library continues unchanged, as does the Marshall collection. Museum. In the museum considerable improvement has been made. The Indian archaeological collections of Dilworth M. Silver and Dr. A. L. Benedict have been re-arranged and enlarged. New cases have been made, and the general appearance of the exhibits much bettered. Membership. A year ago I reported our total membership as 731, consisting of one patron, 5 honorary members, 120 correspond- ing members, 130 life members and 475 annual or resident members. We have now but one patron, by which term is designated those whose gifts to the society amount to $2500 or more. The society’s first patron was the Hon. James M. Smith. Our only living patron is Mr. Andrew Langdon. Our short list of honorary members, to which no additions have been made in several years, is made still shorter by the death of Gen. O. O. Howard, at Burlington, Vt., Oct. 26th, and Gen. Wm. B. Rochester, at Washington, Nov. nth. We have lost by death 4 life members and 12 annual members, and have gained 3 life members and 49 annual members. Against this are 7 resignations or names dropped for non-payment of dues.414 PROCEEDINGS OF THE The present membership therefore stands: Patron .................................... i Honorary . . ............................. 3 Corresponding ..............................120 Life.......... . . . ......................129 Annual......................................505 Total . ............................ 758 There is no present disposition to increase the honorary or cor- responding lists. As these classes are purely complimentary, they add nothing to the income or resources of the institution. Long lists of such names are misleading, for they are not an element of strength. Obviously, membership in those classes should not be bestowed but for abundant reason. We have an excellent example in this matter in the case of the American Historical Association, which in its existence of 25 years, and with a present membership of nearly 2800, has but one honorary member—the Hon. James Bryce, the present British Ambassador to the United States. When compliments are thus charily bestowed, they become indeed an hon- orary distinction. The death roll for the year from our membership is as follows: DEATHS IN 1909. Feb. 7. Henry W. Box . Life member “ 27. Charles H. Williams ...... « Mch. 5. Elihu A. Spencer n ” illustrated; Mr. Frank Yeigh of Toronto. 29. Address: “Ireland's Industrial Revival,” Rev. Michael O'Flanagan of Sligo, Ireland. Dec. 6. Address : “Public Schools in Great Britain,” Hon. Henry P. Emerson. , 13. Address : “Buffalo vs. Buffalo,” Charles Rohlfs. 17. Evening entertainment for members: Lecture: “Historic Niagara,” with lantern illustrations, Frank H. Severance. 20. Address: “Tuberculosis as a Sociological and Economic Problem," Dr. John H. Pryor. 1909. Jan. 12. Annual election and reports. 17. Address: “Life and Times of Lincoln,” Miss Jane Meade Welch. 24. Address: “Travels in Sicily,” Mrs. George H. Camehl. 28. Illustrated lecture: “Turkey, the Sultan and His People,” Dr. Edgar J. Banks, New York City.BUFFALO HISTORICAL SOCIETY. 419 1909. Jan. 31. Address: “The Simple Life of Abraham Lincoln,” Harry Earle Montgomery. Feb. 7. Address: “Lincoln’s Fame, with Reminiscences of His Buffalo Visit,” Frank H. Severance. 14. Address: “Darwin’s Place in History,” Frank H. Sev- erance. 18, Illustrated lecture: “David Copperfield,” E. S. William- son of Toronto. '2i. Address : “Washington,” Rev. Leon O. Williams. 28. Address: “Problems in the Relief of the Poor of Buf- falo,” Porter R. Lee of the Charity Organization Society. Mar. 7. Historical paper: “Reminiscences of Earlier Buffalo,” D. E. Mahoney. 11. Illustrated lecture for members: “The Scars of War— Visits to Southern Battlefields,” John D. Wells. 14. Address: “Municipal Playgrounds and Civic Centers,” J. H. Feigel. Discussion by ex-Park Commissioner W. A. Joyce and others. Illustrated with maps and diagrams. 21. Address: “Joseph Brant the History Maker,” Frank H. Severance; with exhibition of relics. 28. Address: “Rome,” Rev. Henry J. Laudenbach. April 15. Literary and musical entertainment for members: “Indian songs, folk lore and basketry.” Rev. and Mrs. William Brewster Humphrey, New York City; with exhibition of baskets, etc. Nov. 11. Illustrated lecture for members: “The Story of New Netherland: The Dutch in America.” Rev. William Elliot Griffis, D. D. Dec. 5. Address: “Social Settlement Work in the Steel Plant District, South Buffalo,” Rev. B. K. Basso. 12. Address: “Buffalo’s Need of Small Parks,” Councilman Charles L. Willert. 15. Lecture (members’ meeting) : “American Discoverers be- fore Columbus.” Miss Jane Meade Welch; songs by Miss Grace E, Jones, Dr. Prescott Le Breton, accom- panist. 19. Address: “Social Settlement Work among the Italians of Buffalo,” Miss Mary E. Remington. 1910. Jan. 11. Annual business meeting and election. 20. Entertainment for members: “An Evening with Dickens,” E. S. Williamson, Toronto. Feb. 6. Address: “Forts on the Niagara Frontier,” Hon. Peter A. Porter. 13. Address: “Lincoln,” Rev. J. W. Ross; singing by Mrs. Frederick Freitsche of Tonawanda, Miss Bessie Perrigo, accompanist. 20. Address: “Western New York in the Days of Washing- ton,” Frank H. Severance.420 BUFFALO HISTORICAL SOCIETY. 1910. Feb. 24. Members’ meeting. Address: “Emerson and his Friends at Concord,” Mrs. Mary K. Babbitt, Concord, Mass. Piano selections by Mr. Edward Haendiges. 27. Address: “The Story of Seneca Park, the old Indian Burial Ground at South Buffalo,” Frank H. Severance. Mar. 13. Address: “The City of Buffalo,” Mr. John Sayles. 20. Address: “The Career of Gen. Philip Sheridan,” Mr. James Harmon. 27. Address: “The first Easter Observance on the Niagara,” Frank H. Severance. 28. Members’ meeting: Illustrated lecture on “Arabia,” Dr. Edgar J. Banks, New York City. May 8. Address: “Some Facts about Father Hennepin,” Frank H. Severance. May 31- June 2. Meetings of the American Association of Museums. 6. Public lecture: “The Story of Hingham Plantation,” Rev. Louis C. Cornish, Hingham, Mass. 20. Commencement, North Park School, No. 21.APPENDIX B ROUGH LIST OF MANUSCRIPTS IN THE LIBRARY OF THE BUFFALO HISTORICAL SOCIETYLIST OF MANUSCRIPTS IN THE LIBRARY OF THE BUFFALO HISTORICAL SOCIETY The following list indicates the manuscript material in the keeping of the Buffalo Historical Society. In the case of the larger collections, notably the Holland Land Company Papers and the Fillmore correspondence, no attempt is made to list the papers in detail. A catalogue of the Fillmore correspond- ence of itself, more than 8,000 papers, would make a good-sized volume. The general character of that particular collection is, however, indicated at some length in preceding pages of this volume. The principal purpose of the present list is to make known the miscellaneous manuscripts, some of them of much value, which have come to the Buffalo Historical Society, usually by gift, dur- ing the well-nigh half century of its existence. The entire collection is clas- sified, catalogued and as readily and freely at the service of students as the books in our library. In the following list the usual abbreviations have been used: “A. L. S.”, “autograph letter, signed”; sometimes, “A. LL. S.”, “autograph letters, signed”; “D. S,”, “Doc. S.”, “document, signed”; “A. N. S.”, “autograph note, signed”; “v. d.”, “various dates”; “n. d.”, “no date”; “B. H. S.”, “Buffalo Historical Society.” Adam, Robert B. History of Abolition of Railroad Grade Crossings in Buffalo. MS. incomplete. Printed in full, B. H. S. Publications, v. VIII. Adams, John Quincy. L. S., March 17, 1845. Doc. S., January 3, 1826. See “Fleming, Robert/’ Aigin, James. Reminiscences of Buffalo, War of 1812, etc. Three letters. One of them describes the first hanging in Buffalo, of which Mr. Aigen was a witness. Allen, {Hon.) Lewis F. Recollections of Early Forwarding Merchants of the Niagara Frontier B. H. S. paper, June 13, 1865. Burial of Sir John Moore: Recollections of a British officer. B. H. S. paper, January 25, 1864. Allen, Orlando. A. L. S. “Buffalo, Apr, 7, 1863,” to Guy H. Salisbury, pre- senting an Erie Canal medal to the Buffalo Historical So- ciety, and giving personal recollections of the “gun tele- graph” at the opening of the canal. 423424 HISTORICAL SOCIETY MANUSCRIPTS. Alvord, (Hon.) Thos. G. (Speaker N. Y. Assembly, Lieut. Gov. N. Y. etc.) A. L. S. “Clayton, July i, 1882.” See “Buffalo Semi-Cen- tennial.” American Association for the Advancement of Science. Register of members at the meeting in Buffalo, 1866. 1 vol. Signatures of many distinguished scientists of that day. Armstrong, George S. (M.D.). Diplomas, certificates, etc., granted to, 1831-35. Arthur, C [hester] A. L. S. “N. Y. Dec. 14, 1880,” to Ada Knowlton, Victory, N. Y. A. L. S., “Washington, Dec. 12, 1881.” Articles of Agreement. Between certain persons in Witney, Oxford Co., Eng;, to prosecute those who have committed felonies and other crimes. March 1, 1787. Parchment. Curious document, signed and sealed by 68 men. Astor, Wm. W. A. L. S., “Senate Chamber, Albany, Apr. 22, 1880.” [Atwater], Sam. A. L. S., “Buffalo, Jan. 2, 1837,” to his brother Moses at Can- andaigua, giving his experiences in the Buffalo City Guard, during the Patriot War excitement. Audubon, John James. Letters to, regarding the “Birds of America.” From D. Ridgeley, Maryland State Librarian, Annapolis, Mch. 19, 1834; Spencer F. Baird, Smithsonian Institution, Wash- ington, May 28, 1853; John Neal, Portland, April 8, 1834; Jas. Wilson, Edinburgh, Jan. 24, 1831; and others. Babcock, George R. On the origin of the name of Black Rock. Memoir of George Palmer, B. H. S. paper, June 20, 1865. Bacheldor, (Mrs.) Louise (Rochester, N. Y.) Early pioneer days of Niagara Co., N. Y. A. MS. Bacon, D. R. (Le Roy, N. Y.) Salt deposits in the Oatka valley. Fossilized leaves. B. H. S. papers, v. d. Baker, A. L. Seamanship—instructions for sailors. Old MS., n. d. Ball, (Rev.) George H. History of the Free Will Baptist churches comprising [sic] the Erie Quarterly Conference. Written 1867. Ball, Gideon J. A. L. S. Erie, Pa., Aug. 28, 1863. Reminiscences of his boyhood in Buffalo. Ball, Sheldon. The Wreck, a poem. MS. not dated, but as it records in fervent but limping meters, the loss of the schooner Good Intent on Lake Erie, was probably written about 1806.HISTORICAL SOCIETY MANUSCRIPTS. 425 Bancroft, George (Historian). A, L. S., “New York, Dec. 31, 1864.” Bancroft, H. H. (Early resident of Buffalo, historian.) A. N. S, “Feb. 20, 1876.” Bancroft, S. B. Battle of Oriskany and Siege of Ft. Stanwix. Barefoot, Isaac. (“Shonagarowane,” Mohawk preacher.) A. LL. S., “Brantford, Ont., Oct. 15, Oct. 30, 1875.” Barker, Jacob A. Letters, various. Barker, Peter. Early History of Evans, N. Y. Barry, (Maj. Geri.) Wm. F. Papers: Military correspondence, 1861; complimentary din- ner to, 1867; etc. Barton, James L. Early Buffalo. B. H. S. paper, Mch. 19, 1866. With photo of author. See “Jackson, Andrew.” A. L. S., Buffalo, Jan. 1848, to a local history committee, Young Men’s Ass’n. Batavia “Passage-Book.” Feb. 22, 1840 ; Apr. 28, 1842. MS. f. bd. A stage-office record of passing travelers. Beauchamp, {Rev.) W. M. Antiquities of Onondaga Co., N. Y., as known in 1878. With recent personal observations on the Seneca river. 2v. MS. pamp. 4to. ill. and maps. A. LL. S. (3). Beauregard, G. T. (Maj. Gen. C. S. A.) See “Bishop, A. W., Papers.” Beecher, (Rev.) Henry Ward. Heads of sermon, May 9, 1875. Bishop (Adj. Gen.) Albert W. Papers. Valuable collection relating chiefly to events of the Civil War in Arkansas, including the following letters and docs.: Beauregard, (Maj. Gen.) G. T. Order designating Maj. Gen. Thos. C. Hindman’s command as the Trans-Mississippi District, C. S. A., and specifying the States, Corinth, Miss., May 27, 1862. Benjamin, Judah P, (Sec’y of War, C. S. A.) L. S. to Henry M. Rector, Governor of Arkansas dated “Richmond, Feb. 2, 1862.” Davisj Jefferson (President C. S. A.) A. L. S., “Richmond, July 15, 1863,” to Harris Flan- agin, Governor of Arkansas. Documents relating to the surrender of the Little Rock arsenal to the Confederate authorities of the State426 HISTORICAL SOCIETY MANUSCRIPTS. Bishop, Albert W., continued. of Arkansas by Capt. James Totten, 2d Art’y U. S. A., Feb. 1861. Flanagin, Harris (Confederate Gov. State of Arkansas). A. L. S., “Executive office, Little Rock, Ark., July 28, 1863,” to Lt. Gen. E. Kirby Smith. Hardee, W. J. (Brig. Gen. C. S. A. commanding Upper Dist. of Arkansas). Four letters to the Military Board, State of Ar- kansas. Gov. Rector and Col. T. C. Hindman, July-Oct. 1861. Hindman, Thos. C. (Maj. Gen. C. S. A.) A. L. S., “Washington, Dec. 16, i860,” to Henry M. Rector, Gov. of Arkansas. Same 'to same. “Head- quarters, Trans-Miss. Dist., Little Rock, May 31, 1862. Holmes, Theophilus H. (Lt. Gen. Commanding Dept, of Ark., C. S. A.) A. L. S., “Camp Bragg, Nov. 21, 1863,” to Harris Flanagin, Gov. of Arkansas. Johnson, Robt. W. (U. S. Senator, afterwards C. S. Senator from Arkansas). A. L. S., “Washington, Jan. 21, 1861,” to Gov. Rec- tor; same to same. “Richmond, Sept. 10, 1861.” Pickens, Francis W. (Governor South Carolina). L. S., “Columbia, S. C, Apr. 29, 1862,” to Gov. Flanagin of Arkansas. Pike, Albert (Brig. Gen. C. S. A.). A. L. S., “Nov. 5, 1864,” to Gov. Flanagin. Written after Pike had resigned his commission in the Confederate army; he was at this date Judge of the Supreme Court of Arkansas. Price, Sterling (Maj. Gen. C. S. A.). A. L. S., “Springfield, Mo., Jan. 16, 1862,” to Gov. Rector of Arkansas. Sedden, James A. (Sec’y of War, C. S. A.). A. L. S., “Richmond, Va., July 18, 1863,” to Gov. Flanagin. Shelby, Jos. O. (Brig. Gen. C. S. A.). A. L. S., “Fulton, Ark., March 10, 1865,” to Gov. Flanagin. Smith, E. Kirby (Lt. Gen. C. S. A., com'g Trans-Miss. Dept.) Three letters to Gov. Flanagin of Ark., written at Shreveport, La., Mch. 4, Nov. 19 and 29, 1864. Walker, Leroy Pope (Sec’y of War, C. S. A.). L. S., “Richmond, Aug. 8, 1861,” to Gov. Rector of Arkansas. Misc. Docs. Original transfer of Arkansas Volunteers to the Gov^ ernment of the Confederate States of America, made at Little Rock, July 15, 1861; docs, re-HISTORICAL SOCIETY MANUSCRIPTS. 427 Bishop, Albert W., continued. lating to the surrender of the Little Rock arsenal, Feb. 1861; proceedings of a public meeting of citizens of Miss, and Tenn., held at Holly Springs, Miss., June 13, 1861; orders, telegrams, etc. Bishop, Anna (singer). A. L. S., “Buffalo, Aug. 2, 1851,” to Robert Denton, Buffalo. The letter bears also the sig. of Ch. Bochsa, the harpist. Belmont, (Hon.) Perry. L. S., “House of Representatives, Washington, June 27, 1882/’ See “Buffalo Semi-Centennial.” Benedict, (Dr.) A. L. Report on ossuary of the Neuter Nation between Stamford and St. Davids, Ont. Notes of lecture before Buffalo His- torical Society, May 10, 1908. Benjamin, Judah P. (Secretary of War, C. S. A.) See “Bishop, A. W., Papers.” Berry, (Rev.) Thomas B. Anniversary sermons: Church of the Good Shepard, Buffalo, 10th anniversary, May, 1898; 15th an. May 31, 1903. Biddle, Nicholas]. A. L. S., “Bank of the United States, Feb. 12, 1827,” to Gen. Peter B. Porter, Black Rock. A. L. S., “Bank of the United States, May 27, 1830,” to Sami. Jaudon[?], New Orleans. Bidwell, Benjamin. Commission as lieutenant, 13th Regt. N. Y. S. Inf., signed by De Witt Clinton, Mch. 16, 1820. Bigelow, Allen Gilman. History of “D” Co., Buffalo City Guard. (Written, 1887.) Bird, William A. Misc. MSS., including the following: Autobiography, dated Mch. 23, 1874. Early charters and boundaries of N. Y., Mass., Conn., and Penn. Early transportation, Albany to Buffalo. Incidents, sortie from Ft. Erie—Mr. Bird’s personal recollec- tions of Gen. Porter in 1815. Black Rock Harbor Papers, 1822-1835. Valuable collection of original or copied MSS., including let- ters and reports by Gen. Peter B. Porter, Jas. Geddes, Nathaniel Sill, Sheldon Thompson, D. Thomas, Sam’l Wilkeson, Cyrenius Chapin and others nrominent in State or local affairs. Blair, Timothy. Mathematical problems, etc. 1 MS. voL On title-page: “Timothy Blair, born Sep. the 25, 1749. Presented to W. H. Blossom by Timothy Blair, Dec. 9, 1834. Presented to Wm. J. Mack by Ira H. Blossom, July 4, 1854.” Blake, H. G. (M. C., 1859-63.) A. L. S., “Medina, Nov. 5, 1861,” to A. T. Goodman.428 HISTORICAL SOCIETY MANUSCRIPTS. Bleecker, Barent. See “Porteous, John.” Bloomfield, Ontario Co., N. Y. Assessment roll of real and personal estate in the town of, May 27, 1803. 1 vol. 4to., unbound. Boon, Gerrit. A. L. S., to Messrs. LeRoy, Bayard and McEvers, N. Y.; Rotterdam, Nov. 20, 1800. BOUNDARY SURVEY BETWEEN U. S. AND CANADA. Duplicate journal of all the proceedings of the Commissioners on the part of his Britannic Majesty and of the United States of America (under the Treaty of Ghent), etc., Nov. 18, 1816; Oct. 28, 1817. Reports of surveys, correspondence and misc. MSS. Report of the British Commissioners respecting the boundary line, under the 7th article of the Treaty of Ghent. Descrip- tion of the boundary (River Ste. Marie, Isle Royale in L. Superior to Lac la Pluie), arguments, documents and maps. 1 vol. folio. Minutes of proceedings of the Commissioners in deciding that boundary. Kept by Maj. Donald Fraser, Secy., 1824- 1827. 1 vol. folio. These are the first or “blotter” notes taken at the meetings of the Board. Afterwards authenticated and copied for the two Govern- ments. Brant, John. A. L. S., “Nelson, Head of Lake Ontario, July 20, 1811." Brayman, J. O. A. L. S., “Chicago, June 30, 1882.” See “Buffalo Semi-Centen- nial.” Reminiscences of his youth in Buffalo. Brewster, Benj. H. (U. S. Atty. Gen.) L. S., “Dept, of Justice, Washington, July 26, 1882.” See “Buffalo, Semi-Centennial.” Briggs, Horace (Ph. D.) Memoranda of the Buffalo Classical School, 1863-1885. 1 vol. The author's original MS., bound with photos. (Privately printed, 1902.) Bright, John. A. L. S., Nov. 24, 1861. Brisbane, J. A. L. S., “Batavia, 7 Feby, 1811,” to Geo. Barnam, Lewiston, N. Y., regarding shipment of ashes by vessel to Presqu' Isle, price of hemp, etc. Brown, (Maj. Gen.) Jacob. A. L. S., “Headquarters, Buffaloe, June 7, 1814,” to Brig.-Gen. P. B. Porter. A. L. S., to his brother, dated: “Headquarters, Fort Erie, Sept. 17, 1814.” A. L. S., “Headquarters, Fort Erie, Sept. 10, 1814.”HISTORICAL SOCIETY MANUSCRIPTS. 429 Brown, (Maj. Gen.) Jacob, continued. Letters (2) by D. Ormsby, regarding Gen. Brown’s sword worn at the .battle of Sackett’s Harbor, now owned by the Buffalo Historical Society. Brown, (Rev.) John W. On the late Dr. Wm. Shelton. B. H. S. paper, Feb. 15, 1886. Bryan, Geo. J. Sketch of Elijah D. Effner, 1878. Bryant, William Cullen. A. L. S., January 3, 1859. A. L. S., with photo, to Maris Bryant Pierce, q. v. Brymner, Douglas (Dominion Archivist). A. L. S., “Ottawa, 9 April, 1887,” to Cyrus K. Remington, regarding data in the Canadian Archives relating to Fort Erie, Ont. Buck, (Rev.) Wm. D. Marriage records from 1849-1893. Marriages performed by Mr. Buck at various places, chiefly in Allegany, Erie, Cat- taraugus, Genesee, Monroe, Orleans, Ontario and Wyoming counties, N. Y. Buddhistic. Books written on palm-leaf in Tamil character. Lord Library. Buell, J. S. The Niagara Frontier Police Organization, 1866-’69. Type- written, Aug. 15, 1891. BUFFALO: Documents relating to history of: Buffalo Academy of Music. (“Musical Institute of West. N. Y.JJ) Minutes of meetings, membership, etc., 1851-1854. 1 vol. bound. Buffalo Apprentices’ Society. Records, 1844-1849. 1 vol. Burlesque essay on, Nov. 26, 1836. (A contribution which probably amused a meeting of apprentices at that’date.) Buffalo Assessment Rolls: Town of Buffalo, 1819. Eleventh ward, 1863. 1 vol. Twelfth ward, 1863. 1 vol. Buffalo Association for Relief of the Poor. Report of Gov. Hosmer, 1852. Buffalo-Autographs of Early Citizens. Signatures of 301 business men of the city of Buffalo, ob- tained by the committee on local history of the Young Men’s Association, Aug. 30, 1849. Buffalo Banks. Bank of Niagara, papers relating to: List of stockholders; statement of assets. Sept. 1821; Jas. Brisbane’s plan for reorganization. (Gift of Chas. D. Norton, 1863.) Bank of the United States, papers relating to, 1829-31.430 HISTORICAL SOCIETY MANUSCRIPTS. Buffalo Baptist Union. Constitution, articles of incorporation (1887), minutes and records, 1886-1890. 1 vol. bound.. Records and minutes, 1880-1905. 4 vols. Records, 1890-1897. 1 vol. bound. Buffalo Baseball. Niagara Baseball Club Score-book, i860. Names of players in this early organization, and their records, offering- amusement to the modern baseball expert. Buffalo—Black Rock. Assessment Roll, 1852. Buffalo Board of Trade. Lists of recruits furnished to the 100th Regt. N. Y. S. V. by the Board. Aug.-Oct. 1862. 1 vol. Visitors’ Register, Jan. 1869—Dec. 1883. 1 vol. folio. Buffalo “Board of Trade Regiment." See “Buffalo, military." Buffalo Celebration, Battle of the Thames. Anniversary, Oct. 7, 1840. Finance Committee, subscriptions, etc. 1 vol. Buffalo Cemeteries. Memoranda of removals from the old Burial Ground in the City of Buffalo, Oct. 6-Nov. 20, 1851. The Franklin Square (City Hall site) grounds. Work done and mem. made by Alex. McKay. Buffalo & Chippewa Steamboat Ferry Co. Letters from directors of, to Thaddeus Joy, Jan. 28, 1825. . Buffalo Churches. Baptist. Ferris, P. J. A short history of the Buffalo Baptist Union. 1 vol. 1880-1884. vol. 2. Buffalo Churches Methodist Episcopal. Worthington, RM A. Early reminiscences of Plymouth M. E. church. Buffalo Churches. Presbyterian. Contract for building the first brick church in the county of Erie. Dated “Black Rock this 20th of February, 1827.” First Presbyterian. Records 1812-1882. 4 vols., 4to; letters, 1818-1866; session reports, 1834-1890; necrology, 1888; citations, etc., 1845, 1853; trial of Nevius and wife, con- fessions, excommunications, etc., 1815-1844; correspond- ence (Mission conference), 1844; and misc. MSS. Valu- able collection of early records deposited with the B. H. S. by the session of the church, which retains ownership. First Presbyterian. Eaton, (Rev.) Sylvester. Record of marriages, births, deaths (mostly in Buffalo), 1828-44. 1 v. Park Presbyterian. The first ten years of, Historical address by Rev. Charles Elbert Rhodes, May 3, 1903. The Presbytery of Buffalo and its churches. Prepared for the Pan-American exhibit at the Exposition at Jamestown,. Va., 1907. Collected by Horace Briggs, by direction of the Presbytery of Buffalo. I vol. 4to. Portraits, etc., inserted.HISTORICAL SOCIETY MANUSCRIPTS. 