  142 M. ALBANY, Pop. 113,344.(Train 51 passes 11:32; No, 3, 12:05; No. 41, 4:15; No. 25, 5:46; No. 19, 8:55. Eastbound: No. 6 passes 5:58; No. 26,6:30; No. 16, 12:25; No. 22, 2:05.) Across the river from Rensselaer on sharply mounting hills is the city of Albany. We cross the river by a suspension bridge, passing over Rensselaer Island and seeing ahead of us the handsome new freight houses of the D. & H.R.R., and to right and left the boats of the Hudson River Steamship lines lying against the wharves. Once over the bridge the tracks swerve to the right, and soon lead into the Union Station. Almost under the shadow of the present Capitol, on a meadow to the north, Ft. Orange was built in 1624, when 18 families of Dutch Walloons selected this site for a permanent settlement in the New World. The history of Albany, however is usually dated from ten years earlier when Dutch traders built Ft. Nassau on Castle Island, the present Rensselaer Island. According to some writers a temporary trading post was established here by the French as early as 1540—80 years before the Pilgrims landed at Plymouth. But it is on the date 1614 that Albany lays claim to being the second oldest settlement in the colonies, Jamestown, founded in 1607 by Capt. John Smith and Christopher Newport, being the first. It is interesting to note that the Pilgrim Fathers narrowly missed making a settlement somewhere along the Hudson River. William Bradford, second governor of the Plymouth colony, tells in his history, how, at one point in the Mayflower's voyage, they determined "to find some place about Hudson's river for their habitation." But, after sailing half a day, "they fell amongst dangerous shoulds and roving breakers," and so decided to bear up again for Cape Cod. During the early days Albany held high rank among American settlements. As a center of trade and civilization it rivalled Jamestown, Manhattan and Quebec. In 1618 the Dutch negotiated here the first treaty with the Iroquois, which tended to preserve friendly relations with the Indians for more than a century to come. The territory of the Iroquois, or Six Nations, the most celebrated of Indian confederations, extended from Albany to Buffalo, that is, over just the country through which the New York Central runs. The name is that given to them by the French and is said to be formed of two ceremonial words constantly used by the tribesmen meaning "real adders." The league was originally composed of five tribes or nations—the Mohawks, Oneidas, Onondagas, Senecas and Cayugas. The confederation probably took place about 1580. In 1722 the Tuscaroras were admitted, the league then being called that of the Six Nations. Without realizing the far-reaching effect of his Stephen Van Rensselaer Stephen Van Rensselaer was the eighth patroon and fifth in descent from Killiaen, the first lord of the Manor. He was lieutenant governor of N.Y., an ardent promoter of the Erie Canal, a major general in the War of 1812 (during which he was defeated in the Battle of Queenstown Heights), and represented N.Y. in Congress from 1822 to 1829. In 1824 he founded a school in Troy, which was incorporated two years later as the Rensselaer Polytechnic institute. In 1629 the Dutch government granted to Killiaen van Rensselaer, an Amsterdam diamond merchant, a tract of land, The patroons, under the Dutch rÉgime, were members of the Dutch West India Co., who received large grants of land, called Manors, in New Netherlands. These grants carried with them semifeudal rights, and the patroon could exercise practically autocratic powers in his domain. The first of the patroons, Killiaen van Rensselaer (1580-1645), never came to this country, but he sent over numerous settlers as tenants. The Manor was called Rensselaerswyck, and comprised all of the present counties of Albany and Rensselaer, and part of Columbia. This was the first manorial grant in New Netherlands and was destined to endure the longest. The colonists sent to this country by van Rensselaer were industrious and the town prospered, although in 1644, it was described by Father Jogues, a Jesuit priest, as "a miserable little fort called Fort Orange, built of logs, with four or five pieces of Breteuil cannon and as many swivels; and some 25 or 30 houses built of boards, and having thatched roofs." On account of its favorable commercial and strategic position at the head of navigation on the Hudson and at the gateway of the Iroquois country and the far west, it maintained its importance among colonial settlements for a century and a half. Its early name, Beverwyck, was changed to Albany—one of the titles of the Duke of York, afterwards James II.—when New Netherlands was transferred to the English (1644). Albany was granted a charter in 1686, and the first mayor (appointed by Gov. Dongan) was Peter Schuyler, who was likewise chairman of the Board of Indian Commissioners. Peter Schuyler (1657-1724) was a son of Philip Pieterse Schuyler (d. 1683), who migrated from Amsterdam in 1650. The family was one of the wealthiest and most influential in the colony, and it was closely related by marriage to the van Rensselaers, the van Cortlandts and other representatives of the old Dutch aristocracy. Representatives of Mass., R.I., N.H., Conn., N.Y., Pa., and Md., met in Albany in June, 1754, for the purpose of confirming and establishing a close league of friendship with the Iroquois and of arranging for a permanent union of the colonies. This was the first important effort to bring about a Colonial confederation. The Indian affairs having been satisfactorily adjusted, the convention, after considerable debate, in which Benjamin Franklin, Stephen Hopkins and Thomas Hutchinson took a leading part, adopted a plan for a union of the colonies on the basis of a scheme submitted by Franklin. This plan provided for a representative governing body to be known as the Grand Council, to which each colony should elect delegates for a term of three years. Neither