THE CAYUGA OUTLET BRIDGE.
[June 27, 1912 paper]
From a Sketch by Prof. W. H. Beach in the Seneca
County Courier-Journal.
In 1658 the Jesuits began to establish mission stations
among the Indians. St. Stephen's was on the Cayuga Outlet, just north of
Cayuga. The many villages, some of considerable size, would indicate that
this was a favorite location with the Indians. In 1679 the French, who
claimed the country, were at Niagara. In 1759 the English built Fort Statwix.
A detachment of Sullivan’s Army rested a night on the Hoskins Hill, passed
down the north side of Seneca River, crossed near Mudlock, arid marched
up the east shore of the Lake. There was a village at Cayuga.
Adventurers and traders were pushing their way westward.
The opening of military tracts, bought from the Indians, in 1782
and 1786, giving lots to soldiers, and reports of the rich Genesee Country,
quickened migration, In 1788, John Harris came from Harrisburg, Pa., and
with James Bennett, started a ferry. The east landing was nearly a mile
south of Cayuga to which place was a road from the east. The west landing
was near the cobblestone house. Here Bennett had a log tavern and a store.
From the west landing was a road running southwest and another running
north nearly half a mile and then west. The Court of Common Pleas in each
County was authorized to grant licenses to ferries.
In September, 1791, Elkanah Watson journeyed tip the
Seneca River in some small boats. Prospecting for the future canal. He
found camps of surveyors and settlers, solitary and in groups. He went
up Cayuga Outlet and crossed the Lake obsequently at the
ferry house. Here he found land pioneers, rude and
uncouth. His first night for some weeks under a civilized roof was made
comfortless by fleas and bugs. He worked his way north along the west shore
of the lake and up the river to the falls, where he found the log tavern
of Job Smith. He food about twenty houses at Geneva. and at Appletown one
hundred and fifty settlers. From there he returned across the country to
the ferry landing. In 1795 the ferry was changed to Cayuga and Bridgeport.
In that year John Harris had a store, an ashery and a distillery at the
latter place.
March 28, 1797 the Legislature passed an act incorporating
the Cayuga Bridge Company; Charles Williamson, Thomas Morris, John Harris,
Wilhelmus Mynderse and Joseph Arnin being the incorporates. The Act was
amended in March, 1799. The bridge was commenced in the following May and
finished in September, 1800. It was built by the Manhattan Company of New
York and cost $150,000. It was built on mud sills and was a mile and eight
rods in length. A traveler in 1800 wrote, ‘This bridge is the longest in
America, perhaps in the world, and yet five years ago the Indians possessed
the shores of the lake imbosotned in almost impenetrable woods.
The first stage coach left Port Schuyler September
30, 1797, and arrived at Geneva in the afternoon of the second day with
four passengers. The road had been opened two rods wide to Geneva in 1789,
and in 1794 to the Genesee River. April 1, 1800 an Act was passed to incorporate
a turnpike company for the improvement of the State Road from the house
of John House in the village of Utica to the village of Cayuga and thence
to the village of Canandaigna. The bridge went down in 1808. Ferries were
used until the second was built. The third was built in 1833 and was used
till 1857. The first cost $150,000, the last $15,000. Fiske says it cost
$88 to transport a ton of merchandise from Albany to Buffalo. When
the canal was finished the cost fell to $22.50 and finally to $6.
There were toll houses every five miles. One was where
there is now a well by the Restvale cemetery fence. The last keeper of
this was William VauCleef. There were two between Cayuga and Auburn. Tire
tolls ranged four one and a half cents for a sheep, hog or calf, to one
dollar and twenty-five cents for a four horse carriage. The enormous dividends,
some years 80 per cent, yielded- by these tolls, indicate the amount
of travel across the bridge. There were men and boys on foot and on horseback,
ox carts one horse wagons, larger wagons drawn by two and four horses,
wagons loaded with merchandise, wagons loaded with families, gray-haired
grandparents down to the babies, wagons loaded with household goods cows,
sheep, bogs, chickens all things necessary for starting life on a new farm.
During the War of 1812, troops, artillery and wagons loaded with military
supplies crossed the bridge on their way to the Niagara Frontier.
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