431 Buffalo Churches. Protestant Episcopal. St. Paul's. Josiah Trowbridge's deed to pew, January I, 1829. See "Berry (Rev.), Thos. B." Buffalo Churches. Universalist. Fifty years; a sermon preached at the 50th anniversary of the organization of the First Universalist Society of Buffalo, by the pastor, W. E. Gibbs. MS* typewritten, bd. Items of local interest from record of marriages by Rev. Stephen R. Smith, pastor of the First Universalist church. Buffalo, N. Y., 1843-1849. Buffalo Citizens Relief Committee. For Ohio Valley flood sufferers, organized Feb. 24, 1883; correspondence, subscriptions, lists, etc. Mayor John B. Manning, chm.; Geo. W. Hayward, sec.; Chas. G. Irish, chm. supply com.; J. M. Johnson, chm. finance com. Sec- retary's records, I vol.; with final report made to Mayor Philip Becker, Mch. 4, 1888; and four subscription books. Buffalo Clubs. City Club. Constitution. (Appended are signatures of 384 citizens of Buffalo, among them Grover Cleveland.) The Friends. History of the club, by Sarah Hirschfield Kessel. Good Government club, 25th ward, east of Delaware ave. Constitution, membership, minutes and corr., 1894-1897. 1 v. Skating club, register of, 1860-61-62. 1 vol. (Record of those privileged to use the “Delaware street skating pond.") Buffalo—Cold Spring. Cold Spring Reading Society. Records, 1829. 1 vol. Buffalo Courts. Clary, J. Court docket, 1831. 1 Vol. Slade, H. Court docket, 1834-35. 1 vol. Superior Court. James Sheldon, judge. Clerk's minutes, 1875, 1877, 1885. 3 vols. Supreme Court Registers. 1810-1812; 1812-1817. 1 vol. sm. 4to. “H. B. Potter, Buffaloe, Nov. 20, 1810," and “Oct. 15th, 1812." 2 vols. Buffalo, Defense of, in 1862. Record of proceedings of the Buffalo Committee of Public Defense organized Jan. 4, 1862. 1 vol. folio. The minutes cover the period to Feb. 7, 1863. Millard Fillmore was chairman of the committee of fifteen. Union Continentals, etc. Papers relating to. (In part, the MS. of Millard Fillmore.) Buffalo, Delaware Avenue Improvement Association. Minutes of meetings, constitution and by-laws, correspondence, etc., Oct. 29, 1901, to Nov. 29, 1901. Buffalo, Early. (Misc. Docs.) First Buffalo settler. First brick church, Black Rock, 1827. Red Jacket Hist. Soc., 1844. Black Rock streets, 1883. Original subscription papers for moneys to pay for building a brick wall around the Franklin Square burying ground432 HISTORICAL SOCIETY MANUSCRIPTS. Buffalo, Early (Misc. Docs.), continued. (City Hall site), June-Aug. 1836. One paper is in hand- writing of Sam’l Wilkeson, who collected the money and superintended the erection of the wall; with autographs of many original founders of Buffalo. Papers relating to fire engine purchase, Oct.-Nov., 1831. Mail contract, Sept. 26, 1812, for mail service twice a week, Buffalo to Erie. Memorial of Buffalo citizens to the Legislature, asking for incorporation of a railroad Co., Buffalo to Batavia, Dec. 7, 1835. With original signatures of 44 citizens. Poll list of the State election held in the town and city of Buffalo, Nov. 1838. 1 vol. (Whole number of votes polled 2,433.) Eagle Hose No. 2. List of absentees at fires, meetings, etc., Buffalo, 1832-1838. 1 vol. i2mo. Buffalo, Early Residents. Autographs of 301 business men of Buffalo, obtained by the committee on local history of the Young Men’s Associa- tion, Aug. 30, 1849. Buffalo; Elections. Eleventh Ward. County roll, 1863. 1 vol. Twelfth Ward. County roll, 1863. 1 vol. Buffalo Elevators. Day-book (cargoes rec’d) of 1st Buffalo elevator. 1 vol. (Built by Joseph Dart, 1842-43; 1st vessel discharged, June 12, 1843.) Exchange elevator. Car grain receipt books, bank receipts, etc., 1862-1887. 10 vols. folio. Buffalo. Firemen. Records of Cataract Fire Co. No. 1, 1824-1843. 1 vol. Buffalo. Foresters’ Club of. Bill of sale to H. T. Ramsdell, et al., Dec. 12, 1885. (Some of the furniture included in this sale became the property of the Buf. Hist. Soc.) Buffalo. General Aid Society. Records, 1864. 1 vol. Buffalo Harmonic Society. Constitution and Bye-Laws of. Established Jan. 1828. 1 vol. subscribers’ names, minutes, etc. Buffalo High School Association. Records, 1834-1838. Buffalo Historical Society. Red Jacket medal, papers rel. to. B. H. S. By-laws, etc. B. H. S. Contract with Buf. Pub. Lib. Red Jacket Monument Committee minutes, Oct. 1890-Dec. 1891. 1 vol. Red Jacket monument subscriptions for interment of Red Jacket and other chiefs. 1 vol. Red Jacket monument : Misc. papers.HISTORICAL SOCIETY MANUSCRIPTS. 433 Buffalo Historical Society, continued. Red Jacket monument correspondence, Mrs. Martha M. Huyler. Buffalo. Justice's Docket. Oct. ii, 1825, to Aug. 4, 1826. 1 vol. Formerly owned by Chas. E. Rathbone. Contains records of suits to which many prominent citizens of Buffalo at that day were party, with their signatures. Buffalo. Ladies Union Monument Ass'n, 1874-6. Treasurer's record (ledger), Record of meetings, 1874-84, List of Subscribers, List of regular & honorary members, etc., 4 vols. Buffalo Lawyers. Half-holiday petitions, 1882-1887. Buffalo Literary & Scientific Academy. V Records, 1831. Buffalo Log Cabin Ass'n. Register, “Tippecanoe & Tyler too," campaign of 1840. 1 vol. The original register kept at the Log Cabin, corner Main and Eagle sts., dedicated to the cause of Harrison & Tyler, Mch. 20, 1840. Contains 10,360 signatures, including many prominent citizens of Buffalo and Western New York; with sundry comments, reflect- ing the political sentiment of the times. Buffalo Lyceum. Constitution and list of members. (Organized 1832.) Buffalo Marriage Records. 1811-1888. 1 vol. and card cases. Discontinued since the es- tablishment in Buffalo of a Bureau of Vital Statistics. See “Buffalo Churches, 1st Universalist.” Buffalo Medical. Cholera records. James M. Newman, health physician, 1854. 1 vol. folio. Buffalo Medical Association. Constitution and bye-laws of the Medical Association of the village of Buffalo, 1831. 1 vol. Medical Association Proceedings, 1845-1857. 1. vol. Medical Association Proceedings, 1878-1886. T vol. Origin and formation of, 1845. Constitution and By-laws. Pledge of members, with original signatures. Amendments and additions. Proceedings, Aug. 5, 1845, to Mch. 11, 1856. 1 vol. The above are MS. records. In the same vol. are preserved printed records of the association to Mch. 1857. Buffalo Medical and Surgical Association. And Surgical Section, Academy of Medicine. Records, 1886- 1897. 1 vol. Buffalo Military. “D” Co., Buffalo City Guard. Minutes of proceedings, at meetings, 1869-1890. 9 vols.^ MS. report, Dec. 19, ’76, to Apr. 23, '77, on loose sheets in v. 5.434 HISTORICAL SOCIETY MANUSCRIPTS. Buffalo Military, continued. “D” Co., Independent Guard. (Afterwards Buffalo City Guard). Roll-book, 1847-1856. Constitution & By-laws. Minutes and records, 1847-1886. 13 vols. “Buffalo National Guard” (independent company so-styled, 1861). Rules and regulations; muster roll, etc. “D” Co. Buffalo City Guard. Misc. MSS. “D” Co., 74th Regt. N. Y. National Guard. Muster-out roll of Capt. Geo. M. Baker's company “D,” called into service 19th June, 1863. Enrollment record, 1857-1868, “D” Company, Independent Guard of Buffalo. 1 vol. “Frontier Guards.” Returns of delinquents and other papers, 208th Regt., 47th Brig., 24th Div. of Infantry, Militia, State of New York, 1826. “Home Guards,” 1861. Membership roll (original) and MS. copy. With statement of the agreement under which the company was formed, Apr. 1861. Contains the original signatures of 225 citizens of Buffalo, including ex-President Millard Fillmore. Later The Union Continentals, q, v. Record of enlistment by the Buffalo Board of Trade for the 100th Regt. N. Y. S. V., 1862. 1 vol. folio. (List of re- cruits furnished by the Board of Trade from Aug. to Oct., 1862. The 100th Regt. was “adopted” by the Board of Trade, July 29, 1862.) Record Book No. 9 “D” Co., Buffalo City Guard. 1 vol. Sixty-fifth Regiment Sick Soldiers' Aid Society, Aug.-Nov. 1898. Record of cases, report of Mary E. Mixer, secretary, etc. 1 vol. folio. Belongs to the history of the Spanish-American war, with its shameful record of camp sickness. Twenty-first Regt. N. Y. S. V. Acct. of clothing supplied by the U. S. to enlisted soldiers, 1861. 2 vols. folio. Twenty-first Regt. N. Y. S. V., “F” Co., description book. 1 vol. folio. Twenty-first Regt. N. Y. S. V., “F” Co. (Capt. George DeWitt Clinton). Morning reports, 1861. 2 vols. Co. orders. 1 v. Union Continentals, records of, i86i-'62. 1 vol. Union Continentals, “Special order No. 1, Headquarters, Buf- falo, Nov.. 7, 1864, N. K. Hall, commandant.” See also “Buffalo Military,” “Home Guards.” Buffalo Mutual Gas Light Co. Various papers relating to. Buffalo, New England Society of. Constitution and signatures of members; records, Nov. 23, 1853, to Dec. 21, 1858. 2 vols. folio. Although contained in two huge folios, the records are very scant. A dozen pages hold the record of elections and annual meet- ings. The rest is blank. Buffalo. Niagara Baseball Club. Journal, 1857-59. 1 vol. Account book. 1 vol. (Record of the first baseball club in Buffalo.)HISTORICAL SOCIETY MANUSCRIPTS. 435 Buffalo. Obituary Records. Date of death and other data regarding adults resident in Buffalo and vicinity, 1812 to 1895. 4 vols. Ledger size. Invaluable for reference. Not continued since the city estab- lished its Bureau of Vital Statistics. Buffalo. “Old Settlers” Papers. Festival of 1864. Reminiscences of many early settlers, lists of pioneers, etc. Buffalo. Parish Tract Land Co. Memoranda of sales, Mch. 1, 1827-Dec. 10, 1836. Sm. 4to, pp. 40- ^ Parish Tract, in Chancery, July 25, 1840. Sm. 4to., pp. 36. Buffalo Parks. Original subscription paper “to defray preliminary expenses connected with the project of a park,” Nov. 9> 1868.. Buffalo “Patriotic Fund.” Subscription list of the fund to aid families of volunteers for the defense of the Federal Union, April, 1861. 1 vol. Buffalo, Political. Call for Whig mass-meeting, with signatures of many citizens, Oct. 1855. Poll list of the State election held in Buffalo and Black Rock, Nov. 5, 6, 7, 1838. 1 vol. Poll Lists: 4th ward, 1855; 5th ward, 1855; 6th ward, 1855; 7th ward, 1855; nth ward, 1st dist., 1865? 2d dist., '65, ’67; nth ward, 1st dist., 1866; 2d dist., 1864-67, ’75. Poll list, nth ward, 1st dist., 1865. 1 vol. Poll list, nth ward, 2d dist., 1865. 1 vol. Poll list, nth ward, 2d dist., 1867; 1 vol. Poll list, 4th ward, 1855. 1 vol. Poll list, 5th ward, 1855. 1 vol. Poll list, 6th ward, 1855. 1 vol. Poll list, 7th ward, 1855. 1 vol. Register of voters, nth ward, 2d dist., Nov. 8, 1887. 1 vol. Register of voters, nth ward, 2d dist., 1864, 1 vol. Register of voters, nth ward, 2d dist., 1865. 1 vol. Register of voters, nth ward, 1st dist., 1865. 1 vol. Register of voters, nth ward, 2d dist., 1866. 1 vol. Register of voters, nth ward, 2d dist, 1867. 1 vol. Register of voters, nth ward, 2d dist., 1875. 1 vol. Buffalo, Port of. Record of clearances of canal-boats at the Collector’s office, 1828. 2 vols. Buffalo, Post-office Directory. (Prior to 1891.) 2 vols. bound. Buffalo, Recorder’s Court. Register, 1839-49. 1 vol. Buffalo, Red Jacket Historical Society. “Chronicles, vol. 1.” Buffalo, 1844-45. Folio. This early organization evidently started off with great expecta- tions. It provided this huge folio for its “chronicles,” but after436 HISTORICAL SOCIETY MANUSCRIPTS. writing therein its constitution (adopted April 21, 1844), by-laws, names of members, and minutes of meetings to Dec. 6, 1845, in all 35 pages, its career ended, and 99 per cent, of the great blank book provided for its “chronicles” is still a blank. The scant record is, however, of considerable interest. Buffalo Republican League. Lease, S. Levyn to, of premises on Main St., Buffalo, Dec. 1, 1885. Records of membership, 1884-1901. 2 vols. folio. Records, meetings of the Executive Committee, Jan. 26, 1892- Oct. 5, 1896. Buffalo, Residents Prior to 1830. Compiled by Cyrus K. Remington. Hundreds of names, ar- ranged by years, 1789-1829, to indicate date of arrival in Buffalo. Buffalo Schools. Academy record or class-book of the Buffalo Academy and of P. G. Cook’s school, 1829-1836. 1 vol. folio. An act to incorporate Westminster College, Buffalo, April 17, 1851. Associated Alumni, Buffalo Central High School. Report of building committee, June 17, 1885. High-school Association, stockholders, payments, etc., i828-’29. Literary & Scientific Academy. Address of committee to the Common Council in behalf of, Oct. 4, 1837. Misc. papers given by N. B. Thorp, 1824-1831. Theodore N. Boynton’s recollections of early schools in Buf- falo. Joseph E. Follett’s recollections. Parent Teachers’ Association. School 43, 1st year’s reports, I904-’o5. Public schools, various records, 1818-1831. Records of school district No. 2 from May 16, 1815. Records of school district, from 1828. Misc. entries to 1854. 1 vol. Subscription book for building the first school-house in Buf- falo, Mch. 29, 1807-May 23, 1809. Buffalo Semi-Centennial. Acknowledgments of invitation to attend celebration of Buf- falo’s 50th anniversary as a city, 1882. Report of Buffalo Historical Society committee on. Buffalo Sunday-School Association. Records, Nov. 23, 1874, to 1882. 1 vol. bd. Buffalo, University of. Notes of meeting, January 23, 1908. Buffalo Water Works Co. List of stockholders, n. d. Buffalo. Western Insurance Company Of the village of Buffalo. Letter-book. 1 vol. folio. (The letters range in date from Feb. 16,. 1825, to June 24, 1840.)HISTORICAL SOCIETY MANUSCRIPTS. 437 Buffalo, U. S. Sanitary Commission. Buffalo Branch. Record of receipts and disbursements, 1863. 1 vol. folio. “Soldiers' Rest," Buffalo, records of cases cared for, 1865. 1 vol. Bull, Geo. A. (President Lundy*s Lane Historical Society.) Letters to C. K. Remington, discussing Niagara Frontier battlefields, etc. See “Remington, C. K., Papers." Bull, Wm. H. Early history of Steuben Co., N. Y. Written 1865. Bull Papers. Misc. docs, from Wm. H. Bull, Bath, N. Y., January, 1865, including: Howell Bull's app't as deputy sheriff, Ontario Co., 1796; his commission as postmaster at Painted Post, 1800; as lieut., 1806; as capt., 1807; as sheriff, Steuben Co., 1810, etc. Bulwer, (Sir) Henry L. (British Minister to the U. S.) L. S. “Washington, 8 Aug., 1850,” to N. K. Hall, Postmaster- General. Burr, Aaron. A. L. S., May 3, 1823. Burritt, Elihu. A. L. S., Jan. 17, 1854. (See also “Fillmore MSS.") Burrows, (Maj.) John. Journal kept during Sullivan's campaign against the Indians, 1779. Burt, David. (Brig. Gen. Volunteer Militia Buffalo, 1838.) See “Canada Rebellion." Burwell, Theodotus. Reminiscences of Buffalo, i832-'67, especially of the City Clerk’s office. MS. dated “New York, Jan. 23, 1867." Callender, Amos. Misc. docs. Include a deed for 20 shares of the Niagara City Ass'n, 1836; mortgages, etc. Cameron, Angus. (U. S. Senator.) L. S., “U. S. Senate, Washington, June 30, 1882," recalling his residence in Buffalo, 1850, etc. See “Buffalo, Semi-Centennial." Cameron, Simon. (Secretary of War.) Autograph. See “Pierce, Maris Bryant." Signed pass granted to Samuel Wilkeson, N. Y. Tribune cor- respondent, “to pass to and from any military works or camps of the troops of the United States," etc. “War Dept., Aug. 29, 1861.” Cameron, William E. (Governor of Virginia.) A. L. S., “Richmond, Va., 27th June, 1882." See “Buffalo, Semi-Centennial.” Canals. Canal Investigating Commission, proceedings of the, April 4 to July 28, 1898. Testimony taken, mem. of exhibits, etc. Typewritten, 5 vols. 4to.438 HISTORICAL SOCIETY MANUSCRIPTS. Canals, continued. Forwarders’ agreement, Oct. 1881. N. Y. State canals: Opening in 1825; lease of the boat Ni- agara, owned by Josiah Beardsley, for the celebration, Oct. 1825, terms of agreement, etc. Western Inland Lock Navigation Co. See “Porteous, John.” N. Y. State. SV* “Hall, Matthew M. ” “Laughlin, John.” Carpenter, Wm. A. Reminiscences of Early Buffalo, from 1804. Written 1870. Papers for a history of Buffalo, 1847. Cass, Lewis. A. L. S., “Mouth of St. Mary’s river, July 3, 1826.” See “Dobbins Papers,” “Pierce, Maris Bryant, papers.” Cayuga (N. Y.) Bridge Co. Ledger, 1828-1839. Record of tolls and misc. accts., 1850-1856. Ledger, April 27, 1828-Mclf. 27, 1857. Champlin, Stephen. Letters rel. to battle of Lake Erie. Chancery. Wm. Newton vs. John Mills, jr., et al Dist. of Columbia, Co. of Alexandria, Dec. 18, 1812. Docs, relative to the mercantile transactions of Ricketts, New- ton & Co., in Europe and America, 1803-1809. Chapin {Dr.) Cyrenius. A. L. S., “Buffalo, Jan. 8, 1823,” to Gen. Peter B. Porter. Misc. papers. Chapin, {Col.) Edward P. Civil war docs. Chase, Salmon P. See “Lincoln, A.” Chauncey, {Com.) Isaac. L. S., U. S. Ship General Pike, Sackett’s Harbor, nth March, 1814. To Sailing-master Daniel Dobbins. See “Dobbins Papers.” Chester, {Rev.) A. T. Annual address, B. H. S., Jan. it, 1870. Childs, Geo. W. A. L. S., Office of the Public Ledger, Philadelphia, Sept. 16, 1874, to-------McAllister. Chippewa, Ont. Account-book, 1812-14. 1 vol. fo. Numerous entries of interest in connection with the war on the frontier, e. g., “Account of beef cattle killed at Chippawa, 1812,” “acct. of beef delivered the Commissariat at Chippawa, commencing Dec. 24, 1813,” etc. Name of original owner of book not evident. Cholera Epidemic of 1832. Papers relating to its progress in Buffalo and elsewhere. . Daily bulletin, Buffalo Bd. of Health; reports of physi- cians ; cholera among the Indians; letters from Gov. Throop to Mayor Ebenezer Johnson, etc.HISTORICAL SOCIETY MANUSCRIPTS. 439 Cholera Epidemic of 1854. Health Physicians’ records, Buffalo, June-Nov. 1854. 1 vol. CIVIL WAR. Buffalo bounty committee, 9th ward, 1862; vouchers, accts., etc. Buffalo register of voters, persons liable to military service, 9th ward, 1862. 1 vol. Register of voters, 9th ward, 1865. 1 vol. Subscription list of the Patriotic Fund. To aid families of volunteers for the defense of the Federal Union, April 1861. 1 vol. Chapin, (Col.) E. P. (116th Regt. N. Y. V.) A. L. S., dated “In the field, near Port Hudson, May 26, 1863,” enclosing copy of report by him on attack on that fort, May 21, 1863. Probably the last letter written by Col. Chapin, as he was killed next day. Clark, (Capt.) Chas. A. Records of Twelfth New York Bat- tery. 1 vol., with photos. Confederate muster roll. Alabama vols. 3 Regt., Co. E, Capt. John F. Huggins, Aug. 31, 1864, to Oct. 31, 1864. Confederate muster-roll. Arkansas vols. nth Regt., Co. D, Capt. J. D. Burke, Dec. 31, 1862, to Feb. 28, 1863. Confederate muster-roll. Phillips’ Regt. of Legion, Col. Jos. Hamilton, Co. B, Nov. 1, 1863, to Mch. 1, 1864. Confederate muster-roll. North Carolina troops, 13th Regt. Co. C, L. C. Hunt, capt. Feb. 28, 1862, to June 30, 1862. Confederate. List of deserters, nth Florida Regt., and Co.’s F and H Bonaud’s Battalion, May 4, 1864, to Feb. 15, 1865. Confederate. List of infantry officers in the Confederate army at Gloucester Point, Va., July 9, 1861. Confederate orders, “Richmond, Sept. 15, 1864,” and “Head Quar. Army No. Vir., Oct. 18, 1864.” Signed “R. E. Lee, General.” (Not original.) These orders were procured at Appomattox when Lee’s head- quarters were taken by Seargt. Isaac T. McRoberts, Co. H, 2d N. Y. Mounted Rifles, and by him given to the Buffalo Historical Society. Confederate order book (copies of telegrams sent), and mem. of discharged soldiers of Confederate Regts. 1 vol. folio. ' Endorsed on cover: “Captured in Sherman’s March to the Sea.” Confederate. Warner, B. H. (Chf. Eng. C. S. N.) Letter- book, containing copies of letters written at the Confeder- ate naval iron works, Columbus, i862-’66. 1 vol. Confederate. See “Bishop (Gen.) Albert W., Papers.” DeKay, Drake (A. D. C.f etc.) A. L. S., Washington, Jan. 13, 1863. Eaton, (Capt.) John B. Recollections of military experience in the War of the Rebellion. Aug. 1861-Apr. 1865. 1 vol. Eaton, (Capt.) John B. The Twenty-seventh Battery, New York Light Artillery, and its war service, pp. 80, folio.440 HISTORICAL SOCIETY MANUSCRIPTS. Civil War, continued. Flags of the 116th Regt. N. Y. Vols., history of. Forbush, Abbott. Letters from the front. Family correspond- ence from a soldier in the field (various points in Vir- ginia), i86i-,64. List of men enlisted in the naval service on the steamer Michigan, at Buffalo, from April to Nov. 1864. List of substitutes furnished by drafted men in Erie County, under the call of Dec. 19, 1864. With misc. corr. Miscellaneous papers. Soldiers’ letters; leaves of absence; passes; enlistments; collection of autograph signatures of Corps Commanders and other officers, “Headquarters, Army of the Potomac, Feb. 12, 1863.” Muster-out roll, Twelfth N. Y. Battery. See “Clark, (Capt.) Chas. A.” Muster rolls of recruits enlisted in Erie County from June, 1864, to April, 1865. Muster rolls, 21st Regt. N. Y. S. Vols., Co. “A.” Capt. Robt. P. Gardner. N. Y. State enrollment of persons liable to military duty, Aug., 1862. List for Ninth Ward, Buffalo. 1 vol. folio. Same, Ninth Ward, Buffalo, 1865. 1 v. fo. Orleans Co., N. Y. List of names of the soldier dead that went to the war from Orleans Co., N. Y. Regiments. 21st N. Y. Vols., Co. F, Geo. DeWitt Clinton, capt. Misc. papers, including morning reports, company certificates, returns of inspection, officers, provision returns, corre- spondence, etc. 21 st N. Y. Vols. Mem. of value of clothing issued by Capt. Geo. DeWitt Clinton to members of “F” Co., 21st N. Y. Vols., 1861, iv. 21st N. Y. Vols. Chronicles of, compiled by Jno. A. Hay- ward, late private Co. B, 21st Regt. N. Y. Vols. See “Hayward, John AT 27th N. Y. Battery, Light Artillery. Roster. 27th N. Y. Bat. Company morning reports. 1 vol. 1863. 27th N. Y. Bat. See “Eaton, J. B.” Records of the 100th Regt. N. Y.-S. Vols., known as the Buf- falo Board of Trade Regiment. Compiled by Geo. S. Hazard. 1 vol. imp. fo. Ills, and docs. An invaluable collection of MS. and other data. Including letters, re- ports, orders, etc., official and private correspondence. 116th N. Y. S. Vols. Deposition as to shackles taken from slave near Port Hudson, Mch. 18, 1863. (Shackle now in B. H. S. museum.) 179th N. Y. S. Vols., Co. “E.” Muster rolls.. Root, Adrian R. Letters chiefly to his mother, from the Front, 1860-1865 (a few of later date). 1 vol. 4to. Stimers, Alban C. (Commander U. S. N.) A. L. S., NewHISTORICAL SOCIETY MANUSCRIPTS. 