Chapter IV: Part 4

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.

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.

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.

(_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.

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.

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 the chase.

The modern city, however, has spread north until it now embraces the large village of Charlotte on the western side of the mouth of the river. The region about Rochester was visited about 1650 by Jesuit missionaries who worked among the Seneca Indians in the neighborhood, and in 1687 the Marquis de Denonville fought a battle with the Iroquois near the Falls.

The Senecas were members of the League of the Iroquois and
eventually became one of the most important tribes of that
league. Their territory lay between the Seneca Lake and the
Genesee River and they were the official guardians of the
league's western frontier. At the height of their power they
extended their range to the country west of Lake Erie and south
along the Alleghany River to Pennsylvania They fought on the
English side in the War of Independence. About 2,800 are now on
reservations in New York State.

Jacques Ren['e] de Bresay, marquis of Denonville, succeeded La
Barre, who succeeded Frontenac, as governor of Canada in 1689. La
Barre, an inefficient leader against the insurgent Iroquois, held
the administration for only one year. Denonville was of great
courage and ability, but in his campaign against the Indians
treated them so cruelly that they were angered, not intimidated.
The terrible massacre of the French by the Iroquois at Lachine,
Quebec, in 1689, must be regarded as one of the results of his
expedition. In 1687 he built Fort Denonville, which was abandoned
during the following year when an epidemic wiped out its
garrison.

Although by 1710 the French had established a post on Irondequoit Bay not far from the mouth of the Genesee, it was not until Ebenezer Allan (called "Indian Allan") built a small saw and grist mill near the falls that a settlement began to grow up. In 1802 three Maryland proprietors, Charles Carroll, William Fitzhugh and Nathaniel Rochester acquired a large tract of land which included the site of the present city. Rochester, from whom the city took its name, established a settlement, largely of New Englanders, at the falls in 1810-12, but growth was slow, as it was not at that time on the direct road between Albany and Buffalo, and the region was malarial.

Nathaniel Rochester (1752-1831) was a native of Virginia. He had
been a manufacturer of Hagerstown, Md., and after settling in
Rochester in 1818 was elected to the N.Y. Assembly (1822).

The completion of the Rochester and Lockport section of the Erie Canal gave Rochester the impetus which made it a city, and the building of the railroad a few years later placed it on the direct route between the Hudson and Lake Erie.

The course of the old Erie Canal lay through the heart of the
city. It crossed the Genesee River by means of an aqueduct of
seven arches, 850 ft. long, with a channel 45 ft. wide. The
aqueduct cost $600,000. The new barge canal passes through the
city about three miles south of the old canal, and has a harbor
in connection with the Genesee River, which is dammed for that
purpose.

Rochester, between 1828 and 1830, was the centre of the anti-Masonic movement and here Thurlow Weed published his _Anti-Masonic Enquirer_.

The Anti-Masonic party arose after the disappearance in 1826 of
William Morgan (1776-1826), a Freemason of Batavia, N.Y., who had
become dissatisfied with the order and had planned to publish its
secrets. When his purpose became known, Morgan was subjected to
frequent annoyances, and finally in September, 1826, he was
seized and conveyed by stealth to Ft. Niagara, where he
disappeared. His ultimate fate was never known, though it was
believed at the time that he had been murdered. The event created
great excitement, and furnished the occasion for the formation of
a new party in N.Y. This new party was in fact a rehabilitation
of the Adams wing of the Democratic-Republican party, a feeble
organization, into which shrewd political leaders breathed new
life by utilizing the Anti-Masonic feeling. The party spread into
other middle states and into New England; in 1827 the N.Y.
leaders tried, unsuccessfully, to persuade Henry Clay, though a
Mason, to renounce the order and become the party's candidate for
president. In 1831 the Anti-Masons nominated William Wirt of
Maryland, and in the election they secured the seven electoral
votes of Vermont. In the following year the organization grew
moribund, most of its members joining the Whigs. Its last act in
national politics was to nominate William Henry Harrison for
president in Nov. 1838.

