From: THE DEVELOPMENT OF CENTRAL AND WESTERN NEW YORK

By: Clayton Mau

1958

Timothy Dwight

While on a vacation tour in 1804, Timothy Dwight, President of Yale College, journeyed across New York State. From the many interesting observations on a wide range of subjects which are recorded in his journal, the following are selected:

Saturday, September 29th, [1804], we left our hospitable friends at Cazenovia [Madison County], and proceeded through the townships of Manlius and Onondaga to Marcellus: thirty-one miles. For three miles our road lay along the beautiful lake, which I have mentioned, and was very pleasant. It ought to be remarked, that the fever and ague is here unknown: and that the soil of this neighbourhood is rich.

The Cazenovia road joins the western turnpike, as it is here called (that is, the great road from Utica to Canandaigua), at the distance of four miles; and in the centre of a pretty settlement, in the township of Manlius. Here our travelling inconveniences chiefly vanished. The road was excellent, the surface smooth, and the settlement, though nearly of the same date, was much farther advanced. The houses were better, and were surrounded with more conveniences. Fruit trees also abounded, and among them the peach, growing and bearing with the utmost luxuriance. .

Of the progress, which has been made in settling this country, you may form tolerably correct apprehensions from the following account. There are a few instances, in which the forests extend on the road four, five, and six miles. On the Seneca river we found one spreading perhaps seven or eight. Frequently they occupy small distances. The settlements are either villages, hamlets, or long continued lines of farmhouses, distant from each other an eighth, a fourth, a half, and sometimes three-fourths of a mile. The villages are few; the hamlets are more numerous; but the extent is chiefly occupied by these lines of farm-houses. There is nothing, which can be called a town, except Geneva and Canandaigua.

The houses throughout this tract [the Military Tract] are almost universally of wood; many of one, and many of two stories. A great number of them are decent buildings; many are neat; and some are handsome. Taken together, they exceeded my most sanguine expectations. . .

There is something singular, and I think ludicrous, in the names given to townships in different parts of this country. In the tract under consideration, they are chiefly derived from ancient heroes. This may be considered as characteristical of the nature of the grant, and the

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spirit of those to whom it was made. To exhibit their love of learning and wisdom, they have added to these the names of Solon, Tully, Locke, Cato, Cicero, and Galen; and, to evince their taste for poetry, they have annexed those of Homer, Virgil, Ovid, Milton, and Dryden. In the county of Tioga, which lies directly south of the military tract, we are presented with a new set of names; such as Oghquaga, Chenango, Tioga, Owego, Chemung, ......

The township of Onondaga is composed of a remarkable valley, called Onondaga Hollow, and the flat hills on both sides. On the eastern elevation the soil is inferior to that of Manlius; and, what we had not seen since we left Unadilla, is covered with a forest of oaks. .

Within this township are the celebrated springs, called the Onondaga salt springs; scarcely rivalled in the world, if they are at all rivalled, in their utility to mankind. These springs rise in a marsh at the head of Onondaga lake, sometimes called from them the Salt lake.

The water of these springs is remarkably impregnated with salt. Fifty gallons yield, by boiling, a bushel of salt, weighing fifty-six pounds. It contains a considerable quantity of lime....

These springs issue perpendicularly from the marsh through small orifices. The water is conveyed into cisterns, and thence into potash kettles, containing generally about eighty gallons, and placed over furnaces. When they are filled they are made to boil briskly, until the lime is deposited and removed. The salt then begins to crystallize, and the boiling is suffered to proceed gently, until the water is chiefly evaporated. The salt is then taken out, and drained dry....

One of the greatest evils, attending this business, is the unhealthiness of the tract bordering on the springs. One period of the year is proverbially styled here the sickly season; at which a considerable number of the workmen die annually. The evil is attended, and probably increased, by another; viz, the consumption of ardent spirits by the workmen. From a conviction, that these furnish the greatest security against the dangers of the climate, these unhappy people use them so licentiously, as in considerable numbers to become drunkards.

