The Greatest Highway in the World
by New York Central Railroad Company · English · Gutenberg #27701 · 336,806 chars · public domain (US)
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Title: The Greatest Highway in the World
Author: New York Central Railroad Company
Release date: January 4, 2009 [eBook #27701]
Most recently updated: January 4, 2021
Language: English
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Transcriber's note:
The footnote to the first entry says that in the train
schedules, times from noon to midnight are shown in
"dark-face type." In this plain-text edition that cannot
be done, so the letters "p" and "a" have been appended
to each time to indicate AM and PM hours.
Minor typographical errors have been corrected: employes
to employees on p. 1, 129, and 130; nagivation to
navigation on p. 48; conferation to confederation on
p. 46. Inconsistent hyphenation in the original has been
retained.
In this plain-ASCII edition, accented and special
characters have been replaced as follows: The sterling
currency symbol with L; e-acute with ['e]; e-grave with
[`e]; o-umlaut with [:o]; i-umlaut with [:i];
e-circumflex with [^e].
Owing to the method used to scan this work, in a few
cases the first or last letters of a line were lost and
had to be found from other sources or inferred from
context. Where an inference is not certain, the presumed
missing letters are in parentheses with a question mark,
for example "p(art?)". In each of the numbers in the
table on page 130 ("Passengers carried annually," etc.)
the final digit cannot be determined and has been
replaced with 0.
THE GREATEST HIGHWAY IN THE WORLD
Historical, Industrial and Descriptive Information of the Towns,
Cities and Country passed through between New York and Chicago
via The New York Central Lines
Illustrated
Based on the
Encyclopaedia Britannica
FOREWORD
In furtherance of giving the utmost service to the public, the New York
Central Lines asked the editors of the Encyclopaedia Britannica to
prepare this booklet descriptive of and vivifying the historical
development of what has been termed "The Greatest Highway in the World."
It is presented to you in the hope that it may prove a pleasant
companion on a journey over our Lines. The information will afford a new
appreciation of the historical significance and industrial importance of
the cities, towns and country which the New York Central Lines serve.
The New York Central Lines enter twelve states and serve territory
containing 51,530,784 inhabitants or 50.3 per cent of the nation's
population. This rich and busy territory produces 64 per cent of the
country's manufactured products and mines a similar proportion of its
coal.
This system does approximately 10 per cent of the railroad
transportation business of the United States, although its main-track
mileage is only 6 per cent. In other words the business it handles
exceeds that of the average railroad, mile for mile, by nearly 100 per
cent. The New York Central carries 52 per cent of all through passengers
between New York and Chicago, the remaining 48 per cent being divided
among five other lines. The freight traffic of the New York Central
Lines in 1920 was greater than that carried by all the railroads of
France and England combined.
The scenes that stretch before the eyes of passengers on these Lines are
rich with historic interest. Few persons know that the second settlement
in the United States was at Albany and that it antedated Plymouth by
several years. Probably fewer persons know that the first United States
flag was carried in battle at Fort Stanwix, now the city of Rome, N.Y.
We hope that the reader will discover in the following pages more than
one historic shrine which he will wish to visit.
It has been said that the history of a country's civilization is the
history of its highways. Certainly the development of a great system
such as the New York Central is an important element in the progress and
prosperity of the country which it serves. This railroad is, in fact, a
public institution, and it will prosper to the extent that it gives
_service_ to the public.
The New York Central Lines have the initial advantage that they follow
the great natural routes along which the first trails were blazed by the
red men, and are almost free from grades, sharp curves and other
hindrances to comfortable and efficient transportation. Thus the road
owes its superiority primarily to the fact that it lends itself to a
maximum degree of efficiency.
But _service_ as it is conceived by the New York Central, involves many
aspects. One is the careful provision for the comfort and convenience of
passengers; another is adequate and efficient facilities for serving the
interests of shippers. In other words, New York Central _service_ means
not only fast and luxurious passenger trains, but also the rapid
handling of freight. To give such service requires the highest class of
equipment--the best rails, the finest cars, the most powerful
locomotives, etc.--but it also requires an operating force of loyal,
highly trained employees. In both respects the New York Central Lines
excel.
The inspiring record of the system's growth through public approval and
patronage is fundamentally a tribute to the _service_ rendered,
constantly advanced and developed in pace with public requirements. The
accompanying booklet is in one sense an expression of past achievement,
but it is also an earnest of greater accomplishment to come.
NEW YORK TO ALBANY
NEW YORK, Pop. 5,261,151. Grand Central Terminal. (Train 51 leaves
8:31a; No. 3, 8:46a; No. 41, 1:01p; No. 25, 2:46p; No. 19, 5:31p.
Eastbound: train 6 arrives 9:22a; No. 26, 9:40a; No. 16, 4:00p; No. 22,
5:25p.)[1]
[1. Throughout this handbook the time is given at which trains are
scheduled to leave or pass through the cities or towns mentioned.
From New York to Chicago, Train No. 51 is the Empire State
Express; No. 3, the Chicago Express; No. 41, The Number
Forty-one; No. 25, the Twentieth Century, and No. 19, the Lake
Shore Limited. In the reverse route, from Chicago to New York,
No. 6 is the Fifth Avenue Special; No. 26 is the Twentieth
Century; No. 16, the New York and New England Special, and No.
22, the Lake Shore Limited. The time given is Eastern Standard
Time at all points east of Toledo, and Central Standard Time,
which is one hour slower, at Toledo and all points west. (When
Daylight Saving Time is adopted during the summer it is one hour
faster than _Standard_ time, but all time given in this booklet
is Standard time.) The time between 12.01 o'clock midnight and
12.00 o'clock noon is indicated by light face type; between 12.01
o'clock noon and 12.00 o'clock midnight by dark face type. The
use of an asterisk (*) indicates places recommended as especially
worth visiting. Population figures are those of the 1920 U.S.
Census.]
Fifty years ago when Commodore Vanderbilt began the first Grand Central
Station--depot, they called it, in the language of the day--he made one
error of judgment. His choice of a site proved to be magnificently
right, though he selected a spot that was practically open country, then
technically known as 42nd St. The story goes--it is a typically American
story--that his friends laughed at him, remarking that a person might as
well walk to Boston or Albany as go away up to 42nd St. to take a train
for those cities. But the people did come, and they admired the
commodore's new station, which is perhaps not surprising, since the
commodore had set himself to build the greatest terminal in the world.
Many Americans considered the new "depot" as only second to the capitol
at Washington, and it served as an excellent show place when visitors
came to town. Europe might have its cathedrals, but it had no Grand
Central Station!
The commodore's one mistake lay in thinking that his fine new station
would last a century. Within ten years an addition had to be built; in
1898 it had to be entirely remodeled and enlarged, and fifteen years
later it was entirely demolished to make way for the present building
which would be adequate for handling the city's ever-increasing
millions.
There seems to be little doubt that the city of N.Y. and its
environs has become within the last decade larger even than London.
The population of greater London (including all the separate
administrative entities within the Metropolitan Police District) is
estimated at 7,435,379. Jersey City, Hoboken, and the other N.J.
cities on the west, as well as Yonkers, Mt. Vernon, New Rochelle,
etc., on the north, although politically detached, are included in
the "city" of N.Y. in the larger sense, their political detachment
being in a certain sense accidental. Including these, the population
of N.Y. area corresponding to the Metropolitan London area is
7,583,607. The population of N.Y. City proper is 5,261,151. The
London area comparable with this, viz., the part of London governed
by the London County Council has a population of 5,028,974.
Comparing the areas of the two--N.Y.C. with 327 sq. miles and London
with 692 sq. miles, it is hard to understand how the respective
populations should approximate each other so nearly until it is
remembered that New York grows perpendicularly instead of
horizontally, that it usurps more air rather than more land. In some
of the downtown business streets, such as Wall or Rector, the
buildings tower so high above the narrow thoroughfare that they form
a kind of deep canyon along which the wind is drawn as through a
tunnel.
In the colonial period Philadelphia was the most important city,
commercially, politically and socially, while just before the War of
Independence, Boston, with a population of 20,000 was the most
flourishing town in all the colonies. During the Revolutionary War,
N.Y.C. had fallen to a population of 10,000 and in 1790 it had
barely gained a position of leadership with 33,131, but by 1840
N.Y.C. had grown to be a city of 313,000 while Philadelphia had
95,000 and Boston 93,000.
[Illustration: Commodore Vanderbilt
Cornelius Vanderbilt (1794-1877) at the age of 16 bought a sailboat
in which he carried farm produce and passengers between Staten
Island, where he lived, and N.Y. He was soon doing so profitable a
business that in 1817, realizing the superiority of steam over
sailing vessels, he was able to sell his sloops and schooners, and
became the captain of a steam ferry between N.Y. and New Brunswick.
His projects grew enormously. He inaugurated steamship lines between
N.Y. and San Francisco, N.Y. and Havre, and other places. In
1857-1862 he sold his steamships and turned his attention more and
more to the development of railways, with the result that before his
death he had built up and was a majority share owner in the N.Y.
Central & Hudson River, the Lake Shore and Michigan Southern, the
Harlem, and the Michigan Central & Canada Southern railways, and had
holdings in many others. He died at N.Y. in 1877.]
Today one of the most remarkable features of New York is the Grand
Central Terminal. The exterior finish is granite and Indiana lime-stone;
the style somewhat Doric, modified by the French Renaissance. Over the
entrance to the main building is a great arch surmounted by a statuary
group wherein Mercury, symbolizing the glory of commerce, is supported
by Minerva and Hercules who represent mental and moral force.
Within, the main concourse of the station proper is an immense room with
a floor space of 37,625 sq. ft. where the New York City Hall might be
set and yet leave room to spare. It is covered with a vaulted ceiling
125 ft. high, painted a soft cloudy blue and starred over with the
constellations of heaven. Great dome-shaped windows, three each at the
east and west ends, furnish light.
[Illustration: The Main Concourse, Grand Central Terminal]
The entire site of the Grand Central Terminal comprises 30 blocks and 80
acres which above the surface are covered with a great variety of
buildings, making almost a city in itself. Moreover, there is direct
subway entrance to three large hotels, capable of housing as many as
10,000 persons, and to all these conveniences is added that of
comfortable temperature throughout the terminal, no matter how cold the
weather.
[Illustration: Map of New York City, 1775
This survey, made in the winter of 1775, shows the city proper as
it existed during the Revolutionary War. Places indicated by the
lettering are described under the original as follows: A, Fort
George. B, Batteries [at the two points of the island]. C,
Military Hospital [south of Pearl St.]. D, Secretary's Office
[near Fort George]. E, [Not Shown]. F, Soldiers' Barracks [at
extreme right]. G, Ship Yards [lower right hand corner]. H, City
Hall [Broad and Wall streets, site of present Sub-Treasury
building]. I, Exchange. J, K, Jail and Workhouse [both situated on
the "intended square or common," now City Hall Square]. L, College
[Church and Murray streets; this was King's College, now Columbia
University]. M, Trinity Church [the present Trinity was built on
1839-46, though it stands on the site of the old church built in
1696]. N, St. George's Chapel. O, St. Paul's Chapel [built in
1756, the oldest edifice still standing in N.Y.C.]. P to Z,
various churches.]
As distinctively "New York" as the sky-scrapers, are the hotels and
apartment houses. Of the latter, there are more than in any other
city in the world, and the number of persons who are giving up their
houses and adopting this manner of life is steadily increasing. The
first thing, in fact, that impresses a visitor on his arrival is the
seemingly endless amount of buildings adopted for transients. A few
of the largest hotels have space for several thousand persons at one
time.
[Illustration: New Amsterdam (Now New York City) in 1671
The point of land in the foreground is now known as the Battery.
The large building inside the stockade is a church. In the middle
foreground is a gallows. The hills in the background form the
approach to the present Morningside Heights.]
The old station in 1903-'12 was torn down, brick by brick, while at the
same time the new building was being erected--and all without disturbing
the traffic or hindering the 75,000 to 125,000 people that passed
through the station each day. This was an extraordinary engineering
feat, for not only were 3,000,000 yards of earth and rock taken out to
provide for the underground development, but hundreds of tons of
dynamite were used for blasting. Among the improvements introduced in
the new station are ramps instead of stairways, the division of
out-going from in-going traffic and the elimination of the cold
trainshed. The substitution of electricity for steam as a motive power
in the metropolitan area made possible the reclamation of Park Avenue
and the cross streets from 45th St. to 46th St.--about 20 blocks in
all--by depressing and covering the tracks.
At 56th St. the tracks begin to rise from the long tunnel and pass
through the tenement district of the upper East Side. The side streets
seem filled with nothing but children and vegetable carts, while along
the pavements shrill women with shawls over their heads are bargaining
for food with street-vendors. As the railroad tracks rise higher still,
we run on the level with the upper-story windows out of which the
tenants lean and gossip with one another.
[Illustration: The Jumel Mansion, New York City]
4 M. HARLEM STATION (125th St.). (Train 51 passes 8:41a; No 3, 8:57a;
No. 41, 1:12p; No. 25, 2:56p; No. 19, 5:41p. Eastbound: No. 6 passes
9:11a; No. 26 9:29a; No. 16, 3:49p; No. 22, 5:25p.)
Old Harlem was "Nieuw Haerlem," a settlement established in 1658 by Gov.
Peter Stuyvesant in the northeastern part of Manhattan Island. It
existed for 200 years but is now lost under modern Harlem, which centers
about 125th St. In this neighborhood to the west occurred the battle of
Harlem Heights--a lively skirmish fought Sept. 16, 1776, opposite the
west front of the present Columbia University, and resulting in a
victory for the forces of Gen. Washington, who up to that time had
suffered a number of reverses on Long Island and elsewhere. The battle
was directed by Washington from the Jumel mansion*, 160th St. and
Amsterdam Ave., the most famous house, historically, on the island of
Manhattan. It is still standing.
[Illustration: Peter Stuyvesant and the Cobbler
Peter Stuyvesant, Dutch Governor of N.Y. from 1647 to 1664 and a
valiant member of the Reformed Church, had an intense prejudice
against all other sects. At Flushing a Baptist cobbler, William
Wickendam, ventured to preach "and even went with the people into
the river and dipped them." He was fined 12,500 guilders ($5,000)
and ordered to be banished. As he was a poor man the debt was
remitted, but he was obliged to leave the province.]
The house was built in 1763 by Roger Morris for his bride, Mary
Philipse of Yonkers, for whose hand, it is said, Washington had
been an unsuccessful suitor. The house was subsequently owned by
John Jacob Astor and then passed into the hands of Stephen Jumel,
a French merchant, who, with his wife Eliza, added new fame to
the old house. They entertained here Lafayette, Louis Napoleon,
Joseph Bonaparte and Jerome Bonaparte. Aaron Burr (1756-1836) in
his old age, appeared at the mansion with a clergyman, and
married Mme. Jumel, then a widow. She divorced him shortly
afterward, and he died in poverty on Staten Island, 1836.
Alexander Hamilton whom Burr killed in the famous duel at
Weehawken, N.J. (July 11, 1804) owned a country place in the
neighborhood, "Hamilton Grange," which now stands at 140th St.
and Convent Ave.
Leaving Manhattan, that extraordinary island which Peter Minuit,
director-general of New Netherlands, bought in 1626 from the Indians for
sixty guilders' worth of goods (about $24), we cross the Harlem River to
the Borough of the Bronx, named for Jonas Bronck, the first white
settler, who made his home in 1639 near the Bronx Kills (where the
Harlem River flows into Long Island Sound).
The original price paid for the Bronx--or a large share of it--was
"2 gunns, 2 kettles, 2 coats, 2 shirts, 2 adzes, 1 barrel of
cider, and 6 bitts of money." The assessed value of Manhattan
today is $5,116,000,000 and that of the Bronx $732,000,000
(realty).
The Hudson River Division of the New York Central turns to the left and
follows the course of the Harlem River, 7 M. long, which separates
Manhattan Island from the mainland and connects the Hudson with the East
River. On the south bank of the Harlem are Washington Heights, with the
Speedway on the immediate bank, and Fort George (near 193d Street) named
from a Revolutionary redoubt. The Speedway was built at a cost of
$3,000,000 for the special use of drivers of fast horses. On the right,
after passing the High Bridge, which carries the old Croton aqueduct,
one of the feeders of the city water supply, and the Washington Bridge,
are University Heights and (farther to the west) the township of
Fordham, where the cottage in which Edgar Allen Poe lived from 1844 to
1849 and wrote _Ulalume_ and _Annabel Lee_, is still preserved.
New York University, on University Heights, was founded in 1832;
the principal buildings include Gould Hall, a dormitory; the
library, designed by Stanford White, and the Hall of Fame,
extending around the library in the form of an open colonnade,
500 ft long, in which are preserved the names of great Americans.
11 M. SPUYTEN DUYVIL. (Train 51 passes 8:51a; No. 3, 9:09a; No. 41,
1:23p; No. 25, 3:06p; No. 19, 5:53p. Eastbound: No. 6 passes 8:57a; No.
26, 9:17a; No. 16, 3:37p; No. 22, 5:02p.)
Spuyten Duyvil is situated on Spuyten Duyvil Creek, celebrated by
Washington Irving, which connects the Harlem and Hudson Rivers. In
recent years the creek has been enlarged into a ship canal.
The town and stream receive their curious name from the following
story, according to Irving. In 1664, when the Dutch were being
threatened by the British, Anthony van Corlear, Dutch trumpeter
to Gov. Stuyvesant, was despatched to sound the alarm. It was a
stormy night and the creek was impassable. Anthony "swore most
valourously that he would swim across it 'in spite of the devil'
(en spuyt den duyvil) but unfortunately sank forever to the
bottom." The "duyvil" had got him. "His ghost still haunts the
neighborhood, and his trumpet has often been heard of a stormy
night."
Across the Hudson, along which our route now lies for nearly 150 M., can
be seen the Palisades, an extraordinary ridge of basaltic rock rising
picturesquely to a height of between 300 and 500 ft. and extending along
the west bank of the Hudson about 12 M. from a point north of Ft. Lee,
N.J., to Palisades, N.Y.
The peculiar hexagonal jointing of the rock, which has given rise
to the name Palisades, is an unusual geological formation; the
only other important places where it is found are at Fingal's
Cave in Scotland and the Giant's Causeway in Ireland. The beauty
of the Palisades was threatened by quarrying and blasting
operations until N.Y. and N.J. agreed to the establishment of the
Palisades Interstate Park which comprises 36,000 acres (1,000
acres in New Jersey and 35,000 in New York State).
"The spacious and stately characteristics of the Hudson from the
Palisades to the Catskills are as epical as the loveliness of the
Rhine is lyrical. The Hudson implies a continent beyond. No
European river is so lordly in its bearing, none flows in such
state to the sea. Of all the rivers that I know, the Hudson, with
this grandeur, has the most exquisite episodes."--George William
Curtis.
[Illustration: The Half Moon at Yonkers
In September, 1609, Henry Hudson started up the Hudson in the
"Half Moon," which attracted frequent visits from the natives
along the route.]
To the right, just north of Spuyten Duyvil, is a high promontory, upon
which stands a lofty monument to Henry Hudson, who had his first
skirmish here with the Indians after entering N.Y. Bay in Sept. 1609.
With an excellent harbour at its mouth, and navigable waters leading 150
M. into a fertile interior, the Hudson River began to attract explorers
and settlers soon after the discovery of America. Verrazano, the
Florentine navigator, sent out by the French king, Francis I, ventured a
short distance up the Hudson in 1524, almost 100 years before the
Pilgrim Fathers, and in 1609 Henry Hudson sailing in the "Half Moon"
nearly up to the site of Albany demonstrated the extent and importance
of the river that bears his name.
[Illustration: New York Slave-Market--About 1730
Slaves were introduced into N.Y. as early as 1626 when the West
India Co. (a Dutch company), which had large establishments on the
coast of Guinea, brought negroes to Manhattan, and practiced the
slave trade here "without remorse." It is said that in proportion
to population N.Y. imported as many Africans as Virginia. That New
York did not become a slave-state like Carolina was, according to
Bancroft, "due to climate and not to the superior humanity of its
founders. [Gov.] Stuyvesant was instructed to use every exertion
to promote the sale of negroes. They were imported sometimes by
way of the West Indies, often directly from Guinea, and were sold
at auction to the highest bidder. The average price was less than
$140." With the extension of English rule to N.Y. in 1664 the
slave trade in this colony passed into the hands of the British.
It is estimated that the total import of slaves into all the
British colonies of America and the West Indies from 1680 to 1786
was 2,130,000. The traffic was then carried on principally from
Liverpool, London and other English ports; the entire number of
ships sailing from these ports then engaged in the slave traffic
was 192, and in them space was provided for the transport of
47,146 negroes. The native chiefs on the African coasts took up
the hunt for human beings and engaged in forays, sometimes even on
their own subjects, for the purpose of procuring slaves to be
exchanged for western commodities. They often set fire to a
village by night and captured the inhabitants when trying to
escape. Out of every lot of 100 shipped from Africa, about 17 died
either during the passage or before the sale at Jamaica, while not
more than 50 lived through the "seasoning" process and became
effective plantation laborers. Slavery in N.Y. was continued till
1827. It was then abolished by terms of an act passed by the N.Y.
Assembly ten years earlier.]