the British government nor the growing party in the Colonies which was clamoring for At about this time a Swedish naturalist, Peter Kalm, visiting Albany, reported that "there is not a place in all the British colonies, the Hudson Bay settlement excepted, where such quantities of furs and skins are bought of the Indians as at Albany." Most of the houses at this time were built of brick and stood with gable ends to the street; each house had a garden and a stoep, where the family were accustomed to sit summer evenings, the burgher with his pipe and his "vrouw" with her knitting. Well-to-do families owned slaves, but according to Mrs. Anne Grant, an English writer of the day who spent part of her childhood in Albany, "it was slavery softened into a smile." North Pearl St., Albany (About 1780) Looking North from State St. to Maiden Lane North Pearl St., Albany (About 1780) Looking North from State St. to Maiden Lane In the left foreground is the south end of the Livingston house. Just beyond, with two high gables facing the street, is the Vanderheyden Palace, erected 1725. The square building at the rear, corner of Maiden Lane, is the residence of Dr. Hunloke Woodruff. In the right foreground (on the corner) is the Lydius House, erected in 1657. It was here that the English from all the colonies, before and during the French and Indian wars met to consult with the Indians and make treaties with them. It was the gathering In 1777 the English general, John Burgoyne (1722-1792), was placed at the head of British and Hessian forces gathered for the invasion of the Colonies from Canada and the cutting off of New England from the rest of the Colonies. He gained possession of Ticonderoga and Ft. Edward; but pushing on, was cut off from his communications with Canada and hemmed in by a superior force at Saratoga Springs, 30 M. north of Albany. On the 17th of Oct. his troops, about 3,500 in number, laid down their arms, surrendering to Gen. Horatio Gates. This success was the greatest the colonists had yet achieved and proved the turning-point in the war. In 1797 Albany became the permanent state capital. The election of Martin Van Buren as governor in 1828 marked the beginning of the long ascendancy in the state of the "Albany Regency," a political coterie of Democrats in which Van Buren, W.L. Marcy, Benjamin Franklin Butler and Silas Wright were among the leaders. Thurlow Weed (1797-1882), the bitterest enemy of this coterie, and the man who gave them their name, declared of them that he "had never known a body of men who possessed so much power and used it so well." Until the election of William H. Seward (the Whig candidate) as governor in 1838, New York had usually been Democratic, largely through the predominating influence of Van Buren and the "Regency." Weed had an important share in bringing about their defeat. He owed his early political advancement to the introduction into state politics of the Anti-Masonic issue; for a time he edited the Anti-Masonic Enquirer. In 1830 he established and became editor of the Albany Evening Journal, which he controlled for thirty-five years. The anti-rent war, precipitated by the death of Stephen van Rensselaer (1764-1839), the "last of the patroons," centered about Albany. The final settlement of this outbreak, which began with rioting and murder, and ended with the election of a governor favorable to the tenants (1846), disposed of feudal privilege in New York State which had flourished here until well into the 19th century, though it had disappeared elsewhere. The anti-rent agitation began in the Hudson River counties during the first administration of Gov. Seward (1839). The greater part of the land in this section was comprised in vast estates such as the Rensselaerswyck, Livingston, Scarsdale, Philipse, Pelham and Van Cortlandt manors, and on these the leasehold system, with perpetual leases, and leases for 99 years (or the equivalent), had become Stephen van Rensselaer had permitted his rents, especially those from poorer tenants, to fall much in arrears, and the effort of his heirs to collect them—they amounted to about $200,000—was met with armed opposition. In Rensselaer county a man was murdered, and Gov. Seward was forced to call out the militia. The tenants, however, formed anti-rent associations in all the affected counties, and in 1844 began a reign of terror, in which, disguised as Indians, they resorted to flogging, tarring and feathering, and boycotting, as weapons against all who dealt with the landlords. This culminated Stephen van Rensselaer was the 8th patroon and 5th in descent from Killiaen, the first lord of the manor. He was lieutenant-governor of New York, an ardent promoter of the Erie canal, a major-general in the War of 1812 (during which he was defeated at the battle of Queenstown Heights) and represented New York in congress from 1822 to 1829. In 1824 he founded a school in Troy which was incorporated two years later as the Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute. Ancient Dutch Church, Albany (1714) Ancient Dutch Church, Albany (1714) This church, built of bricks brought from Holland, stood for about 92 years in the open area formed by the angle of State, Market and Court streets. It was erected in less than four weeks. The early Dutch felt that without the church they could not hope to prosper. The old church was of Gothic style, one story high, and the glass of its antique windows was richly ornamented with coats of arms. In 1806 the church was taken down and its brick employed in the erection of the South Dutch Church, between Hudson and Beaver streets, which in turn was later replaced by a newer structure. Comparatively few ancient landmarks remain in Albany, though there are some fine specimens of the Dutch and later colonial architecture still standing. Of these the best known is the Schuyler mansion,* built by Gen. Philip Schuyler, in 1760, which, after serving for many years as an orphan asylum, was recently