Subsequently, Rochester became the centre of the Abolitionist movement in New York State and for many years before the Civil War it was a busy station on the "Underground railroad," by which fugitive slaves were assisted in escaping to Canada. The fervor of the movement gave prominence to Frederick Douglass (1817-1895), the mulatto orator and editor, who established a newspaper in Rochester in 1847, and to whom a monument has been erected near the approach of the New York Central Station. The city was a gathering place for suffragists from the time when Susan B. Anthony settled here in 1846.

Susan Brownell Anthony (1820-1906), born at Adams, Mass., was the
daughter of Quaker parents. Her family moved to N.Y. State where,
from the time she was 17 until she was 32, she taught school. She
took a prominent part in the Anti-slavery and Temperance
movements in New York, and after 1854 devoted herself almost
exclusively to the agitation for women's rights. She was
vice-president-at-large of the National Women's Suffragist
Association from 1869-1892, when she became president. She was
arrested and fined $100 (which she never paid) for casting a vote
at the presidential election in 1872. She contended that the 14th
Amendment entitled her to vote, and when she told the court she
would not pay her fine, the judge simply let her go. The case
created much comment.

In Rochester also lived the famous Fox Sisters, Margaret (1836-1893) and Katharine, whose spiritualistic "demonstrations" became known in 1850 as the "Rochester Rappings." The city has been a centre for American spiritualists ever since.

The demonstrations of the famous Fox sisters began in the
following way: in 1847 the Fox family moved to a house near
Rochester believed to be haunted, from which tenant after tenant
had moved out, alarmed by mysterious rappings. The Foxes did not
hear these sounds until 1848, and then Kate, hardly more than a
child, began questioning the rappings, and having opened what
seemed to be intelligent communication, suggested the use of the
alphabet. That was the beginning of what spiritualists call the
"science of materialization." The exhibitions consisted of the
usual phenomena, table turning, spirit rapping and the moving of
large bodies by invisible means. The two young women gave public
s['e]ances throughout the country, arousing an interest that spread
to England. In 1888 Margaret made a confession of imposture which
she later retracted. Claiming to be the wife of Dr. Elisha Kent
Kane, the Arctic explorer, she published a book of his letters
under the "Love Life of Dr. Kane." He had met her between voyages
of exploration, fallen in love with her, and in one of the
published letters addressed her as "my wife," but even she admits
that there never was a formal wedding. He died at Havana in 1857.]

Modern spiritualism is generally dated from the "demonstrations"
produced by the Fox Sisters. These exhibitions consisted of the
usual spiritualistic phenomena: table turning, spirit rapping and
the moving of large bodies by invisible means. The sisters gave
public s['e]ances through the country, and interest in spiritualism
spread to England. In 1888 Margaret made a confession of
imposture, which she later retracted. She claimed to be the wife
of Dr. Elisha Kent Kane, the Arctic explorer, and published a
book of his letters under the title of the "Love Life of Dr.
Kane." Kane had begun his career as an explorer when he was
appointed surgeon and naturalist for the Grinnell expedition in
1850, which set out to search for Sir John Franklin, who was lost
somewhere in the North. After spending 16 fruitless months of
search, they returned, but Kane fitted out a new expedition of
which he was given command, and spent two winters in polar
exploration and collection of scientific data. The voyage lasted
years and brought him fame. It was between these voyages that he
met Margaret Fox, and in one of the published letters he
addressed her as "my wife," though there seems never to have been
a formal wedding. He died in 1857 at Havana.

Rochester is an attractive city, with a park system comprising 1,649 acres. The largest parks are the Durand-Eastman, the Genesee Valley, Seneca, Maplewood and Highland. The Durand-Eastman Park occupies a beautiful tract of wooded ground on Lake Ontario.

The University of Rochester, founded 1851 as a Baptist institution, but now non-sectarian, occupies a tract of 24 acres on University Ave. in the eastern part of the city. Notable men who have been connected with the university include Henry Augustus Ward, professor of natural history from 1860 to 1875; Martin Brewer Anderson, president from 1854 to 1888, and David Jayne Hill, president from 1888 to 1896.