Henry Hudson, English navigator, made four important voyages to
find a passage to China by the northeast or northwest route; it
was on the third venture undertaken at the instance of the Dutch
East India Co., that he found the Hudson, probably a greater
discovery than the one he undertook to make. With a mixed crew of
18 or 20 men he started on his voyage in the "Half Moon," April
6, 1609, and soon was among the ice towards the northern part of
Barents Sea. His men mutinied and he was forced to seek the
passage farther south. Thus eventually he entered the fine bay of
what is now N.Y. harbour, Sept. 3, 1609. John Fiske says: "In all
that he attempted he failed, and yet he achieved great results
that were not contemplated in his schemes. He started two immense
industries, the Spitzbergen whale fisheries and the Hudson Bay
fur trade; and he brought the Dutch to Manhattan Island. No
realization of his dreams could have approached the astonishing
reality which would have greeted him could he have looked through
the coming centuries and caught a glimpse of what the voyager now
beholds in sailing up the bay of New York." The Dutch called the
Hudson the North River (a name which is still used) in
contra-distinction to the Delaware which they called the South
River.
The lower Hudson is really a fiord--a river valley into which ocean
water has been admitted by the sinking of the land, transforming a large
part of the valley into an inlet, and thus opening it to commerce as far
as Troy (about 150 M.), up to which point the river is tidal and,
therefore, partly salt. The Hudson extends above Troy for 150 M.
farther, but navigation is interrupted by shallows and swift currents.
Below Troy the fall is only five feet in a distance of 145 M. This
lower, navigable portion of the Hudson was the only feasible route
through the Atlantic highlands, and in consequence it has been one of
the most significant factors in the development of the United States.
New York City likewise owes its phenomenal development largely to this
great highway of commerce.
The invention and successful operation of the steamboat, the first line
of which was established on the Hudson by Fulton in 1807, gave early
impetus to the importance of N.Y.C., and the building of the Hudson
River R.R., one of the first successful railways, now a part of the New
York Central Lines, and the opening of the Erie Canal (1825) connecting
the Hudson with the Great Lakes and the far interior, were among other
contributory factors in the city's growth.
15 M. YONKERS, Pop. 100,226. (Train 51 passes 8:56a; No. 3, 9:15a; No.
41, 1:29p; No. 25, 3:11p; No. 19, 5:59p. Eastbound No. 6 passes 8:52a;
No. 26, 9:12a; No. 16, 3:31p, No. 22, 4:56p.)
When the Dutch founded New Netherlands, the present site of Yonkers was
occupied by an Indian village, known as Nappeckamack, or "town of the
rapid water," and a great rock near the mouth of the Nepperhan creek (to
the north of the station) was long a place of Indian Worship.
In the early days, the Hudson River Valley from Manhattan to
Albany was occupied by Algonquin tribes, while the central part
of the state along the Mohawk Valley had been conquered by the
famous Iroquois Confederation, of which the Mohawks were the most
warlike. The Mohawks soon drove out the Mohicans, who claimed as
their territory the east bank of the Hudson. On the whole, the
Dutch lived peaceably with their Indian neighbors, but an attempt
of Gov. Kieft to collect tribute from them led to an Indian war
(1641), which resulted in the destruction of most of the outlying
settlements. Later a treaty of alliance was made with the
Iroquois Confederation, which protected the early settlements in
N.Y. from those attacks which occurred so frequently elsewhere in
this period. The treaty was renewed when the British took
possession of New Netherlands, and lasted until the Revolutionary
War.
The land where Yonkers now stands was part of an estate granted in 1646
by the Dutch government to Adrian Van Der Donck, the first lawyer and
historian of New Netherlands. The settlement was called the "De
Jonkheer's land" or "De Yonkeer's"--meaning the estate of the young
lord--- and afterwards Yonkers. Subsequently the tract passed into the
hands of Frederick Philipse, the "Dutch millionaire," as the English
called him, some of whom alleged that he owed a large part of his
fortune to piratical and contraband ventures. The suspicion was strong
enough to force Philipse out of the governing council of the colony, and
he returned to his manor where he died (1702) at the age of 76.
It was even charged that he was one of the backers of Capt.
William Kidd (1645-1701), for whose buried treasure search has
been made along the Hudson, as well as in countless places along
the Atlantic Coast. Capt. Kidd began the career which made him
notorious under a commission from the British Government to
apprehend pirates. He sailed from Plymouth, England, in May 1696,
filled up his crew in N.Y. in the following year, and then set
out for Madagascar, the principal rendezvous of the buccaneers.
Deserting his ship, he threw in his lot with theirs and captured
several rich booties. Returning to N.Y., he was arrested, sent to
London, found guilty and hanged. Of his "treasure" about L14,000
was recovered from his ship and from Gardner's Island, off the
east end of Long Island. The stories of large hoards still
undiscovered are probably mythical.
The Philipse manor house*, one of the best examples of Dutch colonial
architecture in America, erected in 1682 and enlarged in 1745, was the
second residence built by the Philipses (the other is at Tarrytown) and
is now maintained as a museum for colonial and Revolutionary relics. It
was confiscated by the legislature in 1779 in reprisal for the
suspected "Toryism" of the third Frederick Philipse, the great grandson
of the first lord of the manor and his second successor. Before being
converted into a museum it served for many years as the City Hall of
Yonkers.
[Illustration: Philipse Manor House, Yonkers, 1682
This famous old house, said to be one of the best examples of
Dutch colonial architecture in America, was built by Frederick
Philipse, first lord of the manor of Philipsburg. It was
confiscated by the State of New York after the Revolutionary War
and for many years served as the City Hall of Yonkers. It is now
a museum.]
Yonkers has some important manufactures with an annual production of
$75,000,000 and 15,000 wage earners; its output includes passenger and
freight elevators, foundry and machine shop products, refined sugar,
carpets, rugs and hats. It has one of the largest carpet factories in
the world.
The country round Yonkers is dotted with fine estates. Conspicuous to
the right, 2 M. north of the station, is the battlemented tower of
"Greystone," once the home of Samuel J. Tilden and now owned by Samuel
Untermyer, the N.Y. lawyer.
Samuel J. Tilden (1814-1886), a lawyer and reformer, served one
term as governor of N.Y., and was later candidate for the
presidency against Rutherford B. Hayes. He had become famous for
his attacks on the notorious Tweed ring of N.Y.C., and later for
his exposure of the "Canal ring," a set of plunderers who had
been engaged in exploiting the N.Y. canal system. He was given
the Democratic nomination for president in recognition of his
services as a reformer. The Republicans nominated Hayes, and the
result was the disputed election of 1876, when two sets of
returns were sent to Washington from the States of Florida,
Louisiana, South Carolina and Oregon. As the Federal Constitution
contains no provision for settling a dispute of this kind, the
two houses of Congress agreed to the appointment of an
extra-Constitutional Body, the Electoral Commission, which
decided all the contests in favor of the Republican candidates.
Tilden's friends charged that they had been made a victim of a
political "steam roller," but he advised them to make no
protests. Tilden left more than $2,000,000 for a library in N.Y.
(now consolidated with the N.Y. Public Library).
Across the Hudson River from Hastings (19 M.) can be seen Indian Head,
the highest point on the Palisades, near which (about 1/2 M. farther
north) is the boundary between N.J. and N.Y.; from this point northward
both shores belong to N.Y.
20 M. DOBBS FERRY, Pop. 4,401. (Train 51 passes 8:58a; No. 3, 9:23a; No.
41, 1:37p; No. 25, 3:18p; No. 19, 6:07p. Eastbound: No. 6 passes 8:45a;
No. 26, 9:05a; No. 16, 3:23p; No. 22, 4:48p.)
About the time of the Revolutionary War, a Swede named Jeremiah Dobbs,
established a ferry here connecting with the northern end of the
Palisades (visible on the left across the river). Originally only a
dugout or skiff, it was the first ferry north of Manhattan, and was kept
up by the Dobbs family for a century. In times past the residents have
often tried to change the name of the town to something more
"distinguished," but the old name could not be displaced.
The story goes that 50 years ago a mass meeting was held in the
village at which it was proposed to name the town after one of
the captors of Maj. Andr['e]--either Paulding or Van Wart. The
meeting came to nothing when an old resident suggested
Wart-on-Hudson.
The strategic position of Dobbs Ferry gave it importance during the War
of Independence. It was the rendezvous of the British after the battle
of White Plains in Nov. 1775 and a continental division under Gen.
Lincoln was stationed here in Jan. 1777. The American army under
Washington encamped near Dobbs Ferry on the 4th of July, 1781, and
started in the following month for Yorktown, Va., where the final story
of the war took place. Two years later (May 6, 1783) Washington and Sir
Guy Carleton met at Dobbs Ferry to negotiate for the evacuation of all
British troops, and to make terms for the final settlement recognizing
American Independence. Their meeting place was the old Van Brugh
Livingston house.
Peter Van Brugh Livingston (1710-1792), prominent merchant and
Whig political leader in N.Y., was one of the founders of the
College of N.J. (now Princeton), and was president of the first
Provincial Congress of N.Y. (1775). His brother, William, was the
first governor of N.J.
[Illustration: Reception of President Washington at New
York, April 23rd, 1789
After the ratifying of the federal constitution, Washington, in
1788, was unanimously elected president. On April 23, 1789, he
arrived from Virginia at New York, where he was received with a
frenzy of gratitude and praise, and was inaugurated at the Senate
hall which stood on the site of the present U.S. Sub-Treasury
building. The stone whereon Washington stood when he came out of
the house is preserved in the south wall of this building. He is
described as wearing suit of homespun so finely woven that "it was
universally mistaken for a foreign manufactured superfine cloth."
This, of course, was a high tribute to domestic industry.]
22 M. IRVINGTON, Pop. 2,701. (Train 51 passes 9:06a; No. 3, 9:25a; No.
41, 1:39p; No. 25, 3:21p; No. 19, 6:11p. Eastbound: No. 6 passes 8:43a;
No. 26, 9:03a; No. 16, 3:21p; No. 22, 4:46p.)
"Sunnyside," a stone building "as full of angles and corners as a cocked
hat"* and situated behind a screen of trees a little north of the
station, was the home of Washington Irving, for whom the town was named.
First erected by Wolfert Acker in 1656, it was considerably enlarged
by Irving in 1835.
[Illustration: War and Merchant Ships of Revolutionary Days
These are authentic pictures, showing actual details, of the ships
used by the Americans and British at the time of the Revolutionary
War. They were originally engraved for the First Edition of the
Encyclopaedia Britannica (1768). In the centre is a first rate ship
of war, "the noblest machine that ever was invented," to quote the
First Edition; and the illustration below shows the interior
construction of the hull. It will be noticed that there are three
gun decks, below which is the poop, or storage deck. "A common
first rate man of war," says the First Edition, "Has its gun deck
from 159 to 178 ft. in length, and from 44 to 51 broad. It
contains from 1313 to 2000 tons; has from 706 to 1000 men, and
carries from 96 to 100 guns. The expense of building a common
first rate, with guns, tackling and rigging is computed at 60,000 L
sterling."]
The east end is covered with ivy said to be grown from a slip given to
Irving when he visited Scott at Abbotsford. At Irvington we come to
Tappan Zee (to be seen on the left), where the Hudson widens into a
lake-like expanse, 10 M. long and 3 to 4 M. wide. It is a favorite
cruising place for ghosts and goblins, according to popular legend.
[Illustration: "Sunnyside," Irving's Home After 1835
After a long sojourn abroad, Washington Irving returned in 1835 to
"Sunnyside" said to have been built originally in 1656. It was
considerably enlarged by Irving, who spent the remainder of his
life here. "Sunnyside" is now owned by Irving's descendants.]
There is, for example, Rambout van Dam, the roystering youth from
Spuyten Duyvil, who was doomed to journey on the river till
Judgment Day--all because he started to row home after midnight
from a Saturday night quilting frolic at Kakiat. "Often in the
still twilight the low sound of his oars is heard, though neither
he nor his boat is ever seen." Another phantom that haunts the
Tappan Zee is the "Storm Ship," a marvellous boat that fled past
the astonished burghers at New Amsterdam without stopping--a
flagrant violation of the customs regulation, which caused those
worthy officials to fire several ineffectual shots at her.
Across the river from Irvington is Piermont, and 2 M. to the southwest
of Piermont is the village of Tappan, where Maj. Andr['e] was executed Oct.
2, 1780. Lyndehurst, with its lofty tower, the home of Helen Gould
Sheppard, the philanthropist, a daughter of Jay Gould, is passed on the
right just before reaching Tarrytown.
24-1/2 M. TARRYTOWN, Pop. 5,807. (Train 51 passes 9:08a; No. 3, 9:27a;
No. 41, 1:41p; No. 25, 3:23p; No. 19, 6:13p. Eastbound: No. 6 passes
8:40a; No. 26, 9:00a; No. 16, 3:18p; No. 22, 4:43p.)
Situated on a sloping hill that rises to a considerable height above the
Tappan Zee, historic Tarrytown stands on the site of an Indian village,
Alipoonk (place of elms), burned by the Dutch in 1644. Irving explains
that the housewives of the countryside gave the town its name because
their husbands were inclined to linger at the village tavern, but
literal minded historians think it was more likely that the name came
from Tarwen dorp or Tarwetown, "wheat town." There were perhaps a dozen
Dutch families here in 1680 when Frederick Philipse acquired title to
Philipse Manor, several thousand acres, in what is now Westchester
county. Just above Tarrytown is the valley of the Pocantico creek, the
mouth of which is marked by the projection of Kingsland Point.
[Illustration: Washington Irving
Washington Irving (1783-1859) was intended for a legal profession,
but although called to the bar preferred to amuse himself with
literary ventures. The first of these, with the exception of the
satirical miscellany, "Salmagundi," was the delightful
"Knickerbocker History of New York," wherein the pedantry of local
antiquaries is laughed at, and the solid Dutch burgher established
as a definite comedy type. When the commercial house established
by his father and run by his brother began to go under in 1815,
Irving went to England to look into the affairs of the Liverpool
house, and as it was soon necessary to declare bankruptcy, his
misfortune forced him to write for his living. Returning to
America in 1832 after 17 years' absence, he found his name a
household word. The only interruption to his literary career was
the four years (1842-1846) he spent as ambassador to Spain. For
the rest, he passed some little time travelling, but in the main
kept retreat at "Sunnyside," where he died, Nov. 28, 1859.]
This is the "Sleepy Hollow" of Irving's legend, where Ichabod
Crane, the long, thin school-master, whose conspicuous bones
clattered at any mention of ghosts, encountered the Headless
Horseman pounding by night through the little Dutch village. It
was after a quilting bee at Farmer Van Tassel's, where his
daughter Katrina and what would come with her in the shape of fat
farm-lands and well-stocked barns, aroused Ichabod's affections
to the boiling point. He had a rival, however, "Brom Bones," a
young black-headed sprig, who watched Ichabod's advances
uneasily. After the party Ichabod mounted his old horse,
Gunpowder, as bony as he, but no sooner was he well under way
than he heard hoof beats on the road behind him and saw,
glimmering in the dark, a white headless figure on horseback,
carrying in its arms a round object like a head.... Never before
or since was there such a chase in Sleepy Hollow. Perhaps the
hapless school-teacher might have escaped, had not the Huntsman,
just as they reached the Sleepy Hollow bridge, hurled his head
square at his victim. The next morning no Ichabod, only a pumpkin
lying on the road by the bridge, where the hoofmarks ceased. He
had completely disappeared. Some weeks later Brom Bones led
Katrina to the altar.
Through this valley, we get a glimpse of the site where Philipse
erected, partly of brick brought from Holland, a manor house,* a mill,*
and a church,* all of which are still standing.
"There is probably no other locality in America, taking into
account history, tradition, the old church, the manor house, and
the mill, which so entirely conserves the form and spirit of
Dutch civilization in the New World.... This group of buildings
ranks in historic interest if not in historic importance with
Faneuil Hall, Independence Hall, the ruined church tower at
Jamestown, the old gateway at St. Augustine, and the Spanish
cabildo on Jackson Square in New Orleans. And the time will come
when pilgrimages will be made to this ancient beautiful home of
some of those ideals and habits of life which have given form and
structure to American civilization."--Hamilton Wright Mabie.
[Illustration: Old Dutch Church (Built About 1686) at
Tarrytown, N.Y.
Irving says: "The sequestered situation of the church seems always
to have made it a favorite haunt of troubled spirits. It stands on
a knoll, surrounded by locust trees and lofty elms, from among
which its white-washed walls shine modestly forth, like Christian
purity beaming through the shades of retirement." The church is
still standing.]
During the War of Independence, Tarrytown was the scene of numerous
conflicts between the "cowboys" and "skinners," bands of unorganized
partisans who carried on a kind of guerilla warfare, the former acting
in the interest of the colonists, and the latter in that of the king. On
the old post road on Sept. 24, 1780, Maj. Andr['e] was captured by three
Continentals, John Paulding, David Williams, and Isaac van Wart. The
spot where Andr['e] was captured is now marked with a monument--a marble
shaft surmounted by a statue of a Continental soldier.
Tarrytown lies principally along either side of a broad and
winding highway, laid out in 1723, from N.Y.C. to Albany. It was
called the King's Highway till the War of Independence, then
called Albany Post Road, and the section of it in Tarrytown is
known now as Broadway. The delights of traveling in the days
when the road was first laid out are suggested in the following
description: "The coach was without springs, and the seats were
hard, and often backless. The horses were jaded and worn, the
roads were rough with boulders and stumps of trees, or furrowed
with ruts and quagmires. The journey was usually begun at 3
o'clock in the morning, and after 18 hours of jogging over the
rough roads the weary traveler was put down at a country inn
whose bed and board were such as to win little praise. Long
before daybreak the next morning a blast from the driver's horn
summoned him to the renewal of his journey. If the coach stuck
fast in a mire, as it often did, the passengers must alight and
help lift it out."
[Illustration: Old Mill at Tarrytown Built in 1686
The Manor House, the Old Church and the Mill were erected by
Frederick Philipse, the lord of several thousand acres, in what is
now Westchester County. The mill, much dilapidated, still exists.]
Many of the stirring incidents of Fenimore Cooper's novel, _The Spy_,
occurred in this neighborhood, and the town is particularly described in
_The Sketch Book_ of Washington Irving who was for many years the warden
of the old church and is buried in the old Sleepy Hollow burying ground.
With Cooper and Washington Irving (1783-1859) American literature
first began to exist for the world outside our own boundaries.
The _Knickerbocker History of New York_, in which the Dutch
founders were satirized, was practically the first American book
to win appreciation abroad. This and later books "created the
legend of the Hudson, and Irving alone has linked his memory
locally with his country so that it hangs over the landscape and
blends with it forever."
Harvey Birch, the hero of _The Spy_, is a portrait from the life
of a revolutionary patriot who appears in the book as a peddler
with a keen eye to trade as well as to the movements of the
enemy. One of the best known incidents in the book is that in
which Harvey, by a clever stratagem, assists Capt. Wharton to
escape. James Fenimore Cooper (1789-1851) was born at Burlington,
N.J., but was reared in the wild country around Otsego Lake, in
central N.Y., on the yet unsettled estates of his father. It was
here he learned the backwoods lore, which in combination with his
romantic genius, made him one of the most popular of authors.
Among the literary residents of Tarrytown have been Mrs. E. D. E. N.
Southworth, well known to a previous generation for her romantic novels,
John Kendrick Bangs, the humorist, and Hamilton Wright Mabie, editor and
essayist. Carl Schurz (1829-1906) is buried here in the Sleepy Hollow
churchyard. Tarrytown is the trading center of a prosperous agricultural
region; it also has about 100 manufacturing establishments with a large
output. Just north of Kingsland Point (seen at the left, on the east
bank of the river), the seat of William Rockefeller comes into view on
the right, and behind it, among the hills, is the estate of his brother,
John D. Rockefeller.
John D. Rockefeller was born in 1839 at Richford, Tioga Co.,
N.Y., but his family moved to Cleveland while he was still a boy,
and his career was begun there. In 1858 he went into the produce
commission business, and 4 years later his company invested in
an oil refinery. Mr. Rockefeller kept constantly adding to his
influence and possessions in this field until by 1872 the
Standard Oil Co. was organized with him as president, and a
practical control of oil production in America was secured. This
was the first great American "trust." Mr. Rockefeller himself
retired from active business in 1895. While his wealth is
enormous, his benefactions have been on an equal scale,
comprising gifts to the Baptist Church, the founding of
educational institutions and the supporting of those already
existent. Scientific research in medical fields has been a
particular object of his generosity.
