Lossing, Benson John. The Hudson, from the Wilderness to the Sea. New York: Virtue & Yorston, 1866. Internet Archive identifier: hudsonfromwilder00lossi. Illustrated travel-history of the Hudson River valley by the writer and artist Benson J. Lossing, whose chapter on Teller's / Croton Point is a primary source for Senasqua place-name etymology, Sarah Teller's 1682 purchase, and the Underhill vineyard.
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Book _ LX / (2^;^,i5^ ^yt!!^: - <s^^^^55^ >^ WRW A^nptr ■\rT'RTTT-R -vn-p qto-kt THE HUDSON, HE WILDERNESS TO THE SEA. BENSON J. LOSSING. ILLUSTRATED BY THREE HUNDRED AND SIX EKGRAVIKGS OH WOOD, FROM DRAWINGS BY THE AUTHOR, AND A FRONTISPIECE ON STEEL. NEW YORK: VIHTUE AND YOESTON. filtered according to Act of Congress, in the year 1866, By VIETUE & yOESTON, In the Clerk's …
It is impossible to give in pictures so necessarily small as are those which illustrate this Volume, an adequate idea of the beauty and grandeur of the scenery of the Hudson River ; so, in the choice of subjects, the judgment was governed more by considerations of utility than of mere artistic taste. Only such objects have been delineated and described as bore relations to the …
Elephant Island Lumber Dam and Sluice Initial Letter-- The Wayside Fountain Eapids at the Head of Harris's Lake Sandford Lake The Iron Dam Adirondack Village Departure for Tahawus First Bridge over the Hudson Bark Cabin at Calamity Pond Henderson's Monument Fall in the Opalescent Eiver Climbing Tahawus Spring on the Peak of Tahawus Hospice on the Peak of Tahawus Initial …
Initial Letter-- Canal Bridge and Boat ... Canal Bridge across the Hudson above the Saratoga Dam Confluence of the Hudson and Batten-Kill Di-on-on-deh-o-wa, or Great Falls of the Batten-KiU The Reidesel House Cellar of Reidesel House Eapids of the Fish Creek, at Schuylerville The Schuyler Mansion Scene of Burgoyne's Surrender Gates's Head-quarters Eope Ferry Burgoyne's …
Staircase in Schuyler's Mansion 131 The State Capitol 133 Canal Basin at Albany ... 134 The Dudley Observatory 137 Greenbush Kailway Station 139 View near the Overslagh 1-12 Coxsakie 144 Fishing Station-- Sturgeon, Shad, Bass ... 14-t View from the Promenade, Hudson 147 Athens, from the Hudson Iron Works ... 148 View at Katz-Kill Landing 149 Entrance to the Katzbergs 1.51 Rip …
Marlborough, from the Lime-Kilns 195 Mouth of Wappingi's Creek 196 Washington's Head-quarters at Newburgh 199 Interior of Washington's Head-quarters ... 2n0 Lite-Guard Mommient 201 Newburgh Bay 202 Fishkill Landing and Newburgh 203 Idlewild from the Brook 204 In the Glen at Idlewild 205 Upper Entrance to the Highlands 207 PAGE At the Foot of the Stoi-m King 209 " The Powell " …
View from Rossiter's Mansion 245 West Point Foundrj' Undercliff 218 Ruins of Batter}' on Constitution Island ... 250 View at Garrison's 251 Cozzens's 252 Church of the Holy Innocents ... 253 The Road to Cozzens's Dock 254 Buttermilk Falls 2.55 Upper Cascades, Buttermilk Falls 256 Beverly Dock Lower Entrance to the Highlands, fiom Peek's KUl Falls in Fort Jlontgomery Creek …
Sleigh Riding on the Hudson Asylum for the Insane Croton Aqueduct at Sing Sing Elm Park in 1861 State Prison at Sing Sing Orphan Asylum State Prisoners Harlem Plains Crolon Point, from Sing Sing View in Central Park Rockland, or Slaughterer's Landing The Terrace Bridge and Mall RockhuKl Lake A Squatter Village Mouth of the Croton Provoost's Tomb -Jones's Woods Croton Dam View …
Soldiers' Monument in Trinity Churchyard Andre's Monument Seals of New Amsterdam and New York... Paulding Manor Dutch Mansion and Cottage in New Am- Sunnyside ... sterdam Ining's Study The Bowling Green and Fort George in 1783 The Brook at Sunnyside The Bowling Green in 1861 The Pond, or " Mediterranean Sea " The Battery and Castle Garden Wolfert's Boost when Irving purchased …
T is proposed to present, in a series of sketclies witli pen and pencil, pictures of the Hudsoa lliver, from its birth among th(^ mountains to its marriage with the ocean. '^ff 'IM It is by far the most interesting river in *'' ' America, considering the beauty and magnificence of its scenery, its natural, political, and social history, the agricultural and mineral treasures …
THE HUDSON. ■u'ell assured that it is the portrait of an eminent navigator, who, in that remarkable year in the history of England and America, one thousand six hundred and seven, met "certains worshippeful merchants of London," in the parlour of a son of Sir Thomas Gresham, in Bishopsgatc Street, and bargained concerning a proposed voyage in search of a north-east passage to …
At the middle of March, 1609, Heudrick, as the Dutch called him, sailed from Amsterdam in a yacht of ninety tons, named the Half -Moon, manned with a choice crew, and turned his prow, once more, toward Nova Zembla. Again ice, and fogs, and fiei'ce tempests, disputed his passage, and he steered westward, passed Cape Farewell, and, on the 2nd of July, made soundings upon the …
But when the magnitieeut liighlands, fifty miles from tlie sea, were passed, and the stream narrowed and the water freshened, hope failed him. Eut the indescribable beauty of the virgin land through which he was voyaging, filled his heart and mind with exquisite pleasure ; and as deputations of dusky men came from the courts of the forest sachems to visit him, in wonder and …
King James, jealous because of the advantages which the Dutch might derive from these discoveries, kept Hudson a long time in England ; but tlie Hollanders had all necessary information, and very soon ships of the company and of private adventurers were anchored in the waters of the Mahicannituck, and receiving the wealth of the forests from the wild men who inhabited them …
Albany, was little kuowu to Avhite men, excepting hunters and trappers, and a few isolated settlers ; and the knowledge of its sources among lofty alpine ranges is one of the revelations made to the present century, and even to the present generation. And now very few, excepting the hunters of that region, have personal knowledge of the beauty and wild grandeur of lake, and …
Our little company, composed of the minimum in the old prescription for a dinner-party -- not more than the Muses nor less than the Graces -- left our homes, in the pleasant rural city of Poughkeepsie, on the Hudson, for the Avildernesss of northern New York, by a route which we are satisfied, by experience and observation, to be the best for the tourist or sportsman bound for …
The day was fine, and the shores of the lake, clustered with historical associations, presented a series of beautiful pictures ; for they were rich with forest verdure, the harvests of a fruitful seed-time, and thrifty villages and farmhouses. Behind these, on the east, arose the lofty ranges of the Green Mountains, in Vermont ; and on the west were the Adirondacks of New …
AVatson, Es(i., a descendant of Governor Winslow, who came to New England in the 3IaijfIotrer), Avhoso personal explorations and general knowledge of the region we were about to visit, enabled him to give us information of much value in our subsequent course. With himself and family we visited the walled banks of the Great Au Sable, near Keeseville, and stood with wonder and …