David Jayne Hill was born at Plainfield, N.J., June 16, 1850.
After obtaining his first degree at the University of Bucknell,
Pa., he studied for his A.M. in Berlin and Paris. He was
president of the University of Rochester from 1888 to 1896, then
spent 3 years in the study of the public law of Europe. As one
peculiarly fitted by education and training for a diplomatic
career, he was minister first to Switzerland (1903-1905), then to
the Netherlands (1905) and from 1908 to 1911 ambassador to
Germany. His numerous writings cover a wide field in biography,
rhetoric, diplomacy, history and philosophy.

(_From a print in the N.Y. Public Library_)

For many years Rochester was the most important flour milling
centre in the country, owing to the valuable water power furnished
by the falls and the fertility of the wheat fields of the Genesee
Valley.]

Rochester Theological Seminary prepares students for the ministry of the Baptist Church, and has no organic connection with the university. The Mechanics' Institute, founded in 1885 by Henry Lomb of the Bausch-Lomb Optical Co., is an unusually successful school of trades and handicrafts. It occupies a large building, the gift of George Eastman of the Eastman Kodak Co.

For many years Rochester was the most important flour milling centre in the country, owing to the valuable water furnished by the falls and the fertility of the wheat fields of the Genesee Valley. Flour milling is no longer so important an industry here--Minneapolis having taken first rank in this respect--but Rochester ranks high among the great manufacturing cities of the country. Its total output is valued at more than $250,000,000 annually. It leads the world in the manufacture of cameras, lenses, and photographic materials, and it is one of the principal cities of the country in the distribution of seeds, bulbs and plants, and in the manufacture of clothing and shoes. Other important products are machinery of various kinds, lubricating oil, candied fruits, syrups and confectionery clothing, tobacco and cigars, enameled tanks and filing devices.

403 M. BATAVIA, Pop. 13,541. (Train 51 passes 4:45p; No. 3, 6:18p; No. 41, 10:45p; No. 25, 11:04p; No. 19, 3:03a. Eastbound: No. 6 passes 12:17a; No. 26, 1:12a; No. 16, 5:32a; No. 22, 8:04a.)

Batavia, situated on Tonawanda Creek, was laid out in 1801 by Joseph Ellicott (1760-1826), the engineer who had been engaged in surveying the land known as the "Holland Purchase" of which Batavia was a part.

The so-called "Holland Purchase" comprised nearly all the land in
Western N.Y. west of the Genesee River. Its history is associated
with Robert Morris (1734-1806), the Revolutionary merchant and
banker whose financial assistance had been invaluable to the
Colonies during the War of Independence. Morris acquired the
Holland Purchase from the Indians in 1791, after having obtained
permission from the State of Mass. which then claimed sovereignty
over this territory. The following year, however, he began to be
involved in financial misfortunes and was compelled to sell this
property to a group of Dutch capitalists, who undertook to
dispose of the land to settlers. It thus became known as the
Holland Purchase, and the Holland Land Office in Batavia was one
of the centers from which the operations of the Dutch Land
company were directed. The slow development of Morris's other
property and the failure of a London bank in which he had funds
invested, finally drove him into bankruptcy, and he was confined
in a debtor's prison for more than three years (1798-1801). The
old Holland Land Office was dedicated as a memorial to Robert
Morris in 1894.

Here lived William Morgan whose supposed murder in 1826 by Freemasons led to the organization of the Anti-Masonic party. Batavia was the home of Dean Richmond (1804-1866), a capitalist, successful shipper and wholesale dealer in farm produce, who became vice-president (1853-1864) and later president (1864-1866) of the New York Central Lines. He was likewise a prominent leader of the Democratic party in N.Y. State. In 1899 his widow, Mary E. Richmond, erected here in memory of a son a library which contains about 15,000 volumes.

Among the education institutions here are the N.Y. State School for the Blind and St. Joseph's Academy (Roman Catholic). The historical museum in the old Holland Land Office* contains a good collection of early state relics. The two old guns in front were cast in the N.Y. State Arsenal, which manufactured arms for use in the War of 1812.