Mr. Rockefeller's country estate is called "Kijkuit," meaning
look-out--a name given by the early Dutch settlers to the
beautiful hill on which it stands, and which, rising to a height
of 500 ft., gives a lovely view up and down the Hudson, across to
the distant mountain ridges of N.J., and inland over Westchester
County. The house and gardens are famous not only for their
splendour, but for the priceless works of art they contain. Among
the treasures which have been worked in as details of the
landscape gardening is a fountain which for years has been
considered unrivalled by experts. The huge basin, 20 ft. 8 in. in
diameter, was cut from a single block of granite weighing 50 tons
and brought on the deck of a schooner from an island on the Maine
coast to the dock at Tarrytown. The heroic figure at the top
represents Neptune, and the figures below symbolize the Atlantic,
Pacific and Indian Oceans.
In the "morning garden" at the rear of the house is a bronze
Victory (a facsimile of the Pompeiian Victory at Naples), which
stands on a marble column with a Byzantine capital brought from
Greece. The 13th century relief set in the wall of the pergola at
the left came from a church in Venice.
Descending a flight of steps to the westward, one comes upon the
Aphrodite temple. The style of this is Graeco-Roman, with columns
of marble supporting a dome decorated after the fashion of the
portico niches in the Massimi palace in Rome, which was designed
in the 16th century by Baldassare Peruzzi. Under a roof of copper
and bronze, on a high pedestal, stands "Aphrodite," resembling
the Venus de Medici, but so superior to her in line and
proportion that many critics believe it to be a Praxitilean
original from which the Venus de Medici was clumsily copied. This
is the greatest art-treasure in the garden.
30 M. OSSINING, Pop. 10,739. (Train 51 passes 9:15a; No. 3, 9:34a; No.
41, 1:48p; No. 25, 3:30p; No. 19, 6:21p. Eastbound: No. 6, passes 8:34a;
No. 26, 8:54a; No. 16, 3:11p; No. 22, 4:36p.)
Ossining was first settled in 1700, when it was part of Philipse Manor.
It was originally called Sing Sing, taking its name from the Sin Sinck
Indians, but in 1901 the name was changed to Ossining, on account of its
association with the Sing Sing prison, which can be seen to the left
near the water's edge. The prison is a low white-marble building, built
in 1826. Ossining has a public library, several private schools, the
Roman Catholic Foreign Missionary Seminary of America, and a soldiers'
monument.
Passing the Croton aqueduct (on the right), which is carried over a
stone arch with an 80-foot span, the train crosses the mouth of the
Croton River and intersects Croton Point. It was at the extremity of
this peninsula that the British sloop-of-war "Vulture" anchored when she
brought Andr['e] to visit Benedict Arnold at West Point. Six miles up the
Croton River is the Croton Reservoir, which supplies a large share of
N.Y. City's water. Across the river is Haverstraw Bay.
At the north end of Haverstraw Bay, on the west bank, is Stony
Point Lighthouse, the site of a fort which was the scene of one
of the most daring exploits of the Revolutionary War. Gen.
Anthony Wayne (1745-1796) had been forced, through political
necessity, to relinquish his regular command, and on the
recommendation of Washington, he organized a new Light Infantry
Corps, with which on the night of July 15, 1779, he stormed the
fort and recaptured it from the British at the point of the
bayonet. This well-planned enterprise aroused the greatest
enthusiasm through the country, and won for him the popular name
of "Mad Anthony." Later, in war with the Indians on the frontier,
Gen. Wayne further distinguished himself.
At this point is the greatest width (4 M.) in the river's course.
Shortly before reaching Peekskill we pass Verplanck's Point (on the
left), near which the "Half Moon" dropped anchor, Sept. 14, 1609.
40-1/2 M. PEEKSKILL, Pop. 15,868. (Train 51 passes 9:36a; No. 3, 9:55a;
No. 41, 2:09p; No. 25, 3:50p; No. 19, 6:43p. Eastbound: No. 6 passes
8:13a; No. 26, 8:33a; No. 16, 2:47p; No. 22, 4:14p.)
Peekskill means Peek's creek, and was named from the Dutch mariner, Jans
Peek, who established a trading post here in 1760. It will be noticed
that the Hudson turns abruptly to the left at this point, while the
creek branches off to the right. According to tradition, the adventurous
Jans, who had been voyaging up the Hudson, became confused and turned to
the right, following the creek with the idea that it was the main river,
until his boat ran aground. As a result of this accident he chose the
spot to set up a trading post. During the latter part of the
Revolutionary War Peekskill was an important post of the Continental
Army; and in Sept. 1777, the village was sacked and burned by the
British. To the north of Peekskill are Manito Mts., where the N.Y.
National Guard has its summer encampment on a high cliff overlooking the
river. The summer home of Henry Ward Beecher was in Peekskill, and
ex-Senator Chauncey M. Depew was born here.
Peekskill on the east side of the Hudson, and Dunderberg Mt. (865 ft.)
on the west, stand at the lower gate of the Highlands, so named from
the steeply rising hills which border both sides of the river for the
next 16 M. At the foot of Dunderberg Mt. is Kidd's Point, one of the
numerous places where the notorious pirate is supposed to have concealed
treasure.
Our train passes too close to the hills on the east bank to give a
perspective, but on the west, where the Highlands are visible across the
Hudson, the outlook is very beautiful. This part of the Hudson, often
compared to the Rhine, has always been a source of artistic and poetic
inspiration.
[Illustration: Peekskill Landing--About 1815]
Close to Dunderberg Mt. the river takes a sharp turn to the left, and
just beyond the mountain can be seen Iona Island (near the west bank),
now occupied by the U.S. Government as a naval arsenal and supply depot.
Between the island and the eastern shore the river is so narrow that
this stretch is spoken of by boatmen as "The Race." A short distance
farther on the west bank is Bear Mt. Park, originally the gift of Mrs.
E. H. Harriman, which has been set aside by the Interstate Palisade Park
Commissioners as a vacation resort for the poor. Our train presently
passes by tunnel under the mountain known as "Anthony's Nose" (900 ft.),
so named, according to Diedrich Knickerbocker, from the "refulgent
nose" of Anthony van Corlear, Peter Stuyvesant's trumpeter. Across the
river is visible the mouth of Poplopen creek, on the north side, Ft.
Clinton.
These two forts were involved in the important maneuvers of 1777,
when the British, under Sir Henry Clinton, executed a brilliant
enterprise northward up the Hudson; they broke through the chains
which the Americans had stretched across the river in the hope of
checking the advance of British warships, captured Ft. Clinton
and Ft. Montgomery and destroyed the fleets which the Americans
had been forming on the river.
Three M. farther (on the right) is Sugar Loaf Mt. (765 ft.), noteworthy
as the place from which Benedict Arnold, whose headquarters were in the
Beverley Robinson House, near the south base of the mountain, made his
escape to the British man-of-war "Vulture" (1780) after receiving news
of Andr['e]'s capture. On the west shore near Highland Falls stands the
residence of the late J. Pierpont Morgan, standing somewhat back from
the river and partly hidden by trees.
John Pierpont Morgan (1837-1913) was born in Hartford, Conn., a
son of Junius S. Morgan, who was a partner of George Peabody and
the founder of the house of J. S. Morgan & Co. in London. After
his university training at G[:o]ttingen, he began his career in the
financial world, and by 1895, as the head of J. P. Morgan & Co.,
was the greatest American financier. His banking house became one
of the most powerful in the world, carrying through the formation
of the U.S. Steel Corporation, harmonizing the coal and railway
interests of Pennsylvania, purchasing the Leyland line of
Atlantic steamships and other British lines in 1902, effecting an
Atlantic shipping combine, reorganizing many large railways, and
in 1895 supplying the U.S. government with $62,000,000 in gold to
float a bond issue and restore the treasury surplus of
$100,000,000. Mr. Pierpont Morgan was a prominent member of the
Episcopal church, a keen yachtsman, a generous patron of
charitable and educational institutions, and a notable art and
book collector. As president of the Metropolitan Museum he gave
or loaned to it many rare and beautiful pictures, statues, and
art objects of all kinds. A memorial tablet was recently unveiled
in his honour at the museum.
Buttermilk Falls (100 ft.) are visible on the west bank after a heavy
rain; the buildings on the bluff above belong to Lady Cliff, a school
for girls.
49 M. WEST POINT (Garrison). (Train 51 passes 9:46a; No. 3, 10:04a; No.
41, 2:19p; No. 25, 4:00p; No. 19, 6:55p. Eastbound: No. 6 passes 8:01a;
No. 26, 8:20a; No. 16, 2:34p; No. 22, 4:00p.)
Across the river from Garrison, the imposing buildings of West Point,
the "Gibraltar of the Hudson," come into view. The name "West Point"
properly belongs to the village located here, but in ordinary usage it
refers to the U.S. Military Academy,* America's training school for
officers, which at the present time has about 1,000 cadets.
[Illustration: West Point from an Aeroplane _Photo Brown Bros._
The academy furnishes for those who wish to become army officers a
splendid education of a standard equal to the best colleges and
without cost to the student. Each cadet is paid $1,028.20 a year,
an amount which, with proper economy, is sufficient for his
support. West Point, therefore, offers an excellent opportunity
for those who can meet the requirements and are capable of
successfully undergoing the mental and physical discipline of the
school. Each senator and congressman is entitled to nominate two
candidates, who are appointed as cadets by the Secretary of War
after passing the prescribed examination. There are also 82
appointments at large, and the law of 1916 authorized the
president to appoint cadets to the academy from among the enlisted
of the Regular Army and National Guard, though not more than 180
at any one time. This law was passed with the idea of introducing
a greater degree of democracy into army life. Candidates for
admission must be between 17 and 22 years, unmarried, free from
physical infirmity and capable of passing a somewhat rigorous
examination in high school or preparatory school subjects. The
course of instruction, which requires three years, is largely
mathematical and professional. From about the middle of June to
the end of August the cadets live in camp, engaged only in
military duties and receiving military instruction. In general the
education and discipline are so excellent that the business world
is always ready with its high pecuniary rewards to tempt men away
from their military vocation. The result is that graduates
frequently resign their commissions, and the army loses what is
gained by the world of affairs.]
The academy occupies a commanding position on a plateau 150 ft. above
the river. As we approach, the power house is in the foreground, with
the riding school, a massive building just beyond, while the square
tower of the Administration Building dominates the scene on the level of
the parade ground above. West Point was first occupied as a military
post during the Revolutionary War. In Jan. 1778, a huge chain, part of
which is still preserved on the parade ground, was stretched across the
river in the hope of blocking the progress of the British men-of-war,
and a series of fortifications, planned by the great Polish soldier,
Kosciusko, were erected on the site of the present academy.
Thaddeus Kosciusko (1746-1817) had a romantic and picturesque career.
An intended elopement with Ludwika, daughter of the Grand Hetman,
Sosnowski of Sosnowica, was discovered by the Hetman's retainers.
In the fight that followed, Kosciusko was badly wounded and flung
from the house. Shortly afterwards he left for America, where, as
he had been well grounded in military science, Washington soon
promoted him to the rank of colonel of artillery and made him his
adjutant. Kosciusko especially distinguished himself in the
operations about N.Y.C. and at Yorktown, and Congress conferred
upon him a number of substantial rewards. He returned to his
native land to participate in the gallant but unsuccessful effort
to free Poland (1794), and is now celebrated among the Poles as
one of their greatest heroes.
At West Point were the fortifications that Benedict Arnold, their
commander in 1780, agreed to betray into British hands.
Benedict Arnold (1741-1801) was, before his disgrace, perhaps the
most brilliant officer and one of the most honored in the
American army. It is true that shortly before he took command at
West Point a court martial had directed Washington to reprimand
him for two trivial offenses, but Washington couched the
reprimand in words that were almost praise. The court martial had
been ordered by Congress, against which Arnold had expressed his
indignation for what he regarded as its mistaken policies in
respect to the war. This conflict with Congress, together with
certain vexatious circumstances, rising out of his command in
Philadelphia--he had gone heavily into debt--led him into a
secret correspondence with the British general, Sir Henry
Clinton, and he asked for the assignment to West Point for the
very purpose of betraying this strategic post into the hands of
the British.
In order to perfect the details of the plot, Clinton's
adjutant-general, Maj. John Andr['e], met him near Stony Point on
the night of the 21st of Sept. In the meantime, the man-of-war,
"Vulture," upon which Andr['e] had arrived, was forced to move
farther downstream to avoid an impromptu bombardment by American
patriots. As a result Andr['e] had to start back to N.Y. by land. He
bore a pass issued by Arnold, but he made the fatal mistake of
changing to civilian clothes. Technically, therefore, he was a
spy. At Tarrytown he was challenged by three Continentals; he
offered them a purse of gold, a valuable watch, or anything they
might name if they would permit him to proceed to N.Y.C. His
offers were rejected and the incriminating papers were found in
his boots. He was carried before the commanding officer of the
lines, who, not suspecting his superior could be involved,
notified Arnold. The latter was at breakfast with Washington's
aides; pretending he had an immediate call from across the river,
he jumped from the table, told his wife enough to cause her the
greatest consternation, mounted a horse and rode to a barge which
took him to the "Vulture." In spite of the protest and entreaties
of Sir Henry Clinton and the threats of Arnold the unfortunate
Andr['e], against whose character no suspicion was ever uttered, was
hanged at Tappan, Oct. 2, 1780.
Maj. Andr['e] was 29 years old at the time, and his fate aroused
universal sympathy. It is said that Washington himself, whom some
historians censure because he did not save Andr['e], wept upon
hearing the circumstances of his death, but under military law
his execution was inevitable. Arnold, however, escaped the
punishment he so richly merited. He was commissioned
brigadier-general in the British army and received L6,315 for his
property losses. He was employed in several operations during the
remaining period of the war but later when he went to England he
met with neglect and scorn that probably hastened his death. In
1821 Andr['e]'s remains were taken to England and interred there; at
the same time a memorial was erected in Westminster Abbey.
[Illustration: Maj. Andr['e]
The picture was drawn by Andr['e] without the aid of a looking-glass
on the morning of the day fixed for his execution. A respite of
twenty-four hours was, however, given. To Maj. Tomlinson, then
acting as officer of the guard, Andr['e] presented the sketch.]
Some time later Washington recommended West Point to Congress as a site
for a military school, but it was not until 1802 that the academy was
established. There are many notable memorials of early days and
distinguished soldiers here.
By far the greater number of America's distinguished generals and
soldiers since the War of Independence have been graduates of
West Point. These include U. S. Grant, Philip Henry Sheridan,
William Sherman, George P. McClellan, Thomas J. (Stonewall)
Jackson (Confederate), Robert E. Lee (Confederate) and Richard
Henry Anderson (Confederate). Grant was appointed to West Point
in 1839; he was a good horseman and good in mathematics, but
graduated in 21t place in a class of 39. Sherman, on the other
hand, stood near the head of his class when he graduated in 1839.
Lee was commissioned in the engineering corps upon his graduation
in 1829. The most notable commanding officers in the American
army during the World War, including, of course, Gen. Pershing,
were West Point graduates; the most conspicuous exception,
perhaps, was Maj.-Gen. Leonard Wood, who began his career as a
surgeon.
[Illustration: West Point and the Highlands, 1868
This picture, published shortly after the Civil War, gives a good
idea of the dress and uniform of the period, as well as a typical
battery. Note the lady's hoop skirt and the bearded officer to
whom she is speaking. The gun is one of the old muzzle-loaders,
and there is a mortar in the foreground.]
Above the cliff and towards the north and east of the plain is Fort
Clinton; on its east front stands a monument erected in 1828 by the
Corps of Cadets to Kosciusko, while "Flirtation Walk," on the river side
of the academy, leads to Kosciusko Garden, so named because it was much
frequented by the Polish hero. On the parade ground is Victory Monument
(78 ft. high), erected in 1874 as a Civil War memorial. The library--one
of the finest military libraries in existence--contains interesting
memorials by Saint Gaudens to J. McNeil Whistler and Edgar Allan Poe,
both of whom were cadets at the academy and both of whom were virtually
expelled.
Poe's neurotic temperament had led him into a number of
escapades, but he gave evidence of improvement after he enlisted
in the American Army at Boston in 1827. He served two years, and
was promoted sergeant-major. He was then 20 years old, and on the
basis of his army record, his uncle, John Allan, obtained for him
an appointment to West Point. As a student he showed considerable
facility for mathematics, but he incurred the displeasure of his
superiors by neglect of duty, and was expelled in 1830, one year
after he had been admitted. His temperament was of course
unsuited to West Point discipline. The military discipline of the
academy was equally odious to Whistler, the painter (1834-1903),
who was dismissed and transferred to the United States coast
survey. In his third year Whistler failed in chemistry. Col.
Larned, one of his instructors, gives the incident
thus--"Whistler was called up for examination in the subject of
chemistry, which also covered the studies of mineralogy and
geology, and given silicon to discuss. He began: 'I am required
to discuss the subject of silicon. Silicon is a gas,' 'That will
do, Mr. Whistler,' and he retired quickly to private life.
Whistler later said: 'Had silicon been a gas, I would have been a
major-general.'"
High above the academy on Mount Independence (490 ft.) still stands the
ruins of old Ft. Putnam, one of the original fortifications, from which
a magnificent view can be obtained of the academy, the river, and the
surrounding country.
Our route now lies across a peninsula called Constitution Island, which
is the site of a preparatory school for West Point.
For many years the Island was the home of the Misses Anna and
Susan Warner, authors of "The Wide, Wide World," and other
stories popular with children. Through the generosity of Miss
Susan Warner, who survived her sister, and Mrs. Russell Sage, the
island was presented to the government a few years ago, and is
now part of West Point.
We pass on the west bank Crow's Nest Mt. (1,396 ft.) associated with
Joseph Rodman Drake's fanciful poem, _The Culprit Fay_. Two M. farther
we leave the Highlands through the "Golden Gate," where Storm King Mt.
rises to a height of 1,340 ft. on the west side of the Hudson, and
Breakneck Mt. to a height of 1,365 ft. on the other. Near Storm King a
tunnel of the great new Catskill aqueduct, carrying water to N.Y.C.,
passes under the Hudson at a depth of 1,100 ft.--a depth made necessary
to reach solid rock at the bottom.
N.Y. City's Catskill Mt. water supply system is the greatest of
waterworks, modern or ancient. Three-quarters of the project has
been completed. The waters of the Esopus Creek in the Catskills
are stored in the Ashokan reservoir, an artificial lake twelve
miles long, situated about 14 miles west of the Hudson River at
Kings Mt. From this reservoir the aqueduct extends 92 M. to the
city's northern boundary, and supplies about 375,000,000 gallons
daily. From the Croton watershed New York receives a supply
almost as large--336,000,000 gallons daily. Construction on the
Catskill supply system was begun in 1907, and the total cost will
be about $177,000,000.
The river now widens and turns to the west; on the further bank is
Cornwall, near which is the estate of E. P. Roe, the writer, and
"Idlewild," the former home of N. P. Willis, likewise a writer of
importance in his day. The home of Lyman Abbott, editor of the _Outlook_
is also here. The proprietor of Bannerman's Island, which we now pass,
is a dealer in obsolete war material; he has built on the island a
number of castle-like store-houses of old paving stones taken from the
streets of New York.
58 M. BEACON, Pop. 10,996 & NEWBURGH, Pop. 30,366. (Train 51 passes
9:56a; No. 3, 10:17a; No. 41, 2:29p; No. 25, 4:10p; No. 19, 7:06p.
Eastbound: No. 6 passes 7:50p; No. 26 8:09a; No. 16, 2:22p; No. 22,
3:48p.)
Beacon was incorporated in May, 1913, by merging the villages of
Matteawan and Fishkill Landing, the latter of which lay closer to the
west. The first settlement in the township was made in 1690. During the
Revolutionary War it was an important military base for the Northern
Continental Army. At Fishkill Landing on May 13, 1783, Gen. Knox
organized the Society of the Cincinnati.
The Society of the Cincinnati was an organization of U.S.
officers who had served in the Revolutionary War. Besides the
general society of which Washington was president, another was
organized for each state. (The name is in reference to
Cincinnati, the Roman patriot who left the plough to serve his
country.) Membership was limited to officers, native or foreign,
of the Continental army who had either served with honour for
three years or had been honorably discharged for disability, and
to their descendants.
Because it included several European nobles, such as Lafayette
and Steuben, and because it was founded on the principle of
heredity the new society was denounced as the beginning of an
aristocracy and therefore a menace, by such Revolutionary leaders
as Franklin, Adams, and Jefferson, who were ineligible for
membership because they had not been in the army. There was
perhaps a real fear that it might become a military hierarchy
which would appropriate the important offices of the new
republic. At any rate, several states adopted resolutions against
it and so great was the antagonism at the first general meeting
in 1784 Washington persuaded the members to abolish the
hereditary feature. In spite of this condition, the excitement
did not die, and in 1789 the Tammany Society was founded in
N.Y.C. in opposition to the Cincinnati, and as a wherein "true
equality" should govern. This was the origin of Tammany Hall,
which became conspicuous in N.Y. politics.
Alexander Hamilton succeeded Washington as president, but by 1824
most of the state branches of the Cincinnati and the general
society itself were dead or dying. For a long time little was
left but a traditional dinner held each year in N.Y.C. In 1893
the general society made an effort to revive the state
organizations, with some little success. The hereditary feature
has been restored and the living members number about 980. The
motto is "Omnia relinquit servare rem publicam." (He abandons
everything to serve the republic.)