441 Civil War, continued. York, May 5, 1862, to his father. Eleven pages. Descrip- tion of the fight between the Monitor and Merrimack. Commander Stimers superintended the construction of the Moni- tor, and was aboard of her during the famous engagement. U. S. General Hospital, Ft. Monroe, Va. Histories of cases, Nov. 14 to Dec. 2, 1861. U. S. Sanitary Commission, Buffalo Branch: Hospital Direc- tory, 1863-1865, 1 vol.; Expense Acct. Soldiers’ Rest, Buf- falo, 1 vol.; Records of supplies shipped, etc., 2 vols.; Hospital stores from General Aid Society for the Army, Jan. 1863-Dec. 1864, 1 vol.; Record of Calling Dept., Mch. 7, 1864-July 18, 1865, 1 vol. ' W-----, (Lt) B. H. A. L. S., to his father, dated “Poplar Spring Church, south of Petersburg, Va., Oct. 24, 1864." Wiedrich’s Battery. (Battery I, 1st Regt. N. Y. Vol. Light Artillery.) Papers relating to: Letters by Capt. Michael Wiedrich, written in camp and on the field, v. d. 1863; company rolls and misc. records; subscription papers, Wiedrich’s Battery fund (for Gettysburg monument), Buf- falo, N. Y., 1889; historical sketch of, by C. K. Remington. Clapp, {Hon.) A. M. Reminiscences. See “Fillmore, Millard, papers relating to." Autograph letters, various, including a long one on the occa- sion of Buffalo’s semi-centennial, July, 1882. Clarence {Township, Erie Co.), N. Y. Records of meetings, school district No. 4, 1836-1868. 1 vol. School district No. 4. Records of school meetings. i836-’69. Clark, {Gen.) John S. A. L. S., “Auburn, N. Y., Aug. 2, 1887," to Geo. S. Conover. See “Conover." A. LL. S., 8, various. Clarke, Levi H. A. L. S., Middletown, Conn., Oct. 31, 1808, to Messrs. McEvers, Bayard & Co., N. Y. Relates to the Connecti- cut Tract of 100,000 acres purchased by Conn, and Sir Wm. Pulteney. Clay, Henry. A. LL. S., “Washington, 15 April, 1838," to Gen. Peter B. Porter; “Ashland, 24 Oct., 1838," to same: “Steamboat Queen City, 15 Sept., 1849/’ to L. Hodges, Buffalo; a. n., “N. Hotel, 23d Jan., 1851," to Mrs. [N. K.] Hall. Cleveland, Grover. A. L. S., acknowledging election as honorary member of Buf. Hist. Soc., May 18, 1885. A. L. S., “Executive Mansion, Washington, Jan. 15, 1888," to Henry L. Meech, Buffalo. Clinton, {Col.) Charles. Journal of campaign, July-Oct. 1758. MS. in State Library, Albany.) (Copy from original442 HISTORICAL SOCIETY MANUSCRIPTS. Clinton,, DeWitt. A. L. S., to the N. Y. Assembly, io Feb., 1828. Endorsed in an unknown hand: “The last official act of DeWitt Clinton.” Letters (11) to Francis A. van der Kemp, Mch. 24, 1817- Feb. 11, 1828. 1 vol. See “Van der Kemp, Fr. A., Papers.” Doc. S., Feb. 17, 1820. See “Potter, Heman B.” Clinton, George. (Governor, Vice-Pres. U. S., etc.) Doc. S. Albany, Sept. 20, 1803. Letters Patent for Mohawk lands. Doc. S. Albany, Mch. 12, 1803. Pardon of “Stiff-armed George,” an Indian convicted of murder. A. L. S., Washington, Feb. 15, 1808. Clinton, {Judge) George W. Report of the Buffalo Harbor Committee to the Buffalo Com- mon Council, Aug. 13, 1847. Letter to the Canal Board, June 9, 1847. The letter and report both drawn up by Judge Clinton and here preserved in his original MS. draft. Letters, various (6). Edward S. Warren. B. H. S. paper, Mch. 28, 1864. See “Shepard, Jno. D., Papers.” A. LL. & docs. See “Pierce, Maris Bryant, Papers.” Clinton, Thomas (of Black Rock, Erie Co.). Account book, i828-’29. Colton, Calvin. See “Shepard, Jno. D., Papers.” Commissions: To Howard Bull as captain of Light Infantry, N. Y. State militia, Steuben Co., Apr. 24, 1807. Sig. of Gov. Morgan Lewis. To Wm. E. Greene to be Notary Public for Huron Co., Ohio, Aug. 11, 1879. Sig. of Richard M. Bishop, governor. To Bennet Riley as captain, brevet major, major, It. col., brevet col., col. in U. S. Army, 1820-1850; eight commis- sions, signed by Presidents Monroe, Jackson, Van Buren, Tyler, Polk and Fillmore. To John Bull as Vendue Master, Co. of Otsego, Feb. 29, 1804. Sig. of George Clinton, governor. Conover, George S. Kanadesaga and Geneva. A thick folio volume, over 900 pp., partly in MS., partly a scrap-book collection from newspapers, etc., of Mr. Conover’s his- torical writings, with copious MS. additions. Numerous letters in- serted. A. LL, S., (26). Continental Regiment of Foot, Commanded by Col. Ebenezer Learned. Payroll, n. d. Docu- ment found among the papers of Albertus L. Lynde of Buffalo.443 HISTORICAL SOCIETY MANUSCRIPTS. Cooper, Jas. Fenimore. A. L. S., “Cooperstown, May 20, 1843,” to Capt. Daniel Dobbins, regarding Cooper’s early naval service on the Lakes, etc. Part of MS. of “The Headsman of-Berne.” Cornell, Ezra. (Founder Cornell University.) A. L. S., “Ithaca, June 24, 1865.” Coxe, A. Cleveland. (Bishop of Western New York.) A. L. S., Buffalo, July 13 [1882], relating to Buffalo’s semi- centennial. Crary, Leonard P. (Publisher of the hrst Buffalo Directory, 1828.) Papers. Include correspondence with Rawdon, Clark & Co., Albany, regarding map for first Buffalo Directory; many receipted bills to purchasers of said directory; and lists of Buffalo residents, by streets, 1832. Craufurd & Co. (Merchants, Rotterdam, Holland.) MSS. relating to their dealings with Hepburn & Dundas, Alexandria, Va., May 4, 1799. Crawford, T. H. A. LL. S. See “Pierce, Maris Bryant, Papers.” Crawford, Wm. H. See “Granger Papers.” Crittenden, Thomas T. (M. C., Governor of Missouri, etc.) L. S., “Executive Dept. City of Jefferson, June 26, 1882.” See “Buffalo, Semi-Centennial.” Crockett, David. (Of Tenn.) A. L. S., Washington City, Jan. 9, 1834. To Henry R. Storrs. Crow, John. Promissory note to Elias Salisbury for $35, “Buffalo Creek, nth June, 1805.” Attested by Almon Crow. Interesting souvenir of an early Buffalo tavern-keeper, for whom Crow St., now Exchange, was named. Cruikshank, (Col.) Ernest. Value of Canadian archives in the study of American history. B. H. S. paper. Cummings, J. Account book, 1807-1816. Trade accounts1 at Chippewa, Queenston, etc. 1 vol. Dart, Joseph. Grain elevators. B. H. S. paper, Mar. 13, 1865. Davidsoff, Friedrich. Note book. Greenwich, Eng., 1802. Unbound, 4to. Contains prayers, poems, a letter, etc., in English; and several pages in another language [PRussian]. Davis, Jefferson. A. L. S., [1859]. See also “Pierce, Maris Bryant.” Davis, Noah. A. L. S., “New York, Feb. 13, 1875.”444 HISTORICAL SOCIETY MANUSCRIPTS. Daw, Henry. The building of the Walk-in-the-Water (personal recollec- tions). B. H. S. paper, Dec. 19, 1864. Dawes, Julius H. Measures of Time. B. H. S. paper, Feb. 24, 1890. Report on the Holland Land Go. papers in the possession of the Buffalo Historical Society. Dawson, Henry B. (Historian, publisher.) Letters, various. Day, David F. Address delivered at the unveiling of the statue of Red Jacket at Forest Lawn cemetery, Buffalo, June 22, 1892. Dean, (Hon.) James. Mythology of the Iroquois. Dearborn, H. (Sec’y of War.) See “Granger, Erastus”; “Irvine, Callendar.” DEEDS. American: Adams (Edward) and wife to Wm. Deneale, lands in Fred- erick Co., Va., July 20, 1808. Anderson (James) to Jos. Candour, lands in Lancaster Co., Pa., Aug. 22, 1768. Parchment. Chandler (Josiah) to Josiah Hotchkiss, Wallingford, Conn., Aug. 6, 1720. Cook (Ephraim) to Josiah Hotchkiss, Wallingford, Conn., Sept. 7, 1718. Ellison (Thos.) and wife to Patrick McDonnell, lands in Ulster Co., N. Y., Mch. 8, 1754. Parchment. Fitzgerald (John) and wife to J. Henry Lee, lands in Fairfax Co., Vir., Dec. 29, 1793. Fonda (Jelles) to George Klock, lands in Albany Co., N. Y., 1767. Parchment. Gellot (Joseph) to John Bird, Hartford, Conn., Jan. 25, 1742. House (Peter) to Hendrick Merkill, Jr., lands in Albany Co., N. Y., Jan. 12, 1769. House (Peter) to Hendrick Merkill, Jr., lands in Albany Co., N. Y., Jan. 13, 1769. , Livingston (Peter V. B., et al) to Jelles Fonda and George Klock, lands in Albany Co., N. Y., Feb. 3, 1761. Parch- ment. Longenecker (Christian), Sr., to Christian Longenecker, Jr., land in Donegal township, Lancaster Co., Pa., Mch. 14, 1812. Parchment. Peck (John) to John Bird, land in Litchfield, Ct., Feb. 17, 1735- Phillips (Laura) to J. McMasters, Oct. 31, 1829, conveying land in Buffalo. Scott (John) to Wm. Ketchum, Jan. 1, 1830, conveying land in Buffalo. Van Horne (David) and Samuel Van Horne to Jelles Fonda and George Klock, land in Albany Co., N. Y., Feb. 3, 1761. Parchment.HISTORICAL SOCIETY MANUSCRIPTS. 445 Deeds (American), continued. Van Rensselaer (Steven), of the manor of Rensselaerwyck, to Jonathan Emmons, land in Rensselaer Co., N. Y., Nov. 14, 1798. Woodford (Joseph) to John Bird, Hartford, Conn., Dec. 8, 1718. See also “Holland Land Co. Papers.’’ British: Reign of William and Mary, 1701. Parchment. Well pre- served Latin doc., engrossed in an archaic and obscure text. 1665. Parchment. 1707. Parchment. Transferring land on High St., Edinburgh, Oct. 14, 1536. Parchment. Indian: Anton (Hendrick) to Thos. Cheesman, Hempstead, N. Y., Nov. 3, 1703. Onhaetoroe, Jacob, et al, grant of lands in the Mohawk val- ley, 800 acres, to Jellis Fonda and others. Executed Dec. 12, 1761, and signed by the totem marks of 20 sachems, with seals. Parchment. Pearsall (Nathaniel) to Thos. Cheesman, Hempstead, N. Y., Oct. 21, 1703. Wookas (Thos.) to Richard Wookas, Oyster Bay, N. Y., Nov. 18, 1701. [Names illegible.] Conveying land on Long Island, Oct. 29, 1692. Derrick, W. S. (Acting Secretary of State.) L. S., “Washington, 17th July, 1851,” to the Collector of the Customs at Buffalo, regarding the supposed assembling in Buffalo of persons planning to invade Cuba. De Veaux, S[amuel]. A. L. S., Niagara Falls, Nov. 6, 1841. To Rev. Wm. Shelton, Buffalo. Dickens, Charles. A. N. S. Dix, John A. Autograph. See “Pierce, Maris Bryant.” L. S., to Guy H. Salisbury, Sec’y B. H. S., “Fort Monroe, 15 June, 1863.” Dobbins, (Capt.) Daniel. (1776-1856.) Erie (Pa.) Impost book “B.” July 1, 1805-Nov. 22, 1814. 1 v. Great Lakes port records (Presqu’ isle, Pa.), 1800-1828. Folio. Impost book (Presqu’ Isle harbor). Vessels on the Great Lakes, tonnage, etc., 1800-1805. 1 v. Journal of work in Ashtabula (O.) harbor, Oct. 13, 1826-May, 1829. Ledger, chiefly vessel accts. on the lakes, 1802-1817. 1 v. Ledger, 1822-1826. 1 v. Log book of the schooner Salina, 1809-1812. 1 v.446 HISTORICAL SOCIETY MANUSCRIPTS. Dobbins (Capt.) Daniel, continued. Log book of the schooner George Washington of Presqu' Isle, 24th May, 1816, to Sept. 15, 1816. Weekly reports of work done at the U. S. Navy Yard, Erie, Pa., Jan.-Sept., 1819. Misc. accts. 1 vol. Vessel logs of lake service, 1806-n. Various MSS., some imperfect. Dobbins, (Capt.) David Porter. (1820-1892.) Cash-book, 1849. 1 vol. Journal of passing events kept on board Schr. N. Biddle of Presqu’ Isle, commencing on Saturday, 14th March, 1840; to Nov. 24, 1843. 1 vol. Journal as master of the schooner Wm. Woodbridge, 1844. April 3, 1844-Aug. 5, 1845. Log book of the schooner Nicholas Biddle, 1838-39. 1 vol. Dobbins, (Capt.) Wm. W- Log-book of the schooner Lady of the Lakes, commencing Sunday, Apr. 13, 1834, to June 18, 1835. 1 vol. Numerous miscellaneous entries from 1832, e. g.: “Milwaukey, about 90 milesf belpw Chicager, in a bay or falling off in the land. Clay banks, Indian huts.” Log of the schooner Emily, Friday, Oct. 3, 1845, to July 30, 1846. 1 vol. Dobbins Papers. Several hundred MSS., letters, historical narratives, etc., in- cluding the log-books and journals already catalogued, of Daniel, David Porter and William W. Dobbins; also let- ters from Stephen Decatur Dobbins and other members of the family; Oliver Hazard Perry, Dr. Usher Parsons, Jesse D. Elliott and others. In part printed. Buf. Hist. Soc. Pubs., vol. VIII. Dorr, (Capt.) E. P. Paper on “Insurance,” read B. H. S. club, Mch. 14, 1864. Dorsheimer, William. Memorial sketch of Thomas C. Welch, 1819-1864. B. H. S. paper, June 6, 1865. Douglas, Stephen A. Autograph. See “Pierce, Maris Bryant.” Douglass, Frederick. A. L. S., Dec. 26, 1894. Draper, Lyman C. A. L. S., “Madison, Wis., June 30, 1882,” to Geo. W. Hayward, Buffalo, on the occasion of Buffalo’s semi-centennial. He writes of his grandfather, Job Hoisington, who moved to Buffalo in 1811, and lost his life in the war of 1812; of his father, Luke Draper, a Buffalo merchant, 1811-14; and of his own youth- ful memories of Buffalo. Born in Evans, Erie Co., 1815, he knew Buffalo well, prior to 1850. A. LL. S., various. Dudley, H. C. Sketch of Jeremiah Dudley, 1753-1838. Dudley family records, etc.HISTORICAL SOCIETY MANUSCRIPTS. 447 Ebenezer, Erie Co. (German communistic settlements.) A. L. S., “Ebenezer near Buffalo, Aug. i, 1844,” to chiefs of the Seneca nation, regarding ownership of Buffalo Reser- vation lands. Sigs. of Christian Metz, George Adolph Weber, Chas. L. Mayer, and others. Also, unsigned docs, on same subject. See “Pierce, Maris Bryant, Papers.” Eden, Erie Co., N. Y. See “Warren, (Gen.) Asa.” Eddy, David. (ludge, Court of Common Pleas, Niagara Co., N. Y.) Signed certificate, Buffalo, Dec. 21, 1812. See “Potter, He- man B.” Edwards, Jonathan. Facs. A. L. S. Edwards, Timothy (D. D.). A. MS.: Heads of sermons, 1716-17. Efner, Elijah D. Reminiscences, Early Buffalo, the Lakes, etc., 1848. Elkinton, Jos. (Member Society of Friends, active in Indicm af- fairs.) A. LL. S. See “Pierce, Maris Bryant, Papers.” Ellicott, Joseph. Letter (copy) to Simeon DeWitt, relating to canals and locks, 1808. Sketch of, by Prof. Ellicott Evans of Hamilton College. B. H. S. paper, read at meeting of Dec. 26, 1864. See also “Holland Land Company.”. Elliott, Jesse D. See “Dobbins Papers,” “Porter Papers.” Endres, Matt. History of the Veteran Volunteer Firemen's Assn, of Buffalo, 1903. Ericsson, (Capt.) John. A. L. S., “New York, 7th Jan., 1842,” to Capt. Jas. Van Cleve at Batavia, N. Y., regarding his invention of the propeller, first used on the Lakes on the Vandalia, 1841; the con- struction of engines, etc. A. L. S., “New York, Nov. 21, 1877” Erie Canal. See “Canals, N. Y. State.” Erie, Erie Co., N. Y. (Town of.) Acct. of Robt. Lee, Commissioner of Excise, May 7, 1807, to Feb. 29, 1808. Town book of, May 7, 1805, to Nov. 20, 1808. Accts. Com- missioners of excise, justice, etc. Erie Co. [N. Y.] Bar. Call for meeting on occasion of leaving the old Court House, Mch. 11, 1876. Signatures of 113 leading lawyers and law firms of Buffalo. Certificate of election of Justices of the Peace in Erie Co., N. Y., 1827. Sigs. of Josiah Trowbridge, chm., and Jacob A. Barker, Co. Clerk, sec’y.448 HISTORICAL SOCIETY MANUSCRIPTS. Erie Co. [N. Y.] Bar, continued. County Court. Minutes, Sept, term, i860. 1 vol. Remonstrance against the proposed removal of Jos. W. Moulton from the office of Commissioner, Feb. 1822. Signed by 12 men, prominent in Buffalo at that time. Erie, Pa. United States Hotel register, Erie, Pa., 1841. 1 vol. See “Presque Isle.” Esther, Book of. In Hebrew, on parchment scroll. Evans, Ellicott. Sketch of Joseph Ellicott. B. H. S. paper, Dec. 26, 1864. A. L. S., “Clinton, June 1, 1864,” to Guy H. Salisbury. See “Ellicott, Joseph.” Evarts, Wm. M. N. S., “U. S. Senate, Washington, Feb. 25, 1889,” to Wm. Thurston, Buffalo. A. L. S., “New York, June 29, 1882.” See “Buffalo, Semi- Centennial.” A. L. S., “Senate Chamber, Washington, June 13, 1888,” to R. B. Adam, Buffalo. Letters, various. Everett, Edward. A. LL. S. See “Pierce, Maris Bryant, Papers.” A. L. S., “Boston, Aug. 1864.” Ewell, E. H. Autobiography, dated, 1879. History, Town of Alden, N. Y. Ewing, William. A. L. S., “Geneseo, Sept. 17, 1794,” to Israel Chapin. Re- lates to Brant, Red Jacket, Treaty at Canandaigua, etc. Farnham, Thomas. “Record of deaths of old settlers of Buffalo . . . also a short history of most of them with whom I was personally ac- quainted . . . This record was commenced about the time I came to Buffalo in March, 1833.” Dated, Aug. 12, 1879. 1 vol. Sketches of citizens of Buffalo. Buffalo as I first saw it in the spring of 1833. Fenton, Reuben E. (Governor N. Y.) A. MSS. S. See “Pierce, Maris Bryant, Papers.” A. L. S., “Albany, May 15, 1868.” Ferris, Chas. D, New Year’s poem, from the carrier of the Buffalo Courier. Jan. 1, 1846; pp. 5, 4to. FILLMORE, MILLARD. Autobiography of early years. Addresses on various occasions. Miscellaneous letters. Most of the above published by the Buffalo Historical Society, Pubs. vols. X and XI.HISTORICAL SOCIETY MANUSCRIPTS. 449 Fillmore, Millard, continued. Index Rerum, i839-’40. I vol. Many an old; library has a copy of Todd’s “Index Rerum,” the alphabetical blank book in which the owner was supposed to set down great store of useful information. Mr. Fillmore’s entries are scant and of slight interest. On the flyleaf is written—“Millard Fillmore. Bot. Dec. 25, 1839, Washington City.” Misc. letters and MSS. Letters to. Correspondence received by Mr. Fillmore as Vice- President and President, Mch. 1849 to Mch. 4, 1853; 8,436 letters, gathered in 44 vols., each one indexed. (For acct. of, see this volume, pp. 402 to 410.) Papers relating to. Reminiscences, by Harriet N. Haven, Jas. K. Hosmer, B. F. Fox, A. M. Clapp, and others. Certificate of election as Vice-President of the United States, Feb. 14, 1849. Parchment. Signed by G. M. Dallas, Vice- President of the U. S. and President of the Senate. Resolutions adopted by the Common Council of the City of New York on Mr. F.’s return from Europe. . . . 1856 (when candidate for President on the American ticket.) Resolutions adopted by the House of Representatives on occa- sion of his death, Mch. 9, 1874; engrossed and presented to his family. Resolutions by N. Y. Chamber of Commerce, Apr. 2, 1874, on occasion of his death; resolutions adopted by the Com- monwealth of Mass., Mch. 11, 1874 (on parchment), and other docs. 1 vol. Fillmore, (Mrs.) Millard. (Mrs. Caroline McIntosh nee Car- michael.) Journals, various, 1828 to 1859; journals of European travel, i853-’54, 7 vols.; poems and prose, 1 vol.; with several MS. vols. marked “Louisa Carmichael” and “Alexander B. Carmichael,” Albany and Morristown, N. J., 1825, etc. Copy of will, schedule of books, etc. Fithian, (Hon.) Freeman J. Reminiscences of Buffalo, communicated to Geo. L. Hayward, chm., etc., on the occasion of Buffalo’s semi-centennial, 1882. See “Buffalo, Semi-centennial.” Flanagin, Harris. (Confederate Gov. Arkansas.) See “Bishop, A. W., Papers.” Fleming, Robert. Papers. Letters from Peter B. Porter, Erastus Root, H. J. Stow, etc. War of 1812 claims; Morgan abduction, etc., 1813-1834. Commissions signed by Pres. Madison. Commissions signed by Pres. Monroe. Commissions signed by J. Q. Adams. Fleming, William. A. L. S., On the site where the Griffon was built. Addressed to C. K. Remington, Aug. 12, 1895. Fletcher, L. J. The Church of the Holy Sepulcher. B. H. S. paper, Apr. 13, 1874.450 HISTORICAL SOCIETY MANUSCRIPTS. Follett, Oran. (Early Buffalo editor.) A. L. S., “Sandusky, O., June 28, 1882,” with recollections of Buffalo from 1826. See “Buffalo, semi-centennial.” Foote, (Dr.) Thos. M. A. L. to Buffalo Commercial Advertiser, Florence, Italy, Dec. 25, 1855* A. LL., “Siena, Dec. 26”; “Radicofano, Dec. 27”; “Viterbo, Dec. 28”; “Rome, Dec. 29.” Fort Niagara. See “Niagara, Fort.” Forward, (Hon.) Oliver. Papers of. Includes, among others: Remonstrance of Red Jacket and other Indians to the Treaty made with the Senecas in 1797; correspondence of Hon. Oliver Forward and J. Jimeson in regard thereto in 1827; certificate of Oliver Forward's election to the New York Senate; cor- respondence relative to removing the Indians from the Tonawanda reservation and buying their lands, etc. Papers: Misc. corr. Indian treaties, etc. Includes letters of Thos. L. Ogden, R. Troup, etc., 1821-1829. Trial for misconduct while collector of the Port of Buffalo Creek, 1821. Testimony, letters, depositions, etc. In- cludes letters of Hon. Augustus Porter. A. L. S., “Buffalo, June 1, 1822,” to L. B. Crary, q. v. Fox, B. F. Reminiscences. See “Fillmore, Millard, papers relating to.” Francis, Julius E. Autobiography. Dated June 5, 1872. A. L. S. to the Buffalo Historical Society, Buffalo, Sept. 9, 1875. Mr. Francis was the founder of the Lincoln Birthday Association, now merged with the Buf. Hist. Soc. Franklin, Benjamin. A. L. S. to Rev. Geo. Whitfield, June 6, 1753. Facsimile: To Cadwallader Golden, Apr. 5, 1744. Franklin, Daniel. Account books, various, Buffalo, 1853-54. 4 vols. Day-book. 1 vol. Inventory of property. “Rules for journalizing,” etc. 1 vol. Freeman, Constant (Jr.). MS. copies of letters signed “Frampton,” written at West Point, N. Y., June 10, 1782; June 10, 1783, to Gen. John Winslow. The writer was a colonel in the Revolutionary army. Frelinghuysen, Fred'k T. (Sec’y of State.) L. S., “Dept, of State, July 3, 1884.” Friends, Society of. Document expelling Job Ayres for profane swearing and training with the militia, dated Plainfield, N. J., June 19, 1805.HISTORICAL SOCIETY MANUSCRIPTS. 451 G. A. R. Thirty-first annual encampment, Camp Jewett, Buffalo, Aug. 23-28, 1897. Misc. records, official blanks, orders, etc. Thirty-first National Encampment, Buffalo, 1897: Reports of Executive Board, 1 vol.; reports of meetings, Citizens’ Committee, 1 vol.; reports of Finance Sub-Committee, 1 vol.; record of subscriptions, etc., 1 vol.; check-book, Citizens’ Committee, 1896-98, 1 vol. Gallatin, Albert. See “Granger, Erastus.” Gardner, Gideon. Nantucket. The situation and proceedings of the inhabitants of, with sundry occurrences during the War of 1812. Written 1814. Garfield, James A. A. L. S,, Mch. 24, 1877. N. S., Sept. 18, 1880. L. S., “Mentor, O., Dec. 16, 1880.” Geddes, Jas. See “Black Rock Harbor papers.” GENEALOGICAL: Genealogical data, in manuscript, have been placed in the Buffalo Historical Society Library, by and relating to, the following: Allen, James Albert Atkins, Barton Atwater, Maria Granger Bancroft, Thomas Bancroft, William G. Barnes, Maria G. Beals, Edward Preble Beauchamp, William Martin Beecher, James Curtis Becker, Alfred Le Roy Bennett, Seymour Berry, Clinton R. Bird, Grace Eunice Birge, Martin H. Bottsford, Adolphus Bragdon, Charles Arthur Briggs, Albert Henry Briggs, Catharine Morse Briggs, Horace Brown, Willard Whiting Buck, Roswell R. Benedict, A. L. •Cadwallader, Charles Sumner Carrell, Theodora M. Cary, Thomas Chandler, Henry Chester, Albert Huntington Coats, Adelbert Sumter Cobb, Martha H. Warner* Colyer, Lois Heath Cornell, Samuel Douglas Cornell, Samuel Gerritsen Coyne, James Henry Crockett, Helen Ware Daniels, Flora Pike Darling, Charles William Davis, Jacob Davis, Cyrus Eastman Day, Alfaretta Maria Day, Robert Webster Douglas, William Alexander Dunbar, Charles French Dunstan, George Hind Durfee, Philo Eldee, Adeline C. Emerson, George Douglas Emerson, Susan Corwin (Mrs. G. D.) Emerson, Henry Peridexter Farnham, Charles Cyrus Fernow, Berthold Fitch, Franklin Solomon Ford, James Elijah French, Mrs. Pamelia Feeter Frisbee, Edward Selah Frothingham, Worthington Fulton, Linda de Kowaleuska Force, Manning Furguson Frost [family] Gay, Julius Goodyear, Charles Waterhouse Goodyear, Frank Henry Green, Samuel Abbott Gregg, Edward Rollin, M. D. Griffin, Martin Ignatius Jos. Griffis, William Elliot Haight, Louise Colton (Mrs. R. L.) Hamlin, Cicero Jabez Haskins, Eliza Smith Hayden, Horace Edwin Hayes, Rev. Charles Wells Hayward, John Alfred Heacock, Reuben Bostwick452 HISTORICAL SOCIETY MANUSCRIPTS. Genealogical, continued. Heinze, Chris. Fried. Wilhelm Moritz Hill, Henry Wayland Hilliard, Evelyn Sizer Hodge, Dwight Webster Hollister, Frank Merrick Hopkins, Henry Reed Horton, Julia Greenleaf (Mrs. G. P.) Hubbard, Silas, M. D. Hubbell, Mrs. Clifford Hubbell, Mark Sibley Jewett, Josiah Johnson, George Jordan, John Woolf Johnson, Hiram Kahler, Rev. Frederick August, M. A. Raster, Peter Kenyon, De Ette E. Killebrew, Joseph Buckner Knapp, Hiram Jason Koerner, Herman Theodore Ladd, Henry Clay Langdon, Andrew Larned, Josephus Nelson Lay, Charles Leavitt, James Samuel Lewis, Loran Lodowick Lothrop, Thomas Lytle, Alice Hastings Mann, Matthew Derbyshire Marvin, Selden Erastus Moore, Mrs. Mary Louise Morse, David Reynolds Morse, Eliz. Griffin (Mrs. D. R.) Mott, Henry Elliot Mills, James H. Murray, David McWilliams, John North, Charles J. Odell, Willis Patterson Ough, Richard A. Park, Roswell Parker, Jane Marsh Patton, Lucius Hobart Porter, Cyrus Kinne Putnam, Douglas Putnam, James O. Ralph, David Clark Reed, Maria Whiting (Burt) Rich, Andrew Jerome Rich, Gaius Barrett Riley, Philip D. Ripley, Rev. Allen Plumb, D. D. Roberts, Ellis Henry Russell, Wm. Charles Sage, Harriet Maria Foster Salisbury, Edward Elbridge Searls, Margery Stevens Selkirk, Charles Edward Shelton, Mrs. Wm. (Lucretia Stanley) Shepard, Ellie J. Smead, Jennie Robbins Smith, Charles Henry Smith, T. Guilford Snow, George Burwell Spaulding, Samuel Strong Spayth, Henry Stearns, George Chapin Stone, Wm. Leete Stowits, George H. Strickland, Edward D. Titus, Robert Cyrus Tripp, Augustus F. Trott, James Fullerton Wallace, George Addison Weed, Kate Shelton Weed, Edith Ward, Hamilton Ward, Mary Adelia Chamberlain Wadsworth, George Wadsworth, Henry Truman Wadsworth, Louise Jones White, George Clinton White, James, M. D. Whitman, George Whitney, Parkhurst Wicks, William Sidney Williams, Charles Edwin Williams, Mary L. Hoyt (Mrs. C. G.) Williams, Charles Hoyt Williams, Josiah B. Williamson, Joseph Wolstenholme, Joseph Woodruff, Lauren C. Wooley, Charles Woodruff Wooster, Jasper D., M. D. Ziegele, Albert Genesee Co., N. Y. Court of Common Pleas. Extracts from the minutes, 1803 to 1807, inclusive. Court of Oyer and Terminer. Extracts from the minutes, 1804 to 1807, inclusive. German MSS. On vellum, 1480. Volume: “Informatorium Theologicum ad omni genus sci- entiarum.” (Latin title only; principal text in German.) 