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20 - Mohawk Valley by W. Max Reid · Mohawk Valley

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  Speaker 1: Chapter nineteen of The Mohawk Valley. This LibriVox recording is
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  Speaker 1: in the public domain. Recording by Roger Molin. The Mohawk Valley,
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  Speaker 1: Its Legends and its History by W. Max Reid, Chapter nineteen,
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  Speaker 1: Old Indian Names and Sights, The Legend of Little Falls.
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  Speaker 1: There is more or less speculation about the origin of
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  Speaker 1: the word Cognawaga, the popular impression being that it was
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  Speaker 1: the name of a tribe of Indians that were located
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  Speaker 1: near the present site of Fonda. This cannot be as
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  Speaker 1: there never was a tribe of Indians of that name,
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  Speaker 1: but it may have been a corruption of two words
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  Speaker 1: Gonda Wog, the name of an Indian village of the
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  Speaker 1: time of Isaac Jog and probably located near Klein, and Kahaniaga,
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  Speaker 1: the distinctive name of the Mohawks. Of course, you you
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  Speaker 1: are aware that the word Mohawk is not Indian at all,
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  Speaker 1: because there were no labials bpm in the Mohawk language,
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  Speaker 1: but it is undoubtedly what was called Mohawk Dutch. There
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  Speaker 1: is another definition of the word Khnawaga, which seems to
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  Speaker 1: me to be the correct one. Between sixteen sixty seven
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  Speaker 1: and sixteen sixty nine, the French Jesuit fathers Piron, Brias
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  Speaker 1: and Fremen were successful in converting a number of the
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  Speaker 1: Iroquois to Christianity.
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  Speaker 2: Father J.
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  Speaker 1: Winn of the Order of Jesuits of New York City,
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  Speaker 1: in a recent letter, says, you will notice that it
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  Speaker 1: was the policy of the fathers to withdraw the Christian
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  Speaker 1: Indians from the Indians still unconverted all along the valley
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  Speaker 1: from the Lower Mohawk Castle as far as the Onondaga.
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  Speaker 1: The praying Indians, as they were called, were located near
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  Speaker 1: the Lachine Rapids from the Saint Lawrence and the village
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  Speaker 1: named La Prairie by the French, and Canawaga at the
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  Speaker 1: rapids by the Indians. And although the settlement was composed
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  Speaker 1: of Indians from the Canadian tribes and the tribes of
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  Speaker 1: the Iroquois Confederacy, among whom was the Great Mohawk Chief Crinn,
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  Speaker 1: they were always called Connawagas or praying Indians. At the
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  Speaker 1: Burning of Schenectady there were sixteen Algonquins and one hundred
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  Speaker 1: and fourteen Frenchmen and eighty Canhawagas or praying Indians, led
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  Speaker 1: by Crinn, the Mohawk chief. It will be seen that
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  Speaker 1: although the name may mean and probably does mean at
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  Speaker 1: the Rapids, it does not refer to rapids in the Mohawk,
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  Speaker 1: but to the site on the Saint Lawrence at the
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  Speaker 1: Lachine Rapids. The Dutch named their early settlement near Fonda Canawaga,
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  Speaker 1: thereby transferring a word that belonged to the Saint Lawrence
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  Speaker 1: River to the Mohawk Valley. The Dutch settlement was located
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  Speaker 1: at the eastern end of the present site of the
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  Speaker 1: village of Fonda, the Old Connawaga Church, erected in seventeen
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  Speaker 1: sixty three and demolished in eighteen sixty eight, probably being
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  Speaker 1: the center of the old settlement. Investigations by archaeologists of
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  Speaker 1: the Mohawk Valley have brought to light the site of
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  Speaker 1: an Indian village, which is also called Conawaga or Gondawaga,
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  Speaker 1: situated on the sand flats west of the village of Fonda.
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  Speaker 1: A desire to see the old Indian site was the
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  Speaker 1: object of a recent visit to Fond by the writer
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  Speaker 1: Inquiry of many persons young and old failed to elicit
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  Speaker 1: the desired information as to its locality, and an accidental
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  Speaker 1: meeting with the Reverend Washington Frothingham seemed providential, as he
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  Speaker 1: possessed the requisite knowledge of its location, and kindly imparted
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  Speaker 1: the same. Following his direction, I visited the sand flat
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  Speaker 1: where it is said to have been situated. Accustomed to
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  Speaker 1: flats of the Mohawk Valley, which lay along the river
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  Speaker 1: and are frequently covered with water in spring and during
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  Speaker 1: heavy rain storms, I was somewhat surprised to find the
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  Speaker 1: sand flats on what is called the four hundred feet Plateau.