[Illustration: Washington's Headquarters at Newburgh
An early picture showing American soldiers on guard at the
headquarters of Gen. Washington at Newburgh. The house itself was
built about 1760 and was occupied by Washington from the spring of
1782 to August, 1783. It is now open to the public as a museum.]
Back of Matteawan are seen Beacon Mts., their name recalling
Revolutionary days when beacon fires were lighted as signals on their
summits. The summit of the highest of the group, Beacon Hill* (1,635
ft.) can now be reached by means of a cable railway, making possible a
very pleasant excursion. The Matteawan State Hospital for the Insane is
at Beacon on the north side of Fishkill Creek. Beacon's products include
hats, silks, woolens, rubber goods, engines, brick and tile; the total
annual value of manufactures is about $4,500,000. Four miles to the
northwest on Fishkill Creek is the village of Fishkill, notable for two
quaint old churches, both still standing, and interesting enough to
repay a visit: the First Dutch Reformed (1731), in which the New York
Provincial Congress met in Aug. and Sept., 1776, and Trinity (1769).
After Congress moved elsewhere, Trinity was used as a hospital,
and the Dutch church, being constructed of stone, was converted
into a prison. Its most famous prisoner was Enoch Crosby (who
served as the original for Cooper's hero in _The Spy_), a patriot
who twice escaped with the help of the Committee of Safety, the
only persons who knew his true character.
Across the river Newburgh is visible rising above the Hudson. From the
Spring of 1782 to Aug. 1783 Washington made his headquarters in the
Jonathan Hasbrouck house* (to the south of the city), built between 1750
and 1770. The house, a one story stone building with a timber roof, has
been purchased by the State of N.Y. and is open to visitors. It contains
many interesting Revolutionary weapons, documents and other relics. Here
in May, 1782, Washington wrote his famous letter of rebuke to Lewis
Nicola, who had written in behalf of a coterie of officers suggesting
that he assume the title of king.
Washington's reply was peremptory and indignant. They could not
have found, he said, "a person to whom their schemes were more
disagreeable," and charged them, "if you have any regard for
yourself or posterity, or respect for me, to banish these
thoughts from your mind, and never communicate, as from yourself
or any one else, a sentiment of like nature." Here also he made
his reply to the so-called Newburgh addresses written by John
Armstrong and calling for action on the part of the army to
redress its grievances.
Newburgh was still his headquarters when Washington by the force of his
influence secured the quiet disbandment of the Continental Army at the
close of the war. Upon the occasion of the centennial celebration (1883)
of this event, a monument called the Tower of Victory, 53 ft. high with
a statue of Washington, was erected.
Newburgh is the center of a rich agricultural region, but it is a
manufacturing center as well; its output comprises machine shop
products, plaster, cotton, woolen and silk goods, felt hats, furniture,
flour, lumber and cigars. Above Newburgh can be seen the lighthouse (on
the west bank) called the Devil's Danskammer, or Devil's Dance Hall,
recalling the time when Henry Hudson and his crew landed here to witness
an Indian pow-wow. The Dutch, who were considerably startled by the
affair, thought that it could be nothing less than a diabolical dance;
hence the name.
[Illustration: Robert Fulton's First Steamboat
(_From Fulton's own Sketch_)
On Sept. 1, 1807, the Albany "Gazette" announced that the "North
River Steamboat [i.e., the "Clermont"] will leave Paulus's Hook
[Jersey City] on Friday, the 4th of September, at 6 in the morning
and arrive at Albany on Saturday at 6 in the afternoon." The New
York Central train now takes only a few minutes more than three
hours to make the trip. The same paper on Oct. 5, 1807, announced
that "Mr. Fulton's new steamboat left New York against a strong
tide, very rough water, and a violent gale from the north. She
made headway against the most sanguine expectations, and without
being rocked by the waves."]
73 M. POUGHKEEPSIE, Pop. 35,000. (Train 51 passes 10:14a; No. 3,
10:38a; No. 41, 2:48p; No. 25, 4:27p; No. 19, 7:24p. Eastbound: No. 6
passes 7:32a; No. 26, 7:51a; No. 16, 2:02p; No. 22, 3:29p.)
Poughkeepsie was the Apokeepsing of the Indians--"the pleasant and safe
harbour" made by the rocky bluffs projecting into the river, where
canoes were sheltered from wind and wave. The city is built partly on
terraces rising 200 ft. above the river, and partly on the level plateau
above. Poughkeepsie was settled by the Dutch in 1698. The most momentous
event in Poughkeepsie's history and one of the most important in that of
the whole Union, was the convention held here in 1788 at which the state
of N.Y. decided to ratify the federal constitution. The decision was
carried by three votes.
The credit for bringing N.Y. into the Union must go largely to
Alexander Hamilton and his supporters, John Jay and Chancellor
Robert R. Livingston. Of the three N.Y. delegates to the federal
convention, Hamilton was the only one to sign its report, and
when the state convention was called at Poughkeepsie, June 17,
1788, two-thirds of its members voted against the proposed U.S.
constitution. The opposition was led by Gov. George Clinton and
his party, known as the "Clintonians." Clinton, though he here
fought bitterly the proposed new constitution and government,
lived to be a Vice President of the U.S. (He should not be
confused with the DeWitt Clinton who later built the Erie Canal.)
The eloquence of Hamilton, Jay and Livingston, however, coupled
with the news that New Hampshire and Virginia had ratified,
finally carried the day, and the N.Y. Convention gave its
approval of the new Constitution by a vote of 30 to 27.
Vassar College, the oldest women's college in America, and one of the
most famous, occupies extensive grounds to the east of the city.
Vassar was founded in 1861 by Matthew Vassar (1791-1868), an
Englishman who had established in Poughkeepsie in 1801 a brewery
from which he became rich. He got the idea of founding a woman's
college from his niece, Lydia Booth, a school teacher. His total
gifts to the institution amounted to about $800,000. His nephew,
Matthew Vassar, Jr., became manager of the brewery after his
uncle's death, and gave in all about $500,000 to the college.
Vassar now has a campus and farm of about 800 acres, and
possesses an endowment of $2,440,000. Its students number about
1,100.
The Hudson near Poughkeepsie furnishes the course for the
intercollegiate races in which American college crews, with the
exception of Harvard and Yale (which row on the Thames at New London)
have rowed practically every year since 1895. The river is spanned at
this point by one of the largest cantilever bridges in the world. It is
2,260 ft. long and 200 ft. above the water, and is the only bridge over
the Hudson south of Albany.
It required 4 years to build the bridge, which was finished in
1889 at a cost of $3,500,000. It connects New England directly
with the coal fields of Pennsylvania.
Poughkeepsie has more than 50 lines of manufacture, with products of a
total annual value of $15,000,000, including mill supplies, clothing,
cigars, candied fruit and preserves, cream separators, foundry products,
knit goods, ivory buttons, and piano and organ players.
Two miles beyond Poughkeepsie the red brick buildings of the Hudson
River State Hospital are passed on the right, and presently our route
skirts Hyde Park (79 M.) near which, to the north, can be seen the
estate of Frederick W. Vanderbilt. There are many beautiful
country-places in the district. A little beyond Hyde Park on the west
bank of the river is "Slabsides," the cabin home of John Burroughs, the
poet, philosopher, and widely known writer on natural history.
John Burroughs was born in 1837 at Roxbury, N.Y., the fifth son
of a farmer. His first books were bought with money he earned
from tapping maple trees, boiling the sap and selling the sugar.
One season, he tells us, he made twelve silver quarters, and has
never been so proud since. Although he has lived much in the
world and has travelled widely, the greater part of his time has
been divided between Riverby, in the little town of West Park,
N.Y., the famous "Slabsides," his cabin in the wooded hills back
of the Hudson, and, since 1908, an old farm house which he has
christened Woodchuck Lodge, 1/2 M. from the Burroughs homestead in
Roxbury. In his retreat at "Slabsides" he wrote some of his most
intimate and appealing studies of nature.
Esopus Island is now passed, on the high left bank of which, near the
water, stands the home of Alton B. Parker, Democratic candidate for the
presidency against Roosevelt in 1904. We now pass the estates of D.
Ogden Mills and W.B. Dinsmore, former president of the Adams Express
Company (on the right). Esopus Lighthouse is on the west bank where the
river curves sharply to the left. On the high ground on the east bank is
the country home of the late Levi P. Morton.
Levi P. Morton (1824-1920), American banker and politician, was
born at Shoreham, Vt. After some years in business at Hanover,
N.H., Boston and N.Y.C., he established in 1862 the banking house
of L. P. Morton & Co. (dissolved in 1899), with a London branch.
The American firm assisted in funding the national debt at the
time of the resumption of specie payments, and the London house
were fiscal agents of the U.S. government in 1873-1884, and as
such received the $15,500,000 awarded by the Geneva Arbitration
court in settlement of the "Alabama Claims" against Great
Britain. In 1899 Morton became president of the Morton Trust Co.
of N.Y.C. He was a Republican representative in Congress from
1879 to 1881, U.S. minister to France (1881-1885), vice-president
of the U.S. during the administration of Benjamin Harrison
(1889-1893) and governor of N.Y. state (1895-1896) signing in
that capacity the "Greater New York" bill and the liquor-tax
measure known as the "Raines law." In 1896 he was a candidate for
the presidential nomination in the Republican national
convention.
88 M. RHINECLIFF, Pop. 1,300. (Train 51 passes at 10:32a; No. 3, 10:56a;
No. 41, 3:07p; No. 25, 4:46p; No. 19, 9:39p. Eastbound: No. 6 passes
7:13a; No. 26, 7:31a; No. 16, 1:37p; No. 22, 3:09p.)
Across the river from Rhinecliff is Kingston (Pop. 26,688), most of
which lies on a plateau 150 ft. above the river. Rondout, once a
separate town, is now a part of the city of Kingston, the center of
which lies 3 M. inland. To the northwest is the noble scenery of the
Catskills, to the southwest are the Shawangunk Mts. and Lake Mohonk, and
in the distance on our right (that is, on the Rhinecliff side) are the
Berkshire Hills.
Kingston is one of the oldest towns in the state. In 1658 a stockade was
built here by order of Gov. Peter Stuyvesant, and although the Dutch had
built a fort here as early as 1614, it is from this event that the
founding of the city is generally dated. The town suffered a number of
murderous Indian attacks before it was taken over by the British in
1664.
[Illustration: The "Senate House" (1676), Kingston, N.Y.
Erected in 1676 as a private residence, the "Senate House" was one
of the few buildings left standing when the British sacked the
town of Kingston in October, 1777. It had been the meeting place
of the first State Senate in the earlier part of that year. The
house is now maintained as a colonial museum.]
The early history of Kingston reached a climax during the Revolution,
when the British under Sir John Vaughan sacked the town and burned the
buildings Oct. 17, 1777. The "Senate House"* erected in 1676, was the
meeting-place of the first State Senate during the early months of 1777.
At the time of the British occupation the interior was burnt but the
walls were left standing. The building is now the property of the state
and is used as a colonial museum. The present Court House, built in
1818, stands on the site of the old Court House, where New York's first
governor, George Clinton, was inaugurated, and in which Chief Justice
John Jay held the first term of the N.Y. Supreme Court in Sept. 1777.
John Jay (1745-1829), son of Peter Jay, a successful N.Y.
merchant, had a notable career. He was Chairman of the Commission
which drafted the N.Y. State Constitution in 1777. In the same
year he was made Chief Justice of the State. In negotiating peace
with Great Britain (1783) he acted with Benjamin Franklin, John
Adams, Jefferson and Henry Laurens, and he is credited with
having been influential in obtaining favorable terms for the
former colonies. In 1789 Washington appointed him chief justice
of the U.S. Supreme Court, in which capacity he served for six
years. In the meantime, 1794, he negotiated the famous Jay Treaty
with Great Britain, which averted a dangerous crisis in the
relations between the two countries, and settled such questions
as the withdrawal of British troops from the northwestern
frontier, compensation for the seizure of American vessels
during the Franco-British war of 1793, and the refusal of the
British up to that time to enter into a commercial treaty with
the U.S. From 1795 to 1798 he served as Governor of N.Y. Daniel
Webster said: "When the spotless ermine of the judicial robe fell
on John Jay, it touched nothing less spotless than itself."
Less than a mile beyond Rhinecliff we pass "Ferncliff," the beautiful
country-place of Vincent Astor, son of the late John Jacob Astor III,
who lost his life in the "Titanic" disaster. The large white building on
a hill nearby is the Astor squash court.
John Jacob Astor III (1864-1912) was the son of William B. Astor
II. The latter was the son of William B. Astor (1792-1875), known
as "the landlord of New York," because of his extensive real
estate holdings in New York City. He was the son of the founder
of the Astor fortune, John Jacob Astor (1763-1828). The latter
was born near Heidelberg, Germany, worked for a time in London,
came to N.Y.C. and took up fur trading, in which he amassed an
enormous fortune, the largest up to that time made by any
American.
[Illustration: Steps in the Development of the Steam-boat
The top figure represents a boat of the 15th Century propelled by
paddle wheels. Below is a steam tug, the design of Jonathan Hulls,
who received a patent on his invention from the British government
in 1736. It appears that some time later, in 1802, Robert Fulton,
who was then in England, actually rode in a tug of similar design
built by William Symington. Fulton, however, was the first to
construct a steam-boat in the modern sense of the term. The
illustrations used above were taken from the Supplement to the
Sixth Edition of the Encyclopaedia Britannica.]
Six miles above Rhinecliff we pass Anandale on the right, the former
home of Gen. Richard Montgomery (b. 1736), who was killed Dec. 31, 1775,
while conducting the American attack on Quebec.
It is not always remembered that the Americans undertook an
expedition against Quebec during the first year of the
Revolutionary War. Gen. Montgomery was joined near Quebec by
Benedict Arnold, then a colonel, and they pushed on towards their
objective with barely 800 men. The assault met a complete defeat;
almost at the first discharge, Montgomery was killed, and many of
his men were taken prisoners. In 1818 Mrs. Montgomery, then a
gray-haired widow, sat alone on the porch of the house while the
remains of Gen. Montgomery were brought down the Hudson on the
steamer "Richmond" with great funeral pomp. A monument has been
erected in St. Paul's Chapel, N.Y.C., where his remains were
finally interred. General and Mrs. Montgomery, who was a daughter
of Robert R. Livingston, had been married only two years when he
went away on his expedition.
Just north of Tivoli (98 M.) is the site of the Manor House of the
Livingston family, "Clermont," after which Robert Fulton named his first
steamboat.
The Livingston Manor comprised the greater part of what are now
Dutchess and Columbia Counties. The founder of the family was
Robert Livingston (1654-1725) who was born at Ancrum, Scotland,
emigrated to America about 1673 and received these manorial
grants in 1686. He was a member of the N.Y. Assembly for several
terms. The Livingston Manor was involved in anti-rent troubles
which began in the Rensselaer Manor.
109 M. GREENDALE, Pop. 1,650. (Train 51 passes 10:54a; No. 3, 11:19a;
No. 41, 3:32p; No. 25, 5:08p; No. 19, 8:10p. Eastbound: No. 6 passes
6:49a; No. 26, 7:09a; No. 16, 1:07p; No. 22, 2:44p.)
From Greendale a very fine view is obtained of the noble scenery of the
Catskill Mountains. The village of Catskill (Pop. 4,461) across the
river, was at one time the only point of entrance for visitors to the
mountains--now reached chiefly by railway from Kingston. Catskill
Station, however, is still a point of departure for this favorite summer
resort. In clear weather it is possible to get a glimpse of the deep
gorge of the Kaaterskill Cove (about one mile west of Catskill village)
where Rip Winkle strayed into the mountains, discovered Hendrick Hudson
playing at skittles, and, bewitched by the wine supplied by the ghostly
sportsmen, slept for 20 years. On the high crest back of the station
(about 10 M. from the river) the Mountain House (Alt. 2,225 ft.) and
Kaaterskill House, famous old hotels, can be seen in clear weather.
The Catskill Mts.,* a group possessing much charm and beauty, run
parallel with the Hudson for about 15 miles, at a distance of
from 5 to 9 miles from the shore line, on the west bank; they
cover an area of about 500 Sq. M. On the side visible from the
train they rise steeply to a height of 2,000 to 3,000 feet though
on the other sides the slopes are gradual. The highest summits
are those of Slide Mt. (4,205 ft.) and Hunter Mt. (4,025 ft.).
The summits of several of these mountains are reached by inclined
railways that afford splendid views. A number of deep ravines
known as "cloves," a word derived from the Dutch, have been cut
into the mountains by streams. The name Catskill, formerly
Kaatskill, is a word of Dutch origin, referring, it is said, to
the catamounts, or wild cats, formerly found here. The Indians
called the mountains "Onti Ora" or Mts. of the Sky. Washington
Irving in his introduction to the story of _Rip Van Winkle_ says,
"Whoever has made a voyage up the Hudson must remember the
Kaatskill Mts. They are a dismembered branch of the great
Appalachian family, and are seen away to the west of the river,
swelling up to a noble height, and lording it over the
surrounding country. Every change of season, every change of
weather, indeed every hour of the day, produces some change in
the magical hues and shapes of these mountains, and they are
regarded by all the good housewives far and near as perfect
barometers. When the weather is fair and settled, they are
clothed in blue and purple, and print their bold outlines on the
clear evening sky; but sometimes when the rest of the landscape
is cloudless, they will gather a hood of gray vapors about their
summits, which in the last rays of the setting sun, will glow and
light up like a crown of glory."
114 M. HUDSON, Pop. 11,745. (Train 51 passes 11:00a; No. 3, 11:26a; No.
41, 3:37p; No. 25, 5:14p; No. 19, 8:16p. Eastbound No. 6 passes 6:44a;
No. 26, 7:04a; No. 16, 1:02p; No. 22, 2:39p.)
[Illustration: Hudson, N.Y. (1835)
Showing one of the early passenger trains on what is now the New
York Central route.]
Hudson, picturesquely situated on the slope of a hill and commanding a
fine view of the river and the Catskill Mts., was originally known as
Claverack Landing, and for many years it was nothing more than a landing
with two rude wharfs and two small storehouses, to which the farmers in
the neighborhood brought their produce for shipment on the river. Late
in 1783, the place was settled by an association of merchants and
fishermen, mostly Quakers, from Rhode Island, Nantucket, and Martha's
Vineyard. These enterprising people had been engaged in whaling and
other marine ventures, but when these industries were crippled by
British cruisers during the War of Independence, they came to Hudson to
find a more secluded haven. They were methodical and industrious; they
even brought their houses, framed and ready for immediate erection, on
their brig, the "Comet." The settlers opened clay pits, burned bricks
and built a first class wharf. In 1785 the port was the second in the
state in the extent of its shipping. Two shipyards were established and
a large ship, the "Hudson" was launched. Toward the end of the 18th
century it was the third city in the state, and had one of the three
banks then existing in N.Y. State.
The War of 1812 caused a decline, but modern industry has revived the
town, and its manufactures include Portland cement (one of the largest
manufactories of that product in the United States is here), knit goods,
foundry and machine shop products, ice machinery, brick and furniture.
Huge ice houses are seen along this part of the Hudson River, and
the question sometimes arises why the river, being partly salt,
can yield ice fit for domestic or commercial use. The explanation
is that the water, in freezing, rejects four-fifths or more of
its content of salt.
Four miles above Hudson we pass the estuary of Stockport, on the north
bank of which, at Kinderhook, once lived Martin Van Buren, eighth
president of the U.S.
The son of a farmer and tavern keeper, Van Buren (1782-1862) was
born at Kinderhook, N.Y., of Dutch descent. He obtained a scanty
education, and it is said that as late as 1829, when he became
secretary of state, he wrote crudely and incorrectly. He was
admitted to the bar in 1803 in N.Y., allied himself with the
"Clintonians" in politics and later became a leading member of
the powerful coterie of Democratic politicians known as the
"Albany regency," which ruled N.Y. politics for more than a
generation, and was largely responsible for the introduction of
the "Spoils System" into state and national affairs. Van Buren's
proficiency in this variety of politics earned him the nickname
of "Little Magician." In 1821 he was elected to the U.S. Senate,
and in 1828 governor of N.Y., and in the following year was made
secretary of state by President Jackson, who used his influence
to obtain the nomination of Van Buren for president in 1836.
William Henry Harrison, the Whig candidate, was his principal
opponent, and the popular vote showed a plurality of less than
25,000 for Van Buren. Van Buren's administration was compelled
to bear the weight of errors committed by Jackson, his
predecessor, and though he showed unexpected ability and firmness
in his administration, he was defeated for re-election by
Harrison.
130 M. SCHODACK LANDING, Pop. 1,215. (Train 51 passes 11:17p; No. 3,
11:45p; No. 41, 3:55p; No. 25, 5:30p; No. 19, 8:37p. Eastbound: No. 6
passes 6:24p; No. 26, 6:45p; No. 16, 12:41p; No. 22, 2:20p.)