1576. Vellum bound. Gibbs, Clinton B. Address as chairman of the Building Committee, Associated Alumni, Buffalo Central School, June 23, 1886. Gibbs, {Rev.) W. E. See “Buffalo churches, 1st Universalist.”HISTORICAL SOCIETY MANUSCRIPTS. 453 Gladstone, William Ewart. A. L. S., “London, Apr. 5, 1889,” to “H. H. Seymour, Esq., Barrister at Law, Buffalo.” Acknowledging receipt of data on laws of divorce in America. “I note with cafe your remarks as to the extended franchise in Great Britain. I am however a friend to that extension and I do not think that on the whole it has worked otherwise than well.” Gleason, (Rev.) Ansel. (Missionary to the Senecas ) See “Indians, Missions, Cattaraugus reservation.” Glowacki, (Maj.) Henry I. Sketches of Peleg Redfield and Heman J. Redfield, 1894. Biography of. Goodell, Jabez. Early history of Buffalo. (Written for Young Men’s Assn, of Buffalo, 1848.) Goodrich, Guy H. Old houses of Buffalo. B. H. S. paper, Mch. 4, 1867. Gorham, Nathaniel. ^ Minutes of meeting of directors of the Ontario Bank, Canan- daigua, Mch. 27, 1813. Signed “Nath. Gorham, president.” Graham, Geo. (Sec’y of War.) A. L. S., Feb. 7, 1817. See “Granger, Erastus.” Granger, Erastus. To Gen. Jno. P. Boyd, on the employment of Indians, Buf- falo, Aug. 6, 1813. (Copy.) To LeRoy, Bayard & McEvers. Buffalo, Mch. 6, 1813. (Jas- per Parrish’s bill, receipted by him.) Letters to Granger from Geo. Graham, R. J. Meigs, Jno. C. Spencer, Richard Rush, H. Dearborn, Albert Gallatin, Wm. H. Crawford. Granger, Jas. N. Sketch of his grandfather, Judge Erastus Granger, Niagara Falls, July 29, 1895. See “Granger, Erastus.” Grant, Jesse R. (Father of Gen. U. S. Grant.) A. L. S., “Covington, Ky., Jan. 10, 1866,” to J. S. Buell of Buffalo, 6 pp. Highly interesting letter, relating to Grant and Buell families. Of one member he says: “He left a large family all Rebels—it has been the fortune of my boy to whip them all in battel.” Grant. (Gen.) U. S. L. S., “N. Y. City, Dec. 9, 1880.” L. S., “Mexican Southern Railroad Co., New York, June 27, 1882,” to Geo. W. Hayward in acknowledgment of invita- tion to attend Buffalo’s semi-centennial celebration. See “Buffalo, semi-centennial.” Gray, Asa. (Botanist.) A. L. S., “Cambridge, Mass., Jan. 22, 1867.” Great Britain. Stuart Dynasty, Essay on. Endorsed, “Woolley MSS.” (Modern, amateurish.)454 HISTORICAL SOCIETY MANUSCRIPTS. Great Lakes. Misc. Docs.: clearance papers of vessels, 1806, etc. Regulations for transport of troops and effects in his Ma- jesty’s vessels navigating the Lakes. Issued at Quebec 4th May, 1789; addressed to “Captain Grant or officer command’g Marine Department, Detroit.” Greeley, Horace. A. N. S. to S. H. Armstrong, Detroit, Feb. 5, 1869, regarding Seymour’s majority in N. Y. State. Greig, John. A. L. S. to Oliver Forward, Buffalo, dated “Canandaigua, 14 Aug., 1827,” regarding Seneca Indian matters, a remonstrance of Red Jacket, etc. Guiteau, Julius. (Buffalo postmaster, 1818-31.) A. L. S., Buffalo, July 24, 1821. See “Crary, L. P.” Hale, (Rev.) Edward Everett. A. L. S. (1909). (Written but a day or two before his death.) Hale, Horatio. (Ethnologist, author.) A. L. S., “Clinton, Ont., Oct. 24, 1879.” Hall, (Capt.) Basil. (British author.) A. L. S., “Edinburgh, July 11, 1829,” regarding his work on America. 6 pp. 4to. Hall, Hiland. (Gov. Vermont, Comptroller U. S. Treasury, etc.) A. L. S., “North Bennington, Vt., Aug. 11, 1845,” to Hon. N. K. Hall, Buffalo. A. L. S., “North Bennington, Vt., Apr. 17, 1871.” Hall, Matthew M. Book of calculations for Rochester Aqueduct, 1837-38. 2 vols. Calculations, diagrams and misc. engineering data for this im- portant structural work. Canal data: Contract prices for locks, etc. Chenango canal, 1833; Rochester aqueduct, 1835-37; Rochester weigh lock, 1840; with copies of correspondence with contractors and others, chiefly relative to enlargement of the Erie canal, 1840. Letters are included from Nathan S. Roberts, chief engineer Rochester aqueduct, to John Bowman and Sam’l B. Ruggles, canal commissioners; Prof. Jas. Renwick to Comm’r Ruggles, with MS. copy of Renwick’s report 011 “Mode of supplying the Erie canal with water from Buf- falo to Cayuga Marshes” (dated Columbia College, New York, 7th Sept., 1839). Canal work, calculations for estimates of work done 1st June, 1842 ... on aqueduct (Rochester). With notes and cal- culations on various canal construction work in the vicinity of Rochester. 1 vol. fo. Hall, Nathan K. Family history. (Statement of Johnson Hall.) Biographical memoir of Solomon G. Haven. B. H. S. paper, Feb. 5, 1866. Scrapbook. Numerous autograph letters. A. L. S. See “Pierce, Maris Bryant, Papers.”HISTORICAL SOCIETY MANUSCRIPTS. 455 Hall, William. Account of his tour, New York to Buffalo, etc., in 1802. Hallowell, Benj. (Sec’y Com. Society of Friends on Indian Con- cerns.) A. LL. S. See “Pierce, Maris Bryant, Papers.” Hamilton, Frank H. (Eminent surgeon.) A. L. S., “New York, June 29, 1882,” regarding himself as a Buffalonian. See “Buffalo, semi-centennial.” Hamlin, Hannibal. Autograph. See “Pierce, Maris Bryant, Papers.” Hancock, John. Doc. S. with seal of Mass., 1780. Hancock, Winfield S. N. S., “Governor's Island, New York Harbor, Nov. 28, 1880.” L. S., “Governor's Island, June 27, 1882.” See “Buffalo, Semi-centennial.” Hardee, W. J. (Brig. Gen. C. S. A.) See “Bishop, A. W., Papers.” Harrison, Jonas. Letter-book. MS. 1 vol. Entries run from Dec. 24, 1813, to July 20, 1819. The earlier letters were written at Ba- tavia, but after May 1, 1814, at Buffalo. Hartford, Conn. County Court records, Sept. 7, 1708-Nov. 22, 1710. Eighty- eight folio (7^x12') pages, closely but plainly written. Presented to B. H. S., May, 1865, by Hon. L. F. Allen of Buf- falo, who had it from Jno. L. Talcott of Buffalo, a descendant of Gov. Talcott of Conn. Hassler, F. R. On changes of Long Island and New Jersey coasts. Dia- grams, 1843. Hastings, Hugh. The Sullivan Expedition. Written for Buffalo Assn. Sons of the Revolution, 1903. (Typewritten.) Haven, Solomon G. Biography of. See “Hall, Nathan K.” Haven, Solomon G. See “Pierce, Maris Bryant, Papers.” Haven, (Mrs.) S. G. Reminiscences. See “Fillmore, Millard, papers relating to.” Hawkins, Alvin. (Governor of Tennessee.) A. L. S., “Nashville, Tenn., June 28, 1882. See “Buffalo, Semi-Centennial.” Hawkins, Henry H. Recollections and incidents of early life and times in Buffalo. 1 vol. Buf. Hist. Soc. paper, Feb. 7, 1876. Memoir of, 1795-1865, by Mrs. M. M. Love. Hawkins was a negro, born in slavery, for many years a resident of Buffalo, after 1850 or thereabouts m San Francisco. He was active in helping slaves to freedom, and was held in high esteem.456 HISTORICAL SOCIETY MANUSCRIPTS. Hawley, E[lijah] Oration delivered July 4, 1818 [Pat Oak Orchard, Orleans Co.]. (With M. S. Hawley papers.) Hawley, Jesse. A. L. S., “Lockport, 23 Jan., 1839,” to Gen. Micah Brooks, Brooks Grove, Livingston Co., N. Y. Extract from will of, regarding his canal claims, writings, etc. Corr. relating to Jesse Hawley papers. See “M. S. Hawley papers.” Hawley, Merwin Spencer. Autobiography, 1807-1872. Papers relating to first postoffices and postmasters in Orleans Co., N. Y.; notes on origin and early history of the Erie canal (B. H. S. paper, Mch. 14, 1882). “Origin of the Erie Canal” (B. H. S. paper, Feb. 21, 1866) ; “The Erie Canal, its origin, its success and its necessity” (B. H. S. paper, Feb. 3, 1868). “The question of the origin of the Erie Canal, considered in reference to Gouverneur Morris, Joshua Forman, James Geddes and Jesse Hawley” (B. H. S. paper, July 9, 1872) ; Memoir of Elijah Hawley; will. Papers. The Erie canal, who first suggested its construction. B. H. S. paper, Mch. 14, 1882. Misc. docs. Hayes, Rutherford B. (Gov. Ohio, President U. S.) A. L. S., dated “Fremont, O., 23d Jany, 1874,” to Geo, W. Tifft, Buffalo, regarding Sardis Birchard, notice of whose death accompanies. A. L. S., “Executive Mansion, Washington, 1 Jan., 1881.” Doc. S., 1876. Hayward, John A. (Co. B, 21st N. Y. Vols.) Chronicles of the 21st Regt. N. Y. Vols., 1861-’65. See “Civil War, 21 st Regt.” Hazard, George S. Address at flag presentation, B. H. S., Jan. 12, 1893. Address at unveiling of Red Jacket statue, Forest Lawn, Buf- falo, June 22, 1892. Hazen, Wm. B. (Brig, and Brvt. Mai. Gen., Chief Signal Officer, U. S. A.) N. S., “Washington, Apr. 24, 1882.” Heaton, G. L. History of the big black-walnut tree near Silver Creek, N. Y. Communicated, Apr. 3, 1885. Henry, Alexander. (Explorer and trader.) A. D. S. Two “notes of hand,” dated, “Montreal, 10 October, 1776.” Henry, Joseph. (Pres. National Academy of Sciences, etc.) A. sig., “Smithsonian Inst’n, April 3d, 1866.” Henry, P[atrick]. Facsimile A. L. S., Jan. 12, 1778, to Lt. Col. Geo. Rogers Clark. (Secret instructions for the Kaskaskia and Vin-HISTORICAL SOCIETY MANUSCRIPTS. 457 cennes expedition. Lith. from original owned by the His- torical Society of Indiana.) Hewitt, Abram S. (M. C., Mayor of New York City, etc.) L. S., “House of Representatives, Washington, June 26, 1882.” See “Buffalo, Semi-centennial.” Hill, {Hon.) Henry Wayland. Christopher Columbus, B. H. S. paper, Mch. 7, 1892. Hindman, Thomas C. (Maj. Gen. C. S. A.) See “Bishop, A. W., Papers.” Hobart, John Henry. (Asst. Bishop, aftenvards Bishop, P. E. Church, State of N. Y.) A. L. S., Perth Amboy, Aug. 27, 1814. Hodge Papers. Benjamin: Reminiscences. William: Miscellaneous. William 2d: Miscellaneous. See “Buffalo—Old Settlers' Papers.” HOLLAND LAND COMPANY. [The several thousand documents comprised in this collection, relating to the Holland Land Company and its operations in Western New York, are here roughly listed to corre- spond with their method of preservation—whether in bound volumes, portfolios or boxes. The letters received, and copies of letters sent, are mostly bound and each volume indexed.] Joseph Ellicott's Memorandum Books: 1. Miscellaneous entries, 1792-1794. 2. Meteorological observations taken by Farenheit’s Ther- mometer near the mouth of Buffalo Creek, Lake Erie, commencing July 4, 1798, by Joseph Ellicott. Miscel- laneous entries. 3. Accounts of goods sold at Fort Schlosher [Schlosser], 1798. Account of goods sold at Buffalo Crick [!], July 2, 1798, to Dec. 3, 1798. Memorandum of stores delivered from Fort Schlosher up to 14th June (1798) by Mr. Aaron Oakford. 4. Weather record and miscellaneous entries at “Transit Store House, 20 miles west of the Jenesee river,” Dec. 21, 1798, to Mch. 31, 1799. 5. Meteorological observations at Batavia—“50 miles to the east of Niagara Falls,” May 23, 1803-Nov., 1803. 6. Miscellaneous entries, no date (many pages missing). The above six books the gift of Mr. D. E. E. Mix of Batavia. Original Articles of Agreement or contracts between the Holland Land Co. and the settlers, from Oct. 1, 1799, to Sept. 11, 1806, embracing the said Inner and Outer lots. Also the duplicates of the above “articles” which were sur- rendered by the settlers on receiving their deeds. In all, 209 contracts bound in two thick vols. Indexed.458 HISTORICAL SOCIETY MANUSCRIPTS. Holland Land Co., continued. Joseph Ellicott’s Letter Books. Copies of letters written by Mr. Ellicott relating to business of the Holland Land Company. Bound in four vols., pp. 370, 670, 825, 812. One of the volumes consists almost wholly of letters to Paul Busti, 1800-1805. The others cover 1795-1800, 1805-1813, 1814-1821. Title Papers of Holland Land Company. One volume so marked, containing copies of Acts appointing commission- ers, authorizing purchase by aliens, grants of Massachu- setts to Robert Morris, subsequent transfers, treaties with Indians, Articles of Agreement with Thos. L. Ogden and others, etc., etc. Numerous maps, pen-sketches of tracts, etc., inserted. Pp. 278.' Indexed. Autograph Letters from Paul Busti and others, to Joseph Ellicott, agent of the Holland Land Company, relating to the business of the said Company, from May 18, 1799, to March 15, 1822. The letters for 1807, 8 and 9, are missing. In two bound volumes, pp. 650 and 1164. Indexed. Presented by Professor Ellicott Evans of Hamilton College, 1873. Autograph Letters, Memoranda and Statements, written and sent to Joseph Ellicott, relating to the business of the Holland Land Company, from July 22, 1795, to December 3, 1810. In two bound volumes, pp. 826 and 1248. Presented by Professor Ellicott Evans. Autograph Letters written to Joseph Ellicott by the settlers on the Holland Land Purchase and others, relating to the business of the Holland Land Company, from January 3, 1802, to December 9, 1819. In sixteen volumes. Autograph Political and Miscellaneous Letters, written by various parties to Joseph Ellicott, from December 13, 1814, to September 15, 1821. In one bound volume, pp. 812. Presented by Professor Ellicott Evans. Journal of Joseph Ellicott and memoranda of transactions relating to the business of the Holland Land Company, from January 2, 1801, to January 1, 1813. In two vols. Presented by David E. E. Mix. Title Papers, Farmers’ Loan & Trust Co., embracing the contracts of Messrs. Le Roy and Redfield with them and with the Holland Land Co.; statements of accounts, agree- ments, letters, etc., on settlement with the Holland Land Co.; many original conveyances and exemplifications, with numerous maps and charts. Large portfolio. Original Conveyances and Contracts, letters of attorney, etc., pertaining to title of the Holland Land Company. Bulky portfolio. “J. Fellows.” Bound vol. so lettered, containing exemplified copies of deeds, contracts, Indian treaties, etc., recorded in Genesee Co. and minutes of proceedings of the Massa- chusetts Legislature relative thereto.HISTORICAL SOCIETY MANUSCRIPTS. 459 Holland Land Co., continued. "Holland Land Company's Titles.” Bound vol. of MSS. so lettered, containing exemplified copies of papers showing the company's chain of title. Indexed. Proofs of death of members of the Holland Land Co.; let- ters, briefs, awards and other legal papers. Depositions, certification of interests, power of attorney, etc.; certified copies of records relating to ownership or tenantry of Holland Land Company’s lands, etc. Bound in one volume marked “J. Fellows.” H. L. Co. map. Farmers’ Loan & Trust Company, MS. vol. formerly owned by, at 50 Wall St., New York, being an authenticated copy of the evidence on file in the office of the Secretary of State at Albany in reference to the deaths of Nicholas Van Stophorst and others, trustees of the Holland Land Company. The depositions were filed at Albany, Oct. 3, 1846. The cer- tification (with seal) of this transcript was made by Christopher Morgan, Secretary of State, April 16, 1849. Original treaty of Ogden & Fellows with the Senecas, 1842. Ratification of the treaty of Ogden & Fellows with the Senecas, by the State of Massachusetts. Exemplifications of treaties of 1802, 1815, 1830, 1838 and 1842, with the Senecas. Abstract of title to the Tonawanda Reservation. Exemplifications of deeds, letters of attorney, briefs and arbitration papers. Vouchers of payments to the United States. Holland Land Company Title, deduction of, in chart form. Briefs by D. B. Brown, counsellor at law, exhibiting a view of the titles to lands west of the Genesee river in the State of New York, particularly of all the lands owned by the Dutch, or Holland Company, proprietors. . , . To which is added, a short sketch of four different ejectment suits, in which the validity of the Holland Company’s titles was recognized and established. Transcribed by A. Pember, August, 1821.” One MS. vol. with one of Lay’s maps of the Holland Purchase inserted. Proceedings of the Board of Supervisors, Genesee County, 1803 to 1807 inclusive. MS. copy from original records. The Genesee County of above dates included present counties of Allegany, Chautauqua, Cattarau- gus, Erie, Niagara, Orleans and Wyoming. Extracts from the minutes of the Courts of General Ses- sions of the Peace for Genesee County, 1803 to 1807, in- clusive. (MS. copy from original records.) Transcript of the Original Records of the Town cf Batavia from its organization in 1803 until April, 1804, and of the laws of the State of New York erecting the County of460 HISTORICAL SOCIETY MANUSCRIPTS. Holland Land Co., continued. Genesee and Town of Batavia; and subdividing the Town of Batavia into four towns. Incidents relating to the Holland Land Purchase. ^ Paper prepared for the Buffalo Historical Society by David E. E. Mix of Batavia, and read at a meeting of the Society, April ii, 1871. Pease Papers. MS. copy of the journal of Seth Pease, from Oct. 1, 1798, to Jan. 6, 1799. With copies of letters to and from Joseph Ellicott, Adam Hoops, John Thompson, Thomas Morris, Robert Morris, James Rees, James Bris- bane], and others. These papers were copied for the Buffalo Historical Society from the originals in the possession of the Western Reserve His- torical Society, Cleveland, Ohio. Pease was a surveyor in Joseph Ellicott’s employ. Miscellaneous papers, some originals, some copies, touching many phases of Holland Land Company’s business. Some of them may be roughly indicated as follows: Le Roy & Redfield in account of errors with the H. L. Co., 1835-38; many papers relating to the preemption rights of Ogden and Fellows; abstracts of titles; deeds; reports, etc., re- lating to trespass on Indian lands ; Farmers’ Loan & Trust Co. papers; schedule of awards, and reports of Horace Gay and Ira Cook, arbitrators under the treaty between Thos. L. Ogden and Joseph Fellows and the Seneca Nation of Indians of the 20th May, 1842, made the 31st day of March, 1849. (Copy of original in the U. S. War Dept.) “Law Cases and Briefs." Two vols. so marked, containing some 70 briefs, bills of exceptions, abstracts of Holland Land Company cases, etc., mostly in the ’50’s. Many of the cases were famous in their day, and form inter- esting chapters in Western N. Y. history, e. g.: relative to the Farmers* Loan & Trust Co., the Bank of Genesee, the Genesee Mutual Insurance Co., the Buffalo & Rochester R. R. Co., intru- sions on Indian lands, etc., etc. “Indian Cases." One vol. so marked, containing seventeen briefs, abstracts, etc., of cases in the Supreme Court of the State of New York, the Court of Appeals, or the United States Supreme Court, relating to issues between the Holland Land Co., the Seneca Indians, especially those of the Tonawanda reservation, Ogden & Fellows, etc., 1850-1857. Deeds and Articles of Agreement. The collection includes several hundred documents relating to land conveyance in Buffalo, 1806-1830, with diagrams of lots. Field notes of the new preemption line run in 1792, fur- nished by Benjamin Ellicott to Simeon DeWitt, Surveyor General, Apr. 29, 1795; and other papers, copied from Field-book 35, sub-div. D, in the office of the Secretary of State, Albany, N. Y. With the above collection of MS. records relating to the Holland Land Co., are preserved many early maps, some of them original drawings, others printed; and probably as full a collection ofHISTORICAL SOCIETY MANUSCRIPTS. 461 printed books, pamphlets, etc., bearing on this subject, as is to be found in any library. Holley, Myron. A. L. S. See “Bird, Wm. A.” Holmes, {Rev.) Elkanah. (Missionary to Western N. Y. In- dians.) A. L. S., “Geneva [N. Y.], Nov. 15, 1818.” Holmes, Oliver Wendell. A. L. S., Dec. 24, 1893. Holmes, Theophilus H. (Lt. Gen. C. S. A.) See “Bishop, A. W, Papers.” Hopkins, Mark. (President Williams College.) A. L. S., June 15, 1867. Hoppin, Charles A., Jr. See “Smith, T. Guilford.” Hosmer, (Rev.) G. H. Sermon delivered before 16,000 soldiers in front of Port Hudson, spring of 1864. Hosmer, (Rev.) G. W. (D. D.) Report, Buffalo Association for the Relief of the Poor, 1852. The history of a New England town [Concord, Mass.] as dis- closing the elementary process, out of which Republics grow. B. H. S. paper, Dec. 4, 1865. A biographical notice of the Rev. Wm. Steill Brown. B. H. S. paper, Mch. 27, 1866. Address, B. H. S., Jan. 13, 1864. Hosmer, James K. Reminiscences. See “Fillmore, Millard, Papers relating to.” Hosmer, (Cot.) Wm. H. C. Annals of Hartford, now Avon, Livingston Co., N. Y. B. H. S. paper, Mch. 7, 1870. Hough, Franklin B. (Historian.) A. MSS. S. See “Pierce, Maris Bryant, Papers.” Letters, various. Houston., Sam. Autograph. See “Pierce, Maris Bryant, Papers.” Howard, (Gen.) O. O. N. S., “Washington, D. C., Mch. 17, 1896.” Howland, Henry R. List of passengers who came in the Mayflower, Dec. 1620. Compared and corrected, 1896. Typewritten and bound. 