The country had already been so far improved, that the inhabitants lived m comfort, and even luxury ; regular weekly markets had been established in Geneva, Canadarqua, and Bath ; and were welJ supplied with meat of all kinds. The flour from our mills was inferior to none on the continent, and the merchants' stores were regularly supplied. The United States had established a weekly post for the carriage of letters : in fact, we found no inconvenience but that the access to the country, for near one hundred miles on each side, was through settlements, in point of improvement, far behind those in the Genesee Country. To improve our communication with the coast seemed to be all that was necessary to render this country equal to any part of America, for comfort and convenience : in many things, particularly the climate, we had much the advantage. To remedy this inconvenience as to roads, the Legislature of the State had, by an act passed in the session

]14J' papers relating to

of 17Q'~. taken the road from Fort Schuyler to Geneva under their patronage. A lottery had been granted for the opening and improving of certain great roads ; am.ong these, this road was included. The inhabitants of the country through Avhich the road passed, made a voluntary offer of their services, to aid the State Commissioner, and subscribed four thousand days work, which they performed with fidelity and cheerfulness. By this generous and uncommon exertion, and by some other contributions, the State Commissioner was enabled to complete this road of near one hundred miles, opening it sixty-four feet wide, and paving with logs and gravel, the moist parts of the low country through which it was carried. Hence the road from Fort Schuyler, on the Mohawk River, to Genesee, from being, in the month of June, 1797, a little better than an Indian path, was so far improved, that a stage started from Fort Schuyler on the 30th of September, and arrived at the hotel in Geneva, in the afternoon of the third day, with four passengers.