Schodack was the Dutch rendering of the Indian word "Esquatack," meaning
"the fireplace of the nation." The island opposite the station was the
site of the first council fire of the Mohican Indians, who were grouped
about their "fire place" in 40 villages. They inhabited the Hudson
Valley and their domain extended into Mass.
In consequence of attacks by the Mohawks the Mohicans moved from
their council fire to what is now Stockbridge, Mass., in 1664.
Later many migrated to the Susquehanna Valley and became absorbed
into the Delawares. The descendants of those who were left at
Stockbridge are now assembled with some of the Munsees on a
reservation at Green Bay, Wis. They are truly the "last of the
Mohicans." Cooper's story of that name dealt with the earlier
period of their dispersal.
In the early days Douw's Point on the right bank, a few miles below
Albany, was the head of steamboat navigation. Passengers for Albany used
to transfer at this point to the stage. It was here that the "Half Moon"
reached its farthest point on its northward trip up the Hudson.
Theodore Roosevelt in his _History of New York_ says: "During the
"Half Moon's" inland voyage her course had lain through scenery
singularly wild, grand and lonely. She had passed the long line
of frowning battlemented rock walls that we know by the name of
the Palisades; she had threaded her way round the bends where the
curving river sweeps in and out among cold peaks--Storm King,
Crow's Nest, and their brethren; she had sailed in front of the
Catskill Mts., perhaps thus early in the season crowned with
shining snow. From her decks the lookouts scanned with their
watchful eyes dim shadowy wastes, stretching for countless
leagues on every hand; for all the land was shrouded in one vast
forest, where red hunters who had never seen a white face
followed wild beasts, upon whose kind no white man had ever
gazed."
In modern days the channel has been enlarged, deepened and protected by
concrete dykes, which are seen at intervals along the upper river, so
that the Hudson is now utilized for navigation as far as Troy. On the
left bank just above Parr's Island is the estuary of the Normans Kill,
which flows through the valley of Tawasentha, where, according to Indian
tradition, once lived the "mighty Hiawatha."
Hiawatha (the word means "he makes rivers") was a legendary
chief, about 1450, of the Onondaga Tribe of Indians. The
formation of the League of Five Nations, known as the Iroquois,
is attributed to him by Indian tradition. He was regarded as a
sort of divinity--the incarnation of human progress and
civilization. Longfellow's poem "Hiawatha" embodies the more
poetical ideas of Indian nature-worship. In this version of the
story, Hiawatha was the Son of Mudjekeewis (the West Wind) and
Wenonah, the daughter of Nakomis, who fell from the moon.
142 M. RENSSELAER, Pop, 10,823. (Train 51 passes 11:30a; No. 3, 12:02p;
No. 41, 4:12p; No. 25, 5:44p; No. 19, 8:53p. Eastbound: No. 6 passes
6:00a; No. 26, 6:32a; No. 16, 12:27p; No. 22, 2:07p.)
Rensselaer, originally called Greenbush, lies directly across from
Albany. It was first settled in 1631 and the site formed part of a large
tract of land bought from the Indians by agents of Killiaen Van
Rensselaer. On the lower edge of the town Ft. Cralo,* built in 1642 for
protection against the Indians, still stands; the fort has a special
interest in being connected with the origin of Yankee Doodle.
Some writers claim that Cralo is the oldest fort still preserved
in the U.S. Its white oak beams are said to be 18 inches square;
its walls are 2 to 3 ft. thick, and some of the old portholes
still remain. According to tradition there were once secret
passages connecting the fort with the river. About 1770, during
the French and Indian Wars, Maj. James Abercrombie had his
headquarters here.
Yankee Doodle is said to have been composed at the fort by Dr.
Schuckburgh, a British surgeon, as a satire on the provincial
troops, who did not show to advantage among the smartly dressed
British soldiers. The Yankees, however, adopted the words and the
tune, and less than 20 years later the captured soldiers of
Burgoyne marched behind the lines of the victorious Continentals
to the same melody.
[Illustration: Albany from Van Rensselaer Island in 1831]
ALBANY TO SYRACUSE
142 M. ALBANY, Pop. 113,344. (Train 51 passes 11:32a; No, 3, 12:05p; No.
41, 4:15p; No. 25, 5:46p; No. 19, 8:55p. Eastbound: No. 6 passes 5:58a;
No. 26,6:30a; No. 16, 12:25p; No. 22, 2:05p.)
Across the river from Rensselaer on sharply mounting hills is the city
of Albany. We cross the river by a suspension bridge, passing over
Rensselaer Island and seeing ahead of us the handsome new freight houses
of the D. & H.R.R., and to right and left the boats of the Hudson River
Steamship lines lying against the wharves. Once over the bridge the
tracks swerve to the right, and soon lead into the Union Station.
Almost under the shadow of the present Capitol, on a meadow to the
north, Ft. Orange was built in 1624, when 18 families of Dutch Walloons
selected this site for a permanent settlement in the New World. The
history of Albany, however is usually dated from ten years earlier when
Dutch traders built Ft. Nassau on Castle Island, the present Rensselaer
Island.
According to some writers a temporary trading post was
established here by the French as early as 1540--80 years before
the Pilgrims landed at Plymouth. But it is on the date 1614 that
Albany lays claim to being the second oldest settlement in the
colonies, Jamestown, founded in 1607 by Capt. John Smith and
Christopher Newport, being the first. It is interesting to note
that the Pilgrim Fathers narrowly missed making a settlement
somewhere along the Hudson River. William Bradford, second
governor of the Plymouth colony, tells in his history, how, at
one point in the _Mayflower's_ voyage, they determined "to find
some place about Hudson's river for their habitation." But, after
sailing half a day, "they fell amongst dangerous shoulds and
roving breakers," and so decided to bear up again for Cape Cod.
During the early days Albany held high rank among American settlements.
As a center of trade and civilization it rivalled Jamestown, Manhattan
and Quebec. In 1618 the Dutch negotiated here the first treaty with the
Iroquois, which tended to preserve friendly relations with the Indians
for more than a century to come.
The territory of the Iroquois, or Six Nations, the most
celebrated of Indian confederations, extended from Albany to
Buffalo, that is, over just the country through which the New
York Central runs. The name is that given to them by the French
and is said to be formed of two ceremonial words constantly used
by the tribesmen meaning "real adders." The league was originally
composed of five tribes or nations--the Mohawks, Oneidas,
Onondagas, Senecas and Cayugas. The confederation probably took
place about 1580. In 1722 the Tuscaroras were admitted, the
league then being called that of the Six Nations. Without
realizing the far-reaching effect of his action, Samuel D.
Champlain (1567-1635), the French explorer, probably changed the
entire course of history by joining the Algonquins and Hurons in
an attack in 1608 on the Iroquois near the present town of
Ticonderoga. The Iroquois never forgave the French for the part
they played in this battle and naturally turned first to the
Dutch and then to the English for allies. "Thus did New France,"
says Parkman, "rush into collision with the redoubted warriors of
the Five Nations. Here was the beginning, and in some measure
doubtless the cause, of a long series of murderous conflicts,
bearing havoc and flame to generations yet unborn." Parkman
estimates that in the period after the Tuscaroras joined the
Iroquois, the Six Nations had a population of about 12,000 with
not more than 2,150 fighting men. It is a matter of some surprise
that so small a fighting force could wield so great a power in
the early days. But Theodore Roosevelt, in speaking of the
Indians as warriors, says: "On their own ground they were far
more formidable than the best European troops. It is to this day
doubtful whether the superb British regulars at Braddock's battle
or the Highlanders at Grant's defeat a few years later, were able
to so much as kill one Indian for every hundred of their own men
who fell." Although up to that time they had been loyal friends
of the colonists, in the War of Independence the Iroquois fought
on the English side, and by repeated battles their power was
nearly destroyed. From very early times a silver "covenant chain"
was used as a symbol of their treaties with the Whites, and each
time a new treaty was signed the covenant chain was renewed or
reburnished. There are perhaps 17,000 descendants of the Iroquois
now living in reservations in New York State, Oklahoma, Wisconsin
and Canada.
[Illustration: Stephen Van Rensselaer
Stephen Van Rensselaer was the eighth patroon and fifth in
descent from Killiaen, the first lord of the Manor. He was
lieutenant governor of N.Y., an ardent promoter of the Erie
Canal, a major general in the War of 1812 (during which he was
defeated in the Battle of Queenstown Heights), and represented
N.Y. in Congress from 1822 to 1829. In 1824 he founded a school
in Troy, which was incorporated two years later as the Rensselaer
Polytechnic institute.]
In 1629 the Dutch government granted to Killiaen van Rensselaer, an
Amsterdam diamond merchant, a tract of land, 24 Sq. M., centering at
Ft. Orange, over which he was given the feudal powers of a patroon.
The patroons, under the Dutch r['e]gime, were members of the Dutch
West India Co., who received large grants of land, called Manors,
in New Netherlands. These grants carried with them semifeudal
rights, and the patroon could exercise practically autocratic
powers in his domain. The first of the patroons, Killiaen van
Rensselaer (1580-1645), never came to this country, but he sent
over numerous settlers as tenants. The Manor was called
Rensselaerswyck, and comprised all of the present counties of
Albany and Rensselaer, and part of Columbia.
This was the first manorial grant in New Netherlands and was destined to
endure the longest. The colonists sent to this country by van Rensselaer
were industrious and the town prospered, although in 1644, it was
described by Father Jogues, a Jesuit priest, as "a miserable little fort
called Fort Orange, built of logs, with four or five pieces of Breteuil
cannon and as many swivels; and some 25 or 30 houses built of boards,
and having thatched roofs." On account of its favorable commercial and
strategic position at the head of navigation on the Hudson and at the
gateway of the Iroquois country and the far west, it maintained its
importance among colonial settlements for a century and a half. Its
early name, Beverwyck, was changed to Albany--one of the titles of the
Duke of York, afterwards James II.--when New Netherlands was transferred
to the English (1644). Albany was granted a charter in 1686, and the
first mayor (appointed by Gov. Dongan) was Peter Schuyler, who was
likewise chairman of the Board of Indian Commissioners.
Peter Schuyler (1657-1724) was a son of Philip Pieterse Schuyler
(d. 1683), who migrated from Amsterdam in 1650. The family was
one of the wealthiest and most influential in the colony, and it
was closely related by marriage to the van Rensselaers, the van
Cortlandts and other representatives of the old Dutch
aristocracy.
Representatives of Mass., R.I., N.H., Conn., N.Y., Pa., and Md., met in
Albany in June, 1754, for the purpose of confirming and establishing a
close league of friendship with the Iroquois and of arranging for a
permanent union of the colonies. This was the first important effort to
bring about a Colonial confederation.
The Indian affairs having been satisfactorily adjusted, the
convention, after considerable debate, in which Benjamin
Franklin, Stephen Hopkins and Thomas Hutchinson took a leading
part, adopted a plan for a union of the colonies on the basis of
a scheme submitted by Franklin. This plan provided for a
representative governing body to be known as the Grand Council,
to which each colony should elect delegates for a term of three
years. Neither the British government nor the growing party in
the Colonies which was clamoring for colonial rights received
the plan with favor--the former holding that it gave the colonies
too much independence and the latter that it gave them too
little.
At about this time a Swedish naturalist, Peter Kalm, visiting Albany,
reported that "there is not a place in all the British colonies, the
Hudson Bay settlement excepted, where such quantities of furs and skins
are bought of the Indians as at Albany." Most of the houses at this time
were built of brick and stood with gable ends to the street; each house
had a garden and a _stoep_, where the family were accustomed to sit
summer evenings, the burgher with his pipe and his "vrouw" with her
knitting. Well-to-do families owned slaves, but according to Mrs. Anne
Grant, an English writer of the day who spent part of her childhood in
Albany, "it was slavery softened into a smile."
[Illustration: North Pearl St., Albany (About 1780) Looking
North from State St. to Maiden Lane
(_From an old French print in the N.Y. Public Library_)
In the left foreground is the south end of the Livingston house.
Just beyond, with two high gables facing the street, is the
Vanderheyden Palace, erected 1725. The square building at the
rear, corner of Maiden Lane, is the residence of Dr. Hunloke
Woodruff. In the right foreground (on the corner) is the Lydius
House, erected in 1657.]
It was here that the English from all the colonies, before and during
the French and Indian wars met to consult with the Indians and make
treaties with them. It was the gathering place of armies where troops
from all the colonies assembled and the objective of hostile French
forces and their Indian allies on several occasions, yet was never taken
by an enemy and never saw an armed foe. Even during the Revolutionary
War, when its strategic importance was fully recognized by both armies,
it remained immune, though at one time the objective against which
Burgoyne's unsuccessful expedition was directed.
In 1777 the English general, John Burgoyne (1722-1792), was
placed at the head of British and Hessian forces gathered for the
invasion of the Colonies from Canada and the cutting off of New
England from the rest of the Colonies. He gained possession of
Ticonderoga and Ft. Edward; but pushing on, was cut off from his
communications with Canada and hemmed in by a superior force at
Saratoga Springs, 30 M. north of Albany. On the 17th of Oct. his
troops, about 3,500 in number, laid down their arms, surrendering
to Gen. Horatio Gates. This success was the greatest the
colonists had yet achieved and proved the turning-point in the war.
In 1797 Albany became the permanent state capital. The election of
Martin Van Buren as governor in 1828 marked the beginning of the long
ascendancy in the state of the "Albany Regency," a political coterie of
Democrats in which Van Buren, W.L. Marcy, Benjamin Franklin Butler and
Silas Wright were among the leaders.
Thurlow Weed (1797-1882), the bitterest enemy of this coterie,
and the man who gave them their name, declared of them that he
"had never known a body of men who possessed so much power and
used it so well." Until the election of William H. Seward (the
Whig candidate) as governor in 1838, New York had usually been
Democratic, largely through the predominating influence of Van
Buren and the "Regency." Weed had an important share in bringing
about their defeat. He owed his early political advancement to
the introduction into state politics of the Anti-Masonic issue;
for a time he edited the _Anti-Masonic Enquirer_. In 1830 he
established and became editor of the Albany _Evening Journal_,
which he controlled for thirty-five years.
The anti-rent war, precipitated by the death of Stephen van Rensselaer
(1764-1839), the "last of the patroons," centered about Albany. The
final settlement of this outbreak, which began with rioting and murder,
and ended with the election of a governor favorable to the tenants
(1846), disposed of feudal privilege in New York State which had
flourished here until well into the 19th century, though it had
disappeared elsewhere.
The anti-rent agitation began in the Hudson River counties during
the first administration of Gov. Seward (1839). The greater part
of the land in this section was comprised in vast estates such as
the Rensselaerswyck, Livingston, Scarsdale, Philipse, Pelham and
Van Cortlandt manors, and on these the leasehold system, with
perpetual leases, and leases for 99 years (or the equivalent),
had become general. Besides rents, many of the tenants were
required to render certain services to the proprietor, and in
case a tenant sold his interest in a farm to some one else he was
required to pay the proprietor one-tenth to one-third of the
amount received, as an alienation fee.
Stephen van Rensselaer had permitted his rents, especially those
from poorer tenants, to fall much in arrears, and the effort of
his heirs to collect them--they amounted to about $200,000--was
met with armed opposition. In Rensselaer county a man was
murdered, and Gov. Seward was forced to call out the militia. The
tenants, however, formed anti-rent associations in all the
affected counties, and in 1844 began a reign of terror, in which,
disguised as Indians, they resorted to flogging, tarring and
feathering, and boycotting, as weapons against all who dealt with
the landlords. This culminated in the murder of a deputy sheriff
in Delaware county. In 1846 the anti-rent associations secured
the election of Gov. John Young as well as several legislators
favorable to their cause, and promoted the adoption of a new
constitution abolishing feudal tenures and limiting future
agricultural leases to twelve years. Under the pressure of public
opinion the great landlords rapidly sold their farms.
Stephen van Rensselaer was the 8th patroon and 5th in descent
from Killiaen, the first lord of the manor. He was
lieutenant-governor of New York, an ardent promoter of the Erie
canal, a major-general in the War of 1812 (during which he was
defeated at the battle of Queenstown Heights) and represented New
York in congress from 1822 to 1829. In 1824 he founded a school
in Troy which was incorporated two years later as the Rensselaer
Polytechnic Institute.
[Illustration: Ancient Dutch Church, Albany (1714)
(_From an old print in the N.Y. Public Library_)
This church, built of bricks brought from Holland, stood for about
92 years in the open area formed by the angle of State, Market and
Court streets. It was erected in less than four weeks. The early
Dutch felt that without the church they could not hope to prosper.
The old church was of Gothic style, one story high, and the glass
of its antique windows was richly ornamented with coats of arms.
In 1806 the church was taken down and its brick employed in the
erection of the South Dutch Church, between Hudson and Beaver
streets, which in turn was later replaced by a newer structure.]
Comparatively few ancient landmarks remain in Albany, though there are
some fine specimens of the Dutch and later colonial architecture still
standing. Of these the best known is the Schuyler mansion,* built by
Gen. Philip Schuyler, in 1760, which, after serving for many years as an
orphan asylum, was recently purchased by the state and converted into a
museum.
Having served in the French and Indian wars, Philip Schuyler
(1733-1804) was chosen one of the four major-generals in the
Continental service at the outbreak of the Revolutionary War and
was placed in command of the northern department of New York with
headquarters at Albany. The necessary withdrawal of the army from
Crown Point in 1776 and the evacuation of Ticonderoga in 1777
were magnified by his enemies into a disgraceful retreat, and he
was tried by court martial but acquitted on every charge. He was
a delegate from N.Y. to the Continental Congress in 1779, and
later joined his son-in-law, Alexander Hamilton, John Jay and
others in the movement for the ratification by New York of the
Federal constitution. In 1790 he was elected to the U.S. senate.
"For bravery and generosity" says John Fiske, "he was like the
paladin of some mediaeval romance."
The Van Rensselaer manor-house, built in 1765, was pulled down in 1893
and reconstructed on the campus of Williams College, Williamstown,
Mass., where it forms the Sigma Phi fraternity house. In the Albany
Academy, built in 1813 by Philip Hooker, architect of the old State
Capitol, Prof. Joseph Henry demonstrated (1831) the theory of the
magnetic telegraph by ringing an electric bell at the end of a mile of
wire strung around the room. Bret Harte, the writer, was born in 1839 in
Albany, where his father was teacher of Greek in the Albany College, a
small seminary.
Bret Harte lived in Albany until his 17th year. In 1896, lured by
the gold rush, he left for California with his mother, then a
widow. Once there, the rough but fascinating chaos engulfed him,
and from it, at first hand, he drew the stage
properties--Spaniards, Greasers, gambling houses--the humor, sin
and chivalry of the '49--which color all his stories. After some
little journalism and clerking, he was made secretary to the
Supt. of the Mint, a position which was not too exacting to allow
a great deal of leisure for writing. Later he returned to the
East with his family, made his home in N.Y.C. and gave all his
time to authorship. Apparently his success somewhat turned his
head. He lived beyond his means, passing his summers at Newport,
Lenox and other expensive places, until his unbusinesslike habits
and chronic indebtedness became notorious. In 1878 he accepted a
consulate at Crefeld, Prussia. He spent the rest of his life
abroad and died in England in 1902.
Modern buildings of interest include the City Hall,* a beautiful French
Gothic building; the State Educational Building, with its valuable
library; the Albany Institute, with its art galleries; the Cathedral of
the Immaculate Conception, built of brownstone, with spires 210 ft.
high; the Cathedral of All Saints, a fine specimen of Gothic
architecture, said to be the first regularly organized Protestant
Episcopal cathedral erected in the United States (1883), St. Peter's
Church, and, most important, the State Capitol.*
[Illustration: The First Passenger Train in N.Y. State
Leaving Schenectady for Albany, July 30, 1831
On its first trip this train, now preserved on the right balcony
of the Grand Central Terminal, attained a speed of nine miles an
hour. The route between Albany and Schenectady was practically
identical with that of the present New York Central lines.]
The Capitol occupies a commanding position in Capitol Square. It
is built of white Maine granite, and cost about $25,000,000.
Millions were spent in alteration and reconstruction, due to the
use of inferior materials and to mistakes in engineering design.
The cornerstone was laid 1871, and the building was completed,
with the exception of the central tower, in 1904. The legislature
first met here in 1879. The original designs were by Thomas
Fuller, who also designed the parliamentary building at Ottawa,
but they were considerably altered. The beautiful Western
staircase of red sandstone (from plans by Isaac Gale Perry) and
the senate chamber (designed by H. H. Richardson) are the most
striking features of the building. The present capitol suffered a
heavy loss in the burning of its library in 1911, by which many
unreplaceable books and original documents were destroyed.
The city has 11 parks, comprising 402 acres; the most notable is
Washington Park, which contains two well known statues--one of Robert
Burns, by Charles Caverley, and the bronze and rock fountain, "Moses at
the Rock of Horeb," by J. Massey Rhind. The city's filtration system is
of special interest to engineers; it occupies 20 acres, has eight filter
beds, and filters 15,000,000 gallons of water daily.
Albany's key position with respect to New York, Boston and Buffalo
ensured its commercial development. The first passenger railroad in
America was operated between Albany and Schenectady.