1 vol. A valuable study, based on the records of Plymouth Colony, and the works of Bradford, Prince, Dexter, Goodwin and Hunter. Sketch of Hon. Wm. P. Letchworth. Notes of B. H. S. lec- ture, Nov. 1907. Howlett, John Wesley. (Spiritist.) Tribute to Red Jacket and revelation of his career in Spirit Land. (Long communication dated “West Dedham, Mass., Dec. 3, 18S5”)462 HISTORICAL SOCIETY MANUSCRIPTS. Hoyt, Jas. G. See “Skinner, Jno. B.” Hubbell, (Rev.) Wm. S. (D. D.) History of Fort Erie and the Niagara Frontier. B. H. S. paper, Feb. 16, 1891. Hudson, {Hon.) John T. Licenses, certificates and diplomas given to, 1829-39. Hughes, {Hon.) Charles E. (Governor N. Y. State.) L. S., Oct. 2, 1907. L. S., “Albany, July 25, 1910.” Hulett, Theodore Graves. History of the Niagara iron basket. Hunt, Washington. (M. C., Comptroller and Governor N. Y.) A. L. S., “Comptroller’s office, Albany, Apr. 1, 1850,” to Wm. A. Bird, Buffalo. Hyde, Jabez B. Account of the Seneca Indians and mission, 1820. INDIANS. Conjockety (Scajaquada, etc.) Data relating to. Farmer’s Brother and Red Jacket. Speeches of, in council, Genesee river, Aug. 10, 1811. With extract from speech of Mr. Cram, missionary. (Old MS., apparently of that period, in unknown hand.) Linguistics: Iroquois Grammar. 1 vol. bound. Old MS., author unknown. See “Williams, Eleazer.” Missions: Cattaraugus Reservation. Miscellaneous records and papers, 1827-1862. Includes numerous letters by Revs. Asher Wright and Ansel Gleason, missionaries; and a copy of a report on the United Mission Presbyterian church, Cattaraugus reservation, made for the 10th U. S. Census by Rev. W. P. Barker, Versailles, N. Y. Record of Quarterly meetings of the Mission to the Western N. Y. Indians, 1840-1860. 1 vol. Records of the Lower Mission church, Cattaraugus reserva- tion, 1834-1846. Asher Bliss, scribe. 1 vol. Records of the Cattaraugus mission church, West Station, 1847-1860. 1 vol. (The MS. in part is written by A. Gleason, pastor, in part by Asher Wright, clerk, etc.) Red Jacket. Receipt for $100 annuity, dated “Buffalo, June 5, 1812,” and signed by “Red Jacket-—his X mark.” Red Jacket. See “Buffalo Historical Society,” “Day, David F.”; “Hazard, Geo. S.” Senecas* See “Pierce, Dan’l W.”; “Pierce, Maris B.”; “Strong, Nath. T.”; “Hyde, Jabez B.”HISTORICAL SOCIETY MANUSCRIPTS. 463 Irvine, Callendar. Papers. His commission as surveyor of customs, Port of Buffalo Creek, 1803; letters to, from H; Dearborn, Sec’y of War; commission as U. S. Indian Agent for the Six Nations, 1802; and misc. MSS. Irvine, W. A. Letters presenting the papers of his father, Callendar Irvine, to the B. H. S. Irving, Pierre M. See “Shepard, Jno. D., Papers.” Jackson, Andrew. Autograph military order, S., New Orleans, Dec. 21, 1814. D. S. See “Dobbins Papers.” Johnson, Robert W. (Senator U. S. A., later C. S. A.) Jefferson, Thomas. Thirteen letters to Fr. A. van der Kemp, 1788-1825. (Printed, B. H. S. Pubs., vol. VII.) Doc. S., Aug. 24, 1803. See “Irvine, Callendar.” Doc. S., Washington, Aug. 24, 1803, appointing Robert Lee Inspector of Revenue of the Port of Niagara; signed by Thomas Jefferson, President; James Madison, Sec’y of State. Doc. S., appointing Peter Curtenius marshal of the Dist. of New York, May 5, 1806. Also sig. of “James Madison, Secretary of State.” Johnson, John and Henry Monture. Joint letter to [?], Niagara, May 23, 1764. Johnson, Robt. W. (Senator, U. S. A., later C. S. A.) See “Bishop, A. W., Papers.” Johnson's Island Plot. Papers relating to. Original authorities and copies of state- ments not easily available. Deposited by Fred’k J. Shepard. Jones, Horatio. (Indian captive, interpreter, etc.) Papers relating to. Kennan, George. (Traveler, author.) A. L. S., “Medina, Orleans Co., N. Y., Mch. 22, 1876.” Ketchum, A. R. History of the Buffalo Water Works Company. B. H. S. paper, Mch. 28, 1864. Ketchum, William. Memorial of George Coit. B. H. S. paper, July 11, 1865. On the range of the bison, May 2, 1863. Misc. docs, and letters. King, Horatio. A. L. S., “Washington, Apr. 15, 1871.” Kip, (Rev.) Wm. Ingraham. (D. D., Bishop of Cal., author.) A. L. S., “San Francisco, July 12, 1880.”464 HISTORICAL SOCIETY MANUSCRIPTS. Kirkland, {Rev.) Samuel. (Missionary, founder of Hamilton Col- lege.) Journal of 1764 (copy). Journal of 1788 (copy). Kite, Nathan. Letters to Millard Fillmore, 1863. (Historical researches, West. N. Y.) Letter of O. H. Marshall accompanies. Knight, Elijah. Recollections of Western New York, 1807-1825. B. H. S. paper, Sept. 1885. Ku-Klux Outrages in North Carolina. Depositions of victims, with three letters found either in their houses or on their persons, 1871-72. Papers relating to the Ku-Klux troubles in Shelby,- N. C., winter of 1871-72. Collected at that time by Capt. Albion Howe, Capt. 4th Regt., U. S. Artillery. Lafayette A. L. S., Paris, Apr. 30, 1828. To “Hble Judge Porter, falls of Niagara.” A. L. S., Paris, June 6, 1833, to S. J. Skinner. Lake Erie Steamboat Co. Freight contract with American Fur Co., Mch. 30, 1820. Sig. of Ramsey Crooks, agt. Am. Fur Co. Interesting doc. of five closely written pages, regarding the ser- vice proposed between Black Rock and Michilimackinac; with seal showing the Superior, the only steamboat above the falls at that time. Langslow, {Capt.) Richard. (“Of the Honorable East India Com- pany Service.”) Copy of his Journal from New London, Conn., to Niagara Falls and Buffalo in 1817. (Printed, B. H. S. Pubs., vol. V.) Latin MS. Theological MS., on vellum, A. D. 1421. Laughlin, {Hon.) John. (Senator, N. Y. State.) Remarks in N. Y. State Senate . . . 1891, on resolution to investigate management of canals. Extract from speech before Canal Committees of Senate and Assembly, Feb. 9, 1897, on the Parshall bill. Laurence, Abbott. (U. S. Minister to Great Britain.) A. L. S., “Legation of U. S., London, Oct. 24, 1851,” to Hon. N. K. Flail, Postmaster General. Lease. Humphrey Prideaux to John Dearing, lands in Devon, Eng- land, Nov. 2, 1759. Parchment. LeCouteulx, Louis. (Buffalo pioneer.) A. L. S., Buffalo, Sept. 24, 1811. Doc. S., “Clerk’s office, Niagara Co. (Buffalo), Dec. 26, 1812.” See also “Holland Land Co.” Lee, John Randolph. Autobiographical sketch of, 1891. With photo.HISTORICAL SOCIETY MANUSCRIPTS. 465 Leete, W. S. Descendants of Col. Andrew Morehouse and Capt. John Langdon. LETTERS PATENT. From George Clinton, Governor, to Abraham Van Horne and others, Sept. 20, 1803, reciting letters patent for same from King George II, dated Nov. 13, 1731. Conveys 8000 acres in the Mohawk valley. To John Allison, conveying land in Lancaster Co., Pa., July 31, 1738. Sig. of Thomas Penn, with seal. To John Carpenter for 430 acres in Tioga Co., on the Dela- ware river “below the Cook house,” Nov. 21, 1796. With the great seal of New York. To Silas A. Fobes, conveying 120 acres in Michigan, Apr. 1, 1837. Martin Van Buren, President. Parchment. To Charles Ketchin, for 80 acres in Michigan Territory, July 10, 1832. Sig. of Andrew Jackson, President. Parchment. Assignment, Wm. R. Lake to Franklin Ransom, et al., inven- tion for “condensing apparatus for steam engines,” Apr. 6, 1869. (British.) Parchment. To Thos. Oliver, conveying 175 acres in Surray Co., Vir., May 20, 1742. Sig. of William Gooch, Lieut. Gov. To W. G. Oliver of Buffalo on “improvement in safety stop for gun locks,” June 12, 1866. To William Robert Lake, for improvements in condensing apparatus for steam engines, Sept. 10, 1868. (British.) Parchment. Great seal attached. To Wm. Edward Newton on his inventions, 1857. Parchment, great seal of Great Britain. Assignment, W. E. Newton to S. Van Syckel, for an inven- tion “for coating roofs,” etc., Mch. 3, 1857. (British.) Parchment. To Franklin Ransom of Buffalo, on his device for “manu- facturing chandeliers from the chrystallization of salts,” 1829. Sig. of Andrew Jackson, President. Parchment. To Franklin Ransom and Dudley L. Farnam, for improve- ment in fire engines, Apr. 17, 1847. Sig. of James Bu- chanan, Sec’y of State. Parchment. To William Salmon, conveying 600 acres in Manlius, Mont- gomery Co., Dec. 7, 1791. Sig. of George Clinton, Gov- ernor. With great seal. To Frederick Sebastian, conveying lands in Missouri, June 10, 1857. James Buchanan, President. Royal Grant to Elizabeth Skinner, 200 acres, King tp., York Co., Upper Canada, Dec. 1, 1802. Sigs. of P. Hunter, Lt. Gov., Peter Russell. Province of Upper Canada. Parch- ment, great seal. To Geo. L. Squier of Buffalo, on his inventions, 1871. As- signment of same; French letters patent, 1873, and other docs.466 HISTORICAL SOCIETY MANUSCRIPTS. Letters Patent, continued. To Jos. Watson, conveying 600 acres in Brutus, Montgomery Co., N. Y., July 7, 1790. Sig. of George Clinton, Govr., with great seal. Lewis, Morgan. (Governor N. Y. State.) D. S., Albany, Mch. 31, 1806. See “Bull Papers.” License. Brig Eliza Davidson, sailing permit, May 30, 1832. Sig. of Andrew Jackson, President. Lincoln, Abraham. A. N. S., “Buffalo, Feb. 18, 1861,” in autograph album for- merly owned by Mrs. R. J. Sherman. A. N. S., on document relating to military service of “Capt. d’Bourry.” This is a claim for pay by an officer who had served on the staff of Gen. L. Blenker. Many endorsements on the document record that pay was refused because d’Bourry had never been mustered into service. Aug. 7, 1862, Mr. Lincoln wrote: “I remember nothing of this case; but I desire that it shall be investigated and that Capt. Bourry be paid for the services he ac- tually performed, if any. The Government cannot afford to accept services and refuse payment for them. Lincoln.” Ass’t Adj. Gen. E. D. Townsend, having certified that the claimant was never mustered into service, the paper again reached the President, who, on August 20, wrote across its back as follows: “I did not ask for information as to whether this man has been mustered into service. Have we accepted his actual services? If we have, let him be paid for them unless there is positive law against it. A. Lincoln.” Still another endorsement makes the significant statement: “Maj. Rochester will pay this officer,” etc. A. N. S. Endorsed on letter of Salmon P. Chase. Lincoln Birthday Association of Buffalo. Papers relating to. Lind, Jenny. A. L. S., Pittsburg, Nov. 12, 1851, to Robt. Denton of Buffalo. Littlefield, A. H. (Governor of Rhode Island.) A. L. S., “Executive Dept., Providence, June 30, 1882.” See “Buffalo, Semi-centennial.” Lord, John C., Library. (In B. H. S. building.) MS. catalogue of. 1 vol. 4to. Prepared bv Rev. John C. Lord, D. D. Lossing, Benson J. (Historian.) A. L. S., “Dover Plains, N. Y., May 1, 1875.” Lothrop, J. R. (M. D.) On Ozone. B. H. S. paper, Aug. 25, 1869. Love joy, Henry. Reminiscences of Buffalo. B. H. S. paper, Dec. 14, 1863. Ad- dress, Old Settlers’ Festival, Buffalo, 1864. L,ow, (Hon.) Seth. L. S., “Mayor’s Office, Brooklyn, June 30, 1882,” on the occa- sion of Buffalo’s semi-centennial, q. v. Margry, Pierre. (Author, editor of LaSalle MSS.) A. L. S., “Paris, 22 Dec., 1880,” to O. H. Marshall.HISTORICAL SOCIETY MANUSCRIPTS. 467 Marriage Contract. Notarial agreement between Thomas Blairfair of Balthayock and Dame Jean Pringle, Lady Buchanan, Edinburgh, 8 Aug., 1683. Mrrtirif Ttidc Dinrv A. L. s’, “Quebec, Apr. 18, 1861,” to R. Hadfield, Buffalo. McKinley, William. Assassination of. Letters and telegrams to Hon. Robert C. Titus, one of the counsel appointed by the court to defend Czolgosz, the assassin. With newspaper clippings and pamphlets, giving history of the trial. 2 vols. 4to. McLeod, D. See “Upper Canada Rebellion/’ Madison, James. (President U. S.) Docs. S. See “Fleming, Robt, Papers”; “Jefferson, Thomas.” Mahoney, Dan’l E. The Fenian invasion of Canada. B. H. S. paper. Marcy, William M. A. L. S. See “Pierce, Maris Bryant, Papers.” Marshall, Orsamus H. Index Rerum. Indian names defined, etc. On site of LaSalle’s Shipyard, etc. Note-book. Small MS. vol. containing extracts from French documents and other memoranda relating to Western N. Y. history. A. L. S. See “Pierce, Maris Bryant, Papers.” See “Salisbury, Guy H.”; “Kite, Nathan.” Marvin, LeGrand. Last Will and Testament, July 30, 1887. (Typewritten.) Five diaries, 1882, ’85, ’87. Registers (‘of cases at court, etc.), 1873-1884. 2 vols., folio. Mathews, Charles. (Actor.) A. L. S., to R. C. Maywood, May 20. (Year not given.) Mathews, Sylvester J. Reminiscences of Early Buffalo (1830-60). Matteson, H. W. Account-book, 1849. McKenney, Thos. L. (U. S. Indian Commissioner.) See “Forward, Oliver.” McClure, (Brig. Gen.) George. A. D. S., General orders, Ft. George, 15th Oct., 1813. McLean, John M. Narrative and journal of service in the Hudson Bay Com- pany, 1819-1844, at Lake of Two Mountains, York Factory, Fort McKinzie, Great Slave Lake, etc. With copies of correspondence with Sir George Simpson, Governor of Rupert’s Land. 2 vols. fo. Deposited with the Buffalo Historical Society by the author’s son, Mr. Archibald McLean of Buffalo.468 HISTORICAL SOCIETY MANUSCRIPTS. Maxwell, T. H. Confederacy of the Iroquois. MS. vol. Meade, R. W. (Commodore U. S. N.) L. S., “Washington, 31 May, 1892,” to Sylvester Chamberlain, Buffalo, regarding the work of the Navy in behalf of order during the New York riots, July, 1863. Meigs, R. J. (U. S. Postmaster-General.) A. L. S., May 31, 1817. See “Granger, Erastus.” Militia, N. Y. State. Company book, Capt. J. E. Warriner’s company of the 208th Regt., 47th Brigade, 28th Div. of the Militia of the State of New York. Entries run from “Buffalo, Dec. 30, 1837,” to June 12, 1839. Some dated “Fort Niagara,” ‘^Headquarters Niagara Frontier,” etc. Miller Warner L. S., “Senate Chamber, Washington, May 27, 1886,” to Wm. Thurstone, secretary Merchants’Exchange relative to inter- state commerce legislation. L. S., “Senate Chamber, Washington, July 1, 1882.” See Buf- falo, Semi-centennial.” Milwaukee, Wis. Letter-book containing copies of letters relating to construc- tion work at “Milwaukee harbor, 1843-1857.” 1 vol. folio. The earlier letters are from J. H. Leavenworth, agent, to Col. J. J. Abert, chief Top. Engineers, and other officials at Washington. Other letters are by Lt. J. D. Webster, J. McClellan, H. W. Gun- nison, J. B. Cross, mayor, and others. Monroe, James. (President U. S.) A. L. S., “Buffalo, Aug. 9, 1817.” D. S., Jan. 28, 1822. Monture, Henry. See “Johnson, John.” Morgan, Christopher. A. LL. S. See “Pierce, Maris Bryant, Papers.” Morgan, E. D. (Governor N. Y. State.) D. S., “Albany, May 30, 1862.” Commission of John H. Can- field as Capt. 21st Regt. N. Y. Vols. Doc. S., Dec. 23, 1861. Commission of John D. Canfield as 1st lieut. 21st Regt. N. Y. Vols. Morris, Robert. A. LL. S. To Jon. Hudson, Phila., Apr. 19, 1777; to Thomas Fitzsimmons, Feb. 14, 1799- Mortgage. Robert Morris and wife, to Nathaniel Gorham and Oliver Phelps, on Western N. Y. lands (Ontario Co.), £70,000, Nov. 18, 1790. Parchment. Moulton, Jos. W. A. L. S., Taunton, Mass., Dec. 18, 1862. With rough sketch, Village of Buffalo, 1816-1822. Nantucket.. During War of 1812. See “Gardner, Gideon.”HISTORICAL SOCIETY MANUSCRIPTS. 469 Naphegyi, G. (M. D., A. M.) The American Family of Speech. B. H. S. paper, Feb. 15, 1869. Nelson, S. A. L. S., “Cooperstown, Dec. 24, 1872,” to Hon. N. K. Hall of Buffalo. Netherlands, Constitution of the Kingdom of the. Translated from the Dutch for the Buf. Hist. Soc., by G. H. Kuhn, Jr. With the translator’s letter of presentation to Millard Fillmore, president of the Society, dated, “Genesee House, Buffalo, Dec. 31, 1864.” 1 vol. New York, Albany & Buffalo Electro Magnetic Telegraph Com- pany. ' Message sent, Albany to Oneida, N. Y., Aug. 23, 1851. Souvenir of the telegraph in its early years. The blank is headed as above, and also “Morse’s American Telegraph,” with tariff schedule, based on distance. New York State Militia. Roster of officers above the rank of captain, belonging to the 47th Brigade of Infantry (N. Y.), under the command of Brigadier-General Heman B. Potter, Buffalo, Nov. 20, 1829. Niagara City Association. (Buffalo.) Schedule and valuation of property (Black Rock Lower Town, Black Rock Dam, Parrish Tract). Expenditures and receipts of the Niagara City Ass’n by the trustees since 1836; etc. 1 vol. Agreement in partition, schedules, etc., 1839. Niagara Co., N. Y. Estreat of fines for. Sept. 1819 to Sept. 1820. Records, Proceedings of the Supervisors of Niagara County for 1808-1811. 1 vol. This valuable record begins with minutes of a meeting, “holden at the dwelling-house of Joseph Landon in the Village of New Amsterdam [Buffalo] on the first Tuesday of October in the year of our Lord one thousand eight hundred and eight.” Buffalo was the county seat of Niagara Co. until the erection of Erie: Co. in 1821. Niagara Falls House Company. Act authorizing formation, list of subscribers, minutes of meetings, 1853-54. Niagara Falls, State Reservation. Message to Gov. David B. Hill, Apr. 30, 1885, urging him to sign the Niagara Falls Park bill, with original signatures of 23 prominent men of Buffalo. Niagara Fort. Misc. docs.: Pay-list of artificers & labourers, Nov. 4, 1778- July 4, 1779. Letters of Geo. Forsyth, 1789, etc. (See “Porteous Papers. ) Accounts of Royal Artillery, 1779. Lt. Childs to Jos. Stocking, Buffalo, Jan. 8, 1816. Niagara Frontier Police. See “Buell, J. S.”470 HISTORICAL SOCIETY MANUSCRIPTS. Niagara, Ont. St. Mark’s Church. Authenticated copy of the parish register, Aug. 23, 1792, to Oct. 9, 1829. Niagara River Power. List of subscribers to a prize fund to be given the winner of a competition for utilizing the power of Niagara river, July 14, 1887, to May 23, 1888. Contains the signatures of 108 men or firms of Buffalo who sub- scribed $1000 each to this project. Niagara River Steam Boat Company. Articles of Association and Minutes. Established Dec. 7, 1824. Records to Sept. 15, 1836. Norris, (Maj.) James. Journal of the expedition of Gen. Sullivan against the Senecas in 1779. MS. bound. Entries begin at Easton, June 18, 1779, and run to Oct. 25, ’79; also miscellaneous entries, old songs, etc. Norton, Chas. D. Biography of Silas Sawin. B. H. S. paper, Feb. 15, 1864. History of Old Fort Schlosser. B. H. S. paper, Jan. 23, 1865. A. L. S., July 30, 1886, regarding Peter B. Porter’s title to “lot 109,” etc. Noyes, Edward F. (Governor of Ohio.) Doc. S., Feb. 26, 1873. O’Callaghan, E. B. (M. D., editor,t translator.) Letters to O. H. Marshall, Millard Fillmore and others, re- lating to matters of Western N. Y. history. Ogden, Thos. L. See “Forward, Oliver.” Ohio Valley Flood, 1883. See “Buffalo, Citizens’ Relief Committee,” etc. Ormsby, D. See “Brown, (Maj. Gen.) Jacob.” Palma, T. Estrada. (President of Cuban Junta, N. Y. City, etc.) A. L. S., Jan. 29, 1898, enclosing letter from Gen. Maximo Gomez. Palmer, Friend. The city of Buffalo in the ’40’s. Palmer, (Mrs.) Mary W. Narrative (personal recollections) of the Walk-in-the-Water, 1st steamboat on the Upper Lakes. (Published. B. H. S. Pubs., vol. V.) With letters of Hon. E. C. Walker & others. Palmer, William A. (Governor of Vermont.) Doc. S., Commission of Capt. Allen Griffeth of Danby, Vt., Apr. 27, 1833. Parker, Amasa J. (Jurist.) A. L. S., “Albany, July 18, 1867.” Parrish, Jasper. (Indian Captive, U. S. Indian Agent, etc.) Papers relating to. See “Indians, Misc.”; “Granger, Erastus.”HISTORICAL SOCIETY MANUSCRIPTS. 471 Parsons, {Rev.) Jonathan. Sermons, 1736-1764. 1 vol. The author of this quaint little MS. volume was b. West Spring- field, Mass., Nov. 30, 1705; graduated at Yale, 1729; ordained pastor, Congregational church, Lyme, Conn., 1730; installed pastor, 1st Presbyterian church, Newburyport, 1745; d. July 19, 1776. The MS. may be called cryptic, full of abbreviations and arbitrary sym- bols, some of them a survival of the style of chirography of earlier centuries; yet for the most part legible. Parsons, {Dr.) Usher. (Medical officer, Perry's flagship.) Sixteen letters to Capt. W. W. Dobbins, chiefly relating to events in the battle of Lake Erie, 1859-1866. Patriot War, 1837-38. See “Upper Canada Rebellion.” Patterson, Geo. W. (Lt. Gov. N. Y. State.) A. L. S. See “Pierce, Maris Bryant, Papers.” Peacock, William. A. L. S., Mayville, Dec. 29, 1832, to P. L. Crary. A. L. S., “Mayville, Nov. 8, 1858,” to Hon. N. K. Hall. Peck, Jesse. Autobiography, dated, Buffalo, Oct. 1862. Travel on the lake steamboat Superior, 1823. Penn Papers. Accts. of William, John and Thomas Penn, with Samuel Car- penter, etc. Signed docs., 1704-1779. Perpetual Motion. Contract deposited with the Buffalo Historical Society, Nov. 2, 1867, by H. C. Van Schaack of Manlius, N. Y. With letters. Includes a curious covenant entered into Feb. 23, 1827, between Samuel Denniston of Grand Island, discoverer[?] of the principle of perpetual motion, and Jas. Higby of Black Rock, mechanic, whose practical skill was to make the thing go. The covenant provided for control of patents, exhibition throughout the U. S., etc. Perry, Oliver Hazard. (Commodore U. S. N.) Signals for the fleet, Aug. 21, 1813. See also “Dobbins Pa- pers.” Phyn & Ellice. (Merchants at Schenectady, N. Y.) Letter-books: No. 1, Nov. 30, 1767-Sept. 6, 1771; No. 2, Sept. 7, 1771-July 28, 1773; No. 3, Schenectady, Aug. 12, 1773“July 15, 1776. 3 vols. folio. Include letters to Sir Wm. Johnson, Col. John Bradstreet, Capt. John Butler, John Porteous, Norman McLeod (Indian commis- sioner), and many others prominent in business or military affairs. Pickens, Francis W. (Governor South Carolina.) See “Bishop, A. W., Papers.” Pierce, Daniel W[ebster]. (A Seneca Indian.) Misc. MSS. Constitution, Iroquois Agricultural Society, 1862. Pierce, Franklin. Doc. S, Washington, Sept. 22, 1855.472 HISTORICAL SOCIETY MANUSCRIPTS. Pierce, Maris Bryant. (Seneca chief, Clerk of the Seneca Nation Councils, etc.) Papers. Several hundred documents, including letters from Wm. Cullen Bryant (with photo), Lewis Cass, Geo. W. Clinton, T. H. Crawford, Reuben E. Fenton, Geo. Folsom, Jos. Elkinton, Edward Everett, Franklin B. Hough, Benj. Hallowell, N. K. Hall, S. G. Haven, Christopher Morgan, O. H. Marshall, Wm. L. Marcy, Geo. W. Patterson, Winfield Scott, Henry R. Schoolcraft, Wm. H. Seward, John C. Spencer, Philip E. Thomas, Asher Wright, and others, especially several Quakers interested in the welfare of the Senecas; letters, essays and journals of M. B. Pierce; copies of treaties, memorials, etc., especially in relation to sale of Buffalo Creek res- ervation. Autograph album owned by, during his service at Washing- ton, 1852. Contains autographs of Presidents Polk and Fillmore, G. M. Dallas, Henry R. Schoolcraft, John A. Dix, Hannibal Hamlin, Jefferson Davis, Sam Houston, Simon Cameron, Stephen A. Doug- las, Alfred B. Street and others, among them some Indian chiefs. A book of memoranda for 1840. (Kept at Dartmouth Col- lege ; . relates largely to Seneca matters.) 