At Franklin Falls, on the Saranac, in the midst of the wildest mountain scenery, where a few years before a forest village had been destroyed by fire, we dined upon trout and venison, the common food of the wilderness, and then rode on toward the Lower Saranac Lake, at the foot of which we were destined to leave roads, and horses, and industrial pursuits behind, and live upon …
Toward evening we reached the sluggish outlet of the Saranac Lakes, and at a little before sunset our postilion reined up at Eaker's Inn, two miles from the Lower Lake, and fifty-one from Port Kent. To the lover and student of nature, the artist and the philosopher, the country through w^hich we had passed, and to which only brief allusion may here be made, is among the most …
In one of these was borne our luggage, provisions, and Mr. Buckingham, and in the other Mrs. Lossing and myself. The Saranac Lakes are three iu uumbir, and lie on the south-eastei'u borders of Franklin County, north of Mount Seward. They are known as the Upper, Bound, and Lower. The latter, over which we first voyaged, is six miles in length. From its head we passed along a …
A portage of an eighth of a mile, over which the boats and luggage were carried upon a waggon, brought us to the foot of the Upper Lake. On this dark, wild sheet of water, thirteen miles in length, we embarked toward the close of the day, and just before sunset reached the lodge of Corey, a hunter and guide well known in all that region. It stood near the gravelly shore of a …
We were alone with God and His works, far away from the abodes of men ; and when at evening the stars came out one by one, they seemed to the communing spirit like diamond lamps hung up in the dome of a great cathedral, in which we had that day worshipped so purely and lovingly. It is profitable, as Eryant says, to " Go abroad Upon the paths of Nature, and, when all Its voices …
The Spectacle Ponds are beautiful sheets of water in the forest, lying near each other, and connected by shallow streams, through which the guides waded and dragged the boats. The outlet -- a narrow, sinuous stream, and then shallow, because of a drought that was prevailing in all that northern country -- is called " Stony Brook." After a course of thrci' and a half miles …
The leaves are long and slender, with a long, tapering base. The flowere are large and very sliowj'. Corolla bright scarlet ; the tube slender ; segments of the lower lip oblonglanceolate ; filaments red; anthers blue ; stigma tlu-ee-lobed, and at length protruded. It grows readily when transplanted, even in dry soil, and is frequently seen in our gardens. A picture of this …
Tr>\MS or iiir 1 1 1 rr nii,'. and upon St. Regis Lake, north of the Saranac group, two or three families of the beaver -- the most rare of all the tenants of these forests -- might then be found. The otter is somc^vhat abundant, but the panther has become almost extinct ; the wolf is seldom seen, except in winter ; and the black bear, quite abundant in the mountain ranges …
At the foot of the rapids we dined, and then walked a mile over a lofty, thickly-wooded hill, to their head, where we re-embarked. Here our guides first carried their boats, and it was surprising to see with what apparent ease our Indian took the heaviest, weighing at least 160 lbs., and with a dog-trot bore it the whole distance, stopping only once. The boat rests upon a …
The lofty mountain ranges on both sides stretched away into the blue distance, and the slopes of one, and the peak of another, were smoking like volcanoes, the timber being on fire. N'ear us the groves upon the headlands, solitary trees, rich shrubbery, graceful rushes, the clustering moose-head and water-lily, and the gorgeous cloud-pictures, were perfectly reflected, and …
them, placed others against it in position like the rafters of half a roof, one end upon the ground, and covered the whole and both sides with the boughs of the hemlock and pine, leaving the front open. The ground was then strewn with the delicate sprays of the hemlock and balsam, making a sweet and pleasant bed. A few feet from the front they built a huge fire, and prepared …
There we dismissed our Saranac guides, and despatched on horseback the one who had joined us on the Spectacle Ponds to the home of Mitchell Sabattis, a St. Francis Indian, eighteen miles distant, to procure his services for our tour to the head waters of the Hudson. Sabattis was by far the best man in all that region to lead the traveller to the Hudson waters, aud the …
The burning hill above us presented a magnificent appearance in the gloom. The fire was in broken points over a surface of half a mile, near the summit, and the appearance was like a city upon the lofty slope, brilliantly illuminated. It was sad to see the fire sweeping away whole acres of fine timber. But such scenes are frequent in that region, and every bald and blackened …
"We found Hendrick Spring in the edge of a swamp-- cold, shallow, about five feet in diameter, shaded by trees, shrubbery, and vines, and fringed with the delicate brake and fern. Its waters, rising within half a mile of Long Lake, and upon the same summit level, flow southward to the Atlantic more than three hundred miles ; while those of the latter flow to the St. Lawrence …
boats, and we quite heavy packs, but all were compelled to rest every few minutes, for the sun was shining hotly upon us. We were nearly an hour travelling that half mile. Thoroughly wearied, we entered one of the boats at the first navigable point on Spring Brook, that flows from the Hendi'ick source, and rowed leisurely down to Fountain Lake, while THE HUDSON. our guides …
The sun went down while we were crossing this portage, and finding a good place for a camp on the margin of a cold mountain stream in the deep forest, we concluded to remain there during the night. Our guides soon constructed a shelter with an inverted boat, poles, and boughs, and we all slept soundly, after a day of excessive toil. In the morning avc embarked upon the …
Emerging from the forest, we came to a field filled with boulders and blackened stumps, and, from the summit of a hill, we overlooked an extensive rolling valley, heavily timbered, stretching westward to the Windfall Mountains, and at our feet were the Clearing and the Saw-mill. The latter stood at the head of a deep rocky gorge, down which great logs are sent at high water …
Near the foot of the lake is a wooded peninsula, whose low isthmus, being covered at high water, leave.T it an island. It is called Elephant Island, because of the singular resemblance of some of the lime- THE HUDSON. stone formation that composes its bold shore to portions of that animal. The whole rock is perforated into singularly-formed caves. This, and ELEPHANT ISLAND …
^N the old settlement of Pendleton, in the town of Newcomb, Essex County, we spent our second Sabbath. ' That settlement is between the head of Eich's Lake and the foot of Harris's Lake, a distance of five or six miles along their *^^ southern shores. It derives its name from Judge Nathaniel Pendleton, who, about fifty years ago, made a clearing there, and built a and grist …