The sickiiness of this spot is rationally believed to flow from the putrefaction of the waters in the marsh. These are salt water diluted by fresh; a compound which in the hot season becomes more suddenly and entirely putrid, than either of them would be if unmixed. Thesmell in the warm season is extremely offensive, and fills the atmosphere of the vicinity. The diseases, which prevail here, are the fever and ague in the spring, and the bilious remittent in the autumn. It is a melancholy reflection, that so much vice, and so great a waste of human life, should be incident to the acquisition of this necessary article...

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On Monday, October i st, we left our inn, very well pleased with our entertainment; and rode through the remaining part of Marcellus, and through Aurelius, and Junius, to Geneva: thirty miles. The country exhibited a similar face to that through which we had lately passed. The hills and vallies, however, returned more frequently; and the declivities were longer and steeper before, than we found them on this day's journey. In the western part of Marcellus there is a beautiful lake, named Skeneateles; commencing in the township of Tully, crossing the corner of Sempronius, and reaching through a considerable part of Marcellus. Its length is fifteen miles; and its breadth from one to two. At the outlet of this fine piece of water, sprightly and vigorous, running between high and rough banks, and without any of those marshy incumbrances, which spread deformity and disease around the outlets of so many lakes in this region, there is a small settlement, which I thought peculiarly pretty. It is built upon the north end of the lake, and upon a handsome, clean margin. The lake is in full view, and interested me more than any other on this road. The shores on both sides are elegant, arched slopes; the eastern, already handsomely cultivated. The soil is excellent, and the fields were covered with a glowing verdure. At the south end of the lake the prospect is limited by distant mountains; in this region uncommon, and therefore peculiarly gratifying objects.

The township of Aurelius, which lies immediately west of Marcellus, wears the same general appearance. The inhabitants are visibly prosperous; and, what is uncommon here, have settled a clergyman. This gentleman will not, I think, die for want of exercise. His cure comprehends probably seventy or eighty thousand acres; and he preaches successively at four different stations. [Publishers footnote, 1823,-the large and flourishing village of Auburn has been wholly built since the date of this journey. It is within the limits of what was then Aurelius.]

We dined at Cayuga bridge, where there is a hamlet, consisting of three very good, and eight or ten indifferent houses. Its situation is pleasant; commanding a fine view of Cayuga lake, and the country on its borders.

The bridge over this lake, considering the recency of the settlements, may be justly styled a stupendous erection; and is probably the longest work of the kind in the United States, the planking being no less than a mile in length. It is built on wooden trestles, in the plainest and most ordinary manner; and exhibits nothing to strike the eye, except its length. It is said to have cost 20,000 dollars, and to be the property of a Mr. Swartwout of New-York. The toll is a quarter of a dollar for

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man and horse; the highest, I believe, in the United States, if we consider the amount of the capital, and the quantum of travelling.

Buffaloe Creek, otherwise called New-Amsterdam, is built on the north-eastern border of a considerable millstream, which bears the same name. A bar at the mouth prevents all vessels, larger than boats, from ascending its waters. For boats it is navigable about eight miles. Its appearance is more sprightly than that of some others in this region. The south-western bank is here a peninsula, covered with a handsome grove. Through it several vistas might be cut with advantage, as they would open fine views of the lake [Erie], a beautiful object. The prospect, which they would furnish towards the west and south-west, would be boundless.

The village is built half a mile from the mouth of the creek, and consists of about twenty indifferent houses. The Holland company own the soil. Hitherto they have declined to sell it, and, until very lately, to lease it. Most of the settlers have, therefore, taken up their ground without any title. The terms on which it is leased are, that the lessee shall within nine months build a house, thirty feet in front, and two stories in height; and shall pay, if I mistake not, two dollars annually for each lot of half an acre. The streets are straight, and cross each other at right angles, but are only forty feet wide. What could have induced this wretched limitation in a mere wilderness I am unable to conceive. The spot is unhealthy, though of a sufficient elevation, and, so far as I have been informed, free from the vicinity of any stagnant waters. The diseases prevailing here are those, which are common to all this country. The inhabitants [i 804] are a casual collection of adventurers; and have the usual character of such adventurers, thus collected, when remote from regular society, retaining but little sense of government or religion. We saw about as many Indians in this village as white people. The superintendent of Indian affairs for the Six Nations resides here.