1 vol. Copies of treaties, agreements and correspondence relating thereto. 1 vol. Letters, misc. Pike, Albert. (Brig-Gen. C. S. A., Judge Supreme Ct. of Ark.) See “Bishop, A. W., Papers.” Plea of Debt. John Lewelling vs. John Dills, Warwick Co., Va., “November court, 1714.” Curious legal doc. of an early period. Polk, James K. Doc. S. (Commission of Dan’l Dobbins as captain in the Revenue Service.) See “Dobbins Papers”; also “Pierce Maris Bryant.” Porteous, John. Accts. with Western Inland Lock Nav. Co., 1794. Miscellaneous correspondence, 1776-1829. Largely the letters of Forsyth Richardson & Co., traders, Mon- treal. Most of them written 1785-1795. Two A. D. S. Alex. Henry, famous trader and explorer, “Montreal, 1776.” Porter, (Judge) Augustus. “Narrative of my recollections of events, connected with the early settlement of the West.” (Western N. Y. and Western Reserve of Ohio.) Letters and MS. map inserted. 1 vol. wholly in Judge Porter’s handwriting. See B. H. S. Pubs., vol. VII. Petition to the Legislature of N. Y., for Goat Island, and rept. thereon of Simeon DeWitt, Surveyor General, Feb. 1811. (Copy.) See “Forward, Oliver” Porter, David D. (Admiral U. S. N.) L. S., “Office of the Admiral, Washington, June 26, 1882.” See “Buffalo, Semi-centennial.”HISTORICAL SOCIETY MANUSCRIPTS. 473 Porter, (Col.) FiTZ-JbHN. (Soldier of varied fortunes.) A. L. S., “Morristown, N. J., May 12, 1870.” Porter, (Gen.) Peter B. Papers. See “Fleming, Robt.” Potter, Heman B. Commission as Colonel 208th Regt. N. Y. Inf., June 8, .1824. With sigs. of Joseph C. Yates, Governor, and Arch. Campbell, Dep. Sec’y. Commission as brigadier general, 4th brigade of N. Y. Inf., Nov. 20, 1828. Sig. of Nathaniel Pitcher, Lieutenant Gov- ernor. See also “New York State Militia.” Autograph affidavit signed. 1 p. folio. Buffalo, Dec. 21, 1812. With certificate of David Eddy, judge, Ct. of Common Pleas of Niagara Co. Potter Co., Pa. Geological report on Potter Co. lands of the Phila. & Reading Coal & Iron Co., by Franklin Platt and W. G. Platt, geolo- gist. Philadelphia, Dec. 1878. Report on the McLean lands in Eulalia and Roulette town- ships. Franklin Platt and W. G. Platt, geologists, July 1879. Power of Attorney. William Lyle of Paisley, Scotland, et aL, to Benjamin Hatcher of Virginia, Nov. 4, 1802. Pratt, Hiram. Doc. S., as Mayor of Buffalo. See “Wilkeson, Samuel.” Presque Isle. Manifests of Cargoes of vessels entered at the Port of Presque Isle [Erie, Pa.], July 4, 1805, to Nov. 22, 1814. 1 vol. Price, Sterling. (Maj.-Gen. C. Y. A.) See “Bishop, A. W., Papers.” Privateer's Commission, Granted by George III to George Dean and John Porteous of New York City, Apr. 4, 1779. Putnam, (Hon. ) James O. Recollections of Cyrus P. Lee, 1895. Quincy, Josiah. A. L. S., “Boston, 28 Aug., 1824,” to Hon. John G. King, Salem, Mass., regarding reception to Lafayette. Railroads. Buffalo, Corning & N. Y. Railway Co., stock and subscrip- tions, 1850. 4to. Buffalo & Pittsburg Railroad Co., mortgage given by, on its line of roadway in Cattaraugus Co., for $20,000, to secure an issue of bonds to that amount, dated Nov. 2, 1857. The mortgage is signed by Orlando Allen, president; P. C. Sherman, sec’y, and Wm. Ketchum, trustee. Ramsdell, Alexander. Log-book of the ship Reaper, 1823-26. The Reaper sailed from Nantucket, Sept. 14, 1823, for the coast of Japan, on a whaling voyage. This log is rather barren of details.474 HISTORICAL SOCIETY MANUSCRIPTS. except of weather, latitude and longitude. A crudely-stenciled whale records captures and a picture of the tail stands for whales chased but not caught. Some curious entries regarding the cruise among the islands of the South Seas. Ranney, Rufus P. (Justice of the Supreme Court.) A. L. S., “Warren, Sept, n, 1851,” to John Kiener. Rathbun, Benjamin. (Early Buffalo capitalist and promoter.) Letters to D. E. Merrill, 1870-72. Notes amounting to $26,228, said to be forged, a total loss to Chas. M. Reed, endorser. Certificates of protest, etc. Statement of Benj. Rathbun’s affairs, by himself. (Sixty- eight foolscap pages, 1st page missing.) Ream, Vinnie. (Sculptor.) A. L. S., Washington, Sept. 10, 1868. Redfield, Heman J. See “Glowacki, Henry I.” Red Jacket. His career in spirit land. See “Howlett, John Wesley.” See “Indian”; “Buffalo Historical Society.” Reed, Rufus S. (Pioneer of Erie, Pa.) See “Dobbins Papers.” Rees, Sarah. Statement relative to first white settler in Buffalo. A. N. S., Buffalo, May 20, 1847. Remington, Cyrus K. Addresses and essays on various occasions: “New France and New England,” “Dolly Madison,” “Fort Erie: cap- ture, siege, defense and sortie, July 3-Sept. 17, 1814,” etc. Address for historical meeting at Niagara, Ont., July 4, 1890. (Not delivered.) On paper-making, with mem. of early water-marks. Misc. MSS., maps, etc. (chiefly Ft. Erie). Revolution (American). Articles of agreement for the formation of a Board of Trade to reduce the cost of living. Signed by 34 subscribers, who pledged from £4 to £400 each. Dated “Kings Dis- trict,” Aug. 23, 1779. This most interesting document (fo. pp. 3) begins: “Whereas a spirit of monopoly in the venders of the necessaries and comforts of life, is added to the common calamities of war, whereby it be- comes not only intolerable but very difficult to obtain many articles most useful and necessary,” etc. Roberts, Ellis H. (Treasurer of U. S., historian, editor.) A. L. S., “Utica, N. Y., June 30, 1882.” See “Buffalo, Semi- centennial.” Roberts, Nathan S. (Civil engineer.) A. L. S., “Black Rock, 1st Oct., 1824.” Rochester, Wm. B. (Paymaster General U. S. A.) L. S., “War Dept. Washington, June 30, 1882,” recalling his boyhood in Buffalo. See “Buffalo, Semi-centennial.”HISTORICAL SOCIETY MANUSCRIPTS. 475 Rogers, {Mrs.) Eleanor Silliman. “Jonathan Trumbull/’ D. A. R. paper, Feb. 22, 1894. The author was great-great-great-granddaughter of Jonathan Trumbull. Rogers, Henry W. Henry Daw, 1795-1864. B. H. S. paper, Feb. 6, 1865. Roosevelt, Theodore. L. S., “White House, Washington, Nov. 22, 1902.” To Ansley Wilcox, Buffalo. Rosseel, Papers. Letters, deeds and other docs., chiefly of Joseph Rosseel of Ogdensburgh, N. Y., agent for David Parish. Deposited with the B. H. S. by Frank Rosseel. Includes among others the following: Power of atty., David Parish to Joseph Ros- seel, Mch. 11, 1816; John Parish to Jos. Rosseel, Aug. 12, 1826; Richard Parish to Jos. Rosseel, Aug. 26, 1826; Letters: Jos. Ros- seel to David Parish, “Ogdensburgh 24 May, 1811”; Sir Francis Baring [? to Rosseel], London, Aug. 18, 1809; Alex. Baring [? to Rosseel], “Isle of Wight, 9 Sept., 1809”; Elijah Backus to David Parish, “Washington, 19 June, 1909”; Deeds: Hanjost Herg- heimer to Hanjost Hergheimer jr., Jan. 6, 1761, conveying land sup- posed to be Lot 44, Staley’s Patent, 100 acres, with witnesses’ sig- natures “Nicolas herckmer” [? Gen. Nicholas Herkimer] and Peter Ten Broeck; Peter Goelet, Robt. Morris and Wm. Popham, trustees of the American Iron Co., to Alexander Ellice, Apr. 4, 1786; Peter Goelet, Robt. Morris and Wm. Popham, trustees to Nicholas Hoff- man, lands in Herkimer Co., Apr. 4, 1786; Nicholas Hoffman to Alexander Ellice, Herkimer Co. lands, Jan. 10, 1799; John Little, Sheriff of Montgomery Co., to Jno. R. Bleecker, Oct. 10, 1794; Col. Johannes Hardenbergh et al, to John Burch, release, Aug. 15, 1777; Joseph Rosseel’s naturalization papers, Jan. 14, 1817; exemplifica- tion of probate of will of Alexander Ellice, Dec. 13, 1805; land Srant, N. Y. State to John P. Boyea, 600 acres in Romulus tp., lontgomery Co., July 8, 1790, with sigs. of Gov. Geo. Clinton, and Simeon Dewitt, Surveyor. Rumsey, Daniel. Biography of, by Miss Isabella M. Shaw. Rush, Richard. See “Granger Papers.” Russell, Peter. (Auditor General, Province of Upper Canada.) Doc. S., Oct. 25, 1798. Ryan, Stephen Vincent. (R. C. Bishop of Buffalo.) A. L. S., “Buffalo, Mch. 24, 1880.” St. John, L. C. Reminiscences and suggestions for illustrating scenes in early Buffalo, with sketches from memory: Oxen draw- ing the Walk-in-the-Water up Niagara rapids; Gen. La- fayette’s reception in Buffalo. St. John Papers. Recollections of Mrs. Parnell (St. John) Sidway; Mrs. Martha (St. John) Skinner; Dr. Orson St. John, etc., with drawings of the St. John house, Buffalo, destroyed by British and Indians, Dec. 31, 1813. (Printed, B. H. S. Pubs, vol. IX.) St. Mark’s Church, Niagara, Ont. Authenticated copy of the parish register, 1792-1829. 1 vol.476 HISTORICAL SOCIETY MANUSCRIPTS, Salisbury, Elias Osborn. Observations on the weather (Buffalo or vicinity), 1849-60. 2 vols. Salisbury, Guy H. (Early Buffalo writer, sec’y B. H. S.) Early history, press of Erie Co., N. Y. (B. H. S. paper, pub. v. 2.) The old burying-ground, Buffalo, 1851. Oldest house in Buffalo, 1853. A. L. S., Buffalo, July 3, 1855. Salisbury Family. Register of. Santos-Dumont. (Aviator.) Autograph, “New York, le 12 Avril, 1902.” Sardinia, Erie Co., N. Y. Data relating to town of, by Ezra Nott, dated Pike, Mch. 19, 1864. Sawin, Silas. Biography of. See “Norton, Chas. D.” Scheetz, Henry. (Maj. Gen. Penna. Militia.) A. L. S., “White marsh (Pa.) Sept. 4, 1816,” to “Ezekiel Hill, Manchester Great Falls, Niagara river.” Relates in part to events of the War of 1812. Schoolcraft, Henry R. A. MSS. S. See “Pierce, Maris Bryant, Papers.” Schuyler, John (Jr.). See “Porteous, John.” C/^TrTTVT IT'D "PtlTT TO A. L. S., “N. Y., May 20, 1803.” To Geo. Huntington. Scott, William. (Pioneer of Scottsburg, N. Y.) A. MS. S., Narrative of his visit to Mt. Vernon in 1835. Scott, {Dr.) William Kennedy. 5V* “ Sellstedt, L. G.” Scott, Winfield. A. L. S., Buffalo, Jan. 25, 1838, to Gen. David Burt. A. LL. S., to Maris B. Pierce, q. v. Sedden, James A. (Sec’y of War, C. S. A.) See “Bishop, A. W., Papers.” Sellstedt, Laurentius G. Dr. William Kennedy Scott, 1788-1879. Written, 1906, for B. H. S. archives. Life and character of William Wilgus, artist. B. H. S. paper, 1864. Reminiscences. See “Fillmore, Millard, Papers relating to.” Severance, Frank H. Misc. MSS. Seward, Wm. H. L. S., Jan. 6, 1868. A. L. S., Auburn, Dec. 8, 1847. To Elias S. Hawley, Dennis Bowen and others of Buffalo, regarding Western New York history. See also “Pierce, Maris Bryant, Papers.”HISTORICAL SOCIETY MANUSCRIPTS. All Seymour, Horatio. (Gov. of N. Y., nominee for President.) A. L. S., “Utica, June 30, 1882.” See “Buffalo, Semi-centen- nial.” A. L. S., “Albany, Apr. 4, 1862,” to John Wilkeson, Buffalo. A. L. S., “Utica, Apr. 9, 1871.” Shaw, Isabella M. See “Rumsey, Dan’l.” Shea, John Gilmary. (Author, editor.) A. LL. S., various. Shelby, Jos. C. (Brig.-Gen. C. S. A.) See “Bishop, A. W., Papers.” Sheldon, (Judge) James. Acct. book, 1871. Law Register, 1868-70. 1 vol. Reminiscences, 1817-1818. B. H. S. paper, Mch. 1, 1869. Shelton, Wm. (D. D.) On the creation of funds for the support of literary men. MS. written in 1817, when the writer was 17 years old. A. L. S., “Buffalo, Dec. 24, 1861,” to Sir John Seymour of England, regarding the warlike attitude of England oil the occasion of the capture of the Confederate envoys, Mason and Slidell, by Commodore Wilkes. (Lacks last page and signature.) See “Brown (Rev.) John W.” Shepard, Frederick J. Historical sketch of the University Club, Buffalo, Mch. 4, 1909. (Typewritten.) Papers relating to the Johnson's Island Plot of 1864; corr. in 1905. Shepard, John D. Papers, corr. Pierre M. Irving, Thaddeus Joy, G. W. Clinton, Calvin Colton, Dan’l S. Tompkins, etc. Shepard, (Maj. Gen.) Wm. General orders Mass, militia, 4th Div. Northampton, Dec. 5. 1786. Sherman, D. A few immortals who died young. Silliman, Benjamin. A. L. S., “San Francisco, Apr. 1, 1867.” Simms, Jeptha R. (Author.) A. LL. S., various. Skinner, John B. Biographical sketch of James G. Hoyt. B. H. S. paper, Apr. 28, 1864. Slafter, (Rev.) Edmund F. (Author, editor.) A. L. S., “Boston, 30 May, 1871.” Slavery. Bill of sale of a slave woman and three children, Pitt Co., N. C., Jan. 21, 1812. Receipt for sale of slave, Atlanta, Ga., Oct. i, 1862.478 HISTORICAL SOCIETY MANUSCRIPTS. Slavery, continued. Inventory of slaves, etc., S. Landry parish, La., Sept. 25, 1820. Sworn statement regarding cutting iron shackles from a slave on board the steamer Sally Robinson on the Mississippi, near Port Hudson, Mch. 18, 1863. Part of the iron shackle is now in the museum of the Buffalo Historical Society. Sloan, James. Footprints Fifty Years Ago (Early days on the Lakes), etc. Misc. MSS. Smith, Abiezer. A. L. S., “Camp at Cambridge, June 19, 1775/' to his wife at Norwich, relating to the battle of Bunker Hill. Smith, E. Kirby. (Lt. Gen. C. S. A.) See “Bishop, A. W., Papers.” Smith, {Hon.) T. Guilford. Genealogy of. 3 vols., fo. Ancestry of, by Chas. A. Hoppin, Jr. Biographical sketches. Smyth, {Brig. Gen.) Alexander. A. L. S., “Camp near Buffalo, 10th Nov., 1812.” A. N. S., 19th Nov., 1812. A. N. S., “Headquarters, 23d Nov., 1812.” A. Orders S., “Headquarters Camp near Buffalo, 29th Nov., 1812.” Snow, {Mrs.) Julia F. Buffalo Day among our poets. (Typewritten paper read be- fore the “Saturday Class,” Nov. 25, 1899.) Spaulding, {Hon.) E. G. (M. C., “Father of the Greenback.”) A. L. S., “Buffalo, Feb. 16, 1884,” to Wm. Thurstone. Spencer, John C. (Sec’y of War, Sec’y of the Treasury, etc.) A. L. S., “Canandaigua, Mch. 23, 1835,” to Rev. Wm. Shelton. A. L. S. See “Granger, Erastus”; “Pierce, Maris B., Papers.” Spinner, B. D. L. S., Apr. 10, 1866. L. S., Oct. 25, 1858. Stage-Coach Passage-book, Western N. Y. Register of passengers between Rochester, Bergen, Byron, Churchville, Chili (stage line not indicated), with rates of fare, 1840-42, etc. 1 vol. Bears the name “Erastus B. Seymour” on flyleaf. Steele, O. G. (Pres. B. H. S.) MS. Annual address, Jan. 12, 1875. Russia (2 parts), B. H. S. paper, Jan. 4, 22, 1872. Address, presentation of portrait of Red Jacket. (Published, vol. II, B. H. S.) Buffalo City sewerage & sanitary science. B. H. S. paper, Jan. 3, 1866. Stern, Ethel Louise. What Joseph Ellicott did for Buffalo.HISTORICAL SOCIETY MANUSCRIPTS. 479 Stevens, James W. (Of Genesee Co., N. Y.) Account books, 1802-1808. 2 vols. Account books of June 14, 1802-Nov. 6, 1829. 2 v. Storrs, H. R. Private journal of . . . Storrs, a representative in Congress from Oneida Co., N. Y., Dec. 1825-May 1830. MS. bound. 6 vols. Storrs (Juba) & Co. (Buffalo merchants.) Receipts, etc., Buffalo, 1810-1820. 1 vol. Stowits, (Maj.) G. H. (Civil War veteran, teacher.) Address on behalf of the 100th Regiment, N. Y. S. Vols., on presentation of their flag to the Buffalo Historical Society, Jan. 12, 1892. Miscellaneous MSS., including addresses, newspaper articles, biographies of officers, 100th Regt. N. Y. Vols., etc., 1854- 1904. Strachan, (Rev.) John. (D. D., Bishop of Toronto.) A. L. S., “Toronto, 27th Nov., 1840/' to Rev. Wm. Shelton, Buffalo. Street, Alfred B. (Author.) A. L. S., “Albany, Apr. 17, 1863.” See also “Pierce, Maris B., Papers.” Stringer, George A. The Empire State. B. H. S. paper, Feb. 10, 1896. Stringham, James. The early years of the Buffalo Courier. A. MS., 1896. Strong, Nathaniel T. Misc. papers. Lecture on Red Jacket, Dec. 29, 1863. See also “Pierce, Maris Bryant, Papers.” Sullivan's Campaign, 1779. See “Burrows, (Maj.) John”; “Norris, (May.) James.” Taylor, Zachary. L. S., Baton Rouge, La., Nov. 17, 1848, to S. Brushe, Colum- bus, O. Thomas, C. F. S. (Early Buffalo printer.) History of Music in Buffalo. B. H. S. paper, Mch. 20, 1865. Thomas, David. (Civil engineer.) A. L. S., Report on Black Rock harbor, etc., 1822 [?]. See “Black Rock Harbor papers.” Thomas, Philip E. (Quaker philanthropist, founder of Thomas Orphan Asylum, Cattaraugus Reservation, etc.) A. LL. S., to Maris B. Pierce, q. v. Reminiscences of, accompanying gift of his portrait to the Buffalo Hist. Soc., by Martha H. Ferris, 1888. Timon, John. (R. C. Bishop of Buffalo.) A. L. S., Buffalo, Jan. 3, 1864. In French, introducing Wellington A. Pierce.480 HISTORICAL SOCIETY MANUSCRIPTS. Tippecanoe Club, Batavia, N. Y. Letter of thanks from, to Mrs. Catherine C. Stevens, for mak- ing a banner for the club, “Batavia, July 4, 1840,” and Mrs. Stevens’ reply, Aug. 15, 1840. Tompkins, Daniel D. (Governor N. Y. State.) D. S., Albany, Mch. 22, 1810. See “Bull Papers”; “Shepard, Jno. D., Papers.” Townsend, Chas. A. L. S., “Jan. 10, 1820,” to L. P. Crary, q. v. Tracy, Albert H. (M. C.) A. L. S., Buffalo, Aug. 19, 1858. Trail, (Mrs.) C. P. History and genealogical notes of the Strickland family. Treaty of Ghent. See “Boundary survey, U. S. and Canada.” Troup, R. See “Forward, Oliver.” Trumbull, Jonathan. (Governor of Connecticut.) D. S., appointing Nathaniel Ackley 2d Lieut., 1st Troop, 7th Cavalry Regt. of Conn., Oct. 13, 1800. Turner, Orsamus. (Author “History of the Holland Purchase,” etc.) A. L. S., Feb. 21, 1849, to G. H. Salisbury. Ujhazy, Ladislaus. (Governor of Hungary, compatriot of Kos- suth.) A. L. S., Sept. 14, 1851. University of Western New York. Records of, 1836. 1 vol. The act incorporating the University of Western New York at Buffalo was passed Apr. 8, 1836. These minutes record the pro- ceedings of the trustees until Aug. 10, 1836. The futile undertaking received the support of many prominent citizens of Buffalo. Upper Canada. Grant of land in Niagara District, township of Pelham, Oct. 25, 1798. Sig. of Peter Russell, Auditor General. Great seal of Canada attached. Upper Canada Rebellion. Letters relating to, 1837-38, by officers of the Patriot “army.” Twenty-nine documents, including letters and reports by Adjt. Gen. D. McLeod, John S. Vreeland, Major T. J. Lawton, Capt. John Henderson, Wm. Field, R. W. Ashley,- Jr., David Burt, etc. Peters, T. C. Incidents connected with the outbreak of 1837, action of Buffalo officials, Buffalo City Guard, etc. (Mr. Peters was then Clerk and Attorney of the city.) See “[Atwater], Sam.”; “Dobbins Papers.” U. S. Commissary Dept. Account book, 2d army corps. Brooks station, 1863.HISTORICAL SOCIETY MANUSCRIPTS. 481 U. S. District Court. Northern Dist. N. Y.: Sworn statement of commissioners, with 17 signatures, 1821-1826. U. S. General Hospital, Fort Monroe, Va. History of cases, 1861. 1 vol. U. S. Revenue Service. Articles of Agreement between Salmon P. Chase, Sec’y of the Treasury, and Harry Whittaker, of Buffalo, et al, for building at Buffalo a steam screw propeller revenue cutter, to be ready by June 1, 1864. Van Buren, Martin. MS. pardon granted and signed by President Van Buren, Apr. 16, 1838. Van Campen, Moses. (Revolutionary soldier, Indian captive, pio- neer of Western N. Y.) Papers relating to. Van Cleve, (Capt.) James. Reminiscences of the early period of sailing vessels and steamboats on Lake Ontario, with a history of the intro- duction of the propeller on the Lakes . . . With water- color views & sketches by the author. (Folio MS. volume, bound. Presented B. H. S., 1877.) Van der Kemp, Francis Adrien. (Dutch scholar, early settler N. Y. State.) Papers. 10 vols. V. 1, Autobiography; v. 2, Address and funeral sermon; v. 3, Tour, Hudson river to Lake On- tario; v. 4, Dutch Symposium; v. 5, Memoir on use of copper by the Greeks; v. 6, Researches on Buffon’s & Jefferson’s theories in Natural History; v. 7, Autograph letters; v. 8, Letters from DeWitt Clinton; v. 9, Letters from Th. Jefferson; v. 10, Diplomas & commissions. Van Rensselaer, Stephen. See “Deeds.” Verne, Jules. A. L. S., to M. de Beaujeu, Beaujolais, Canada, Aug. 19, 1891. Vought, John G. A. L. S., to D. S. Bates, Erie canal engineer (n. d., but prior to 1828.) Wade, Benj. F. A. L. S., “Jefferson, Apr. 26, 1846,” to “Dear Rufus,” other- wise unnamed. Wadsworth, James. A. L. S., “Geneseo, 17 Sept., 1827,” to H. B. Potter, Buffalo. See also “Forward, Oliver.” Memorial of, adopted by the Buffalo Historical Society, Nov. 14, 1864, written by Lewis F. Allen, signed by him, John B. Skinner and Geo. R. Babcock. Waith, (Rev.) Wm. (D. D.) Historical sketch of Lancaster, Erie Co., N. Y., read before the B. H. S. club, Feb. 26, 1877.482 HISTORICAL SOCIETY MANUSCRIPTS. Wales, Erie Co., N. Y. Docs, giving date of formation of town of, with list of super- visors and town clerks, elected from 1819 to 1864. Walker, Edward C. A. L. S. See “Palmer, {Mrs.) Mary W.” Walker, LeRoy Pope. (Sec’y of War, C. S. A.) See “Bishop, A. W., Papers.” WAR OF 1812. Committee of Safety & Relief at Canandaigua: Appropria- tions for relief of sufferers on the Niagara Frontier. Pro- ceedings, June 16, 1814. Minutes and proceedings, Jan. 3, 1814, Apr. 16, 1814. 1 vol. Culbertson, Laila F. Buffalo's share in the War of 1812. Read before the Graduates' Assn., Nov. 10, 1899. Enlistment record, 1809-1813. (Place not given.) 1 v. Inventories of losses on the Niagara Frontier during the war of 1812. A valuable collection of original schedules, lists, affidavits, etc., many of them relating to property destroyed at the burning of Buf- falo. 1 vol. 4to. (Gathered for the Historical Society by Chas. S. Parke.) List of sufferers on the Niagara Frontier from Fort Niagara to the Tonnewonta Creek, and from Lewiston on Ridge Road to Widow Forsythe's. Statement of buildings burnt at Buffalo . . . etc. 1 vol. Losses on the Niagara Frontier. Inventories of. Nantucket during. See “Gardner, Gideon.” Warren, (Gen.) Asa. Eden, Erie Co., N. Y. Facts relating to settlement, War of 1812, etc. MS. Eden, Apr* 23, 1864. Washington, George. A. L. S., “Mount Vernon, 10th Aug., 1796, to James McHenry. 2 pp. Private Mount Vernon, 10th Aug.-96. Dear Sir: Col. Hawkins is now here, on his way to Philadel- phia, & proposes to proceed in the stage of to-morrow.— He has related many matters and read many papers relative to ■ the Treaty with the Creek Indians;—the conduct of the State Com- missioners of Georgia, &c., &c. But as this is not the regular way of bringing business of this sort before me; I have requested that he and Mr. Clymer (who he supposes will be in Philadelphia before him) will report to you not only what appertains to the Commission but their observations and remarks generally as may be interesting for the Government to be informed of, for the regulation of its conduct in that quarter. I wish you, therefore, to be minute in your enquiries and entries. My present intention, is to leave this about the middle of next week for Philadelphia, but as I shall spend a day in the Federal city, and on account of the weather, propose to travel slow, it will, probably, be the middle of the week after before I shall arrive there. With very great esteem and regard I am, Dear Sir Your Affecte Servt Geo Washington. James McHenry Esqr.HISTORICAL SOCIETY MANUSCRIPTS. 483 Washington, George, continued. A. L. S., “Headqrs Middlebrook, December the 18th, 1778.” “To Honble Benj. Harrison, Esq., Speaker of the House of Delegates, Virginia.” 