purchased by the state and converted into a museum. Having served in the French and Indian wars, Philip Schuyler (1733-1804) was chosen one of the four major-generals in the Continental service at the outbreak of the Revolutionary War and was placed in command of the northern department of New York with headquarters at Albany. The necessary withdrawal of the army from Crown Point in 1776 and the evacuation of Ticonderoga in 1777 were magnified by his enemies into a disgraceful retreat, and he was tried by court martial but acquitted on every charge. He was a delegate from N.Y. to the Continental Congress in 1779, and later joined his son-in-law, Alexander Hamilton, John Jay and others in the movement for the ratification by New York of the Federal constitution. In 1790 he was elected to the U.S. senate. "For bravery and generosity" says John Fiske, "he was like the paladin of some mediÆval romance." The Van Rensselaer manor-house, built in 1765, was pulled down in 1893 and reconstructed on the campus of Williams College, Williamstown, Mass., where it forms the Sigma Phi fraternity house. In the Albany Academy, built in 1813 by Philip Hooker, architect of the old State Capitol, Prof. Joseph Henry demonstrated (1831) the theory of the magnetic telegraph by ringing an electric bell at the end of a mile of wire strung around the room. Bret Harte, the writer, was born in 1839 in Albany, where his father was teacher of Greek in the Albany College, a small seminary. Bret Harte lived in Albany until his 17th year. In 1896, lured by the gold rush, he left for California with his mother, then a widow. Once there, the rough but fascinating chaos engulfed him, and from it, at first hand, he drew the stage properties—Spaniards, Greasers, gambling houses—the humor, sin and chivalry of the '49—which color all his stories. After some little journalism and clerking, he was Modern buildings of interest include the City Hall,* a beautiful French Gothic building; the State Educational Building, with its valuable library; the Albany Institute, with its art galleries; the Cathedral of the Immaculate Conception, built of brownstone, with spires 210 ft. high; the Cathedral of All Saints, a fine specimen of Gothic architecture, said to be the first regularly organized Protestant Episcopal cathedral erected in the United States (1883), St. Peter's Church, and, most important, the State Capitol.* The First Passenger Train in N.Y. State Leaving Schenectady for Albany, July 30, 1831 The First Passenger Train in N.Y. State Leaving Schenectady for Albany, July 30, 1831 On its first trip this train, now preserved on the right balcony of the Grand Central Terminal, attained a speed of nine miles an hour. The route between Albany and Schenectady was practically identical with that of the present New York Central lines. The Capitol occupies a commanding position in Capitol Square. It is built of white Maine granite, and cost about $25,000,000. Millions were spent in alteration and reconstruction, due to the use of inferior materials and to mistakes in engineering design. The cornerstone was laid 1871, and the building was completed, with the exception of the central tower, in 1904. The legislature first met here in The city has 11 parks, comprising 402 acres; the most notable is Washington Park, which contains two well known statues—one of Robert Burns, by Charles Caverley, and the bronze and rock fountain, "Moses at the Rock of Horeb," by J. Massey Rhind. The city's filtration system is of special interest to engineers; it occupies 20 acres, has eight filter beds, and filters 15,000,000 gallons of water daily. Albany's key position with respect to New York, Boston and Buffalo ensured its commercial development. The first passenger railroad in America was operated between Albany and Schenectady. The first train in the state, consisting of the locomotive "De Witt Clinton," named for the seventh governor, and three coaches (resembling early stage coaches), was built for the Mohawk and Hudson Railroad Co., the original unit of the present New York Central Lines, and was chartered in 1826 to run from Albany to Schenectady—a distance of 16 M. The locomotive was constructed at the West Point foundry and taken to Albany by boat. It had its first trial on rails, July 30, 1831, burning anthracite coal and attaining a speed of 7 M. an hour. After remodeling, it made the trip from Albany to Schenectady in one hour and 45 minutes, using pine wood for fuel. On Aug. 9, 1831, two trips were made, during which a speed of 30 M. an hour was reached. The train ran on iron "straps" nailed to wooden "stringers." As originally built the locomotive weighed 6,758 pounds, which, in remodeling, was increased to 9,420 pounds—less than the weight of one pair of wheels of a modern locomotive. At a banquet on the occasion of the formal opening of the line (Aug. 13, 1831), President Camberling of the railroad gave the following toast: "The Buffalo Railroad! May we soon breakfast at Utica, dine at Rochester, and sup with our friends on Lake Erie." The original train is still preserved and may be seen in the right balcony of the Grand Central Station, N.Y.C. The first steamboat in the United States made its initial trips between N.Y. and Albany, and the first canal connected Albany with Buffalo. The original Erie Canal was one of the greatest of early engineering projects in America, and its importance in the development of N.Y. State, and of the country to the west, can hardly be overestimated. Construction was begun in 1817, under a commission including Gouverneur Morris, De Witt Clinton, Robert Fulton, and Robert R. Livingston, and in 1825 the main channel, 363 miles in length, was opened between Albany and Buffalo, the total cost being $7,143,790. Three branches were added later. At the close of 1882, when tolls Within 35 years Albany has increased fivefold in size, and is today the intersecting point of the principal water routes of the Eastern States, for besides being near the head of navigation for large steamers on the Hudson, it is virtually the terminus of the N.Y. State barge canal. It is also the key point in the transportation system of the state, for here the B.