New-Amsterdam is at present the thoroughfare for all the commerce and travelling interchangeably going on between the eastern states (including New-York and New-Jersey) and the countries bordering on the great western lakes. The creek is frequently said to unite with the river Niagara. I should say, as I believe every other man would, who spoke from his own inspection, that it unites with Lake Erie; and that the river Niagara begins two miles further north, at, or rather just below, Black Rock. Here the first perceptible current commences; while at the mouth of the creek the waters, unless agitated by winds, are perfectly still, and have exactly the same appearance as other parts of the lake.

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At Black Rock, a town, which is a mile square, is laid out by order of the state into house lots. The lots are to be disposed of at public sale in December of this year, upon terms with which I am unacquainted. Should they be equitable, the trade, which I mentioned, will soon center here. Between this rock and the shore is the only secure harbour on the American, and a much better than any on the British side of the lake, within a great distance. A road is already begun from this spot to Fort Niagara, at the mouth of the river, and will not improbably be completed within a year.

The period is not distant, when the commerce of this neighbourhood will become a great national object, and involve no small part of the interests and happiness of millions. I shall consider it more particularly hereafter....

The diseases, which principally prevail here [New England and New York], are the fever and ague, intermittents without ague, and bilious remittents. Fever and ague may be considered as nearly universal; almost all the inhabitants being sooner or later seized by it within a few years after their immigration. This disease, from the violence of its affections, its long continuance, its return at the same season for several successive years, and the lasting impression, which it often leaves on the constitution, is regarded by the people of New-England with a kind of horror. The other two diseases, though common to most parts of the country, are yet much more predominant in particular places. Along the Genesee they all abound. They are frequent, also, as I was informed, on the southern shores of Lake Ontario, and in spots around the outlets of most of the smaller lakes, and in various others. A tract around the Onondaga salt springs is still more sickly and fatal.

To the evils, mentioned above, I ought to add the exposure of the recent settlers to walking and working a great part of their time in moist ground; the badness of their houses; the poorness of their fare; together with the difficulty of obtaining proper medicines, good nurses, and skilful physicians. Nor ought it to be forgotten, that the streams are frequently choked, rendered sluggish, and raised in many places above their usual height by the timber, which is cut down, or which, being girdled, is suffered to fall into their channels. In this manner they affect the atmosphere in as noxious a manner as millponds, and other artificial accumulations of water.

There is another disease, which is unquestionably owing to the nature of this country, and not merely to the recency of its settlement. This is what is called in Switzerland the goitres, or the hernia gutturis. By the Honourable Uriah Tracy, late a senator of the United States from Connecticut, I am informed, that this disease is found to some extent throughout a great part of the regions lying north of the Ohio and

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west of the Alleghany mountains. Mr. Tracy was employed by the American government on a mission of importance, which required him to make a tour throughout a large extent of this country. . . . In this excursion he found the goitres existing in the older settlements more, in the newer less frequently, but actually existing at different distances throughout the whole region. ...

Persons afflicted with this disease have, as is well known, swellings of the neck, rising indifferently in front or at the sides; and, when they become large, extending throughout the anterior half. These swellings are of all sizes, from the slightest protuberance to that of a quart bowl; and are attended with stiffness of the neck, a slight degree of continual pain, and frequently a depression of spirits. The sufferings of the patient are increased by a cold, and by almost every other infirmity. Women are more frequently and more severely afflicted with this disease than men, feeble than vigorous persons, and children than adults. In the higher degrees it becomes a painful deformity, not only as an unnatural protuberance, but by imparting a disagreeable cast to the features, particularly to the eyes. When the patient continues in the same place, and in the same habits of living by which it was produced, it generally increases; but if he removes to a part of the country where it is unknown, it not uncommonly decreases, and sometimes disappears.

Timothy Dwight, Travels in New-England and New-York (London, 1823),

Vol. IV, pp. 24-35, 56-57, 104-106.