1 p. 4to. Head Qrs Middlebrook Decembr The 18th 1778. Sir: I had the honor to receive your letter inclosing a copy of the resolution of the House of Delegates on the 23 ulto for pre- senting me with four geldings. I assure you, Sir, I am sensibly affected by this pleasant mark of public esteem and the flattering consideration on which the Assembly are pleased to found it, gives it a value to which my feelings only can do justice. My warmest acknowledgments are due for the favor, and these I take the liberty to request you will offer to the House, on the first proper occasion. I have the honor to be with the greatest respt Yr most obedt Ser. G. Washington The Honble Benj Harrison Esq. Speaker of the House of Delegates, Virginia. Copy of letter to Col.---Erwin, “Headquarters, Falls Town- ship, 9th Dec., 1776.” (The original owned by the family of Dr.-----Cooper, Cooper’s Plains, Steuben Co., N. Y. D. S., Discharge of Robert Ryan from military service, dated “Headquarters, 8th June, 1783.” Washington, S. A. (S6n of Bushrod W., Jr., grandson of Col. . Wm. Augustine W.) A. L. S., “Middleport, 111., Apr. 13, 1863.” Watson, E[lkanah]. A. L. S., “Cherry Valley, 21 June, 1821,” “to Hon. Judge White, President of the College of Phisicians, Herkimer County.” Wells, Henry. The American Express in its relation to Buffalo. B. H. S. paper, 1863. Western Inland Lock Navigation Co. See “Porteous, John, Papers.” White, H. G. Reminiscences. See “Fillmore, Millard, Papers relating to.” Whittlesey, E. (M. C., Comptroller of the Currency under Presi- dents Pierce and Lincoln.) A. L. S., “Canfield, O., July 27, 1837,” to Hon. Samuel Wilke- son, Buffalo. Urging him to write of his pioneer experiences west of the Al- legheny, on the Western Reserve, etc. In 1842-3 Judge Wilkeson wrote for the American Pioneer, Cincinnati, a series of historical papers, relating to Western Pennsylvania, New York, Ohio, the Whiskey Insurrection, etc. These papers, edited with biographical sketch, etc., are contained in Vol. 4, Buf. Hist. Soc. Pubs. Wiedrich, (Capt.) Michael. See “Civil War, Wiedrich’s Battery”; “Remington, Cyrus K.”484 HISTORICAL SOCIETY MANUSCRIPTS. Wilcox, Ansley. Sketch of Theodore Roosevelt, President, 1902. See “Roose- velt, Theodore.’’ Wilcox, Birdsey. Commission as ensign of riflemen, 208 Regt. N. Y. Inf., Feb. 14, 1825. Sig. DeWitt Clinton, Governor. Commission as lieutenant of riflemen, 208 Regt. N. Y. Inf., Oct. 9, 1827. Sig. of DeWitt Clinton, Gov. Wilgus, William. Life and character of. See “Sellstedt, Laurentius G.” Wilkeson, John. The manufacture of iron in Buffalo. B. H. S. paper, Jan. 2$, 1864. Wilkeson, Samuel, Doc. appointment as Mayor of Buffalo, 1836. Signed by Hiram Pratt, Mayor. A. L. S., “Lockport, July 23, 1822,” to DeWitt Clinton. A. L. S., “Buffalo, Oct. 14, 1825.” With other sigs.. relating to opening of Erie canal. Will. Twinder, Richard, Langford, Eng., last wiL and testament, Dec. 11, 1720. Parchment. Williams, Eleazer. (Missionary, reputed Dauphin.) A grammar of the Iroquois language, or of the Five ancient Confeterated [sic] Nations, viz., Mohawks, Oneidas, Onon- dagas, Cayugas and Senecas. Containing rules and exer- cises, intended to exemplify the Indian syntax. According to the best authorities, preceded by succinct rules relative to the pronounciation [jm:], Ne quis igitur tanquam parva fastidiat grammatices elementa.—Quintilian. Above is the title page of a MS. vol. of 120 pages, 10x14', wholly in the writing of Eleazer Williams. It was presented to the Buf- falo Historical Society in 1871 by W. B. Donihee. Williams, Richard. Black Rock harbor pier, water-power and flouring mills. B. H. S. paper, Jan. 16, 1865. Personal observations on the Great Basin (Utah). B. H. S. paper, Jan. 7, 1867. Williams, William. Account books (2), n. p., 1798-1815. (Tradesmen’s accts., apparently at some point near Canandaigua, N. Y.) Williamsville, (Erie Co.), N. Y. Postoffice of: Quarterly returns to the General Post Office, 1816-1822. (Papers of Isaac F. Bowman, postmaster, 1818- 1821.) Soldiers’ burial-ground, War of 1812, owned by Buffalo His- torical Society; papers relating to. Willink, Erie Co., N. Y. Misc. data of early history of town of, compiled by L. J. Roberts.HISTORICAL SOCIETY MANUSCRIPTS. 485 Willson, Jared. A. L. S., Canandaigua, 9th Nov., 1812. To Alvan Stewart, Cherry Valley, N. Y. See “War of 1812.” Relates the writer’s experiences as prisoner of war; he was taken by the British at the battle of Queenstown. 3 pp. folio, Wilson, {Gen.) James Grant. A. LL. S. Wool, {Maj. Gen.) John. A. L. S., New York, June 12, 1863, to Guy H. Salisbury, Sec’y B. H. S. Woolf, (Capt.) Joseph. His life-saving exploits, written by Wm. C. Munroe, with cer- tifications before notaries. The MS. records 14 rescues from drowning by Capt. Woolf, of Buffalo, who commanded various craft, i875-’8i. Worth, {Col) Wm. J. A. L. S., to Gov. Wm. L. Marcy, dated “Hdqrs., Niagara Frontier, Buffalo, Feb. 28, 1838.” Wright, Amzi. (Pioneer Western New York.) Account of 1st town meeting on the Holland Purchase, Mch. 1803. (Written for Mr. W., by A. S. Stevens.) Wright, {Rev.) Asher. (Missionary to the Senecas.) Letters, various : to O. H. Marshall, regarding origin of the name of “Buffalo,” etc. See also “Pierce, Daniel W[ebster]”; “Indians, Missions, Cattaraugus reservation”; “Pierce, Maris Bryant, Papers.” Yates, Joseph C. (Governor N. Y. State.) Doc. S., appointing Heman B. Potter colonel of the 208th Regt., N. Y. Inf., June 8, 1824. Young, William C. Reminiscences of Surveys for the Erie canal in 1816 and 1817. B. H. S. paper, Jan. 15, 1866. Younglove, T. M. History of grape culture and wine-making of Pleasant Valley, N. Y. B. H. S. paper, Feb. 1865. Zeller, John. Journal, 1798-1813. (Incomplete.) Record of travel and military service on the Ohio, and in Ken- tucky and Indiana; at Fort Wayne; in campaign under Gen. Har- rison, etc.INDEX Adams, Parmenio, petition to Gov. Clinton, 331*337- “Adams,” brig, 380. Aiken, Samuel C., 260 and note. Albany, meeting of canal commission- ers, 94; chief commercial outlet for central New York, 190; route of western emigration, 198-199. Albany Argus, 314. Albany, Eagle Tavern, 208. Albany, Mechanics and Farmers Bank, 279- Albion, N. Y., growth due to Erie canal, 193; Col. Stone’s visit to, 235*6- Alexander’s bridge, 281, 305. Allan’s creek, 10 and note; proposed canal route, 333. Allen, David, supporter of canal legis- lation, 324 and note. Allen’s creek. See Allan’s creek. American hotel, Auburn. See Auburn. Anti-Masonic party, 208, 210-211. Ararat, Grand Island, N. Y., 251, 268. Arms, Stillman E., scientific expedi- tion in 1826, 281, 282, 302, 363 note. Atkinson, Miller, 253. Atlantic ocean, water from, in Buf- falo, 387-388. Attwater, Russell, votes on first canal bill, 324 and note, 325. Auburn, N. Y., Col. Stone’s visit to, 225-226, 258-259; stage lines to, 226 note. Auburn, N. Y., American hotel, 226 and note. Auburn, N. Y., State Prison, 258-259. Auburn Theological Seminary, 226 and note. Averel, Zerah, 321. Bacon, Ezekiel, 220. Barker, Jacob, vote on first canal bill, 324 and note. Barker, Judge Zenas, 320. Barry, William T., 210 note. Bartlett, Mrs. G. Hunter, loans Evans MSS. to Buf. Hist. Soc., 3, note. Barton, Benjamin, proprietor of Lew- iston, 45; member of Black Rock Harbor Company, 318. Barton, Tames L., letter to, from James Geddes, 353, 354*356. Bates, Stephen, votes on first canal bill, 324 and note, 325. Bayard, William, 25. Beach, E. S., 253 and note. Beach, John H., 253 note. Beck, Dr. L. C., 278. Bellinghurst’s, N. Y., 299. Bennett, Philander, 319. Benson, Egbert, Jr., petition to Gov. Clinton, 331*337* Bicknell, Bennet, votes on first canal bill, 324 and note, 325. Bigelow, John, “DeWitt Clinton as a Politician,” cited, 327 note. Bird, William A., 318; statement of expenditures on Black Rock harbor, 364* Bird island, use of, in Black Rock harbor construction, 312, 314, 318, 344» 352, 354» 365, 366-368, 371, 374, Black creek, proposed canal route, 9- 14, 74*77, 112, 334- Black Rock, proposed canal route, 105- 106, 108-109, 170, 172, 180-182; pos- sible harbor, 160, .164, 177, 182; growth due in part to Erie canal, 193; geology of, 294, 295-296; Buf- falo and Black Rock harbor papers, 309-385; report of James Geddes on harbor, quoted, 351*353; work on harbor, 359, 365; harbor examined by Buffalo harbor committee, 360- 361; cost of work on harbor, 364; report on harbor by David Thomas, quoted, 366, 374-378; ferry at, 368; advantages of harbor as given by P. B. Porter, 376-377; disadvan- tages of harbor, 376-378; harbor contract, 383-386. Black Rock Beacon, harbor discussion, 310, 313, 319; letter to, from James Rough, 379-381. Black Rock Harbor Company, pamph- lets printed by, 172 note, 315, 318; “Propositions to Canal Commis- sioners,” cited, 366 note; “Me- morial to the Canal Commissioners,” cited, 366 note, 375. “Black Rock Pamphlets,” 172 note. Blodget’s creek, volume of water dis- charged, 113. Bloodgood, Francis A., votes on first canal bill, 324 note, 325. Bogert, Col. James, 257 and note. Boggess, Arthur C., “The Settlement of Illinois,” cited, 197. Bouck, William C., 321, 359> 360. Bower creek. See Sulphur creek. Brace, Lester, 321. “Braddock Road,” westward route for settlers, 191. Bradsby, Henry C., “History of Bureau County, Illinois,” cited, 198 note. 487488 INDEX. Brainard, John Gardiner Calkins, poem on Niagara, quoted, 243 and note. Brant, Joseph, attack on Cherry Val- ley, 211. Bridgewater, N. Y., 218. Bridgewater, Battle of. See Lundy’s Lane, Battle of. Brock monument, Queenston Heights, 239, 240 and note. Brockport, N. Y., 235. Brodhead, Charles C., engineer for eastern division of canal, 65. Brooks, Micah, letter to, from Joseph Ellicott, 83; sketch of, 83 note; letter to Joseph Ellicott, cited, 86; letter to Joseph Ellicott, 95. Brown, Noah, 355. Buffalo, meeting of citizens to discuss harbor, 40; letter from citizens to William Peacock, 143, 172; will de- rive benefit from canal, 160; letter from citizens to Paul Busti, 161; letter to citizens from Paul Busti, 164; canal terminal, 158, 160, 168- 171, 172, 309-388; growth due to Erie canal, 193, 195; Col. Stone’s visit to, 250-251; De Witt Clinton’s visit to, 276; description of, by David Thomas, 316; memorial to the legislature, 341-349; vote on canal amendment to state constitu- tion, 394 and note. Buffalo Commercial-Advertiser, 394 note. Buffalo Courier, 396. Buffalo creek, proposed canal route, 75-77, 82, 91, 104, 106, 108-9, 112, 177-179, 335, 337, 341-349; freshet of 1822, 173; source of water supply for Erie canal, 176; examination of, by David Thomas, 371-372, 374. Buffalo harbor, discussed, 41, 43-46, ioo-ioi, 106-107, 122, 131, 147, 161- 164, 17 7-179; survey authorized, 138, 140; surveyor appointed, 140; William Peacock’s report on, quoted, 148-155; state legislation concern- ing, 158; work on begun, 169, 171, 342; “Buffalo and Black Rock har- bor papers,” 309-388; shipping in 1823, 311; survey of David Thomas, 317; excellence of, 341-342, 358, 366, 374; first boat from the At- lantic to, 387-388. Buffalo Harbor committee, letter to Joseph Ellicott, 40; letter to, from Joseph Ellicott, 43; formed, 311; pamphlets issued by, 318. Buffalo Journal, quoted, 247 note; Buffalo harbor discussion, 310, 313; “Return of the Seneca Chief to Buf- falo,” quoted, 387-388. Buffalo Patriot, harbor discussion, 310; quoted, 320-321. Buffalo Republican, quoted, 248 note, 249 note. Bull, Absalom, 311. Bulwer-Lytton, Edward, baron, “Dev- ereaux,” cited, 235 and note; “Pel- ham,” cited, 235 and note. Burlington, N. Y., 215. Burnett, Bishop, 224, 225, 259, 264. Burnett, Charles, 259. Burnett, -----, brother of Mr. Bishop Burnett, 224-5, 259. Busti, Paul, offers canal subscrip- tion, 17; letters to Joseph Ellicott, 17-19, 21, 23, 34, 36, 70, 78, 98, 120, 143, 160, 161; letters to, from Joseph Ellicott, 20, 27, 31, 35, 38, 62, 67, 71, 80, 99, 115, 125, 142, 145; mentioned, 25, 97, 116, 130, 131; favors southern canal route, 78; letter to, from De Witt Clin- ton, 92, cited, 98; letters to De Witt Clinton, 93, cited 98, 121; let- ter to Joseph Ellicott, cited 119; letter to, from citizens of Buffalo, 161; letter to citizens of Buffalo, 164; policy in regard to internal im- provements, 165-166. Butler, John, 262 and note. Butler, Walter N., 262 and note. Cady, -----■, scientific expedition of 1826, 303. Caldwell,-----, 96, 115. Caledonia, N. Y., proposed canal route, 167. “Caledonia,” scow, 380. Calhoun, John C., views on Erie canal, cited, 95. Camp, John G., canal contract with William Peacock, 182; member of Buffalo Harbor committee, 311; con- tractor for work on Erie canal, 321. Campbell, Wm. W., “Life and Writ- ings of De Witt Clinton,” cited 276. Canada, settlement of, as influenced by the Erie canal, 202 note. Canandaigua, N. Y., stage line to, 226 note; Col. Stone’s visit to, 255- 256. Canandaigua lake, proposed canal route, 66. Cantine, Moses I., vote on first canal bill, 324 and note. Carthage, Genesee co., N. Y. See Rochester. Caryl, Benjamin, member of harbor committee, 40-41. Catlin, George, model of Niagara Falls, 245. Cazenovia Terrace, Buffalo, canal route, 183. Cedar Swamp brook, volume of water discharged, 113. Chapin, Cyrenius, letter to William Peacock, 172; at canal ceremonies, 1823, 320; letter to P. B. Porter, 361. Charlevoix, Pierre Francois Xavier de, description of Niagara falls, cited, 266. Chateaubriand, Francois Rene, vicomte de, “Atala,” cited, 244 note; “Essai Historique,” cited, 244 note; “Genie- du Christianisme,” cited, 244 note. Cheeseman, Rev. ------, of Albion, 236. Cherry Valley, N. Y., 211. Chester, Dr. John, 213. Chiccaungie creek, 10 and note.INDEX. 489 Chippewa creek, 373. Chittenango, N. Y., 260. Chittenango creek, 286. Clarke, Archibald S., letter to Joseph Ellicott, 37, 99; biographical sketch, 38 note; letter to, from Joseph El- licott, 86; letter to, from Joseph Ellicott, cited, 96; votes on first canal bill, 324 and note, 325. Clarke, George, home of, Springfield, 216. Clarke, Levi H., 254. Clarke, Lott, of Lockport, 223. Cleaveland, Parker, 277 and note, 278. Clinton, De Witt, member of canal subscription committee, 25; letter to Thomas Eddy, cited, 34; letters to Joseph Ellicott, 38, 41, 50, 51, 56, 57, 64, 71* 97, US, n6, 124, 125, 128, 129, 130, 132, 133, 138, 139, 144, 157; letters to, from Joseph Ellicott, 39, 48, 51, 57, 68, 79, 96, 101, 119, 123, 124, 129, 133, 141, 155; political enemies, 42 note; suggested for governor, 47; should have chief control of canal work, 58-59, 62; examines canal route, 64; letter to Paul Busti, 92, cited, 98, 121; letter to, from Paul Busti, 93, cited 98; canal commissioner, 126; orders surveys of Buffalo harbor, 140; mentioned, 142, 145, 172, 191; popularity of, 161; movement against, as canal commissioner, 174; “Clinton’s big ditch,” 193; journal of a trip in 1810, quoted; 276; his canal enthusiasm contagious, 310; inspection of Buffalo harbor, 317, 327-329; letter to Henry Post, 427- 429; petition to, for southern canal route, 331-337; urges completion of western end of canal, 339; prospect of reelection as governor, 340; let- ter to, from Samuel Wilkeson, 359. Clinton, George William, “Journal of a Tour from Albany to Lake Erie by the Erie Canal in 1826,” 277- 305; sketch of, by David F. Day, cited, 276. Cochran, James, supporter of canal legislation, 324 and note. Coit, George, letter to Paul Busti, 161. Colborne, Sir John, 267. Commercial bank, Buffalo, 389. Conjockety’s creek. See Scajaquada creek. Cooley, Thomas McIntyre, “Michi- gan,” cited, 200 note. Cooper, James Fenimore, 214. Cooper, William, of Cooperstown, 214. Cooperstown, N. Y., 211-217. Cornelius’ creek, 345, 373. Corning, Erastus, 389. Crafts, Willard, 218. Crane, Hunter, 223. Crary, Isaac, 200. Crary, Capt. Leonard P., 387. Crawford county, Pa., settlement of, affected by Erie canal, 195. Crosby, Darius, vote of first canal bill, 324 and note. Cumings, Simeon, petition to Gov. Clinton, 331 -337. Cushing, ----, 42. Dakin, -----, of Utica, 220. Danker, Albert, 303 and note. Davis, -----, mate of str. “Walk-in- the-Water,” 381. Day, David F., “Addfess Commemora- tive of George W. Clinton,” cited, 276. Day, David M., editor of Buffalo Journal, 310; reprints harbor pamphlets, 318. Dayton, Jonathan, vote on first canal bill, 324 and note. Delaware river, northward route for settlers, 191. Detroit, Mich., route of western emi- gration, 198, 200. Dewey, Chester, 277 and note, 278. DeWitt, Simeon, letter to Joseph Elli- cott, 3-4; 15-16; letter to, from Joseph Ellicott, 4-16; mentioned, 30. Doolittle, Hiram, Jun., pseud, of Col. Stone, 217, 247, 265-271. Drummondsville, N. Y., 250. Duanesburgh, N. Y., 209. Drury, S. F., mentioned, 200. Dudley, Chas. E., member of legisla- ture, 175. Duer, John, judge, 208. Duer, Oakley, speech in favor of canal, cited, 148. Dunham, Shubael, petition to Gov. Clinton, 331*337- Dwight, Timothy, “Travels in New England and New York,” quoted, 190-191; cited, 191; 244 and note. Dwyer,------, actor, 258, 259. Eagle Mills, Rochester, 253 and note. Eagle Tavern, Albany. See Albany. Eagle Tavern, Buffalo, 319. East Ridge, N. Y., 228, 229. Eaton, Amos, scientific expedition in 1826, 277 and note, 278-283, 288, 290, 300, 301, 303. Eddy, Thomas, letter to Joseph Elli- cott, 22, 24; sketch of, 24 note; member of canal subscription com- mittee, 25; letter to, from Joseph Ellicott, 26, 32, 58; letter to Joseph Ellicott, cited, 27, 29; visit to Paul Busti, 34; letter to, from De Witt Clinton, cited, 34; opinion on home labor for canal, cited, 54. Eddy, Rev.-------, of Canandaigua, 2 52. Eighteen-Mile creek, 294-295. Eights, Dr. James, scientific expedi- tion in 1826, 277, 278-281, 290-291, 298, 300, 303, 304. Eleven-Mile creek, proposed canal route, 335. Ellicott, A. A., surveyor on west end of canal, 68, 102, 117. Ellicott, Benjamin, suggested to make survey of Tonawanda swamp, 23, 27; mentioned, 23, 24, 140.490 INDEX. Ellicott, Joseph, letters to, from Sim- eon De Witt, 3, is; letters to Simeon De Witt, 4-16; makes canal subscription, 15; letter to David E. Evans, 17; letter to, from Paul Busti, 17, 21, 23, 34> 36, 70, 78,. 98, 120, 143, 160, 161; letters to Paul Busti, 20, 27, 31, 35> 38, 62, 67, 71, 80, 99, ns, 125, 142, 145; let- ter to, from Gouverneur Morris and Thomas Eddy, 22; letter to, from Thomas Eddy, 24; letter to Thomas Eddy, 26, 32, 58, cited, 31; letter to, from A. S. Clarke, 37, 99; let- ters to, from De Witt Clinton, 38, 41, SO, 51, 56, 57, 64, 71, 97, ii5, 116, 124, 125, 128, 129, 130, 132, 133, 138, 139, 144, iS7; letters to De Witt Clinton, 39, 48, 51, 57, 68, 79, 96, 101, 119, 122, 124, 129, 133, 141, 155; letter from Buffalo Har- bor committee, 40; letter to William Peacock, 42, 139; letter to Jonas Harrison, 43, 146; letter to Buffalo Harbor committee, 43; letter to Chauncey Loomis, 46, 47, 54; letter to A. M. McIntyre, 55; appointed canal commissioner, 57; appointed on Bank of Niagara committee, 62; letter to Myron Holley, 64; letter to, from William Peacock, 65, 69; letter to canal commissioners, 67, 177; letter to Samuel Young, 73; letter to Micah Brooks, 83; letter to A. S. Clarke, 86, cited, 96; men- tioned, 93, 121, 162, 163, 165, 166; letters to, from Myron Holley, 95, 117; report on canal route, cited, p6, quoted, 102; letter to, from Jediah Prendergast, 129; resigns as canal commissioner, 134, 138, 139, 141, 143; letters to, from D. E. Evans, 147, 156, 158, 167, 168, 173; letter to, from Charles Townsend, 159; letter to, from James Wadsworth, 166; letter to, from H. B. Potter, 168; opinion on Buffalo harbor con- struction, cited, 356. Ellicott’s creek, falls on, 10; proposed canal route, 335; mouth of, 373. Elmendorff, Lucas, vote on first canal bill, 324 and note. Ely, Hervey, 252 and note, 253. Emmons, ------, 280. Erie canal, route, 3-16, 39, 41, 46, 102- 114, 137, 168, 331-337; estimates of cost, 3, 8-9, 13-14, 88-85, 108-112, 117-118, 127, 137, 343; importance to nation, 17-18, 84, 91, 95, 189-203; influence on land values, 17-19, 30, 63, 127, 146; land for, requested of Holland Land Company, 20*21, 24- 37, accepted, 36; state loan for, authorized, 23; surveys, 26, 65-69, 71-83, 102-114, 332-337; subscription lists suggested, 34; American labor should be used on, 30, 49; meeting in Buffalo to discuss, 42, 43; taxa- tion for, 51-54; first meeting of commissioners, 57; Ellicott’s plan of survey, 58-62; western terminal, 105-106, 108-109, 158, 160, 168-171, 172, 180-182, 309-388; time needed for construction, 157; water-supply for, 176, 180-181; opening in 1825, i93> effect on settlement of the U. S., 189-203; tonnage and traffic on, 201; Col. Stone’s trip on, 220, 227, 234-238, 251-252, 261-264; G. W. Clinton’s trip on, 277-305; work on western end, 320-321; probable influence on trade, 348; Israel T. Hatch’s services for, 389-396. Erie, Fort, 296, 327, 373, 380. “Erie,” schooner, 363. Esperance, N. Y., 209. Evans, David E., letter to, from Joseph Ellicott, 17; mentioned, 97, 124, 131, 161, 173; letter to Joseph Ellicott, 147, 156, 158, 167, 168, 173; letter to, from Oliver Forward and Samuel Wilkeson, 170, 174; letter to H. I. Redfield, 180. Exeter, N. Y., 215. Farmer, John, 198. Farmer, Silas, “History of Detroit and Michigan,” cited, 199 note. Fenwick, Lt. Col. John R., 241. Fitch, Asa, Jr.. 303 and note. Flint, James, “Letters from America,” cited, 191. Flint, Timothy, “History and Geo- graphy of the Mississippi Valley,” quoted, 197. Flint Hill, N. Y., 282. Foot, ----, plaintiff, 208. Ford, Henry A., “Illinois,” cited, 198 note. Ford, Simeon, 252. Forman, Joshua, 221 and note. Forsyth’s hotel. See Niagara Falls. Fort Hill, proposed canal route, 333, 336. Fort Plain, N. Y., 285. Forward, Oliver, letter to William Peacock, 144; letter to Paul Busti, 161; letter to D. E. Evans, 170; petition to canal commissioners, 321. Four Mile creek, falls of, 10. Fraser, Major Donald, 294, 296. Frey, Henry J., vote on first canal bill, 324 and note. Frost, Rev. ------, of Whitesborough, 219. Galena, Wis., settlement, 200. Gallatin, Albert, plan for waterways, cited, 191. Galusha, Kev. Elon, 320. Gasport, N. Y., naming of, 276, 291, 297. Gaylord, Dr. -------, of East Ridge, Sodus tp., N. Y., 233. Geddes, James, engineer, 60, 64, 67, w^ork "^described by2’ Joseph1 Ellicott’, 60, note, 61 note; plans for Black Rock harbor, 312, 317, 383-384; re- port on Black Rock harbor, 351*353; letters to J. L. Barton, 353, 354* 356.INDEX. 