That lake is a beautiful sheet of water, and along the dark, sluggish river, above the rapids at its head, we saw the cardinal flower upon the banks, and the rich moose-head ••' in the water, in great abundance. * This, in the books, is called Pickerel Weed (Pontederia cordata of LiniiiEUs), but Ihe guides call it moose-head. The stem is stout and cylindrical, and bears a …
From a rough rocky bluff a mile below that point, we obtained a distant view of three of the higher peaks of the Adirondacks -- Tahawus or Mount Marcy, Mount Golden, and Mount M'Intyre. We returned at ' evening beneath a canopy of magnificent clouds ; aud that night was made strangely luminous by one of the most HVllUo Ar IHL HEAD OF H\RK1S'S LAKE. splendid displays of the …
On the way we passed the confluence of Lake Delia with the Adirondack branch of the Hudson, reached M'Intyre's Inn (Tahawus House, at the foot of Sandford Lake) toward noon, and at two o'clock were at the little deserted village at the Adirondack Iron Works, between Sandford and Henderson Lakes. "We passed near the margin of the former a large portion of the way. It is a …
The hamlet -- consisting of sixteen dwelling-houses, furnaces, and other edifices, and a building with a cupola, used for a school and public worship -- was the offspring of enterprise and capital, which many years before had combined to develop the mineral wealth of that region. That wealth was still there, and almost untouched-- for enterprise and capital, compelled to …
They slept that night at the base of the towering cliff of the Indian Pass. The next day they reached the head of a beautiful lake, which they named " Henderson," and followed its outlet to the site of Adirondack village. There, in a deep-shaded valley, they beheld with wonder the "iron dam," or dyke of iron ore, stretched across a stream, which was afterward found to be one …
son, and David Henderson, all related by marriage ; and^Avith slight aid from the State, they constructed a road through the wilderness, from the Siarron [Schroon] Yalley, near Lake Champlain, to the foot of Sandford Lake, halfway between the head of which and the beautiful Henderson Lake Avas the " iron dam." There a settlement was commenced in 1834. A timber dam was …
a dam seventeen hundred feet in length, a saw-mill, >\arehouses, dwellings for workmen, &c. And in 1854 they completed a blast furnace near the upper village, at the head of Sandford Lake, at an expense of $43,000 (£8, GOO), capable of producing fourteen tons of iron a-day. They also built six heavy boats upon Sandford Lake, for the transportation of freight, and roads at an …
An upper dam at Adirondack gave way, and a new channel for the stream was cut, and the great dam at Tahawus, with the saw-mill, Avas demolished by the rushing waters. All was left a desolation. Over scores of acres at the head and- foot of Handford Lake (overflowed when the dam was constructed) we saw white skeletons of trees which had been killed by the flood, standing …
Here we may properly instruct the expectant tourist in this region in regard to such preparation. Every arrangement should be as simple as possible. A man needs only a stout flannel hunting shii-t, coarse and trustworthy trousers, woollen stockings, large hea^-y boots well saturated with a composition of beeswax and tallow, a soft felt hat or a cap, and strong buckskin gloves …
It is a beautiful tree, often found from fifty to eighty feet in height, and the trnnk from two to three feet in diameter. From the sap, which flows abundantly in the f>pring, delicious sj-rup and excellent sugar are made. In the Upper Hudson region, the sap is procured by making a smaU incision with an axe, or a hole with an augur, into the body of the tree, into which a …
The guides will fish, hunt, work, build "camps," and do all other necessary service, for a moderate compensation and their food. It is proper here to remark that the tourist should never enter this wilderness earlier than the middle of August. Then the files and moscpitoes, the intolerable pests of the Ibrests, are rapidly disappearing, and fine weather may be expt'cted. The …
It was a weary journey of almost four miles (notwithstanding it lay along the track of a lane cut through the forest a few years ago for a special purpose, of which we shall presently speak), for in many places the soil was hidden by boulders covered with thick moss, over which we Avere compelled to climb. Towards sunset we reached a ideasant little lake, embosomed in the …
boughs, on which his body "was carried to Adirondack village. It was taken down Sandford Lake in a boat to Tahawus, and from thence again carried on a bier through the wilderness, fifteen miles to the western termination of the road from Scarron valley, then in process of construction. From thence it was conveyed to his home at Jersey City, and a few years afterward his family …
Upon these we supped and breakfasted. The night was cold, and at early dawn we found the hoar-frost lying upon every leaf and blade around us. Beautiful, indeed, was that dawning of the last day of summer. Prom the south-west came a gentle breeze, bearing upon its wings light vapour, that flecked the whole sky, and became roseate in hue when tlie sun touched with purple light …
The drought that still prevailed over northern Xew York and Xew England had so diminished the volume of the Opalescent Kiver, that we walked more than four miles in the bed of the stream upon boulders which fill it. We crossed it a hundred times or more, picking our way, and sometimes compelled to go into the woods in passing a cascade. The stream is broken into falls and …
The stones in this river vary in size, from tiny pebbles to boulders THE HUDSON. of a thousand tons ; the smaller ones made smooth by rolling, the larger ones, yet angular and massive, persistently defying the rushing torrent in its maddest career. They are composed chiefly of the beautiful labradorite, or opalescent feldspar, which form the great mass of the A(/anus-chion, or …
"We followed the Opalescent River to the foot of the Peak of Tahawus, on the borders of the high valley which separates that mountain from Mount Golden, at an elevation nine hundred feet above the highest peaks of the Cattskill range on the Lower Hudson. There the water is very cold, the forest trees are somewhat stunted and thickly planted, and the solitude complete. The …
"We dined upon bread and butter and maple sugar, in a sunny spot in front of the cabin, and then commenced the ascent, lea\ang our provisions and other things at the camp, where we intended to repose for the night. The journey upward was two miles, at an angle of forty-five degrees to the base of the rocky pinnacle. "We had no path to follow. The guides "blazed" the larger …