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  Speaker 1: I enjoyed the tramp to this elevated plateau, and was
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  Speaker 1: charmed with its level, fertile fields, and its fringe of
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  Speaker 1: forest trees that partially obstructs the view to the east
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  Speaker 1: and to the north, while to the west and south
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  Speaker 1: the landscape reminded me of the word of Byron's dream,
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  Speaker 1: a gentle hill, green and of mild declivity, the last,
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  Speaker 1: as it were, the cape of a long ridge, of
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  Speaker 1: such save that there was no sea to live its base,
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  Speaker 1: but a most living landscape, and the wave of woods
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  Speaker 1: and fields of grain, and the abodes of men scattered
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  Speaker 1: at intervals, and wreathing smoke arising from such rustic roofs,
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  Speaker 1: and in the distance, the glistening shimmering Mohawk. Although unsuccessful
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  Speaker 1: in my search for the exact location of the site
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  Speaker 1: of the ancient village, I felt well repaid for my walk,
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  Speaker 1: notwithstanding the dusty road and excessive heat that brought my
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  Speaker 1: blood nearly to the boiling point. At a subsequent date,
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  Speaker 1: having informed myself of the exact site from a map
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  Speaker 1: drawn by the Reverend C. A. Walworth and published in
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  Speaker 1: Miss Walworth's Lily of the Mohawks, I continued my search
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  Speaker 1: in company with Professor J. A. Maney. Starting from the
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  Speaker 1: railroad depot, our attention was attracted to the old Fonda Hotel,
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  Speaker 1: its facade of ionic columns suggesting the idea of a
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  Speaker 1: Grecian temple. It is quite an ambitious structure and must
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  Speaker 1: have presented a very impressive appearance at the time of
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  Speaker 1: its death construction in eighteen thirty five. From its isolation
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  Speaker 1: and the poverty of its surroundings. A suggestion of the
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  Speaker 1: same style of architecture is also seen in the Old
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  Speaker 1: Courthouse south of the New York Central Railroad. Our route
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  Speaker 1: to Kahnawaga and Takakwatha Spring led us up Main Street
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  Speaker 1: to the Cayadutta Creek, which we followed along its eastern
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  Speaker 1: bank until we came to a white bridge spanning the creek.
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  Speaker 1: The bridge seems to have been constructed for private use,
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  Speaker 1: as the road leading from it ended in a farmyard.
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  Speaker 1: As we were nearing our destination and desiring more definite information,
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  Speaker 1: we accosted a sturdy young man We met as follows.
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  Speaker 1: Excuse me, sir, do you reside near here?
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  Speaker 2: Yes? Sir?
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  Speaker 1: Have you lived here long about seven or eight years?
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  Speaker 1: Know where the sight of the old Indian village, Cottonawaga
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  Speaker 1: is located? No, sir, I have never heard of it.
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  Speaker 1: Did you ever hear of a spring near here called
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  Speaker 1: Takakwa Spring? No, sir, The professor smiled As we passed on,
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  Speaker 1: remarking that we were having our usual success. In the farmyard,
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  Speaker 1: we met a man whose slow step, bent form and
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  Speaker 1: gray hair seemed to indicate a septagenarian. After the usual
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  Speaker 1: preliminary greeting, I inquired, have you lived here long over
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  Speaker 1: sixty years? Did you ever hear of a spring called
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  Speaker 1: tekak with a spring?
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  Speaker 2: No?