491 Geddes, N. Y., salt springs, 223. “Genesee country,” 234. Genesee falls, Col. Stone’s visit to, 253-254; G. W. Clinton’s visit to, 288. Genesee river, proposed canal route, 166. Geneva, N. Y., Col. Stone’s visit to, 257, 258. Geneva College. See Hobart College. Geneva Gazette, 257 and note. German Flatts, N. Y., 261-262. Ghent, Peace of, effect on settlement of U. S., west of Cleveland, 195. Gibson, -----, 257. Gill, Valentine, report on survey of Buffalo harbor, cited, 342. Goodrich, Elizur, 219. Grand Canal, 323, 331, 348. “Grand Canal Defeated by a Demo- cratic Senate,” 323-326. Grand Island, 163, 315; Ararat col- ony, 251, 268; proposed dam to Bird island, 344. Granger, Francis, 255 and note. Granger, Gideon, 255 note. Grant, Vincent, 320. Graves, -----, 115. Great Sodus, lake port, 17-18. Greene, Evarts Boutell, “Government of Illinois,” cited, 198 note. Greig, John, 256 ana note. Hager, Henry, vote on first canal bill, 324 and note. Hale, ——, scientific expedition of 1826, 303, 305. Hall, Capt. Basil, “Travels in North America s in the years 1827 and 1828,” cited, 244, quoted, 244 note. Hall, Lieut. Francis, “Travels in Can- ada and the United States in 1816 and 1817,” cited, 244 and note. Hamilton, Alexander (son of Alex- ander H.), 148. Hanks, ------, scientific expedition of 1826, 303. Harrison, Jonas, member of Buffalo Harbor committee, 40-41; letters to, from Joseph Ellicott, 43,. 146; sketch of, 43 note. Hart, Albert Bushnell, “American History told by Contemporaries,” cited, 198 note. Hart, Ephraim, canal commissioner, 144, note. Hartwick, N. Y., 215. Hascall, Ralph, vote on first canal bill, 324 and note. Haskell* Daniel, 257 and note. Haskell, ----, of Geneva, brother of Rev. Daniel H., 257-258. Hatch, Israel T., services in behalf of New York’s canal, 389-396; letters accepting nominations as candidate for member of legislature, 390-391, 395-396- Hatch, Mrs. Israel T., 390. Haven, Solomon G., 390. Hazelins, Dr. -----, 217. Heacock, Reuben B., member of Har- bor committee, 40-41, 311; letter to William Peacock, 172; petition to canal commissioners, 321. Henry, Joseph, 278, 280, 290. “Henry Clay,” boat, 271. Herkimer, N. Y., 261. Herkimer American, 262. Hinman, J. P., “My First Tourney to Michigan,” cited. 199 and note. Hobart College, Geneva, N. Y., 257 and note. Hodge, Benjamin, 320. Hodge, William, “How Buffalo Dug the Canal,” cited, 320 note. Hoffman, Lewis G., editor of Black Rock Beacon, 313. Holland Land Company, grant of land for canal purposes, 22-37, 80-83, 90- 91, 92-93, 98, 115-116, 119-123, 142, 344; assistance requested for Buf- falo harbor, 161, 169; sales of land increased by Erie canal, 193. “Holland Land Company and Canal Construction in Western New York,” 1-185. Holley, Myron, letter to, from Joseph Ellicott, 64; sketch of, 64 note; mentioned, 66, 145, 172; letters to Joseph Ellicott^ 94, 117; treasurer of Canal commission, 115, 126; com- pensation for canal work, 132; move- ment against, as canal commissioner, 174; Col. Stone’s visit to, 227-228; . urges completion of western end of canal, 339. Holley, N. Y., 290. Honeoye creek, 10 and note; proposed canal route, 332. Hopkins, Benjamin W., chairman of Harbor committee, 41. Hopkins, Samuel Miles, 208. Howell, N. W., letter to, from P. B. Porter, 359. Hudson river, eastern limit of Erie canal influence, 189, 190; northward route for settlers, 191. Hiilbert, Archer Butler, “Historic Highways of America,” cited, 195 note. Hunt, Seth, 221-2. Husbands, Joseph Dottin, 216-217. Illinois, settlement of, in connection with Erie canal, 197-198. Illinois, Governor, message, 1826, cited, 195. Indiana, settlement of, in connection with Erie canal, 197. Irondequoit creek, 233, 255; proposed canal route, 333. Jackson, Andrew, 210; Col. Stone’s opinion of, 240, 264. James Port. See Gasport. Johnson, Crisfield, “Hillsdale County,” cited, 199 note. Johnson, Ebenezer, letter to William Peacock, 144. Johnson, Guy, 262 and note, ohnson, Sir William, 248.492 INDEX. ohnston,------, surveyor, 73. Jordan, N. Y., 287, 300. Kenosha, Wis., settled from the east, 201. Keyes, Perley, vote on first canal bill, 324 and note. Kibbe, Isaac, 311. Kingsley, Silas, 250 note. “La Fayette,” canal boat, 278. Lake of the Woods, 266 and note. Langdon, Andrew, elected honorary president, Buffalo Historical Society, 416; testimonial to, 416, 417. Lanman, James Henry, “History of Michigan,” quoted, 199-200. Lansing, R. R., 220. Leach, Elijah, 318. Lee, Oliver, 389. Le Roy, Herman, 25. Lewiston, N. Y., proposed canal route, 6-8, 358; Col. Stone’s visit to, 239* 240. Literary and Scientific Academy, Buf- falo, 250 note. Little Buffalo creek, proposed canal route, 106, 314, 319, 320, 321. Little Falls, N. Y., Col. Stone’s visit to, 263; G. W. Clinton’s visit to, 285. Liverpool, N. Y., salt springs, 223. Livingston, Peter R., vote on first canal bill, 324 and note. Lockport, N. Y., growth due to Erie canal, 193, 195; Col. Stone’s visit to, 237-8; G. W. Clinton’s visit to, 291, 297. Loomis, Chauncey, letters to, from Joseph Ellicott, 46, 47, 54; men- tioned, 42, 47 note; votes on first canal bill, 324 and note, 325. Loomis, Dr. —:—, 229. Lundy’s Lane, 250. Lundy’s Lane, Battle of, 242. Lyons, N. Y., 227-228. Lytton. See Bulwer-Lytton. McIntyre, Archibald M., letter to, from Joseph Ellicott, 55; state comptroller, 55 note. McKay, James, 250 note-251 note. McKay, John, petition to Gov. Clin- ton, 337. Mackaye, Steele, 251 note. McManus, Philip C. W. T., 303 and note. Madison, Wis., settled from the east, 201. Magazine of American History, pub- lished extracts from Col. Stone’s journal, 207 note. Maitland, Sir Peregrine, home of, 241, 242 note. Manchester, Niagara county, N. Y. See Niagara Falls, N. Y. Manchester, Ontario county, N. Y., 260; proposed canal route, 333. Manlius, N. Y., Col. Stone’s trip through, 260; G. W. Clinton’s visit to, 302. Manlius Center, N. Y., 286. Marcellus, N. Y-., 224. Marcy, William L., 392. Marietta, Ohio, settled by New Eng- landers, 193. Mathews, Lois Kimball, “The Erie Canal and the Settlement of the West,” 189-203; “Expansion of New England,” cited, 195 note. Medina, N. Y., growth due to Erie canal, 193. Mendon, N. Y., 333. Michigan, settlement of, as influenced by Erie canal, 198-200; governors, 200. “Michigania,” quoted, 199. Middleport, N. Y., growth due to Erie canal, 193. Miller, David C., petition to Gov. Clin- ton, 331-337. Miller, W. T., 318, 379; opinion of Buffalo harbor, 319. Mississippi river, western limit of Erie canal influence, 189, 190; north- ward route for settlers, 191. Mix, Ebenezer, inspects work at Black Rock, 182. Mohawk river, poor waterway, 190; westward route for settlers, 191. Monroe, Timothy, 237. Montezuma, N. Y., canal to Sodus, 232; G. W. Clinton’s visit to, 287, 289, 300. Montreal, commercial situation, 191. Moore, Benjamin, bishop, 213. Moore, W. P., jumper, 272. Morell, Gen. ;---, 216. Morgan, William, free-mason, 208, 237 and note, 238, 259. Morris, Gouverneur, letter to Joseph Ellicott, 22-23; mentioned, 38; father of Erie canal project, 85, 87; life of, by Jared Sparks, cited, 190 note. Morris, John Cox, 216. Moulton, Joseph W., member of Buf- falo Harbor committee, 311-312; letter to, from P. S. Parker, 339- 340; “Remonstrance and Me- morial,” cited, 339 note. Mud creek, proposed canal route, 4, 5» 9-i6, 333- Murder creek, proposed canal route, 334. Nash, Rev. Daniel, 213, 215. National university, discussed, 91. Neal, John, “Battle of Niagara,” cited, 271 note. New Hartford, N. Y., 219. New Philadelphia, boat, 207. New York city, commerce affected by Erie canal, 348. New York Commercial Advertiser, cited, 272. New York state, commerce of, 190. New York state, Assembly, vote on first canal bill, 323. New York state. Canal commission- ers, appointment, 54-56, 57, 174; letter to, from Joseph Ellicott, 67,INDEX. 493 177; investigation of Buffalo and Black Rock harbors, 314, 317-318; first report, cited, 339, 356, quoted, 343; letter to, from P. B. Porter, 357; Black Rock harbor contract, 383-386. New York state, Constitution, vote on canal amendment to, 394. New York state, Governor, appoints surveyor for Buffalo harbor, 140. New York state, Legislature, legisla- tion concerning Erie canal, 3, 37, 124, 158, 167, 323-326, 391-393. 396; legislation concerning Buffalo har- bor, 158, 161; memorial to, from Buffalo citizens, 341-349. New York state, Legislature, Joint Committee on canals, report, cited, 344- New York state, Senate, vote on first canal bill, 324. New York state, State Engineer and Surveyor, letter to Joseph Ellicott, 3*4- Newark, N. Y., 299. Newport, N. Y., 298. Niagara, Bank of, mentioned, 62. “Niagara,” boat, 272. Niagara county, division of, discussed, 45- Niagara Falls, N. Y., G. W. Clinton’s visit to, 249. Niagara Falls, N. Y., Forsyth’s hotel, 242. Niagara falls, formation of, 4, 7, 11; Col. Stone’s visit to, 242-250, 265- 272; poem on, by J. G. C. Brainard, quoted, 243 and note; descriptions of, by Chateaubriand, cited, 244 and note, 266; descriptions of, by Tim- othy Dwight, cited, 244 ana note, 266; description of, by Francis Hall, cited, 244 and note; descrip- tion of, by Basil Hall, quoted, 244 note, cited, 266, 270; model # of, bv George Catlin, 245; description of, by Charlevoix, cited, 266; G. W. Clinton’s visit to, 292-293. Niagara Patriot, 311. Niagara river, proposed canal route, 3, 5-11, 105-106, 108-109, 170, 172. 177"1791 connection with Erie caqal, no, Col. Stone’s visit to, 240; pro- posed dam across, 344; harbor on, unwise, 346. Niles, Hiram, 393. Nine Mile creek, 286. Noah, Mordecai Manuel, 251. Norton, Ebenezer F., 174. Noyes, Dr.-------, of Union College, assistant engineer for eastern end of canal, 65. Oak Orchard, N. Y., 237. Oak Orchard creek, proposed canal route, 9-16; passage of Erie canal over, 237. Oberlin, Ohio, founded, 195. O’Cataract, John. See Neal, John. # Ogden, Isaac, vote on first canal bill, 324 and note. Ogden, T. L., 122. Ogdensburg, purchase by Holland Land Co., 18. Ohio, increase of population due to Erie canal, 195. Ohio river, westward route for set- tlers, 191. “Old line mail,” stage line, 226 note. Oneida creek, 302. Oneida Indians, 260. Oneida lake, proposed canal route, 3, 6. Onondaga Hollow, 223. Onondaga lake, 301. Onondaga river. See Seneca river. Ontario, Lake, proposed canal from Oneida lake to, 3, 6; commerce ot, 18-19; Col. Stone’s visit to, 229-231. Oriskany, N. Y., 286. Ostram, Gen. -----, of Utica, 220. Oswego, N. Y., harbor, 232. Oswego canal, power for salt works, 222. Owasco lake, 259. Palmyra, N. Y.f 287. Parker, Jason, owner of “Old line mail” stages, 226 note. Parker, Philip S., letter to J. W. Moulton, 339-340. Parish, George, opinions on canal pro- ject, cited, 17-18. Patch, Sam, jumper, 248 note, 249 and note, 267-272. Peacock, William, letter to, from Joseph Ellicott, 42, 139; letters to Joseph Ellicott, 65, 69; surveyor, 68 note; engineer on Erie canal, 68, 69, 79. 102, 117, 319; letter to, from Charles Townsend, 131; appointed to survey Buffalo harbor, 139, 140; letter to, from Buffalo citizens, 143, 172; report on Buffalo harbor, quoted, 148-155, cited, 31S. 34^; mentioned, 162; letter to H. B. Potter, 176; canal contract with John G. Camp, 182. Pearsons, ----, of London, 259. Pease, William T., affidavit on Buffalo harbor, 363. Peck, John Mason, “Gazetteer of Illinois,” cited, 198 note. Pelton, William S., 303 and note. Pendleton, N. Y., 297. Pennsylvania, influence of Erie canal on settlement, 195. Pierce, John D., 200. “Pioneer,” boat, 271. Phelps, E. H., 198 note. “Pioneer line,” stage line, 226 note. Pittsford. N. Y., 255. Pomeroy’s Tavern, Buffalo, harbor meeting at, 41. Portage, Wis., convention at, 395. Porter, Augustus, 249; member of Black Rock Harbor Company, 318; letter to, from N. S. Roberts, 365. Porter, Peter Buell, opinion on canal route, cited, 41; mentioned, 147, 174, 329; leader of Black Rock har- bor movement, 172, 175, 310, 313,494 INDEX. 3I4» 3IS, 3I7-3I9, 357* 359, 361, 373, 376; not a disinterested poli- tician, 181-182; G. W. Clinton's visit to, 296; letter to canal com- missioners, 357; letter to N. W. Howell, 359; letter to, from Samuel Wilkeson and Charles Townsend, 360; letter to, from Cyrenius Chapin, 361; letter to Mr. Seaman, 361; harbor contract with canal commissioners, 383-386. Post, Henry, letters to, from De Witt Clinton, 327-329. Potter, Heman B., member of Buffalo harbor committee, 40-41, 311; letter to Joseph Ellicott, 168; letter to, from William Peacock, 176; witness to canal contract between J. G. Camp and William Peacock, 184. Powell, Thomas, owner of “Old line mail,” 226. Powers, Gersham, 259. Powers, Lydia A. See Hatch, Mrs. Israel T. Prendergast, Jediah, letter to Joseph Ellicott, 129; state senator, 129 note; mentioned, 167. Prentiss, Col. -----, editor of Free- man's Journal, 215, 217. Price, ----, canal engineer, 364. Priest Craft Exposed, newspaper, 238. Projector, pseud., 314. Queenston, Ontario, 241. Racine, Wis., settlement of, 201. Radcliff, Peter W., supporter of canal legislation, 324 and note. Rafinesque, Constantine, scientific ex- pedition of 1826, 276, 298-299, 300, 301, 302, 303, 304. Ransom, Capt.-------, 293. Ransom’s creek, proposed canal route, 335; mouth of, 373. Rathbun’s hotel, Buffalo, 251, 311. Red Jacket, quoted, 293. Redfield, Heman I., mentioned, 175; letter to, from David E. Evans, 180. Redfield, L. H. 223. Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute, 276, 278 note. Rice, Asa, 311. Richardson, Dr. ----r-, of Burlington, N. Y., 215, 216. Richfield Springs, N. Y., 218. “Ridge Road,” 233, 238. Roberts, Ellis O., “New York,” cited, i.9S note. Roberts, James A., “A Century in the Comptroller’s Office,” cited, 55 note. Roberts, Nathan S., advocates Black Rock as canal terminal, 172; report erroneous, 173; member of board on canal terminal, 317; letter to Black Rock Harbor Company, 365; men- tioned, 383. Rochester, N. Y., future of, 167; growth due to Erie canal, 19s; Col. Stone’s visit to, 252-255; G. W. Clinton’s visit to, 287-289, 298. Rochester, N. Y., Rochester House, 252. Rochester, N. Y., St. Paul’s church, 253. Rome, N. Y., G. W. Clinton’s visit to, 303; canal route, 328. Ross, William, vote on first canal bill, 324 and note. Rosseel, Joseph and Co., traders, 18. Rough, James, 318, 319; letter to Black Rock Beacon, 379-381. Rumsey, William, member of commit- tee to draft canal memorial to Legis- lature, 47-48, 50, 51. St. James hotel, Auburn. See Au- burn, American hotel. St. Lawrence river, as a waterway, 191. Salina, N. Y., Col, Stone’s visit to, 221-223; G. W. Clinton’s visit to, 286, 301. Sandy creek, proposed canal route, 74. Sanford, Nathan, 167. Saratoga Springs, N. ¥., 264. Scajaquada creek, proposed canal route, 335, 366; course, 345; mouth, Schenectady, N. Y., 264. - Schlosser, proposed canal route, 6-8, 16. Schoharie Kill, 209. Schuyler’s lake, 218. Seaman, William, letter to, from P. B. Porter, 361, 362. “Seneca Chief, canal boat, 387-388. Seneca Falls, N. Y., 258. Seneca river, proposed canal route, 11, 328-329; shells found at, 287. Severance, Frank H., “Buffalo-Black Rock Harbor Papers,” Introduction, 309-322; “Service of Israel T. Hatch in behalf of N. Y. canals,” 389-396; reports as Sec’y-Treas., Buf. Hist. Soc., 399-420; “The Fill- more MSS.” 402. Seymour, Capt.-----, boat captain, 208. Seymour, Henry, votes on first canal bill, 324 and note, 325; opposes completion of western end of Erie canal, 339. Shakers, colony near Sodus Point, 231. Sharon, N. Y., 209. Shaw, Albert, “Local Government in Illinois,” cited, 198 note. Sherman, Watts, 389. Sherwood, Isaac, owner of “Old line mail” stages, 226 and note. Shirreff, Patrick, “Tour through North America,” cited, 198 note. Sill, Nathaniel, 318, 353, 354; letter to David Thomas, 359; justice of the peace, 363. _ Silliman, Benjamin, 277 and note, 278. Skaneateles, N. Y., Col. Stone’s visit to, 224-225, 259. Smith, Rev. -----, of Auburn, 259. Smith, Rev. -------, of Cooperstown, 215- Smith, H. K., 389; services in behalf of Erie canal, 393-394-INDEX. 495 Smith's creek, proposed canal route, 333* Sodus, N. Y., early smuggling port, 232; salt springs, 233. Sodus Point, N. Y., 229-231. Somerset, Lord Charles, 264. Sparks, Jared, “Life of Gouverneur Morris,” cited, 190 note. Spencer, John C., 42, 256. Sprakers, N. Y., 282, 304. Spring creek, volume of water dis- charged, 113. Springfield, N. Y., 216. Squaw Island, use of, in Black Rock harbor construction, 312, 318, 345, 3SI-3S2, 353, 366-368, 371, 383. Squier, Miles P., 320. Stagg, —r-r, of New York, experi- ments in salt production, 222. Stevens, James W., suggested for canal commissioner, 54-56; men- tioned, 97, 115, 124, 131. Stewart, Alexander, Jr., 248 and note. Stewart, Alexander, Sen., 248 note. Stewart, Charles S., missionary, 214. Stewart, Samuel, vote on first canal bill, 324 and note. Stone, Ebenezer G., 229. Stone, Samuel Matthias, 229. Stone, William Leete, 1792-1844, “A Border Tale,” cited, 215; “Diver- sions at Niagara Falls in 1829,” 265- 271; “From New York to Niagara,” 207-272; “Life and Times of Sa-go- ye-wat-ha, or Red Jacket,” cited, 265; “Masonry and Anti-Masonry,” cited, 237 note; “Monody on the Death of Sam Patch,” cited, 272. Stone, Mrs. William Leete, 207-272. Stone, William Leete, 3d, 207 note. Strang, ----, miller, 253. Strang, ----, murderer, 208. Strong, Elisha B., 254. Sulphur creek, 10 and note. Sulphur Spring brook, volume of water discharged, 113. “Superior,” canal boat, 220. “Superior,” schooner, 267-268, 311, „ 3I3-3J4, 3i9. . Susquehanna river, poor waterway, 191; northward route for settlers, 191- Swift, Philetus, votes on first canal bill, 324 and note, 325. Symmes’ Purchase, settled by New Jersey people, 193. Syracuse, N. Y., growth due to Erie canal, 195; condition in 1829, 221-3; G. W. Clinton’s visit to, 302. Thomas, David, engineer, 170; survey of Buffalo harbor, 315-318; member of board on Erie canal terminal, 317; report on survey of Buffalo harbor, quoted, 342, cited, 345* 35*» 356, 366 note; letter to, from N. Sill and S. Thompson, 359; report on a Niagara river harbor, quoted, 366-369; letter from, as broadside, 369-378. Thompson, Sheldon, member of Black Rock Harbor Company, 318; letter to David Thomas, 359; letter to, from N. S. Roberts, 36$; Black Rock harbor contract with canal commissioners, 383-386. Thorpe, Aaron, owner of “Old line mail” stages, 226 note. Throop, Enos Thompson, governor, 259 and note, 389. Thwaites, Reuben Gold, “Wisconsin,” cited, 200 note. Tibbits, George, supporter of canal legislation, 324 ana note. Tiffany, Rev. ------, of Cooperstown, 214* Tompkins, Daniel D., governor, 42, 136; opposes canal construction, 329 and note, 340. Tonawanda, growth due in part to Erie canal, 193; G. W. Clinton’s visit to, 292. Tonewanda (Tonnewanta) creek, canal route, 4, 9-16, 65-67, 69, 72, 74-77, 79> 82, 103-105, 109-111, 163, 170, 251-252, 334, 343; volume of water discharged, 113; mouth of, 373. Tonewanda swamp, survey, 22-23, 103. Tonne wanta. See Tonewanda. Townsend, Rev. -----, 229. Townsend, Charles, secretary of Har- bor committee, 41; letter to William Peacock, 132, 144, 172; letter to Joseph Ellicott, 159; letter to Paul Busti, 161; letter to P. B. Porter, 360. Tracy,-----, of Utica, 220. Tracy, Albert H., 321. Tracy, Cyrus Mason, 294. Transit Line brook, volume of water discharged, 113. Trout brook, volume of water dis- charged, 113. Troy, N. Y., 305; branch canal to, 356. Trumbull, John, “M’Fingal,” cited, 246 and note. Tufts, Thomas, petition to Gov. Clin- ton, 331-33 7- Tunnicliff family, 215. Tunnicliff, N. Y., 215. Turner, O., “History of the Holland Purchase,” cited, 193 note. Turner’s brook, volume of water dis- charged, 113. Two-Mile creek, 373. United States, influence of Erie canal on settlement of, 189-203, maps, 192- 196. United States, House, passes canal ap- propriation bill, 117. United States, House, Committee on Roads and Canals, probable action in regard to Erie canal, 96. United States, Twelfth census, cited, 197 and note. Utica, N. Y., growth due to Erie canal, 195, 219; Col. Stone’s visit to, 219-220, 260; stage line to, 226496 INDEX. note; G. W. Clinton’s visit to, 286, 303. Utica, N. Y., Baggs’ hotel, 219. Van Buren, Martin, senator, 167; op- poses canal legislation, 324, 325. Van Rensselaer, J. Rutser, speech in favor of canal, cited, 148; views on Buffalo harbor, cited, 158. Van Rensselaer, Gen. Solomon, ex- pedition to Queenston Heights, 2^.1, Van Rensselaer, Stephen, to examine Champlain canal route, 65; canal commissipner, 126, 138, 327 \ move- ment against, as canal commissioner, 174; founder of Rensselaer Poly- technic Institute, 278 note; urges completion of western end of canal, 3391 mentioned, 358. Van Vechten, Abraham, supporter of canal legislation, 324 and note. Van Wickle, Evert, 28. Verbryck, Samuel G., vote on first canal bill, 324 and note. Vernon, N. Y., 260. Vindex, pseud., 310. Wadsworth, Tames, of Geneseo, letter to Joseph Ellicott, 166. Walden, Ebenezer, 320. “Walk-in-the-Water, steamboat j 142, 169 note, 381; wreck of, 310, 313. Washington, George, tomb of,,241 and note. Waterford, N. Y., branch canal to, 356. Waterloo, N. Y., 258. Watson, Elkanah, Summary History of the Rise, Progress and Existing State of the Grand Canal,” quoted, 190 and note. Weed, Thurlow, “Recollections of the Abduction of William Morgan,” cited, 237 note. Weed’s Basin, N. Y., 227, 300. Wells, Major------, 320. Wendell, Gerrit, supporter of canal legislation, 324 and note. Western Reserve, settled by New Eng- landers, 193. . Western Theological Seminary. See Auburn Theological Seminary. Weston, Charles L., 303 and note. Wetmore, J., owner of “Old line mail” stages, 226 note. Whipple, John, murder of, 208. White, Canvass, member of board on Erie canal terminal, 317. Whitford. Noble E., “History of the Canal System of the State of New York,” cited,. 189 note, 190 note, 191 note, 195 note, 201 note. Whitesborough, N. Y., 286. Whiting, Bowen, 257. Wilkeson, Samuel, member of Buffalo harbor committee, 40-41; letter to William Peacock, 144, 172; letter to Paul Busti, 161; letter to D. E. Evans, 170, 174; mentioned, 173; leader of Buffalo harbor movement, 310-311, 313, 315; petition to canal commissioners* 321; letter to De Witt Clinton, 358; letter to P. B. Porter, 360; “Memorial on Black Rock and Buffalo harbors,” cited, 366 note; address, Nov. 25, 1825, quoted, 387-388. Williams, Elisha, 258. Williams, Henry B., 253 note. Willinks (Wilhelm Willink et al.), 31. Winden, Julius, “Influence of the Erie Canal upon the Population along its Course, cited, 195 note. Winfield, N. Y., 218. Wisconsin, influence of Erie canal on settlement of, 200. Wood, W., 255, 256. Wright, Benjamin, surveyor, 64; mem- . ber of board on Erie canal terminal, 317- Young, Samuel, to examine Champlain canal route, 65; letter to, from Joseph Ellicott, 73; canal commis- sioner, 126, 329; compensation for canal work, 132, 134; mentioned, 145, 159, 173; opposes completion of western end of canal, 339. ERRATA Page 3, note: Qwner of Evans MSS. should be given as estate of Chas. W. Evans. “ 161, eleventh line from bottom: For “make no warm friends,” read “make me warm friends.” “ 199, Note 3, for “513-570/’ read “563*570”