journey now became still more difficult, at the same time more interesting, for, as we emerged from the forest, the magnificent panorama of mountains that lay around us burst upon the vision. Along steep rocky slopes and ledges, and around and beneath huge stones a thousand tons in weight, some of them apparently poised, as if ready for a sweep down the mountain, we made our …
Indeed it was a triumph for us all, for few persons have ever attempted the ascent of that mountain, lying in a deep wilderness, hard to penetrate, the nearest point of even a bridle path, on the side of our approach, being ten miles from the base of its peak. Especially difficult is it for the feet of woman to reach the lofty summit of the Sky-piercer -- almost six thousand …
Within the hnt we found a piece of paper, on which was written : -- " This hospice, erected by a party from New York, August 19, 1858, is intended for the use and comfort of visitors to Tahawus.-- r. S. P.-- M. C-- F. M. N." Under this was written :-- " This hospice was occupied over night of August 14, 1859, by A. G. C. and T. E. D. Sun rose fourteen minutes to five." Under …
Our stand-point being the highest in all that region, there was nothing to obstruct the view. To-war-loon-dah, or Hill of Storms (Mount Emmons), Ou-kor-lah, or Big Eye (Mount Seward), Wah-o-par-te-nie, or White-face Mountain, and the Giant of the Valley -- all rose peerless above the other hills around us, excepting Coldcn and M'Intyre, that stood apparently within …
On every side bright lakes were gleaming, some nestling in unbroken forests, and others with their shores sparsely dotted with clearings, from which arose the smoke from the settler's cabin. We counted twenty-seven lakes, including Champlain -- the Indian Can-i-a-de-ri Guarim-te, or Door of the Country -- which stretched along the eastern view one hundred and forty miles, and …
Lawi ence level toward the valley of the Hudson, from which it is separated by a slightly elevated ridge. '^•- To tlie fierce Huron of Canada, who loved to make war upon the more southern Iroquois, this lake was a wide open door for his passage. Through it many brave men, aborigines and Europeans, have gone to the war-paths of New York and New England, never to return …
It is a peninsula, connected to tlie main by a very narrow isthmus, the extremities of wliich are at the villages of Whitehall, on Lalce Champlain, and Fort Edward, on the Hudson, about twenty-five miles apart. The lowest portion of that isthmus is not more tlian fifty feet above Lake Champlain, whose waters are only ninety above the sea. This istlimus is made still narrower …
Again French and Indian warriors came, led by Montcalm, Dieskau, and others [1755-1759], to drive the English from that door, and secure it for the house of Bourbon. A little later came troops of several nationalities, with Burgoyne at their head [1777], rushing through that door with power, driving \imerican republicans southward, like chaff before the wind, and sweeping …
Only lizards and leeches occupy their cold waters. All is silent and solitary there. The bald eagle sweeps over them occasionally, or perches upon a lofty pine, but the mournful voice of the Great Loon, or Diver ( Colymhus glacialis), heard over all the waters of northern New York and Ganada, never awakens the echoes of these solitary lakes.* These waters lie in a high basin …
At three o'clock Ave reached our camp at Calamity Pond, and just before sunset emerged from the forest into the open fields near Adirondack village, where we regaled ourselves with the bountiful fruitage of the raspberry shrub. At Mr. Hunter's we found kind and generous entertainment, and at an early hour the next morning we started for the great Indian Pass, four miles …
them on all sides, strike into the earth for sustenance. One of the masses presented a singular appearance ; it is of cubic form, its summit full thirty feet from its base, and upon it was quite a grove of hemlock and cedar trees. Around and partly under this and others lying loosely, apparently kept from rolling by roots and vines, we were compelled to clamber a long …
"Within the memory of Sabattis, this region has been shaken by an earthquake, and no doubt its power, and the lightning, and the frost, have hurled these masses from that impending cliff. Through these the waters of this branch of the Hudson, bubbling from a spring not far distant (close by a fountain of the Au Sable), lind their way. Here the head-waters of this river …
During the past four days we had travelled thirty miles on foot in the tangled forest, camped THE HUDSON. out two nights, and seen some of nature's wildest and grandest lineaments. These mountain and lake districts, which form the wilderness of northern New York, give to the tourist most exquisite sensations, and the physical system appears to take in health at every pore …
The wind came from among- the mountaius in fitful gusts, thick mists were sweeping around the peaks and through the gorges, and there were frequent dashes of rain, sometimes falling like showers of gold, in the sunlight that gleamed through the hroken clouds, on the morning when we left Adirondack village. "We had hired a strong waggon, with three spring seats, and a team of …
shot by Sabattis on the way. That inn was upon the road, near the site of Tahawus village, at the foot of «Sandford Lake, and was a half-way house between Long Lake and Eoot's Inn in the Scarron valley, toward which we were travelling. There we parted with our excellent guides, after giving them a sincere assurance that we should recommend all tourists and hunters, who may …
He is a slightly-built man, about sixty years of age. He was the guide for the scientific corps, who made a geological reconnoissance of that region many years before, and for a quarter of a century he had there battled the elements and the beasts with a strong arm and unflinching will. Many of the tales of his experience are full of the wildest THE HUDSON. romance, and we …
"I ought, by rights," said John, "to have waited for my two dogs, who could not have been far off, but the cretur looked so sassy, standing tliere, that though I had not a bullet to spare, I could not help letting into him with my rifle." John missed his aim, and the animal gave a spring, as he was in the act of firing, and turned instantly upon him before he could reload his …
Still the fight was unequal, as John, half buried in the snow, could make use of but one of his hands. He shouted to his dogs, but one of them only, a young, untrained hound, made his appearance. Emerging from a thicket he caught sight of his master, lying apparently at the mercy of the ravenous beast, uttered a yell of fear, and fled howling to the woods again. "Had I had one …
One good, fair blow, though, with a heavy rifle barrel, on the back of the head, finished him. The fellow gave a kind o' quiver, stretched out his hind legs, and then he was done for. I had the rifle stocked afterwards, but she would never shoot straight since that fight, so I got me this pistol, which, beiug light and handy, enables me more conveniently to carry an axe upon …