&A. and the D.&H. railroads meet the New York Central, so that one can take train for Buffalo and Chicago, the Thousand Islands, the Adirondacks, Saratoga, Lakes George and Champlain, Montreal, Vermont and the Green Mts., the Berkshires, and Boston. It is the second largest express and third largest mail transfer point in the United States. The forests of the Adirondacks and of Canada have made it a great lumber post. Its manufactures have an annual value of $30,000,000 or more; they include iron goods, stoves, wood and brass products, carriages and wagons, brick and tile, shirts, collars and cuffs, clothing and knit goods, shoes, flour, tobacco, cigars, billiard balls, dominoes and checkers. Leaving Albany, we follow closely the path of the old Iroquois Trail, which was in early days, as now, the chief highway to the Great Lakes. The Indian trail began at Albany and led directly across the country to Schenectady; from this point to Rome there were two trails, one on either side of the Mohawk. That on the south side had the most travel as it led through three Mohawk "castles" or villages, one at the mouth of the Schoharie Creek, one at Canajoharie, and the third at the town of Danube, opposite the mouth of East Canada Creek. Farther on, the trail passed through the present towns of Fort Plain, Utica and Whitesboro. The trail on the north bank led through Tribes Hill, Johnstown, Fonda and Little Falls, where it united with the main traveled route. At West Albany are extensive shops of the New York Central Lines. When working full capacity about 1,400 men are employed here. The machines are all of modern design and electrically driven. There are large freight yards having a trackage of nearly 100 M. The 1831-1921 Showing the dimensions of the first equipment of the present New York Central Lines—the DeWitt Clinton and three coaches—in comparison with the modern locomotive used to draw the Twentieth Century and other fast trains. 159 M. SCHENECTADY, Pop. 88,723.(Train 51 passes 11:57; No. 3, 12:47; No. 41, 4:57; No. 25, 6:12; No. 19, 9:32. Eastbound: No. 6 passes 5:24; No. 26, 5:56; No. 16, 11:35; No. 22, 1:24.) At this point we first enter the historic Mohawk Valley, and on this site, according to tradition, once stood the chief village of the Mohawk Indians. The Mohawk River rises in Lewis County (northwestern N.Y.), flows south to Rome, then east to the Hudson River which it enters at Cohoes. It is 160 miles long. There are rapids and falls at Little Falls and Oriskany which have been utilized to develop electric power. The Mohawk valley is noted for its beauty and the fertility of its soil. The name Mohawk is probably derived from an Indian word meaning "man-eaters"; but the Mohawks' own name for their tribe was Kaniengehaga, "people of the flint." They lived in the region bounded on the north by the Lake of Corlear, on the east by the Falls of Cohoes, on the south by the sources of the Susquehanna, and on the west by the country of the Oneidas. The dividing line between the Mohawk and Oneida tribes passed through the present town of Utica. The Mohawks had the reputation of being the bravest of the Iroquois; they furnished the war chief for the Six Nations and exercised the right to collect tribute in the form of wampum from the Long Island tribes and to extend their conquests along the sea coast. The tribes, The first settlement at Schenectady was made in 1642 by Arendt Van Corlear and a band of immigrants who had become dissatisfied with conditions on the Manor of Rennselaerwyck where Corlear was manager of the estates of his cousin, Killiaen van Rennselaer. Van Corlear had emigrated to America about 1630 and while manager of Rennselaerwyck he earned the confidence of the Indians, among whom "Corlear" became a generic term for the English governors and especially the governors of N.Y. The name Kora, derived from the same source, is said to be used even today by surviving Iroquois in Canada to designate the English king. To each of the 15 original proprietors, except Van Corlear who was to receive a double portion, was assigned a village lot of 200 sq. ft., a tract of bottom land for farming purposes, a strip of woodland, and common pasture rights. Many of the early settlers were well-to-do and brought their slaves with them, and for many years the settlement, originally known as Dorp, was reputed the richest in the colony. Schenectady was spelled in a great variety of ways in the early records. Its Indian equivalent signified "Back Door" of the Long House—the territory occupied by the Six Nations. In an early map (1655) the name appears as Scanacthade. As late as 1700 the spelling was still uncertain, as the following minutes from the record of the common council of September 3, of that year show: "The Church wardens of Shinnechtady doe make application that two persons be appointed to go around among the inhabitants of the City to see if they can obtain any Contributions to make up ye Sellary due their minister." Other ways of spelling the name were Schanechtade and Schoneghterdie. In 1690 the young village received a setback which very nearly brought its early history to an end; on Feb. 9 of that year, the French and Indians surprised and burned the village, massacred 60 of the inhabitants and carried 30 into captivity. An old tradition says that an Indian squaw had been sent to warn the inhabitants, under cover of selling brooms. In the afternoon of Feb. 8, 1690, Dominic Tassomacher was being entertained with chocolate at the home of a charming widow of his parish when the squaw entered to deliver her message. The widow became indignant at the sight of snow on her newly scrubbed floor, and rebuked her unexpected guest. The Indian woman replied angrily, "It shall