The first train in the state, consisting of the locomotive "De
Witt Clinton," named for the seventh governor, and three coaches
(resembling early stage coaches), was built for the Mohawk and
Hudson Railroad Co., the original unit of the present New York
Central Lines, and was chartered in 1826 to run from Albany to
Schenectady--a distance of 16 M. The locomotive was constructed
at the West Point foundry and taken to Albany by boat. It had its
first trial on rails, July 30, 1831, burning anthracite coal and
attaining a speed of 7 M. an hour. After remodeling, it made the
trip from Albany to Schenectady in one hour and 45 minutes, using
pine wood for fuel. On Aug. 9, 1831, two trips were made, during
which a speed of 30 M. an hour was reached. The train ran on iron
"straps" nailed to wooden "stringers." As originally built the
locomotive weighed 6,758 pounds, which, in remodeling, was
increased to 9,420 pounds--less than the weight of one pair of
wheels of a modern locomotive. At a banquet on the occasion of
the formal opening of the line (Aug. 13, 1831), President
Camberling of the railroad gave the following toast: "The Buffalo
Railroad! May we soon breakfast at Utica, dine at Rochester, and
sup with our friends on Lake Erie." The original train is still
preserved and may be seen in the right balcony of the Grand
Central Station, N.Y.C.
The first steamboat in the United States made its initial trips between
N.Y. and Albany, and the first canal connected Albany with Buffalo.
The original Erie Canal was one of the greatest of early
engineering projects in America, and its importance in the
development of N.Y. State, and of the country to the west, can
hardly be overestimated. Construction was begun in 1817, under a
commission including Gouverneur Morris, De Witt Clinton, Robert
Fulton, and Robert R. Livingston, and in 1825 the main channel,
363 miles in length, was opened between Albany and Buffalo, the
total cost being $7,143,790. Three branches were added later. At
the close of 1882, when tolls were abolished, the total revenues
derived from the canal had been $121,461,871, while expenditures
had amounted to $78,862,154. Various factors, including the
competition of the railroads, caused a considerable decline in
canal traffic in the last quarter of a century. The old canal was
a ditch following the line of the Mohawk and other rivers and
creeks. The new barge canal system has four branches, the Erie,
from Albany to Buffalo; the Champlain, from Albany to Lake
Champlain the Oswego, which starts north midway on the line of
the Erie Canal and reaches Lake Ontario, and the Cayuga and
Seneca, which leaves the Erie canal a little to the west of the
Oswego junction and extends south, first to Cayuga Lake and then
to Seneca Lake. The new canal system was first intended for 1,000
ton barges, but its capacity has been made much larger. Various
sections of the improved canal were completed between 1916 and
1918, and the total cost has been about $150,000,000.
Within 35 years Albany has increased fivefold in size, and is today the
intersecting point of the principal water routes of the Eastern States,
for besides being near the head of navigation for large steamers on the
Hudson, it is virtually the terminus of the N.Y. State barge canal. It
is also the key point in the transportation system of the state, for
here the B. & A. and the D. & H. railroads meet the New York Central, so
that one can take train for Buffalo and Chicago, the Thousand Islands,
the Adirondacks, Saratoga, Lakes George and Champlain, Montreal, Vermont
and the Green Mts., the Berkshires, and Boston. It is the second largest
express and third largest mail transfer point in the United States. The
forests of the Adirondacks and of Canada have made it a great lumber
post. Its manufactures have an annual value of $30,000,000 or more; they
include iron goods, stoves, wood and brass products, carriages and
wagons, brick and tile, shirts, collars and cuffs, clothing and knit
goods, shoes, flour, tobacco, cigars, billiard balls, dominoes and
checkers.
Leaving Albany, we follow closely the path of the old Iroquois Trail,
which was in early days, as now, the chief highway to the Great Lakes.
The Indian trail began at Albany and led directly across the
country to Schenectady; from this point to Rome there were two
trails, one on either side of the Mohawk. That on the south side
had the most travel as it led through three Mohawk "castles" or
villages, one at the mouth of the Schoharie Creek, one at
Canajoharie, and the third at the town of Danube, opposite the
mouth of East Canada Creek. Farther on, the trail passed through
the present towns of Fort Plain, Utica and Whitesboro. The trail
on the north bank led through Tribes Hill, Johnstown, Fonda and
Little Falls, where it united with the main traveled route.
At West Albany are extensive shops of the New York Central Lines.
When working full capacity about 1,400 men are employed here. The
machines are all of modern design and electrically driven. There
are large freight yards having a trackage of nearly 100 M. The
passenger car shops include two great buildings which are used
for making general repairs and one for construction of steel
equipment. One of the repair buildings is 42 ft. by 200 ft. and
has a track capacity of 100 cars, and the other, 400 ft. by 80
ft., a capacity of 180 cars. There are two enormous paint shops,
a blacksmith shop, where numerous forgings are made for other
departments, a woodmill, a machine-shop with a floor space of
13,000 sq. ft., and cabinet, upholstering, brass and plating
shops. The truck shop covers 1,800 sq. ft., and is used for
building and general repairs of trucks of wood, built-up steel,
and cast-iron. From the tin and pipe shop is supplied all the
light metal ware needed by the railroad.
[Illustration: 1831-1921
Showing the dimensions of the first equipment of the present New
York Central Lines--the DeWitt Clinton and three coaches--in
comparison with the modern locomotive used to draw the Twentieth
Century and other fast trains.]
159 M. SCHENECTADY, Pop. 88,723. (Train 51 passes 11:57a; No. 3, 12:47p;
No. 41, 4:57p; No. 25, 6:12p; No. 19, 9:32p. Eastbound: No. 6 passes
5:24a; No. 26, 5:56a; No. 16, 11:35a; No. 22, 1:24p.)
At this point we first enter the historic Mohawk Valley, and on this
site, according to tradition, once stood the chief village of the Mohawk
Indians.
The Mohawk River rises in Lewis County (northwestern N.Y.), flows
south to Rome, then east to the Hudson River which it enters at
Cohoes. It is 160 miles long. There are rapids and falls at
Little Falls and Oriskany which have been utilized to develop
electric power. The Mohawk valley is noted for its beauty and the
fertility of its soil. The name Mohawk is probably derived from
an Indian word meaning "man-eaters"; but the Mohawks' own name
for their tribe was Kaniengehaga, "people of the flint." They
lived in the region bounded on the north by the Lake of Corlear,
on the east by the Falls of Cohoes, on the south by the sources
of the Susquehanna, and on the west by the country of the
Oneidas. The dividing line between the Mohawk and Oneida tribes
passed through the present town of Utica. The Mohawks had the
reputation of being the bravest of the Iroquois; they furnished
the war chief for the Six Nations and exercised the right to
collect tribute in the form of wampum from the Long Island tribes
and to extend their conquests along the sea coast. The tribes,
along both banks of the Hudson River, it is said, shrank before
their war cry. In the War of Independence they fought with the
English, and finally took refuge in Canada, where most of them
have remained.
The first settlement at Schenectady was made in 1642 by Arendt Van
Corlear and a band of immigrants who had become dissatisfied with
conditions on the Manor of Rennselaerwyck where Corlear was manager of
the estates of his cousin, Killiaen van Rennselaer.
Van Corlear had emigrated to America about 1630 and while manager
of Rennselaerwyck he earned the confidence of the Indians, among
whom "Corlear" became a generic term for the English governors
and especially the governors of N.Y. The name Kora, derived from
the same source, is said to be used even today by surviving
Iroquois in Canada to designate the English king.
To each of the 15 original proprietors, except Van Corlear who was to
receive a double portion, was assigned a village lot of 200 sq. ft., a
tract of bottom land for farming purposes, a strip of woodland, and
common pasture rights. Many of the early settlers were well-to-do and
brought their slaves with them, and for many years the settlement,
originally known as Dorp, was reputed the richest in the colony.
Schenectady was spelled in a great variety of ways in the early records.
Its Indian equivalent signified "Back Door" of the Long House--the
territory occupied by the Six Nations.
In an early map (1655) the name appears as Scanacthade. As late
as 1700 the spelling was still uncertain, as the following
minutes from the record of the common council of September 3, of
that year show: "The Church wardens of Shinnechtady doe make
application that two persons be appointed to go around among the
inhabitants of the City to see if they can obtain any
Contributions to make up ye Sellary due their minister." Other
ways of spelling the name were Schanechtade and Schoneghterdie.
In 1690 the young village received a setback which very nearly brought
its early history to an end; on Feb. 9 of that year, the French and
Indians surprised and burned the village, massacred 60 of the
inhabitants and carried 30 into captivity.
An old tradition says that an Indian squaw had been sent to warn
the inhabitants, under cover of selling brooms. In the afternoon
of Feb. 8, 1690, Dominic Tassomacher was being entertained with
chocolate at the home of a charming widow of his parish when the
squaw entered to deliver her message. The widow became indignant
at the sight of snow on her newly scrubbed floor, and rebuked her
unexpected guest. The Indian woman replied angrily, "It shall be
soiled enough before to-morrow," and left the house. The massacre
occurred that night.
Schenectady was rebuilt in the following years, but an outlying
settlement was again the scene of a murderous French and Indian attack
in 1748. In the land along the river, the old part of the town, Indian
skulls and arrow heads are still found.
English settlers arrived in considerable numbers about 1700. About 1774
a number of Shaker settlements were made in the lower Mohawk valley.
The Shakers, a celibate and communistic sect--officially the
United Society of Believers in Christ's Second
Appearance--received their common name from the fact that
originally they writhed and trembled in seeking to free "the soul
from the power of sin and a worldly life." They had trances and
visions, and there was much jumping and dancing. The founder of
the sect was Mother Ann Lee (1736-1784) of Manchester, England,
who came to N.Y. with a number of relatives in 1774 and bought
land in the lower Mohawk Valley. The first Shaker settlement was
at Watervliet, not far from Troy. The settlers established a
communistic organization with branches in Mass., and Conn. As a
matter of practice they do not forbid marriage, but refuse to
recognize it; they consider there are four virtues: virgin
purity, Christian communism, confession of sin, and separation
from the world. The women wear uniform costumes and the men have
long hair. The sect is diminishing. There are now less than 1,000
members in 17 societies in Mass., N.H., Maine, Conn., and Ohio,
though at its most flourishing period it had nearly 5,000.
Schenectady was chartered as a borough in 1765 and as a city in 1798,
and from that period date many quaint examples of colonial architecture.
In Scotia, a suburb to the northwest of the city, still stands the
Glen-Sanders mansion (built 1713) described as "a veritable museum of
antiquity, furnished from cellar to garret with strongly built, elegant
furniture, two centuries old." Descendants of the original owners are
still living there. A fine specimen of Dutch architecture is the
so-called Abraham Yates house (1710) at No. 109 Union Street. The
Christopher Yates house at No. 26 Front Street was the birth place of
Joseph C. Yates, first mayor of Utica (1788) and governor of the state
in 1823. Governor Yates afterwards lived, until his death, in the large
colonial house at No. 17 Front Street. The old "depot" of the Mohawk &
Hudson Railroad, the first steam passenger railway in America now
incorporated with the New York Central, is still standing in Crane
Street.
Schenectady is the seat of Union College, which grew out of the
Schenectady Academy (established in 1784) and many of the buildings
dating back to the early 19th century are still in excellent
preservation. They were designed by a French architect, Jacques Ram['e],
and the original plans are still in the Louvre, in Paris. At one of the
entrances to the college on Union Street is the Payne Gate, built as a
memorial to John Howard Payne (1791-1852), author of "Home, Sweet
Home," who was at one time a student at Union College The college
comprises the academic and engineering departments of Union University.
The other departments of the university--medicine, law, and pharmacy, as
well as the Dudley observatory--are at Albany.
Up to the time of the building of the Erie Canal, Schenectady had been
an important depot of the Mohawk River boat trade to the westward, but
after the completion of the canal it suffered a decline. The modern
manufacturing era, beginning about 1880, brought Schenectady growth and
prosperity. To-day the city can boast that its products "light and haul
the world." As we enter the town we pass on the left the main
establishment of the General Electric Co., the largest electrical
manufacturing plant in the world, with 200 buildings and 26,000
employees.
In the years before 1886 Schenectady had been suffering from a
long period of stagnation. In that year an official of the Edison
Machine Works of N.Y.C. happened to pass through Schenectady and
noticed two empty factories, the former Jones Car Works. The
Edison Company had been established in N.Y.C. about 1882 by
Thomas A. Edison, and it was now looking for an opportunity to
remove elsewhere. Accordingly Schenectady was chosen, and in 1892
the Edison Co.--which had been renamed the Edison General
Electric Co.--and the Thompson Houston Electric Co. of Lynn,
Mass., were consolidated and formed the General Electric Co. The
main plant was at Schenectady, but other plants were retained at
Lynn, Mass., and Harrison, N.J. The early electrical apparatus
was crude and the output of the factory was small, but this
consolidation marked the beginning of a world-wide business. In
1893, the book value of the General Electric Co. factory was less
than $4,000,000. Since then the company has spent more than
$150,000,000 improving and enlarging its plant. Branch factories
are now maintained at Lynn, Pittsville, and East Boston, Mass.;
Harrison and Newark, N.J.; Erie, Pa.; Fort Wayne, Ind.; Toledo
and Cleveland, Ohio. At Schenectady one may see the latest
development in practically every variety of electrical apparatus.
There are in the General Electric plant individual factories
devoted to generators, motors, turbines, transformers,
switchboards, rheostats, wire and cable, and searchlights, as
well as pattern shops, machine shops, brass and iron foundries,
and testing, shipping and power stations. The company pays
considerable attention to welfare work among its employees and
free instruction in electrical engineering is given on a large
scale.
The American Locomotive Co., which likewise has a factory here, with
5,000 employees, turns out some of the largest and fastest locomotives
produced in America or abroad. During the last 35 years Schenectady has
become one of the greatest industrial centers in the United States; its
total annual output has a value of nearly $100,000,000, the output of
the General Electric Co, alone being about $75,000,000.
[Illustration: "Dr. Watson's Electrical Machine"
In 1768, when this picture, reproduced here from the First Edition
of the Encyclopaedia Britannica, was published, only the most
elementary principles of electricity had been discovered. Benjamin
Franklin's discovery, made with the aid of a kite, that lightning
is an electrical phenomenon, was the greatest advance in
electrical science up to that time. "Electrical machines," such as
that shown, were, designed to produce frictional or "static"
electricity, of which the quantity is usually small, and is
therefore now produced chiefly for laboratory experiments. When
the wheel at the left was turned sufficient electricity was
generated to cause a spark to jump between the two hands at the
right. This machine paved the way for the invention of the dynamo
electric machines for which Schenectady is world famous.]
We now cross the Mohawk River, and Erie Canal, and our route ascends the
valley of the Mohawk as far as Rome. To the south the Catskill Mts. are
visible in the distance, and the outline of the Adirondack Mts. can be
faintly seen to the north.
This beautiful group of mountains was once covered, all but the
highest peaks, by the Laurentian glacier, whose erosion, while
perhaps having little effect on the large features of the region,
has greatly modified it in detail, producing lakes and ponds to
the number of more than 1,300 and causing many falls and rapids
in the streams. In the Adirondacks are some of the best hunting
and fishing grounds in the United States, which are so carefully
preserved that there are quantities of deer and small game in the
woods, and black bass and trout in the lakes. Some 3,000,000
acres are preserved. The scenery is wonderfully fine and the air
so clear that many sanatoriums have been established for
tuberculosis patients.
175 M. AMSTERDAM, Pop. 33,524. (Train 51 passes 12:15p; No. 3, 1:12p;
No. 41, 5:20p; No. 25, 6:30p; No. 19, 9:52p. Eastbound: No. 6 passes
5:07a; No. 26, 5:39a; No. 16, 11:10a; No. 22, 1:03p.)
[Illustration: Sir William Johnson (1715-1774)
Sir William was a remarkable figure in early N.Y. history. He is
said to have been the father of 100 children, chiefly by native
mothers, either young squaws or wives of Indians who thought it an
honor to surrender them to the king's agent. According to an early
historian, the Indians of the Six Nations "carried their
hospitality so far as to allow distinguished strangers the choice
of a young squaw from among the prettiest of the neighborhood, as
a companion during his sojourn with them."]
Amsterdam was settled about 1775 and was called Veedersburg until 1804
when its present name was adopted. It was for some time the home of
Elisha Arnold, father of Benedict Arnold, but the latter was born in
Norwich, Conn. (Jan. 14, 1741.) The so-called Guy Park Mansion built in
1763, by Guy Johnson, nephew of Sir William Johnson is still used as a
private residence. Today Amsterdam ranks as the first city in the United
States in the manufacture of carpets and second in the manufacturing of
hosiery and knit goods. It has one of the largest pearl button factories
in the country; other products are brushes, brooms, silk gloves, paper
boxes, electrical supplies, dyeing machines, cigars, wagon and
automobile springs; the total value of the output being about
$30,000,000 annually.
178 M. FORT JOHNSON, Pop. 680. (Train 51 passes 12:18p; No. 3, 1:15p;
No. 41, 5:23p; No. 25, 6:33p; No. 19, 9:56p. Eastbound: No. 6 passes
5:03a; No. 26, 5:36a; No. 16, 11:03a; No. 22, 12:59p.)
This village is named for the house* and fort erected here in 1742, by
Sir William Johnson, one of the most remarkable of the early pioneers.
Sir William Johnson (1715-1774) distinguished himself not only
for the prosperous settlements which he built up along the valley
of the Mohawk, but also for his military ability and his
remarkable influence with the Iroquois Indians. Born in Ireland,
he came to America in 1738 for the purpose of managing a tract of
land in this valley belonging to his uncle, Admiral Sir Peter
Warren. The fort which he built on the site of the present
village bearing his name soon became the center of trade with the
Indians, and likewise a strategic point for Johnson's military
ventures. The Mohawks adopted him and elected him a sachem. He
was at various times superintendent of the affairs of the Six
Nations, commissary of the province for Indian affairs, and
major-general in the British army. As a commanding officer he
directed the expedition against Crown Point (1755) and in
September of that year defeated the French and Indians, at the
battle of Lake George. For his success he received the thanks of
parliament and was created a baronet. He took part in a number of
other expeditions against the French and Indians, and as a reward
for his services the king granted him a tract of 100,000 acres of
land north of the Mohawk River. It was in a great measure due to
his influence that the Iroquois remained faithful to the cause of
the colonies up to the time of the Revolutionary War. In 1739
Johnson married Catherine Wisenberg, by whom he had three
children. After her death he had various mistresses, including a
niece of the Indian chief Hendrick, and Molly Brant, a sister of
the famous chief, Joseph Brant. It is said that he was the father
of 100 children in all. After the French and Indian War he
retired to the present Johnstown.
[Illustration: Joseph Brant, "Thayendanegea" (1742-1807)
(_From original painting by Romney in collection of Earl of
Warwick_)
Chief Thayendanegea (Joseph Brant) of the Mohawk tribe was an
unusual character, combining the savage traits of an Indian
Warrior and the more civilized qualities of a politician and
diplomat. Born on the banks of the Ohio River, he was sent to an
Indian charity school (now Dartmouth College) at Lebanon, Conn.,
by Sir William Johnson. He fought with the English in the French
and Indian War and with the Iroquois against Pontiac in 1763.
Subsequently he became a devout churchman and settled at
Canajoharie or Upper Mohawk castle, where he devoted himself to
missionary work and translated the Prayer Book and St. Mark's
Gospel into the Mohawk tongue. In the Revolutionary War he led the
Mohawks and other Indians friendly to the British against the
settlements on the N.Y. frontier, even taking part, despite his
religion, in the Cherry Valley Massacre. After the war he aided
the U.S. in securing treaties of peace with the Miamis and other
western tribes. Subsequently he went to Canada as a missionary,
and in 1786 visited England, where he raised funds with which was
erected the first Episcopal Church in Upper Canada. Brant sat for
his picture several times in England, once in 1776, at the request
of Boswell (the author of the "Life of Johnson"), and during the
same visit for the Romney portrait, at Warwick's request. In 1786
he was painted for the Duke of Northumberland and for a miniature
to present to his daughter.]
After 1763 the fort was occupied by his son Sir John, who, during the
War of Independence organized a loyalist regiment known as the "Queen's
Royal Greens," which he led at the battle of Oriskany, and in raids on
Cherry Valley (1778-1780) and on the Mohawk Valley. The house, once used
as a fort, is described by an early writer thus: "Col. Johnson's mansion
is situated on the border of the north bank of the River Moack. It is
three stories high (two with an attic) built of stone, with port-holes
and a parapet, and flanked with four bastions on which are some small
guns. In the yard, on both sides of the mansion, are two small houses;
that on the right of the entrance is a store, and that on the left is
designed for workmen, negroes and other domestics. The yard gate is a
heavy swing-gate, well ironed; it is on the Moack River side; from this
gate to the river is about two hundred paces of level ground. The high
road passes there." The place, now somewhat remodeled, is owned by the
Montgomery County Historical Society and many curious historic relics
are on exhibition here. It is open to the public daily.