For miles our track lay through the solitary forest, its silence disturbed only by the sound of a mountain brook, or the voices of the wind among the hills. The winding road was closely hemmed by trees and shrubs, and sentineled by lofty pines, and birches, and tamaracks, many of them dead, and ready to fall at the touch of the next strong wind. Miles apart were the rude …
This was the "darkness just before daylight," for we soon struck a branch of the Scarron, rushing in cascades through a rocky ravine, along whose banks we found an excellent road. The surrounding country was very rugged in appearance. The rocky hills had been denuded by fire, and everything in nature presented a strong contrast to the scene that burst upon the vision at …
It rises in the heart of Essex County, and flowing southward into Warren county, receiving in its course the waters of Paradox and Scarron, or Schroon Lake, and a large group of ponds, forms a confluence, near Warrensburg, with the main waters of the Hudson, that come down from the Adirondack region. The name of Schroon for this branch is fixed in the popular mind, appears in …
In the face of legal documents, common speech, and maps, we may rightfully call it Scarron ; for the antiquity and respectability of an error arc not valid excuses for perpetuating it. From Root's we rode down the valley to the pleasant little village on the western shore of Scarron Lake. We turned aside to visit the beautiful Paradox Lake, nestled among wooded hills a short …
The gentle slopes on its western shore are well cultivated and thickly inhabited, the result of sixty years' settlement, but on its eastern shore are precipitous and rugged hills, which extend in wild and picturesque succession to Lake Champlain, fifteen or twenty miles distant. In the bosom of these hills, and several hundred feet above the Scarron, lies Lake Pharaoh, a body …
Within were evidences of elegant refinement -- a valuable library, statuary, bronzes, and some rare paintings. Among other sketches was a picture of Hale Hall, in Lancashire, England -- the ancestral dwelling of Colonel Ireland, who is a lineal descendant of Sir John de Ireland, a Norman baron who accompanied William the Conqueror to England, was at the battle of Hastings, and …
We passed two quiet villages, named respectively Pottersville and Chester. The latter, the larger of the two, is at the outlet of Loon and Friendship Lakes -- good fishing places, a few miles distant. Both villages are points upou the State road, from which sportsmen depart for the adjacent woods and waters. An hour's ride from either place will put them Avithin tlie borders …
They are composed of the stumps of large pine-trees, drawn from the soil by machines made for the purpose, and they are so disposed in rows, their roots interlocking, as to form an effectual barrier to the j)assage of any animal on whose account fences arc made. ' The stumps are full of sap (turpentine), and wc were assured, with all the confidence of experience, that these …
A horse attached to the lever works the screw in such a manner as to draw the stump and its roots clean from the ground. The stump fences formed quite a picturesque feature in the landscape, and at a distance ha-^-e the appearance of masses of deer horns. It was toward evening when we arrived at Warrensburg, but before sunset we had strolled over the most interesting portions …
The point where the waters met was a lovely spot, shaded by elms and other spreading trees, and forming a picture of beauty and repose in strong contrast with the rugged hills around. On the north side of the valley rises the Thunder's Nest (which appears in our little sketch), a lofty pile of rocks full eight liundred feet in height \ and from the great bridge, three hundred …
and took a somewhat circuitous route to Luzerne, that we might travel a good road. That route, by far the most interesting for the tourist, leads by the way of Caldwell, at the head of Lake George, through a mountainous and very picturesque country, sparsely dotted with neat farmhouses in the intervals between the grand old hills. The road is planked, and occasionally a …
At the same time the general changed the name of llie lake from that of the Holy Sacrament, given it by Father Jogue, a French priest, who reached the head of it on Corpus Christi day, to George -- not in simple honour to his Mnjesty, then reigning monarch of England, but, as the general said, "to assert his undoubted dominion here." The Indians called it, Can-ai-de-ri-oit, or …
At the head of Lake George, where another fort had been erected near the ruins of William Henry, the republicans, in the old War for Independence, had a military depot ; and until the surrender of Sir John Burgoyne, at Saratoga, on the Hudson, in 1777, that lake was a minor theatre of war, where the respective adherents of the "Continental" and "Ministerial" parties came into …
It is about seventy miles from the Adirondack village, and on the borders of the great wilderness, where game and fish abound, and for a quiet place of summer resoi't, can hardly be surpassed. It lies at the foot of a high blutf, down which fiows in cascades the outlet of Luzerne Lake, and leaps into the Hwdsou, which here makes a magnificent sweep before rushing, in narrow …
while liurgoyue was making his way toward Albany, Colonel St„ Leger penetrated the upper Mohawk valley, and laid siege to Fort Schuyler. On one occasion he sent Indian messengers to the Fairchilds, who took the old trail through the Sacandaga valley, by way .of the Fish House, owned by Sir William Johnson. AVhen they approached Tio-sa-ron-da (Luzerne), they were discovered and …
in the lake, and brought to Hockwell's, on the morning of our departure, Avhich weighed between five and six pounds. •'• On the northern shore of Luzerne Lake, Avhere the villas of Eenjamin C. Butler and J. Leati, Esqs. (seen in the picture), stood, was the ancient gathering place of the Indians in cou-ncil. Here was the fork of the great Sacandaga and Oneida trail, one branch …
THE HUDSON. Luzerne range, stretcliing from Saratoga Springs to the western shores of Lake George. Four miles north of the village is a hemispherical moun- I-UZERXE LAKE. tain, eight hundred feet in height, rocky and bald, which the Indians called Se-non-ffe-irah, the Great Upturned Pot. CONFLUENCE Oy 'lUE HUDSON AND S.iCANDAUA. The Sacandaga is the largest tributary of the …
being in possession of Beriah Talmcr and others, who there constructed extensive works for manufacturing purposes. The water-power there, even at the very low stage of the river, as when we visited it, has been estimated to be equal to fifteen thousand horse-power. They had laid out a village, with a public square and fountain, and were preparing for industrial operations far …
Between this point and Glen's Falls, thirteen miles distant by the nearest road, the Hudson makes a grand sweep among lofty and rugged hills of the Luzerne range, and flows into a sandy plain a few miles above the latter village. "We did not follow its course, but took that nearest road, for the day was waning. Over mountains and through valleys, catching glimpses of the river …