be soiled enough before to-morrow," and left the house. The massacre occurred that night. Schenectady was rebuilt in the following years, but an outlying settlement was again the scene of a murderous English settlers arrived in considerable numbers about 1700. About 1774 a number of Shaker settlements were made in the lower Mohawk valley. The Shakers, a celibate and communistic sect—officially the United Society of Believers in Christ's Second Appearance—received their common name from the fact that originally they writhed and trembled in seeking to free "the soul from the power of sin and a worldly life." They had trances and visions, and there was much jumping and dancing. The founder of the sect was Mother Ann Lee (1736-1784) of Manchester, England, who came to N.Y. with a number of relatives in 1774 and bought land in the lower Mohawk Valley. The first Shaker settlement was at Watervliet, not far from Troy. The settlers established a communistic organization with branches in Mass., and Conn. As a matter of practice they do not forbid marriage, but refuse to recognize it; they consider there are four virtues: virgin purity, Christian communism, confession of sin, and separation from the world. The women wear uniform costumes and the men have long hair. The sect is diminishing. There are now less than 1,000 members in 17 societies in Mass., N.H., Maine, Conn., and Ohio, though at its most flourishing period it had nearly 5,000. Schenectady was chartered as a borough in 1765 and as a city in 1798, and from that period date many quaint examples of colonial architecture. In Scotia, a suburb to the northwest of the city, still stands the Glen-Sanders mansion (built 1713) described as "a veritable museum of antiquity, furnished from cellar to garret with strongly built, elegant furniture, two centuries old." Descendants of the original owners are still living there. A fine specimen of Dutch architecture is the so-called Abraham Yates house (1710) at No. 109 Union Street. The Christopher Yates house at No. 26 Front Street was the birth place of Joseph C. Yates, first mayor of Utica (1788) and governor of the state in 1823. Governor Yates afterwards lived, until his death, in the large colonial house at No. 17 Front Street. The old "depot" of the Mohawk & Hudson Railroad, the first steam passenger railway in America now incorporated with the New York Central, is still standing in Crane Street. Schenectady is the seat of Union College, which grew out of the Schenectady Academy (established in 1784) and many of the buildings dating back to the early 19th century are still in excellent preservation. They were designed by a French architect, Jacques RamÉ, and the original plans are still in the Louvre, in Paris. At one of the entrances to the college on Union Street is the Payne Gate, built as a Up to the time of the building of the Erie Canal, Schenectady had been an important depot of the Mohawk River boat trade to the westward, but after the completion of the canal it suffered a decline. The modern manufacturing era, beginning about 1880, brought Schenectady growth and prosperity. To-day the city can boast that its products "light and haul the world." As we enter the town we pass on the left the main establishment of the General Electric Co., the largest electrical manufacturing plant in the world, with 200 buildings and 26,000 employees. “Dr. Watson's Electrical Machine” In 1768, when this picture, reproduced here from the First Edition of the EncyclopÆdia Britannica, was published, only the most elementary principles of electricity had been discovered. Benjamin Franklin's discovery, made with the aid of a kite, that lightning is an electrical phenomenon, was the greatest advance in electrical science up to that time. "Electrical machines," such as that shown, were, designed to produce frictional or "static" electricity, of which the quantity is usually small, and is therefore now produced chiefly for laboratory experiments. When the wheel at the left was turned sufficient electricity was generated to cause a spark to jump between the two hands at the right. This machine paved the way for the invention of the dynamo electric machines for which Schenectady is world famous. In the years before 1886 Schenectady had been suffering from a long period of stagnation. In that year an official of the Edison Machine Works of N.Y.C. happened to pass through Schenectady and noticed two empty factories, the former Jones Car Works. The The American Locomotive Co., which likewise has a factory here, with 5,000 employees, turns out some of the largest and fastest locomotives produced in America or abroad. During the last 35 years Schenectady has become one of the greatest industrial centers in the United States; its total annual output has a value of nearly $100,000,000, the output of the General Electric Co, alone being about $75,000,000. We now cross the Mohawk River, and Erie Canal, and our route ascends the valley of the Mohawk as far as Rome. To the south the Catskill Mts. are visible in the distance, and the outline of the Adirondack Mts. can be faintly seen to the north. This beautiful group of mountains was once covered, all but the highest peaks, by the Laurentian glacier, whose erosion, while perhaps having little effect on the large features of the region, has greatly modified it in detail, producing lakes and ponds to the number of more than 1,300 and causing many falls and rapids in the streams. In the Adirondacks are some of the best hunting and fishing grounds in the United States, which are so carefully preserved that there are quantities of deer and small game in the woods, and black bass and trout in the lakes. Some 3,000,000 acres are preserved. The scenery is wonderfully fine and the air so clear that many sanatoriums have been established for tuberculosis patients. 175 M. AMSTERDAM, Pop. 33,524.