181 M. TRIBES HILL, Pop. 900. (Train 51 passes 12:21p; No. 3, 1:18p; No.
41, 5:27p; No. 25, 6:36p; No. 19, 10:00p. Eastbound: No. 6 passes 5:00a;
No. 26, 5:33a; No. 16, 11:00a; No. 22, 12:56p.)
Tribes Hill received its name from the fact that it was an old meeting
place of the Indians. Across the river, in the estuary at the junction
of Schoharie Creek with the Mohawk, once stood Ft. Hunter, which was the
lower Mohawk castle, the upper castle being at Canajoharie.
A contemporary description says: "Ft. Hunter, known by the
Indians as Ticonderoga, is one of the same form as that of
Canajoharie except that it is twice as large. It likewise has a
house at each corner. The cannon at each bastion are seven and
nine pounders. The pickets of this fort are higher than those at
Canajoharie There is a church or temple in the middle of the
fort, while in its inclosure are also some thirty cabins of
Mohawk Indians, which is their most considerable village. This
fort, like that of Canajoharie, has no ditch and has a large
swing-gate at the entrance. There are some houses outside, though
under the protection of the fort, in which the country people
seek shelter when an Indian or French war party is looked for."
About two miles farther at the little village of Auriesville on the left
side of the Mohawk, where the river is joined by Auries Creek, there is
a shrine (visible on the left from the train) marking the spot where
Father Jogues, a Jesuit Priest, was killed in 1646.
[Illustration: Father Isaac Jogues
Isaac Jogues (1607-1646), a French missionary, came to this
country to preach among the Hurons and Algonquins. In 1642 he was
captured by the Mohawks, who tortured him and kept him as a slave
until the following summer, when he escaped. Father Jogues
returned in 1646 to establish a mission among his former
tormentors. About this time a contagious disease broke out amongst
the Indians, and to make matters worse their crops failed. For
these misfortunes they blamed the French priest, tortured him as a
sorcerer and finally put him to death.]
186 M. FONDA, Pop. 747. (Train 51 passes 12:27p; No. 3, 1:25p; No. 41,
5:39p; No. 25, 6:42p; No. 19, 10:05p. Eastbound: No. 6 passes 4:55a; No.
26, 5.28; No. 16, 10:55a; No. 22, 12:51p.)
The town of Fonda was named for Jelles Fonda, said to have been the
first merchant west of Schenectady. Fonda established a prosperous store
here about 1760, and his old accounts (still preserved) disclose that he
had among his customers "Young Baron of the Hill," "Wide Mouth Jacob,"
"Young Moses," "Snuffers David," and the "Squinty Cayuga."
Following is a bill from Jelles Fonda's accounts:
Young Moses, Dr.
Sept. 20, 1762 L s. d.
To one French blanket 0 16 0
" one small blanket 0 12 0
" 4 Ells White linnen 0 8 0
" 1 pair Indian stockings 0 6 0
" 1 hat 0 8 0
" 1 pt. of rum and one dram 0 1 4
" 1 qt. rum 0 2 0
I leave in pledge two silver wrist-bands.
(In other words, the wrist-bands were put up as security for the debt.)
Six miles north of Fonda is Johnstown (Pop. 10,908) where Sir William
Johnson built his second residence (1762) now in the custody of the
Johnstown Historical Society. It is a fine old baronial mansion.
Sir William called this residence Johnson Hall and lived here
with all the state of an English country gentleman. He devoted
himself to colonizing his extensive lands and is said to have
been the first to introduce sheep and pedigreed horses into the
province.
Sir William also built the Fulton County Court House with its jail
(1772), used during the Revolutionary War as a civil and military
prison. A free school, probably the first in N.Y. State, was established
at Johnstown by Sir William Johnson in 1764 in his residence. In 1766 he
organized a Masonic Lodge, one of the oldest in the U.S. In 1781, during
the War of Independence, Col. Marinus Willett defeated here a force of
British and Indians. The city is one of the principal glove making
centers in the U.S. The total products are valued at about $3,000,000
annually. The manufacture of gloves in commercial quantities was
introduced into the U.S. at Johnstown in 1809 by Talmadge Edwards, who
was buried here in the Colonial Cemetery.
[Illustration: Old Ft. Van Rensselaer at Canajoharie (Built 1749)
This building had originally been the home of Martin Janse Van
Alstyn, and was so well built that it had withstood the attacks of
the Indians under Brant in 1780. It was therefore appropriated in
1781 by the American government, adopted as a fort, and placed under
the control of Col. Marinus Willet, a competent officer chosen by
Washington to handle the district in which Ft. Van Rensselaer and
Ft. Plain were the military headquarters. (Still standing.)]
197 M. CANAJOHARIE (Palatine Bridge), Pop. 2,415. (Train 51 passes
12:40p; No. 3, 1:39p; No. 41, 5:55p; No. 25, 7:43p; No. 19, 10:20p.
Eastbound: No. 6 passes 4:42a; No. 26, 5:45a; No. 16, 10:44a; No. 22
12:36p.)
Passing the villages of Yosts and Sprakers we arrive in the town of
Canajoharie, which in early days was the site of the upper Mohawk
castle.
The upper Mohawk castle, sometimes called Ft. Canajoharie, was
described by an early writer as consisting of "a square of 4
bastions of upright pickets joined with lintels 15 ft. high and
about 1 ft. square, with port-holes, and a stage all around to
fire from. The fort was 100 paces on each side, had small cannon
in its bastions, and houses to serve as a store and barracks.
Five or 6 families of Mohawks reside outside the pickets. From
Ft. Canajoharie to Ft. Hunter (the lower Mohawk castle) is about
twelve league, with a good carriage road along the bank of the
river."
In 1749 a fortified dwelling was built here known as Ft. Rensselaer,
which was utilized as a place of defence during the Revolutionary War.
Canajoharie was the home of the famous Indian leader, Joseph Brant.
On the left, a little beyond Palatine Bridge, can be seen the red brick
Herkimer mansion, near which a monument has been erected to Nicholas
Herkimer, who died in 1777 from wounds received at Oriskany. We pass the
village of Ft. Plain, St. Johnsville and East Creek.
216 M. LITTLE FALLS, Pop. 13,029. (Train 51 passes 12:58p; No. 6, 1:59p;
No. 41, 6:17p; No. 25, 7:14p; No. 19, 10:39p. Eastbound: No. 6 passes
4:22a; No. 26, 4:55a; No. 16, 10:22a; No. 22, 12:16p.)
Our route here lies through a ravine cut by the Mohawk River through a
spur of the Adirondack Mts. The town is picturesquely situated on the
sides of the gorge overlooking the rapids and falls. The Mohawk here
descends 45 ft. in 1/2 M.
In the gorge, there are crystalline rocks which are of interest as
belonging to the Laurentian formation, the oldest rock formation on the
face of the globe.
According to geological classification, these rocks belong to the
Archaean system. They represent formations of the very earliest
period of the earth's history--probably before there was any
animal or vegetable life whatsoever. The Archaean rocks have
sometimes been spoken of as the original crust of the earth, but
this is disputed by many geologists.
Little Falls dates from about 1750. In 1782 there was an influx of
German settlers into the village, and almost immediately thereafter the
town was destroyed by Indians and "Tories.". It was resettled in 1790.
Two and a half miles east of the town was the boyhood home of Gen.
Nicholas Herkimer.
Gen. Herkimer (1728-1777) was the son of John Jost Herkimer (d.
1775), one of the original group of German settlers in this
section of the Mohawk Valley. Gen. Herkimer was colonel of the
Tyrone County Militia in 1775, and was made brigadier general of
the state militia in 1776. He was mortally wounded at the battle
of Oriskany.
It is planned to establish an Historical Museum at the old Herkimer
homestead. Near the city is the grave of Gen. Herkimer, to whom a
monument was erected in 1896.
The water power derived from the falls has stimulated manufacturing in
the city; its output includes cotton yarns, hosiery, knit goods,
leather, etc., valued at $15,000,000 annually. The city is one of the
largest cheese markets in the U.S.
[Illustration: Fort Plain (1777)
(_From an old print in the N.Y. Public Library_)
This was built in place of another unsatisfactory fort by the
American government early in the Revolution, and was designed by
an experienced French engineer. "As a piece of architecture, it
was well wrought and neatly finished and surpassed all the forts
in that region."]
223 M. HERKIMER, Pop. 10,453. (Train 51 passes 1:07p; No. 3, 2:06p; No.
41, 6:25p; No. 25, 7:22p; No. 19, 10:47p. Eastbound: No. 6 passes 4:15a;
No. 26, 4:49a; No. 16, 10:12a; No. 22, 12:08p.)
Herkimer was settled about 1725 by Palatine Germans, who bought from the
Mohawk Indians a large tract of land, including the present site of the
village. They established several settlements which became known
collectively as "German Flats."
These settlers came from the Palatinate, a province of the
kingdom of Bavaria, lying west of the Rhine. The district had
been torn by a succession of wars, culminating in the carnage
wrought by the French in 1707. In the following year, more than
13,000 Palatines emigrated to America, settling first on the
Livingston Manor, and later along the Mohawk and elsewhere.
In 1756 a stone house (built in 1740 by John Jost Herkimer), a stone
church, and other buildings, standing within what is now Herkimer
Village, were enclosed in a stockade by Sir William Johnson. This post,
at first known as Ft. Kouari (the Indian name), was subsequently called
Ft. Herkimer. Another fort (Ft. Dayton) was built within the limits of
the present village in 1776 by Col. Elias Dayton (1737-1807), who later
became a brigadier-general and served in Congress in 1787-1788. During
the French and Indian War the settlement was attacked (Nov. 12, 1757)
and practically destroyed, many of the settlers being killed or taken
prisoners; and it was again attacked on April 30, 1758. In the War of
Independence, Gen. Herkimer assembled here the force which on Aug. 6th,
1777, was ambushed near Oriskany on its march from Ft. Dayton to the
relief of Ft. Schuyler. The settlement was again attacked by Indians and
"Tories" in Sept. 1778, and still again in June, 1782. The township of
Herkimer was organized in 1788, and in 1807 the village was
incorporated. Herkimer is situated in a rich dairying region and has
manufactures with an output of $4,000,000 annually.
225 M. ILION, Pop. 10,169. (Train 51 passes 1:10p; No. 3, 2:10p; No. 41,
6:29p; No. 25, 7:25p; No. 19, 10:51p. Eastbound: No. 6 passes 4:12a; No.
26, 4:46a; No. 16, 10:07a; No. 22, 12:05p.)
This village, the main part of which is situated on the south bank of
the Mohawk, owed its origin to a settlement made here in 1725 by
Palatine Germans, but the village as such really dates from the
completion of the Erie Canal in 1825. In 1828 Eliphalet Remington
(1793-1861) established here a small factory for the manufacture of
rifles. He invented, and with the assistance of his sons, Philo, Samuel
and Eliphalet, improved the famous Remington rifle.
In 1856 the company added to its business the manufacture of farming
tools, in 1870 of sewing machines and in 1874 of typewriters. The
last-named industry was sold to another company in 1886, and soon
afterwards, on the failure of the original Remington company, the fire
arms factory was bought by a N.Y.C. firm, though the Remington name was
retained. The spot where Eliphalet had his primitive forge on the Ilion
gorge road, just south of the town, is marked by a tablet placed there
by the Daughters of the American Revolution. The principal manufactures
today are typewriters, fire-arms, cartridges, and filing cabinets and
office furniture. The annual output is valued at about $10,000,000.
237 M. UTICA, Pop. 94,156. (Train 51 passes 1:22p; No. 3, 2:31p; No.
41, 6:42p; No. 25, 7:41p; No. 19, 11:08p. Eastbound: No. 6 passes 3:57a;
No. 26, 4:31a; No. 16, 9:53; No. 22, 11:50a.)
[Illustration: Washington and Genesee Streets, Utica, in 1835
Washington Street, with the Presbyterian Church, is seen on the
left; the bridge across the Erie Canal is seen on the right, down
Genesee Street, and at its extremity the depot of the Utica and
Schenectady (now the New York Central) Railroad then recently
built.]
The territory on which Utica is built was originally part of the 22,000
acre tract granted in 1734 by George II. to William Cosby (1695-1736),
colonial governor of New York in 1732-36, and his associates. It was
then known as Cosby's Manor.
Sir William Cosby served originally as colonel in the British
army, then, after being governor of Minorca and later of the
Leeward Islands, he was sent to New York. Before leaving England,
he obtained a good deal of money for colonizing expenses, and his
refusal to share this with Van Dam, his predecessor and
colleague, gave rise to a law suit between the two which came to
nothing but was the cause of much bitterness between Cosby and
his friends on the one hand, and Van Dam and the people's party
on the other. His administration was turbulent and unpopular. The
grant made to Cosby was one of a number of colonizing ventures
made by the British government during this period.
During the Seven Years' War a palisaded fort was erected on the south
bank of the Mohawk at the ford where Utica later sprang up. It was named
Ft. Schuyler in honor of Col. Peter Schuyler, an uncle of Gen. Philip
Schuyler of the Continental Army.
This should not be confused with the fort of the same name at
Rome which was built later. In order to distinguish the two, the
fort at Utica is often referred to as Old Ft. Schuyler.
The main trail of the Iroquois which became later the most used route to
the western country, crossed the Mohawk here and continued to Ft.
Stanwix, now Rome. A branch trail turned slightly to the southwest, then
more directly west to Oneida Castle. Cosby's Manor was sold at a
sheriff's sale for arrears of rent in 1792 and was bid in by Gen. Philip
Schuyler, Gen. John Bradstreet, John Morin Scott and others for L1387
(about 15 cents an acre). The first bridge across the Mohawk at Utica
was built in 1792. Soon after the close of the War of Independence, a
large number of new settlers arrived, most of them Germans from the
lower Mohawk Valley. About 1788 there was an influx of New Englanders,
among whom was Peter Smith (1768-1837), later a partner of John Jacob
Astor, and father of Gerrit Smith, a political and religious radical,
who was born here in 1797.
After graduating from Hamilton College in 1818, Gerrit Smith
(1797-1874) assumed the management of the vast estate of his
father, and greatly increased the family fortune, but he soon
turned his attention to reform and philanthropy. He first became
an active temperance worker, and then, after seeing an
anti-slavery meeting at Utica broken up by a mob, took up the
cause of abolition. He was one of the leading organizers of the
Liberty party (1840), and later was nominated for president by
various reform parties, notably the Free Soil Party (1848 &
1852). He was likewise the candidate of the anti-slavery party
for governor of New York in 1840 and 1858. In 1853 he was elected
to Congress as an independent, whereupon he issued an address
declaring that all men have an equal right to the soil; that wars
are brutal and unnecessary; that slavery could not be sanctioned
by any constitution, state or federal; that free trade is
essential to human brotherhood; that women should have full
political rights, and that alcoholic liquors should be prohibited
by state and federal enactments. He resigned at the end of his
first session and gave away numerous farms of 50 acres each to
indigent families; attempted to colonize tracts in Northern N.Y.
with free negroes; assisted fugitive slaves to escape--Peterboro,
his home village, 22 miles southwest of Utica, became a station
on the "Underground railroad"--and established a nonsectarian
church, open to all Christians of whatever shade of belief, in
Peterboro. He was an intimate friend of John Brown of Osawatomie,
to whom he gave a farm in Essex County. His total benefactions
probably exceeded $8,000,000.
Utica is situated on ground rising gradually from the river. There are
many fine business and public buildings, especially on Genesee St., the
principal thoroughfare, and the city is known for the number of its
institutions, public and private. It has some fine parks. In the Forest
Hill Cemetery are the graves of Horatio Seymour and Roscoe Conkling.
Horatio Seymour (1810-1886) was a member of the N.Y. Assembly
(1842-1845), Mayor of Utica (1843) and Governor of the State
(1854-1855). In 1854 he vetoed a bill prohibiting intoxicating
liquors in the state. In 1863-1865 he was again governor and
opposed Lincoln's policy in respect to emancipation, military
arrests and conscription. He was nominated as the Democratic
presidential candidate against Grant in 1868, but carried only
eight states. He died at Utica at the home of his sister, who was
the wife of Roscoe Conkling.
Roscoe Conkling (1829-1888) was a lawyer and political leader
who attracted attention in public life because of his keenness
and eloquence in debate, his aggressive leadership, and his
striking personality. He was born in Albany and was admitted to
the bar at Utica in 1850. Having joined the Republican party at
the time of its formation, he served for several years as
representative in Congress, and in 1867 was elected senator from
N.Y. He labored for the impeachment of President Johnson and was
one of the senatorial coterie that influenced Grant. He was
disappointed in his ambition to be nominated for president in
1876, and in 1880 he was one of the leaders of the unsuccessful
movement to nominate Grant for a third presidential term.
Here also is the famous Oneida stone of the Oneida Indians on which the
warriors used to have their ears slit to prepare them for battle, and on
which, too, they used to place the scalps of their enemies. The stone
was brought here from Oneida Castle.
Utica has varied and extensive manufactures (17,000 employees), with a
total annual output of about $60,000,000. Among its products are hosiery
and knit goods, cotton goods, men's clothing, foundry products, plumbing
and heating apparatus lumber products, food preparation, boots and
shoes, and brick, tile and pottery, as well as a number of others. Utica
is the shipping point for a rich agricultural region, from which are
shipped dairy products (especially cheese), nursery products, flowers
(especially roses), small fruits and vegetables, honey and hops.
We pass on the right, a short distance north of the river, the
picturesque Deerfield Hills, a beginning of the scenic highlands which
stretch away towards the Adirondack Mts. Fifteen miles north of Utica on
West Canada Creek, are Trenton Falls,* which descend 312 feet in two
miles through a sandstone chasm, in a series of cataracts, some of them
having an 80-foot fall. The falls are reached on the branch line of the
New York Central leading from Utica to the Adirondacks.
[Illustration: North America as It Was Known in 1768
This map was first printed in the First Edition of the
Encyclopaedia Britannica in 1768. Note that all of Canada west of
Hudson's Bay (including Alaska) and a section of the United
States west of Lake Superior and as far south as the present
states of South Dakota, Wyoming, Idaho and Oregon were then
"Parts Undiscovered." The central part of the continent was New
France, and the extreme southwest was New Spain. Considering the
meagre geographical knowledge of the day, the map was remarkably
accurate.]
244 M. ORISKANY, Pop. 1,101. (Train 51 passes 1:30p; No. 3, 2:39p; No.
41, 6:56p; No. 25, 7:49p; No. 25, 11:17p. Eastbound No. 6 passes 3:36a;
No. 26, 4:21a; No. 16, 9:36a; No. 22, 11:32a.)
The battle of Oriskany, an important minor engagement of the
Revolutionary War, was fought in a little ravine about 2 M. west of
Oriskany, Aug. 6, 1777. Two days before, Gen. Nicholas Herkimer had
gathered about 800 militiamen at Ft. Dayton (on the site of the present
city of Herkimer) for the relief of Ft. Schuyler which was being
besieged by British and Indians under Col. Barry St. Leger and Joseph
Brant. On the 6th, Herkimer's force, on its march to Ft. Schuyler, was
ambushed by a force of 650 British under Sir John Johnson and 800
Indians under Joseph Brant, in the ravine west of the village. The rear
portion of Herkimer's troops escaped from the trap, but were pursued by
the Indians, and many of them were overtaken and killed. Between the
remainder and the British and Indians there was a desperate hand-to-hand
conflict, interrupted by a violent thunderstorm, with no quarter shown
by either side. About this time a sortie was made from Ft. Schuyler and
the British withdrew, after about 200 Americans had been killed and as
many taken prisoner. The loss of the British was about the same. Gen.
Herkimer, though his leg had been broken by a shot at the beginning of
the action, continued to direct the fighting on the American side, but
died on Aug. 16 as a result of the clumsy amputation of his leg.
Before the engagement, Gen. Herkimer, realizing that the British
had a superior force, pleaded for delay, hoping for a signal that
the American forces at Ft. Schuyler were ready to co-operate in
the battle. His subordinate officers, however, retorted that they
"came to fight, not to see others fight" and finally accused
Herkimer of being a "Tory and a coward." Gen. Herkimer,
thoroughly enraged, gave the order to march.
The battle, though indecisive, had an important influence in preventing
St. Leger from effecting a junction with Gen. Burgoyne, which would have
materially assisted the latter's intention to cut off New England from
the rest of the colonies. An obelisk on the hill to the left marks the
spot where the battle took place.
251 M. ROME. Pop. 26,341. (Train 51 passes 1:37p; No. 3, 2:47p; No. 41,
7:07p; No. 25, 7:57p; No. 19, 11:23p. Eastbound: No. 6 passes 3:28a; No.
26, 4:15a; No. 16, 9:28a; No. 22, 11:24a.)