We had just commenced the descent of a mountain, along whose brow lies the dividing line between the towns of Luzerne and Queensbury, when a sudden turn in the road revealed a deep, narrow valley far below us, with the Hudson sweeping through it with rapid current. The sun's last rays had loft that valley, and the shadows were deepening along the waters as we descended to …
A brief notice of the State Dam and Great Boom, just mentioned, seems necessary. The dam was about two and a-half miles above Glen's Falls. It had been constructed about fifteen years before, to furnish water for the feeder of the canal which connects the Hudson river and Lake Champlain. It was sixteen hundred feet in length ; and the mills near it have attracted a population …
THE gki;at boom. booms, assorted by the owners according to their private murks, and seut down to Glen's Falls, Sandy Hill, or Fort Edward, to be sawed into boards at the former places, or made into rafts at the latter, for a voyage down the river. Heavy rains and melting snows filled the river to overflowing. The great boom snapped asunder, and the half million of logs went …
It can boast of no rude tower or mouldering wall, clustered with historical associations that have been gathering around them for centuries. It has no fine old castles, in glory or in ruins, with visions of romance pictured in their dim shadows ; no splendid abbeys or cathedrals, in grandeur or decay, from which emanate an aura of religious memories. Nor can it boast of …
Prom the spot where we now stand -- the turbulent Glen's Palls -- to the sea, the banks of the beautiful river have voices innumerable for the ear of the patient listener ; telling of joy and woe, of love and beauty, of noble heroism, and more noble fortitude, of glory, and high renown, worthy of the sweetest cadences of the minstrel, the glowing numbers of the poet, the …
It falls by no rule at all : sometimes it leaps, sometimes it tumbles ; there it skips -- here it shoots ; in one place 'tis as white as snow, and in another 'tis as green as grass ; hereabouts, it pitches into deep hollows, that rumble and quake the 'arth, and thereaway it ripples and sings like a brook, fashioning whirlpools and gullies in the old stone, as if 'twere no …
No picture could then be made to give an adequate idea of the cascades when the river is full, and I contented myself with making a sketch of the scene below the bridge, at the foot of the falls, from the water-side entrance to the cavern alluded to. A fine sepia drawing, by the late Mr. Bartlett, which I found subsequently among some original sketches in my possession …
Many years afterwards, when "Wing was dead, and his son was in possession of the falls and the adjacent lands, a convivial party assembled at table in the tavern there, which formed the germ of the present village of nearly four thousand inhabitants. Among them was Mr. Wing; also John Glen, a man of fortune, who lived on the south side of the river. The wine circulated freely …
The surplus water supplies a navigable feeder to the Champlain Canal, that connects Lake Champlain with the Hudson. There are also several mills for slabbing the fine black marble of that locality for the construction of chimneypieces, and for other uses. These various mills mar the natural beauty of the scene, but their uncouth and irregular forms give picturesqueness to the …
At Sandy Hill the Hudson makes a magnificent sweep, in a curve, when changing its course from an easterly to a southerly direction ; and a little below that village it is broken into wild cascades, which have been named Baker's Palls. Sandy Hill, like the borough of Glen's Falls, stands upon a high plain, and is a very beautiful village, of about thirteen hundred inhabitants …
He had passed Port Edward with an escort of sixteen men, under Lieutenant McGinnis, of New Hampshire, and was making his way through the gloomy forest at the bend of the Hudson, when they were attacked, overpowered, and disarmed by a party of Prench Indians, under the famous parti/an Marin. The prisoners were taken to the trunk of a fallen tree, and seated upon it in a row …
As the fatal steel was about to fall upon his head, the arm of the savage executioner was arrested by a squaw, who exclaimed, " You shan't kill him I He's no lighter I He's iinj dog !''■ He was spared and itnbound, and, staggering under a pack of plunder almost too heavy for him to sustain, he was marched towards Canada, as a prisoner, the Indians bearing the scalps of his …
He remained in Canada three years, when he returned, married his affianced, and died in Washington County, in the year 1820, at the age of eightythree years. liakcr's Falls are about half-way between Sandy Hill and Fort Edward. The river is about four hundred feet in width, and the entire descent of water, in the course of a mile, is between seventy and eighty feet. As at …
The direction of the railway was changed after these piers were built at a heavy expense, and they remain as monuments of caprice, or of something still less commendable. Fort Edward, five miles below Glen's Falls, by the river's course, was earliest known as the great carrying place, it being the point of overland departure for Lake Champlain, across the isthmus of …
llaccoon Skin, in Lieu and Steade of all other Eents, Services, Dues, Dutycs, and Demands whatsoever for the said Tract of Land, and Islands, and Premises." Governor Bellomont soon succeeded Fletcher, and, through his influence, the legislature of the province annulled this and other similar gra^ts, That hody, exercising ecclesiastical as "well as civil functions, also passed …
The upper one was named Fort Anne, in honour of the Queen of England ; the middle one, of which Lydius' s house formed a part, was called Fort Nicholson, in honour of the commander; and the lower one, just below the mouth of the Batten-Kill, was named Fort Saratoga. Almost fifty years later, when a provincial army, under General Johnson, of the Mohawk valley, and General …
Tort Edward was an important military post during the whole of the French and Indian war, -- that Seven Years' War which cost England more than a hundred millions of pounds sterling, and laid one of the broadest of the foundation-stones of her immense national debt. There, on one occasion, Israel Putnam, a bold provincial partizau, and afterward a major-general in the American …
The unflinching major begged permission to remain a little longer. It was granted, and he did not leave his post until he felt the roof beneath him giving way. It fell, and only a few feet from the blazing mass was the magazine building, its sides already charred with the heat. Unmindful of the peril, Putnam placed himself between the fire and the sleeping power in the menaced …
His head-quarters were at Fort Anne, and General St. Clair commanded the important post of Ticonderoga. In July, Burgoync came sweeping down the lake triumphantly. St. Clair fled from Ticonderoga, and his army was scattered and sorely smitten in the retreat. "When the British advanced to Skenesborough, at the head of the lake, Schuyler retreated to Fort Edward, felling trees …