(Train 51 passes 12:15; No. 3, 1:12; No. 41, 5:20; No. 25, 6:30; No. 19, 9:52. Eastbound: No. 6 passes 5:07; No. 26, 5:39; No. 16, 11:10; No. 22, 1:03.) Sir William Johnson (1715-1774) Sir William Johnson (1715-1774) Sir William was a remarkable figure in early N.Y. history. He is said to have been the father of 100 children, chiefly by native mothers, either young squaws or wives of Indians who thought it an honor to surrender them to the king's agent. According to an early historian, the Indians of the Six Nations "carried their hospitality so far as to allow distinguished strangers the choice of a young squaw from among the prettiest of the neighborhood, as a companion during his sojourn with them." 178 M. FORT JOHNSON, Pop. 680.(Train 51 passes 12:18; No. 3, 1:15; No. 41, 5:23; No. 25, 6:33; No. 19, 9:56. Eastbound: No. 6 passes 5:03; No. 26, 5:36; No. 16, 11:03; No. 22, 12:59.) This village is named for the house* and fort erected here in 1742, by Sir William Johnson, one of the most remarkable of the early pioneers. Sir William Johnson (1715-1774) distinguished himself not only for the prosperous settlements which he built up along the valley of the Mohawk, but also for his military ability and his remarkable influence with the Iroquois Indians. Born in Ireland, he came to America in 1738 for the purpose of managing a tract of land in this valley belonging to his uncle, Admiral Sir Peter Warren. The fort which he built on the site of the present village bearing his name soon became the center of trade with the Indians, and likewise a strategic point for Johnson's military ventures. The Mohawks adopted him and elected him a sachem. He was at various times superintendent of the affairs of the Six Nations, commissary of the province for Indian affairs, and major-general in the British army. As a commanding officer he directed the expedition against Crown Point (1755) and in September of that year defeated the French and Indians, at the battle of Lake George. For his success he received the thanks of parliament and was created a baronet. He took part in a number of other expeditions against the French and Indians, and as a reward for his services the king granted him a tract of 100,000 acres of land north of the Mohawk River. It was in a great measure due to his influence that the Iroquois remained faithful to the cause of the colonies up to the time of the Revolutionary War. In 1739 Johnson married Catherine Wisenberg, by whom he had three children. After her death he had various mistresses, including a niece of the Indian chief Hendrick, and Molly Brant, a sister of the famous chief, Joseph Brant. It is said that he was the father of 100 children in all. After the French and Indian War he retired to the present Johnstown. Joseph Brant, “Thayendanegea” (1742-1807) Joseph Brant, “Thayendanegea” (1742-1807) Chief Thayendanegea (Joseph Brant) of the Mohawk tribe was an unusual character, combining the savage traits of an Indian Warrior and the more civilized qualities of a politician and diplomat. Born on the banks of the Ohio River, he was sent to an Indian charity school (now Dartmouth College) at Lebanon, Conn., by Sir William Johnson. He fought with the English in the French and Indian War and with the Iroquois against Pontiac in 1763. Subsequently he became a devout churchman and settled at Canajoharie or Upper Mohawk castle, where he devoted himself to missionary work and translated the Prayer Book and St. Mark's Gospel into the Mohawk tongue. In the Revolutionary War he led the Mohawks and other Indians friendly to the British against the settlements on the N.Y. frontier, even taking part, despite his religion, in the Cherry Valley Massacre. After the war he aided the U.S. in securing treaties of peace with the Miamis and other western tribes. Subsequently he went to Canada as a missionary, and in 1786 visited England, where he raised funds with which was erected the first Episcopal Church in Upper Canada. Brant sat for his picture several times in England, once in 1776, at the request of Boswell (the author of the "Life of Johnson"), and during the same visit for the Romney portrait, at Warwick's request. In 1786 he was painted for the Duke of Northumberland and for a miniature to present to his daughter. 181 M. TRIBES HILL, Pop. 900.(Train 51 passes 12:21; No. 3, 1:18; No. 41, 5:27; No. 25, 6:36; No. 19, 10:00. Eastbound: No. 6 passes 5:00; No. 26, 5:33; No. 16, 11:00; No. 22, 12:56.) Tribes Hill received its name from the fact that it was an old meeting place of the Indians. Across the river, in the estuary at the junction of Schoharie Creek with the Mohawk, once stood Ft. Hunter, which was the lower Mohawk castle, the upper castle being at Canajoharie. Father Isaac Jogues Isaac Jogues (1607-1646), a French missionary, came to this country to preach among the Hurons and Algonquins. In 1642 he was captured by the Mohawks, who tortured him and kept him as a slave until the following summer, when he escaped. Father Jogues returned in 1646 to establish a mission among his former tormentors. About this time a contagious disease broke out amongst the Indians, and to make matters worse their crops failed. For these misfortunes they blamed the French priest, tortured him as a sorcerer and finally put him to death. A contemporary description says: "Ft. Hunter, known by the Indians as Ticonderoga, is one of the same form as that of About two miles farther at the little village of Auriesville on the left side of the Mohawk, where the river is joined by Auries Creek, there is a shrine (visible on the left from the train) marking the spot where Father Jogues, a Jesuit Priest, was killed in 1646. 186 M. FONDA, Pop. 747.(Train 51 passes 12:27; No. 3, 1:25; No. 41, 5:39; No. 25, 6:42; No. 19, 10:05. Eastbound: No. 6 passes 4:55; No. 26, 5.28; No. 16, 10:55; No. 22, 12:51.) The town of Fonda was named for Jelles Fonda, said to have been the first merchant west of Schenectady. Fonda established a prosperous store here about 1760, and his old accounts (still preserved) disclose that he had among his customers "Young Baron of the Hill," "Wide Mouth Jacob," "Young Moses," "Snuffers David," and the "Squinty Cayuga." Following is a bill from Jelles Fonda's accounts:
Six miles north of Fonda is Johnstown (Pop. 10,908) where Sir William Johnson built his second residence (1762) now in the custody of the Johnstown Historical Society. It is a fine old baronial mansion. Sir William called this residence Johnson Hall and lived here with all the state of an English country gentleman. He devoted himself to colonizing his extensive lands and is said to have been the first to introduce sheep and pedigreed horses into the province. Sir William also built the Fulton County Court House with its jail (1772), used during the Revolutionary War as a Old Ft. Van Rensselaer at Canajoharie (Built 1749) Old Ft. Van Rensselaer at Canajoharie (Built 1749) This building had originally been the home of Martin Janse Van Alstyn, and was so well built that it had withstood the attacks of the Indians under Brant in 1780. It was therefore appropriated in 1781 by the American government, adopted as a fort, and placed under the control of Col. Marinus Willet, a competent officer chosen by Washington to handle the district in which Ft. Van Rensselaer and Ft. Plain were the military headquarters. (Still standing.) 197 M. CANAJOHARIE (Palatine Bridge), Pop. 2,415.(Train 51 passes 12:40; No. 3, 1:39; No. 41, 5:55; No. 25, 7:43; No. 19, 10:20. Eastbound: No. 6 passes 4:42; No. 26, 5:45; No. 16, 10:44; No. 22 12:36.) Passing the villages of Yosts and Sprakers we arrive in the town of Canajoharie, which in early days was the site of the upper Mohawk castle. The upper Mohawk castle, sometimes called Ft. Canajoharie, was described by an early writer as consisting of "a square of 4 bastions of upright pickets joined with lintels 15 ft. high and about 1 ft. square, with port-holes, and a stage all around to fire from. The fort was 100 paces on each side, had small cannon in its bastions, In 1749 a fortified dwelling was built here known as Ft. Rensselaer, which was utilized as a place of defence during the Revolutionary War. Canajoharie was the home of the famous Indian leader, Joseph Brant. On the left, a little beyond Palatine Bridge, can be seen the red brick Herkimer mansion, near which a monument has been erected to Nicholas Herkimer, who died in 1777 from wounds received at Oriskany. We pass the village of Ft. Plain, St. Johnsville and East Creek. 216 M. LITTLE FALLS, Pop. 13,029.(Train 51 passes 12:58; No. 6, 1:59; No. 41, 6:17; No. 25, 7:14; No. 19, 10:39. Eastbound: No. 6 passes 4:22; No. 26, 4:55; No. 16, 10:22; No. 22, 12:16.) Our route here lies through a ravine cut by the Mohawk River through a spur of the Adirondack Mts. The town is picturesquely situated on the sides of the gorge overlooking the rapids and falls. The Mohawk here descends 45 ft. in ½ M. In the gorge, there are crystalline rocks which are of interest as belonging to the Laurentian formation, the oldest rock formation on the face of the globe. According to geological classification, these rocks belong to the ArchÆan system. They represent formations of the very earliest period of the earth's history—probably before there was any animal or vegetable life whatsoever. The ArchÆan rocks have sometimes been spoken of as the original crust of the earth, but this is disputed by many geologists. Little Falls dates from about 1750. In 1782 there was an influx of German settlers into the village, and almost immediately thereafter the town was destroyed by Indians and "Tories.". It was resettled in 1790. Two and a half miles east of the town was the boyhood home of Gen. Nicholas Herkimer. Gen. Herkimer (1728-1777) was the son of John Jost Herkimer (d. 1775), one of the original group of German settlers in this section of the Mohawk Valley. Gen. Herkimer was colonel of the Tyrone County Militia in 1775, and was made brigadier general of the state militia in 1776. He was mortally wounded at the battle of Oriskany. It is planned to establish an Historical Museum at the old Herkimer homestead. Near the city is the grave of Gen. Herkimer, to whom a monument was erected in 1896. Fort Plain (1777) This was built in place of another unsatisfactory fort by the American government early in the Revolution, and was designed by an experienced French engineer. "As a piece of architecture, it was well wrought and neatly finished and surpassed all the forts in that region." 223 M. HERKIMER, Pop. 10,453.(Train 51 passes 1:07; No. 3, 2:06; No. 41, 6:25; No. 25, 7:22; No. 19, 10:47. Eastbound: No. 6 passes 4:15; No. 26, 4:49; No. 16, 10:12; No. 22, 12:08.) Herkimer was settled about 1725 by Palatine Germans, who bought from the Mohawk Indians a large tract of land, including the present site of the village. They established several settlements which became known collectively as "German Flats." These settlers came from the Palatinate, a province of the kingdom of Bavaria, lying west of the Rhine. The district had been torn by a succession of wars, culminating in the carnage wrought by the French in 1707. In the following year, more than 13,000 Palatines emigrated to America, settling first on the Livingston Manor, and later along the Mohawk and elsewhere. In 1756 a stone house (built in 1740 by John Jost Herkimer), a stone church, and other buildings, standing within what is now Herkimer Village, were enclosed in a stockade 225 M. ILION, Pop. 10,169.