The portage at this place, between the Mohawk River and Wood Creek (to
the northwest), which are about a mile apart, gave the site its Indian
name, De-i-wain-sta, "place where canoes are carried from one stream to
another," and its earliest English name, "The Great (or Oneida) Carrying
Place." Its location made it of strategic value as a key between the
Mohawk Valley and Lake Ontario. Wood Creek flows into Oneida Lake, and
thus formed part of a nearly continuous waterway from the Hudson to the
Great Lakes. Two primitive forts were built in 1725 to protect the
carrying place, but these were superseded by Ft. Stanwix, erected about
1760 by Gen. John Stanwix, at an expense of L60,000. The first permanent
settlement dates from this time. In Oct. and Nov. of 1768, Sir William
Johnson and representatives of Virginia and Pennsylvania met 3,200
Indians of the Six Nations here and made a treaty with them, under
which, for L10,460 in money and provisions, they surrendered to the
crown their claims to what is now Kentucky, West Virginia and the
western part of Pennsylvania.
This treaty, the last great act of Sir William Johnson, probably
averted another Indian war. Great preparations were made for
feasting the Indians who attended the council. It is said that 60
barrels of flour, 50 barrels of port, 6 barrels of rice and 70
barrels of other provisions were sent to the meeting place. There
was a prolonged period of speech making, but the treaty was
finally signed on Nov. 5, 1768. One of the features of this
treaty was the sale to Thomas Penn (1702-1775) and Richard Penn
(1706-1771), second and third sons of William Penn (founder of
Pa.), of the remaining land in the province of Pa., to which they
claimed title. This transaction involved L2,000 of the total
payment made to the Indians.
The fort was immediately dismantled, but was repaired by the
Continentals after 1776 and renamed Ft. Schuyler, in honor of Gen.
Philip Schuyler and so is sometimes confused with Old Ft. Schuyler at
Utica. The 3rd Regiment of New York line troops under Col. Peter
Gansevoort, occupied the fort in 1777. The first U.S. flag made
according to the law of June 14, 1777, was raised over Ft. Schuyler on
Aug. 3rd of that same year, one month before the official announcement
by Congress of the design of the flag, and was almost immediately used
in action. The first fight under the colors was the battle of Oriskany
in which the soldiers of the fort became involved.
The basic idea of the present flag was evolved by a committee
composed of George Washington, Robert Morris, and Col. George
Ross with the assistance of Betsy Ross. The flag made by Mrs.
Ross, though it is sometimes referred to as the first U.S. flag,
was actually prepared as a tentative design or pattern for
submission to Congress. On the 14th of June, 1777, Congress
resolved "that the flag of the U.S. be thirteen stripes,
alternates red and white, that the Union be thirteen stars, white
in a blue field, representing a new constellation." This was the
original of the national flag. The flag at Ft. Stanwix was a
hasty makeshift put together under direction of Col. Marinus
Willet, who found it difficult to obtain materials because the
fort was hemmed in by the British. In his diary Col. Willet
relates that "white stripes were cut out of an ammunition shirt;
the blue out of a camlet cloak taken from the enemy at Peekskill,
while the red stripes were made of different pieces of stuff
procured from one and another of the garrison."
After the War of Independence, three commissioners for the U.S. made a
new treaty with the chiefs of the Six Nations at Ft. Schuyler (1784). In
1796 a canal was built across the old portage between Wood Creek and the
Mohawk. In the same year the township of Rome was formed, receiving its
name, says Schoolcraft, "from the heroic defence of the republic made
here." The country surrounding Rome is devoted largely to farming,
especially vegetables, gardening and to dairying. Among the manufactures
are brass and copper products, wire for electrical uses, foundry and
machine-shop products, locomotives, knit goods, tin cans and canned
goods (especially vegetables).
264 M. ONEIDA, Pop. 10,541. (Train 51 passes 1:53p; No. 3, 3:05p; No.
41, 7:25p; No. 25, 8:12p; No. 19, 11:42p. Eastbound: No. 6 passes 3:15a;
No. 26, 4:02a; No. 16, 9:11a; No. 22, 11:10a.)
The city of Oneida is comparatively modern, but the village of Oneida
Castle across the river to the south dates back to the time when this
was the chief settlement of the Oneida Indians, who moved here about
1600 from the site of what is now Stockbridge in the same county.
The name Oneida is a corruption of the name Oneyotka-ono or
"people of Stone," in allusion to the Oneida stone, a granite
boulder near Oneida Castle which was held sacred by this tribe of
the Iroquois. An early traveler who visited the castle in 1677
wrote that the "Onyades have but one town, doubly stockaded, of
about one hundred houses." The rest of the tribe lived around
Oneida Lake, in the region southward to the Susquehanna. They
were not loyal to the Iroquois League's policy of friendliness to
the English, but inclined towards the French, and were
practically the only Iroquois who fought for the Americans in the
War of Independence. As a consequence they were attacked by
others of the Iroquois under Joseph Brant and took refuge within
the American settlements till the war ended, when the majority
returned to their former home, while some migrated to the Thames
River district, Ontario. Early in the 19th century they sold
their lands, and most of them settled on a reservation at Green
Bay, Wis., some few remaining in N.Y. State. The tribe now
numbers more than 3,000, of whom about two-thirds are in
Wisconsin, a few hundred in N.Y. State and about 800 in Ontario.
They are civilized and prosperous.
[Illustration: Samuel de Champlain
Samuel de Champlain (1567-1635), born at the little port Brouage
in the Bay of Biscay, made his first trip to Canada in 1603, and
five years later established the first white settlement at Quebec.
In the spring he joined a war party of Algonquins and Hurons,
discovered the great lake that bears his name, and with his
arquebus took an important part in the victory which his savage
friends obtained over the Iroquois. In 1615, with another
expedition of Indians, he crossed the eastern ends of Lakes Huron
and Ontario and made a fierce but unsuccessful attack on an
Onondaga town near Lake Oneida. Parkman says: "In Champlain alone
was the life of New France. By instinct and temperament he was
more impelled to the adventurous toils of exploration than to the
duller task of building colonies. The profits of trade had value
in his eyes only as a means to these ends, and settlements were
important chiefly as a base of discovery. Two great objects
eclipsed all others--to find a route to the Indies and to bring
the heathen tribes into the embrace of the Church, since, while he
cared little for their bodies, his solicitude for their souls knew
no bounds."]
The history of the modern city of Oneida goes back to 1829, when the
present site was purchased by Sands Higinbotham, who is regarded as the
founder of the town and in honor of whom one of the municipal parks is
named. In the southeastern part of the city is the headquarters of the
Oneida Community, originally a communistic society but now a business
corporation, which controls important industries here, at Niagara Falls
and elsewhere.
The Oneida Community was founded in 1847 by John Humphrey Noyes
(1811-1866), and attracted wide interest because of its pecuniary
success and its peculiar religious and social principles. Noyes
was originally a clergyman, but broke away from orthodox religion
to found a sect of his own in Putney, Vt., where he lived. This
sect was known as the "Association of Perfectionists" and formed
the nucleus of the community which Noyes later established at
Oneida. The principles of the new community were based on the
idea that true Christianity was incompatible with individual
property, either in things or in persons. Consequently the new
community held all its property in common. Marriage in the
conventional sense of the word was abolished. The community was
much interested in the question of race improvement by scientific
means, and maintained that at least as much scientific attention
should be given to the physical improvement of human beings as is
given to the improvement of domestic animals. The members claimed
to have solved among themselves the labor question by regarding
all kinds of service as equally honorable, and respecting every
person in accordance with the development of his character.
The members had some peculiarities of dress, mostly confined,
however, to the women, whose costumes included a short dress and
pantalets, which were appreciated for their convenience if not
for their beauty. The women also adopted the practice of wearing
short hair, which it was claimed saved time and vanity. Tobacco,
intoxicants, profanity, obscenity, found no place in the
community. The diet consisted largely of vegetables and fruits,
while meat, tea and coffee were served only occasionally.
For good order and the improvement of the members, the community
placed much reliance upon a very peculiar system of plain
speaking they termed mutual criticism. Under Mr. Noyes'
supervision it became in the Oneida Community a principal means
of discipline and government.
The community had its first financial success when it undertook
the manufacture of a steel trap invented by one of its members.
Later the community engaged in a number of other enterprises,
both agricultural and manufacturing. In the meantime they were
subjected to bitter attacks on account of the radical beliefs of
its members, especially regarding marriage. Noyes, the founder,
recognized that in deference to public opinion it would be
necessary to recede from their social principles, and accordingly
the community was transformed into a commercial corporation in
1881.
Among the manufactures of Oneida are furniture, silver-plated ware,
engines and machinery, pulley, steel vaults and hosiery. About 6 M. to
the northwest is Oneida Lake, a small lake of considerable beauty, 18 M.
long and 5 M. wide.
SYRACUSE TO BUFFALO
290 M. SYRACUSE, Pop. 171,717. (Train 51 passes 2:31p; No. 3, 3:45p; No.
41, 8:10p; No. 25, 8:50p; No. 19, 12:25p. Eastbound: No. 6 passes 2:40a;
No. 26, 3:28a; No. 16, 8:30a; No. 22, 10:35a.)
The Syracuse region first became known to Europeans through its salt
deposits along the shore of Onondaga Lake which had been discovered and
used by the Indians.
Syracuse lies within the ancient tribal headquarters of the
Onondaga Indians, one of the six tribes forming the League of the
Iroquois. Their territory extended northward to Lake Ontario and
southward to the Susquehanna River. They were the official
guardians of the council fire of the Iroquois, and their chief
town, near the site of the present Onondaga (a few miles south of
Syracuse) consisted of some 140 houses. This was in the middle of
the 17th century, when the tribe was estimated as numbering
between 1,500 and 1,700. Later the tribe divided, some of them
migrating to the Catholic Iroquois settlements in Canada. About
500 Onondagas still live on a reservation south of Syracuse.
Although situated in a favorable trading location at the foot of the
valley of Onondaga Creek where the latter joins Onondaga Lake, no
settlement was made here until several years after the close of the War
of Independence. The first white settler was Ephraim Webster, who built
a trading post near the mouth of the creek in 1786. The village grew
slowly. Between 1800 and 1805 a dozen families settled here, and the
place received the name of Bogardus's Corners from the name of the
proprietor of a local inn. In order to obtain money for the construction
of a public road, the state government, which had assumed control of the
salt fields, sold in 1809 some 250 acres embracing the district now
occupied by Syracuse's business centre to Abraham Walton of Albany for
$6,550--about $26.50 an acre. The town went under various names--Milan,
South Saline, Cossitt's Corner, etc.--until 1824 when the present name
was adopted. In 1818 Joshua Forman bought an interest in the Walton
tract, had a village plotted and became the "founder" of the city.
[Illustration: Champlain's Attack on an Iroquois Fort
(_From Champlain's "Nouvelle France," 1619_)
Of this Indian fort which stood near Lake Oneida, Champlain says:
"Their village was enclosed with strong quadruple palisades of
large timber, 30 ft. high, interlocked the one with the other,
with an interval of not more than half a foot between them; with
galleries in the form of parapets, defended with double pieces of
timber, proof against our Arquebuses, and on one side they had a
pond with a never-failing supply of water, from which proceeded a
number of gutters which they had laid along the intermediate
space, throwing the water without and rendering it effectual
inside for extinguishing fire."]
Several political events of national importance have occurred in
Syracuse. The Free Soil movement in N.Y. began at the Democratic State
convention held here in 1847, when the split occurred between the
"Barnburner" and "Hunker", factions of the Democratic party.
These factions grew out of a dispute over questions involving the
Erie Canal. The "Barnburners" were the radical element,
determined to oust the "reactionaries" in office no matter at
what cost to the party, and were given their name from the old
instance of the Pennsylvania farmer who burned his barns to get
rid of the rats. The "Barnburners" opposed the extension of the
Erie Canal and, after 1846, the extension of slavery in the
Territories. The "Hunkers," conservative and influential, were so
called from the Dutch "honk," which signifies "station" or
"home." Thus, "honker" or "hunker" meant one who "stayed put,"
and was opposed to progress.
The famous "Jerry Rescue," manifesting the strong anti-slavery sentiment
in Syracuse, took place in 1851, following the enactment of the Fugitive
Slave Law in 1850.
In the winter of 1849-50 an intelligent slave arrived in Syracuse
traveling from Mississippi to Canada. He decided to remain, and
after having for a while worked under Charles F. Williston, a
cabinet maker, he opened a little shop of his own. On Oct. 1,
1851, the slave-hunters pounced on him and shut him up in a
building then standing on the site of what is now known as the
Jerry Rescue Block. When, later in the day he was taken before
William H. Sabine, the United States Commissioner, the room was
so crowded that Jerry, taking advantage of the fact, succeeded in
making a break for freedom. Running eastward, he was pursued,
captured in a hole near the railway tunnel, and taken back to the
police office. By the time evening came, the fever of the mob was
high, and Democrats and Whigs joined in planning the slave's
rescue. A crowd gathered and soon upon walls and doors fell the
blows of stones, axes, and timbers until the unhappy captors in
the police office were concerned not for Jerry's retention, but
for their own safety. One of them jumped from a window on the
north side of the building, and broke his arm in the fall.
Finally the official who had immediate charge of Jerry, pushed
him out into the arms of the rescuers, saying: "Get out of here,
you damned nigger, if you are making all this muss." The slave
was safely hidden in the city for ten days, and then driven on
the first stage of his journey to Canada, where he found at
length a haven. The act was in bold defiance of the law, and 18
of the Jerry rescue party were indicted, though never convicted.
For some years, Jerry's rescue was celebrated annually in
Syracuse.
Present day Syracuse is built on high ground in an amphitheatre of hills
surrounding Onondaga Lake--a beautiful body of clear water 5 M. long and
1-1/2 M, wide at its broadest point. James St. in the northeastern part
of the city is a fine residence street, and the principal business
thoroughfare is Saline St. The most noteworthy parks in Syracuse are
Barnet Park (100 acres) on high land in the western part of the city,
and Lincoln Park, occupying a heavily wooded ridge to the east.
Syracuse University, with a campus of 100 acres, is situated on the
highlands in the southeastern part of the city where it commands a fine
view of Onondaga Lake. The university was opened in 1871, when the
faculty and students of Genesee College (1850) removed from Lima, N.Y.,
to Syracuse; one year later the Geneva medical college likewise removed
to Syracuse and became part of the university. The university has a
number of excellent buildings and a fine athletic field. It is a
co-educational institution under control of the Methodist Episcopal
Church. There are about 4,000 students. The N.Y. State Fair, a civic
event of considerable importance, takes place yearly (in Sept.) in
grounds situated on the western border of the city. The "plant" covers
100 acres and there is an excellent race track where famous horses are
run.
Salt works were established in Syracuse as early as 1788 and the
production of salt and sodium derivatives still constitutes an important
industry.
For many years Syracuse was the principal seat of the salt
industry in the United States, but the development of salt
deposits in other parts of N.Y. State and in Michigan caused a
decline in the Onondaga product, though Syracuse still produced
2,000,000 bushels of salt a year. The Onondaga deposits were
mentioned in the journal of the French Jesuit Lemoyne in 1653,
and before the Revolutionary War the Indians marketed salt at
Albany and Quebec. In 1788 the state undertook, by treaty with
the Onondaga Indians, to care for the salt springs and manage
them for the benefit of both the whites and the Indians. By
another treaty (1795) the state bought the salt lands, covering
about 10 Sq. M., paying the Indians $1,000 outright, supplemented
by an annual payment of $700 and 150 bushels of salt.
Subsequently the state leased the lands, charging at various
times a royalty of 4 to 12-1/2 cents a bushel. It was stipulated in
1797 that the lessees should not sell the product for more than
60 cents a bushel. In 1898, after the royalty had been reduced to
1 cent a bushel, the state ordered the sale of the salt lands
because the revenue was less than the expense of keeping up the
works. The actual sale, however, did not take place till 1908.
Annual production reached its highest point in 1862, with
9,000,000 bushels.
The salt deposits supplied the basis for the manufacture of soda-ash,
and at the village of Solvay, adjoining Syracuse on the west, is one of
the largest factories for this purpose in the world. Besides soda-ash it
produces bicarbonate of soda, caustic soda and crystals, the total
output being about 1,000 tons daily. Syracuse ranks among the leading
cities of the state in the number and variety of its manufactures. There
are 760 establishments employing 25,000 workers, with an annual output
of the value of about $75,000,000. The manufacture of typewriters is an
important industry (annual production $10,000,000). Other products
include automobiles and accessories, tool steel, candles, farm
implements, clothing, chinaware, cement, chemicals and mining machinery.
348 M. PALMYRA, Pop. 2,480. (Train 51 passes 3:38p; No. 3, 4:57p; No.
41, 9:30p; No. 25, 9:56p; No. 19, 1:42a. Eastbound No. 6 passes 1:25a;
No. 26, 2:17a; No. 16, 6:46a; No. 22, 9:14a.)
The town of Palmyra is intimately connected with the early history of
the Mormons or "Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints." Joseph
Smith (1805-1844), the founder, lived a few miles south of Palmyra at
the village of Manchester near which, in the "hill of Cumorah," he said
he found the plates of gold upon which was inscribed the book of Mormon.
Smith had the book printed in 1830 in Palmyra.
[Illustration: Joseph Smith Preaching (_From an old Mormon print_)
Joseph Smith (1805-1877) early began to gather his proselytes
about him, and even succeeded in interesting a few bewildered
Indians, but the new sect had great difficulties, aggravated, it
is said, by the licentiousness of the founder. Persecuted in N.Y.
State, Smith sought to found his New Jerusalem in Ohio, where,
however, the natives objected with such definiteness to his way of
salvation that he and one of his followers were tarred and
feathered in Hiram, O. Missouri was chosen as the next place of
refuge, but here, too, Smith's profligacy aroused the hostility of
the Missourians, which was increased by propaganda among the
Mormons for a "war of extermination against the Gentiles." In
Illinois, whither many of the "Saints" now removed, Smith had a
revelation approving polygamy, which pleased him very much, but
which roused opposition among his followers as well as his
persecutors. In 1844 he and his brother Hyrum were arrested on a
charge of treason in the town of Nauvoo which they had founded and
imprisoned at Carthage. On the night of June 27, a mob, with the
collusion of the militia guard, broke into the jail and shot the
two men dead. In the meantime there had arisen a leader of
considerable genius, Brigham Young (1801-1877), who probably saved
the sect from dissolution, and led them to Salt Lake City in 1844.]
Joseph Smith was born at Sharon, Vt., Dec. 23, 1805, from which
place in 1815 his parents removed to N.Y. State, settling first
near Palmyra and later at Manchester. Both his parents and
grandparents were superstitious, neurotic, seers of visions, and
believers in miraculous cures, heavenly voices and direct
revelation. The boy's father was a digger for hidden treasure,
and used a divining rod to find the proper place to dig wells. He
taught his son crystal gazing and the use of the "peepstone" to
discover hidden treasure. Young Joseph was good-natured and lazy.
Early in life he began to have visions which were accompanied by
epileptic "seizures." One night in 1823, according to his story,
the angel Moroni appeared to him three times, and told him that
the Bible of the western continent, the supplement to the New
Testament, was buried on a hill called Cumorah, now commonly
known as Mormon Hill. It was not until 1827, however, that he
discovered this new Bible. Smith's story was that on the 22nd of
September of that year, he dug up on the hill near Manchester a
stone box in which was a volume 6 inches thick made of thin gold
plates, 8 inches by 8 inches, fastened together by three gold
rings. The plates were covered with small writing in characters
of the "reformed Egyptian tongue." With the golden book Smith
claimed he found a breastplate of gold and a pair of supernatural
spectacles, consisting of two crystals set in a silver bow, by
the aid of which he could read the mystic characters. Being
himself unable to read or write fluently, Smith dictated a
translation of the book from behind a screen. Soon afterwards,
according to Smith, the plates were taken away by the angel
Moroni.
370 M. ROCHESTER, Pop. 295,750. (Train 51 passes 4:05p; No. 3, 5:25p;
No. 41, 9:56p; No. 25, 10:23p; No. 19, 2:11p. Eastbound: No. 6 passes
12:59a; No. 26, 1:51a; No. 16, 6:18a; No. 22, 8:47a.)
Rochester is built around the Falls of the Genesee River, about 7 M.
above the place where the river empties into Lake Ontario.
[Illustration: Rochester in 1812
Settlers from New England made a clearing at the site of Rochester
about 1810, but growth was slow until the railroad--now the New
York Central--was built connecting it with Albany and Buffalo.]
The Genesee River rises in Pennsylvania and flows nearly 200
miles in a northerly direction through western New York. Within a
distance of 7 M. between Rochester and Lake Ontario the river has
a fall of 263 ft. The principal falls consist of three cataracts,
96, 26 and 83 ft., respectively. The banks of the first fall,
which is in the heart of the city, rise to a height of 200 ft.
above the river. The river, in fact, cuts through the center of
the city in a deep gorge, the banks of which vary in height from
50 to 200 ft. The Genesee Valley south of Rochester is a very
fertile and beautiful stretch of country where the river flows
between meadows that rise gradually to high hills. The appearance
of the country here, with its immense pasture-land dotted with
oak and elm, is distinctly English. Besides being exceedingly
productive both for crops and pasturage, the Genesee Valley is
famous as riding country, although the hunting interest has of
late somewhat waned. But foxes are still found, and the flats
along the river give wonderful opportunities for t
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