She was visiting a Tory friend at Fort Edward at this time, and was betrothed to a young man of the neighbourhood, who was a subaltern in Burgoyne's army. On the approach of the invaders, her brother, who lived near, fled, with his family, down the river, and desired Jenny to accompany them. She preferred to stay under the protection of her Tory friend, who was a widow, and a …
The savages were unharmed, but one of the bullets mortally wounded their fair captive. She fell and expired, as tradition relates, near a pine-tree, which remained as a memorial of the tragedy until a few years ago. Having lost their prisoner, they secured her scalp, and, with her black tresses wet with her warm blood, they hastened to the camp. The friend of Jenny had just …
In a published letter, he accused him of hiring savages to "scalp Europeans and the descendants of Europeans;" spoke of Jenny as having been " dressed to meet her promised husband, but met her murderers," employed by Burgoyne ; asserted that she, with several women and children, had been taken "from the house into the woods, and there scalped and mangled in a most shocking …
When the anniversary of the tragedy approached, he would shut himself in his room, and refuse to see his most intimate acquaintances ; and at all times his friends avoided speaking of the American revolution in his presence. The body of Jenny was buried on her brother's land: it was re-interred at Fort Edward in 1826, with imposing ceremonies: and again in 1852, her remains …
No relic of the olden time now remains at Fort Edward, excepting a few logs of the fort on the edge of the river, some faint traces of the embankments, and a magnificent Balm-of-Gilead tree, which stood, a sapling, at the water-gate, when Putnam saved the magazine. It has three huge trunks, spri'nging from the roots. One of them is more than half decayed, having been twice …
* The old silver coins occasionally found at Fort Edward are called " cobinoncy" by the people. I could not ascertain the derivation of the name. The pictuie represents both sides of two l)ieces in my possession, the proper size. The larger one is a cross-pistareen, of the value of about sixteen cents; the other is a quai-ter fraction of the same. They are irregular in form …
especially on its western side, affords exquisite enjoyment to the lover of beautiful scenery and the displays of careful cultivation. The public road follows the river-bank nearly all the way to Troy, a distance of forty miles, and the traveller seldom loses sight of the noble stream, which is frequently divided by islands, some cultivated, and others heavily wooded. The most …
He was out with a scouting party, and was lying alone in a batteau on the east side of the river, when he was surprised by some Indians ; he could not cross the river swiftly enough to escape the balls of their rifles, and there was no alternative but to go down the foaming rapids. He did not hesitate a moment. To the astonishment of the savages, he steered directly down the …
Below it are considerable rapids ; just above it is a bridge, which has a carriage-way for the public use, and a narrower passage for the horses that draw the canal boats. These vessels float' safely on the usually still water of the river, but sometimes, when the stream is very full, the passage is attended with some difficulty, if not danger, on account of the strong though …
Here we crossed the river upon the canal bridge, and rode down to the mouth of the Batten-Kill, near where it enters the Hudson, to visit the spot-- on the plain just above its mouth -- where the army of Burgoyne lay encamped, before he crossed the Hudson to engage in those conflicts at Bemis's Heights, which resulted in his discomfiture and captivity. There he established a …
Under a shelving black rock on the margin of the abyss into which the waters pour, we found a good place for observation. The spectacle was grand. For about three hundred feet above the great fall, the stream rushes through a narrow rocky chasm, roaring and foaming ; and then, in a still narrower space, it leaps into the dark gulf which has been named the Devil's Caldron, in a …
Samuel Marshall, known as the Eeidesel House, There, eleven years before, the writer visited an old lady, ninety-two years of age, who gave him many interesting details of the old war in that vicinity : she died at the age of ninety-six. This house was made famous in the annals of Burgoyne's unfortunate campaign by a graphic account of sufferings therein, given by the Baroness …
Not far off my women slept, and opposite to me three English officers, who, though wounded, were determined not to he left behind : one of them was Captain Green, an aide-de-camp to Major-General Phillips, a very valuable officer and most agreeable man. They each made me a most sacred promise not to leave me behind, and, in case of sudden retreat, that they would each of them …
The village of Sclmylerville is pleasantly situated upon a slope on the western margin of the Tipper Hudson valley, on the north bank of the rish Creek (the outlet of Saratoga Lake), which there leaps to the plain in a series of beautiful cascades, after being released from the labour of turning several mill-wheels. These cascades or rapids commence at the bridge where the …
It was a stockade, weakly garrisoned, and, with the scattered village of thirty families, of the same name, upon the plain below, was destroyed in the autumn of 1745, by a horde of Frenchmen and Indians, under the noted partisan Marin, whose followers, as we have seen, performed a sanguinary tragedy at Sandy Hill ten years later. They had left Montreal for the purpose of …
His house was attacked, and in an attempt to defend it he was shot. His body was consumed, with other persons who had escaped to the cellar, when, after plundering the house, the savages set it on fire. That Saratoga estate was bequeathed by the murdered owner to his nephew Philip (the' General), who built a country mansion, elegant for the times, near the site of the old one …
still preserved in its original form at the time of our visit, and surrounded by beautiful shady trees, many of vs^hich werd^lanted by the master's own hand. It was then the residence of George Strover, Esq., who took pleasure in preserving it as General Schuyler left it. Even some ancient lilac shrubs, now quite lofty trees, gnarled and unsightly, that were in the garden of …
So long as the EepuLlicans remained imitetl, so long as there existed a free communication hetween Massachusetts and Virginia, or, in other words, between the Eastern and the Middle and Southern States, permanent success of the British arms in America seemed questionable. The rebellion was hydra-headed, springing into new life and vigour suddenly and powerfully, from the …
The leadership of that invasion from the North was intrusted to Lieutenant-General Sir John Burgoyne, who had won military laurels in Portugal, had held a seat in the king's council, and was then a member of Parliament. He arrived at Quebec in March, 1777, and in June had collected a large force of English and German troops, Canadians, and Indians, at the foot of Lake …