(Train 51 passes 1:10; No. 3, 2:10; No. 41, 6:29; No. 25, 7:25; No. 19, 10:51. Eastbound: No. 6 passes 4:12; No. 26, 4:46; No. 16, 10:07; No. 22, 12:05.) This village, the main part of which is situated on the south bank of the Mohawk, owed its origin to a settlement made here in 1725 by Palatine Germans, but the village as such really dates from the completion of the Erie Canal in 1825. In 1828 Eliphalet Remington (1793-1861) established here a small factory for the manufacture of rifles. He invented, and with the assistance of his sons, Philo, Samuel and Eliphalet, improved the famous Remington rifle. In 1856 the company added to its business the manufacture of farming tools, in 1870 of sewing machines and in 1874 of typewriters. The last-named industry was sold to another company in 1886, and soon afterwards, on the failure of the original Remington company, the fire arms factory was bought by a N.Y.C. firm, though the Remington name was retained. The spot where Eliphalet had his primitive forge on the Ilion gorge road, just south of the town, is marked by a tablet placed there by the Daughters of the American Revolution. The principal manufactures today are typewriters, fire-arms, cartridges, and filing cabinets and office furniture. The annual output is valued at about $10,000,000. 237 M. UTICA, Pop. 94,156.(Train 51 passes 1:22; No. 3, 2:31; No. 41, 6:42; No. 25, 7:41; No. 19, 11:08. Eastbound: No. 6 passes 3:57; No. 26, 4:31; No. 16, 9:53; No. 22, 11:50.) The territory on which Utica is built was originally part of the 22,000 acre tract granted in 1734 by George II. to William Cosby (1695-1736), colonial governor of New York in 1732-36, and his associates. It was then known as Cosby's Manor. Washington and Genesee Streets, Utica, in 1835 Washington and Genesee Streets, Utica, in 1835 Washington Street, with the Presbyterian Church, is seen on the left; the bridge across the Erie Canal is seen on the right, down Genesee Street, and at its extremity the depot of the Utica and Schenectady (now the New York Central) Railroad then recently built. Sir William Cosby served originally as colonel in the British army, then, after being governor of Minorca and later of the Leeward Islands, he was sent to New York. Before leaving England, he obtained a good deal of money for colonizing expenses, and his refusal to share this with Van Dam, his predecessor and colleague, gave rise to a law suit between the two which came to nothing but was the cause of much bitterness between Cosby and his friends on the one hand, and Van Dam and the people's party on the other. His administration was turbulent and unpopular. The grant made to Cosby was one of a number of colonizing ventures made by the British government during this period. During the Seven Years' War a palisaded fort was erected on the south bank of the Mohawk at the ford where Utica later sprang up. It was named Ft. Schuyler in honor of Col. Peter Schuyler, an uncle of Gen. Philip Schuyler of the Continental Army. This should not be confused with the fort of the same name at Rome which was built later. In order to distinguish the two, the fort at Utica is often referred to as Old Ft. Schuyler. The main trail of the Iroquois which became later the most used route to the western country, crossed the Mohawk here and continued to Ft. Stanwix, now Rome. A branch trail turned slightly to the southwest, then more directly west After graduating from Hamilton College in 1818, Gerrit Smith (1797-1874) assumed the management of the vast estate of his father, and greatly increased the family fortune, but he soon turned his attention to reform and philanthropy. He first became an active temperance worker, and then, after seeing an anti-slavery meeting at Utica broken up by a mob, took up the cause of abolition. He was one of the leading organizers of the Liberty party (1840), and later was nominated for president by various reform parties, notably the Free Soil Party (1848 & 1852). He was likewise the candidate of the anti-slavery party for governor of New York in 1840 and 1858. In 1853 he was elected to Congress as an independent, whereupon he issued an address declaring that all men have an equal right to the soil; that wars are brutal and unnecessary; that slavery could not be sanctioned by any constitution, state or federal; that free trade is essential to human brotherhood; that women should have full political rights, and that alcoholic liquors should be prohibited by state and federal enactments. He resigned at the end of his first session and gave away numerous farms of 50 acres each to indigent families; attempted to colonize tracts in Northern N.Y. with free negroes; assisted fugitive slaves to escape—Peterboro, his home village, 22 miles southwest of Utica, became a station on the "Underground railroad"—and established a nonsectarian church, open to all Christians of whatever shade of belief, in Peterboro. He was an intimate friend of John Brown of Osawatomie, to whom he gave a farm in Essex County. His total benefactions probably exceeded $8,000,000. 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. 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. North America as It Was Known in 1768 North America as It Was Known in 1768 This map was first printed in the First Edition of the EncyclopÆdia 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 1:30; No. 3, 2:39; No. 41, 6:56; No. 25, 7:49; No. 25, 11:17. Eastbound No. 6 passes 3:36; No. 26, 4:21; No. 16, 9:36; No. 22, 11:32.) 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. 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 1:37; No. 3, 2:47; No. 41, 7:07; No. 25, 7:57; No. 19, 11:23. Eastbound: No. 6 passes 3:28; No. 26, 4:15; No. 16, 9:28; No. 22, 11:24.) 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 £60,000. 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 £10,460 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 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 1:53; No. 3, 3:05; No. 41, 7:25; No. 25, 8:12; No. 19, 11:42. Eastbound: No. 6 passes 3:15; No. 26, 4:02; No. 16, 9:11; No. 22, 11:10.) The city of Oneida is comparatively modern, but the Samuel de Champlain 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 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. 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 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. | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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