Among the manufactures are harvesters, ploughs, threshers and other agricultural implements, firearms, rubber tires, shoes, shell goods, paper-boxes, and inside woodwork.

We now approach Buffalo, beyond which our route closely parallels Lake Erie. We thus get our first view of one of America's great inland seas in this part of the route, although at certain points between Syracuse and Buffalo (notably at Rochester) our train has passed only a few miles south of Lake Ontario.

The five Great Lakes--Superior, Michigan, Huron, Erie and
Ontario--lie between the U.S. and Canada and form the headwaters
of the St. Lawrence River system. They cover an area of 94,000
Sq. M. The Great Lakes date back to Glacial period or before, but
it is probable that a "warping" of the earth's crust and a
consequent reversal of drainage areas have been among the most
potent causes of the formation of these great inland seas. Some
of the most salient facts about the Great Lakes are given in the
following table:

The Great Lakes

Superior Michigan Huron Erie Ontario
Greatest Length (M.) 360 307 206 241 193
Greatest Breadth (M.) 160 118 101 57 53
Deepest Soundings (Ft.) 1,012 870 750 210 738
Area (Sq. M.) 32,060 22,336 22,978 9,968 7,243
Above sea level (Ft.) 602 581 581 572 246
U.S. shore line (M.) 735 1,200 470 350 230

The population of the states and provinces bordering on the Great
Lakes is estimated to be 50,000,000 or more. In Pennsylvania and
Ohio, south of Lake Erie, there are large coal fields.
Surrounding Lake Michigan and west of Lake Superior are vast
grain growing plains, and the prairies of the Canadian northwest
are constantly increasing the area and quantity of wheat grown;
while both north and south of Lake Superior are the most
extensive iron mines in the world, from which approximately
55,000,000 tons of ore are shipped annually. The Great Lakes
provide a natural highway for the shipment of all these products.

BUFFALO TO CLEVELAND

439 M. BUFFALO, Pop. 506,775. (Train 51 arrives 5:30p; No. 3, passes 7:15p; No. 41, 11:45p; No. 25, 11:51p; No. 19, 3:55a. Eastbound: No. 6 passes 11:31p; No. 26, 12:27a; No. 16, 4:35a; No. 22, 7:15a.)

French trappers and Jesuit missionaries were the first white men to visit the site of Buffalo, and near here, on the east bank of the Niagara River at the mouth of Cayuga Creek, La Salle in 1679 built the "Griffin," with which he sailed up the Great Lakes to Green Bay, Wis. He also built Ft. Conti at the mouth of the river, but this was burned in the following year. Seven years later the marquis of Denonville in behalf of the French built here another fort, the predecessor of the various fortifications in this locality which were subsequently called Ft. Niagara.

Although the neighborhood was the scene of various operations during the War of Independence, not a single white settler was living on the site of the present city when the federal constitution was adopted in 1787, and the town was not laid out till after the second presidency of Washington. In 1801 Joseph Ellicott, sometimes called the "Father of Buffalo," plotted the site for a town, calling it New Amsterdam but the name of Buffalo Creek or Buffalo proved more popular. Ellicott was the agent of a group of Dutch capitalists called the Holland Land Co., who purchased a large tract of land for speculative purposes in the neighborhood of Buffalo (1792).

At an early period (1784) the present site of the city of Buffalo
had come to be known as the "Buffalo Creek region," either from
the herds of buffalo or bison, which, according to Indian
tradition, had frequented the salt licks of the creek, or more
probably for some Indian chief.

During the War of 1812 Buffalo was a frontier town, and, owing to its position on Lake Erie, very close to an important theater of operations. The first gun of the war is said to have been fired on Aug. 13, by a battery at Black Rock, then a rival, now a suburb of Buffalo, and shortly afterwards British soldiers from the Canadian garrison at Ft. Erie (directly across the Niagara River from Buffalo) made a raid into Buffalo harbour and captured the schooner "Connecticut." The Americans replied with a brilliant exploit in which Lieut. Jesse D. Elliott (1782-1845) crossed the river and captured the "Detroit" and the "Caledonia" under the guns of Ft. Erie.