He had stated at Fort Edward that he should eat his Christmas dinner in Albany, a laurelled conqueror, with 92 THE HUDSON. the great objects of the campaign perfectly accomplished ; but now he began to doubt. General Schuyler had been the commander of the troops opposed to Burgoyne until the 19th of August, when he surrendered his charge to General Gates, a conceited officer …
A severe but indecisive battle was fought at Bemis's Heights on the 1 9th of September ; Burgoyne fell back a few miles toward his intrenched camp, and resolved there to await the expected approach of Sir Henry Clinton, with a large force, up the lower Hudson. Clinton was tardy, perils were thickening, and Burgoyne resolved to make another attack upon Gates. After a severe …
Our view is taken from one of the THE HUDSON. canal bridges, looking north-east. The Hudson is seen beyond the place of surrender, and in the more remote distance may be observed the conical hills which, on the previous day, had swarmed with American volunteers. "With the deKcate courtesy of a gentleman. General Gates ordered all his army within his camp, that the vanquished …
Colonel Wilkinson, Gates's aide-de-camp, then introduced the two generals. Both dismounted, and Burgoyne, raising his hat gracefully, said -- "The fortune of war. General Gates, has made me your prisoner." The victor promptly replied -- ''I shall always be ready to bear testimony that it has not been through any fault of your excellency." The other officers were then …
When I drew near the tents, a handsome man approached and met me, took my children from the caUche, and hugged and kissed them, which affected me almost to tears. 'You tremble,' said he, addressing himself to me; 'be not afraid.' 'No,' I answered, ' you seem so kind and tender to my children, it inspires me with courage.' He now led me to the tent of General Gates, where I …
I was content ; I saw all around me were so likewise. When we had dined, he told me his residence was at Albany, and that General Burgoyne intended to honour him as his guest, and invited myself and children to do so likewise. I asked my husband how I should act; he told me to accept the invitation." General Schuyler's house at Albany yet remains, and there we shall hereafter …
The vehicle was a large scow or battcau, which was pushed by means of long poles, that reached to the bottom of the river ; THE HUDSON. and it was kept in its course, in defiance of the current, by ropes fore and aft, attached by friction rollers to a stout cable stretched across the stream. There were several of these ferries between Fort Edward and Stillwater, the one most …
He felt con- THE HUDSON. vinced that, -without the aid of General Clinton's co-operation in drawing off a part of the republican army to the defence of the country below, he should not be able to advance. Yet he wrought diligently in strengthening his position. He erected four redoubts, one upon each of four hills, two above and two below "Wilbur's Basin, and made lines of …
and this the keen eye and quick judgment of Colonel Morgan, commander of a rifle corps from the south, perceived. A thought flashed through his brain, and in an instant he prepared to execute a deadly purpose. Calling a file of his best men around him, he said, as he pointed toward the British right wing, which was making its way victoriously, -- " That gallant officer is …
About half way between "Wilbur's Basin' and Bemis's, stood, until within twenty years, a rude building, the upper half somewhat projecting, and every side of it battered and pierced by bullets. It was used by Burgoyne as his quarters when he first moved forward to attack Gates, THE HUDSON. and there the Baron Eeiclesel had his quarters at the time of the battle of the 7th of …
mortal ; do not flatter me.' The ball had passed through his body, and, unhappily for the general, he had eaten a very hearty breakfast, by which the stomach was distended, and the ball, as the surgeon said, had passed through it. I often heard him exclaim, with a sigh, ' 0 fatal ambition ! Poor General Burgoyne ! 0 my dear wife ! ' He was asked if he had any request to make …
ignorant of the true character of the procession, kept up a constant cannonade upon the redoubt, toward which it was moving. Undismayed, the companions of Fraser buried him just as the evening shadows came on. Before the impressive burial services of the Anglican Church were ended, the irregular firing ceased, and the solemn voice of a single canon, at measured intervals …
jHE heroic Lady Ackland had listened to the thunder of the battle in which her hushand was engaged, and when, on the morning of the 8th, the British fell back in confusion toward Wilbur's Basin, she, with the other women, was obliged to take refuge among the dead and dying, for the tents were all struck, and hardly a shed was left standing. Then she was informed that her …
I had not even a cup of wine to offer her; but I was told she had found, from some kind and fortunate hand, a little rum and dii'ty water. All I could furnish to her was an open boat, and a few lines written upon dirty wet paper, to General Gates, recommending her to his protection." * Lady Harriet set out in an open boat on the Hudson, accompanied by Chaplain Brudenell, her …
They started at sunset, in the midst of a violent storm of wind and rain. It was long after dark when they reached the American outposts, and there they were detained, in a comfortable position, until orders should be received from head-quarters. Early in the morning she received the joyful tidings that her husband was safe. At the same time she was treated with paternal …
On the east rise Willard's Mountain, the heights of Bennington, the Green Mountains, and the famous Mount Tom ; and stretching away in the blue distances towards Albany, are seen the gentle hills and beautiful valley of the Hudson. And there the visitor may see * Major Ackland died in November, 1778. On her return to England, a portrait of Lady Harriet, standing in a boat …
At the foot of Bcmis's Heights, where the old tavern of Bemis -- famous for good wines and long pipes, a spacious ball-room and a rich larder -- once stood, a pleasant hamlet has grown up. It is one of the numerous offsprings of the canal. Two miles below it, at the head of long rapids, is Stillwater, the most pleasing in situation and appearance of all the villages in the …
Lcger, who had been sent up the St. Lawrence by Burgoyne, with instructions to cross Lake Ontario to Oswego, penetrate THE HUDSON. tlie Mohawk valley from that point, form an alliance with the Tories antl Indians, and press forward to Albany with destructive energy, had actually appeared before Port Schuyler, where the village of Eome now stands. The people of the Mohawk …
His political enemies had already sown the seeds of distrust concerning his intentions ; and as he was pacing the floor in anxious solicitude, he heard fi'om one of his subordinate officers the half- whispered remark, " He means to weaken the army." Never was a thought more unjust and ungenerous ! Wheeling suddenly toward the slanderer and those around him, and unconsciously …