The ruins of Ft. Erie are among the most picturesque features of
the region about Buffalo. The fort was captured in 1814 by an
American force under Gen. Winfield Scott, and was held by the
Americans till the end of the war, despite the efforts of a
British besieging force to dislodge them. At the close of
hostilities the Americans blew up the fort.

In the following spring (1812) five of the gunboats used by Capt. Perry at the Battle of Lake Erie were fitted out in the harbour at Buffalo. Perry's victory, however, did not save the little settlement from an attack in Dec. of that year in which Gen. Sir Phineas Riall and a force of 1,200 British and Indians captured the town and almost completely destroyed it. After the war the town was rebuilt, and grew rapidly. In 1818, near where La Salle in 1679 built his little sailing vessel, the "Griffin," a group of N.Y. capitalists completed the "Walk-in-the-Water," the first steamboat on the Great Lakes. The completion of the Erie Canal, seven years later, with Buffalo as its western terminus, greatly increased the city's importance. At Buffalo in 1848 met the Free Soil convention that nominated Martin Van Buren for the presidency and Charles Francis Adams for the vice-presidency. Grover Cleveland lived in Buffalo from 1855 until 1884, when he was elected president.

Stephen Grover Cleveland (1837-1908) was born, fifth in a family
of nine children, in the town of Caldwell, Essex County, N.J. He
came of good colonial stock, but the death of his father
prevented his receiving a college education. About 1855 he
drifted westward with $25 in his pocket, and not long afterward
began to read law in a law office in Buffalo, where he was
admitted to the bar in 1859. He was assistant district attorney
of Erie County, of which Buffalo is the chief city, in 1863, was
elected sheriff on the Democratic ticket in 1869, and mayor of
Buffalo in 1881, although the city was normally Republican. As
mayor he attracted wide attention by his independence and
business-like methods--qualities which distinguished his entire
career. After his election as governor in the following year, the
Democratic party chose him as their candidate against James G.
Blaine. He was the first Democrat to be elected president for 24
years. His administration was marked by firmness and justice; he
stood staunchly by the new civil service law, and during his
first term vetoed 413 bills, more than two-thirds of which were
private pension bills. He vigorously attacked the high tariff
laws then in effect, but the administration tariff bill was
blocked by his Republican opponents. In 1888 Cleveland was
defeated for re-election by Benjamin Harrison, but in 1892 he was
again nominated and defeated President Harrison by a large
majority. The most important event of his second administration
was the repeal of the silver legislation which had been a growing
menace for 15 years. The panic of 1893 was accompanied by an
outbreak of labor troubles, the most serious of which was the
Pullman strike at Chicago (1894). When Gov. Altgeld of Illinois
failed to act, President Cleveland sent troops to Chicago to
clear the way for mail trains, and the strike was settled within
a week. He also acted decisively in the Venezuela affair, with
the result that Great Britain agreed to arbitrate on terms which
safeguarded the national dignity on both sides. At the end of his
term, Cleveland retired to Princeton, N.J.

The Pan-American Exposition in celebration of the progress of the Western Hemisphere in the 19th century, was held here May 1-Nov. 2, 1901. It was during a reception in the Temple of Music on the Exposition grounds that President McKinley was assassinated on Sept. 6. He died at the home of John A. Milburn, the president of the exposition.

President McKinley's assassin was Leon Czolgosz, a young man of
Polish parentage, who shot the president with a revolver at close
range. For a while it was thought that the president would
recover, but he collapsed and died on Sept. 14, 1901. Czolgosz
professed to belong to the school of anarchists who believe in
violence. He was executed in October, 1901.

Buffalo today has broad and spacious streets and a park system (1,229 acres) of unusual beauty. The largest park is Delaware Park (362 acres), on the north side of the city. This park is adjoined on the south by the Forest Lawn Cemetery which contains monuments to Millard Fillmore and the Indian chief "Red Jacket."