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  Speaker 1: Do you know where the site of the old Indian
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  Speaker 1: village Cottnawaga is? That is down that way pointing to
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  Speaker 1: the east. But they say that there are some Indian
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  Speaker 1: graves up on the sand flats. Can you tell us
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  Speaker 1: where up on the top of the hill, But I
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  Speaker 1: don't know just where. The professor again smiled, and we
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  Speaker 1: again passed on, remarking that we would have to trust
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  Speaker 1: to the map. Rain Drops were beginning to fall, but
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  Speaker 1: not daunted in the least, we followed the track of
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  Speaker 1: the FJ and g r R along the high ground
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  Speaker 1: on the west for about a quarter of a mile,
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  Speaker 1: until we came to a point where the sand flat
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  Speaker 1: hill recedes from the railroad in the form of a
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  Speaker 1: half circle, forming a level swampy field partly covered with
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  Speaker 1: brush and berry bushes. Following an indistinct path through this
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  Speaker 1: tangled mass, which led us in an erratic manner up
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  Speaker 1: and down the slope and through the swamp, we came
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  Speaker 1: at last to a wooded ravine at the head of
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  Speaker 1: the circle. A barbed wire vents was safely passed, and
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  Speaker 1: we found ourselves in a small grove, and about half
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  Speaker 1: way up the hill came upon to coc with a spring.
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  Speaker 1: With a great expansion of imagination, we pictured the young
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  Speaker 1: Indian maiden in the scanty dress of Indian childhood, picking
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  Speaker 1: her way down the steep woodland path from the plateau above,
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  Speaker 1: with a rude earthen jar to be filled at the
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  Speaker 1: spring below. Perhaps other children of both sexes were following her.
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  Speaker 1: While at the spring crouches a painted warrior drinking in
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  Speaker 1: a primitive.
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  Speaker 2: Way of its cool water.
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  Speaker 1: Near By stands a dirty, unkempt squaw, cooling her feet
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  Speaker 1: in the stream that ripples down the hillside on its
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  Speaker 1: way to the Cayadutta Creek. While all around the earth
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  Speaker 1: has been trodden bare by the coming and going of
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  Speaker 1: many feet from the village on the flat above, and
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  Speaker 1: broken branches and dead leaves choke the murmur of the waters.
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  Speaker 1: To day, the stream is marked by the impress of
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  Speaker 1: the hoofs of the kind of the valley below, and
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  Speaker 1: scattered about are broken pieces of decaying fence boards, an
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  Speaker 1: old tin pail, a bit of red tile, and two
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  Speaker 1: narrow planks doing duty as a bridge near the spring.
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  Speaker 1: The spring itself issues from under the roots of a
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  Speaker 1: white birch tree, whose leafy branches bend over the spring
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  Speaker 1: as if to guard it from the rays of the sun.
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  Speaker 1: The gnarled and tangled roots of the parent tree remind
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  Speaker 1: one of the tentacles of a huge octopus as they
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  Speaker 1: stretch out over and into the black depths of the
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  Speaker 1: spring itself. Nature with the aid of art, would make
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  Speaker 1: this little veil a beautiful spot. The professor, who took
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  Speaker 1: a snapshot of the spring and its surroundings, and who
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  Speaker 1: has a reputation of producing gems of beauty from the
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  Speaker 1: most incongruous elements, succeeded in making a refined photograph of
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  Speaker 1: this secluded spot. We were nearing the end of our
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  Speaker 1: search for the Indian village, and climbing the steep path
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  Speaker 1: out of the ravine, we searched the sand flat and
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  Speaker 1: the field wherein the site of Conawaga is said to
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  Speaker 1: be Diligent. Search failed to find any evidence of the
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  Speaker 1: old village, as the woodman's axe and the plowshare have
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  Speaker 1: long ago obliterated all trace of palisade and Indian sepulture.
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  Speaker 1: Previous search and examination, together with the finding of evidences
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  Speaker 1: of Indian occupation, have established the fact, however, that this
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  Speaker 1: spot was the site of old Conawaga. Kateri Takakwita was
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  Speaker 1: an Indian maiden born at Gondawaga or Kanawaga in sixteen
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  Speaker 1: fifty six. Her mother was a Huron captive and her
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  Speaker 1: father a Mohawk chief. At an early age, she embraced Christianity,
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  Speaker 1: and in sixteen seventy five was baptized by the Jesuit
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  Speaker 1: father de Lamberville. Shortly after, she fled to Canada to
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  Speaker 1: escape the persecution of the Mohawks on account of her religion.
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  Speaker 1: Her route is said to have been along the Trechtanunda
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  Speaker 1: Creek at Amsterdam and her destination Connawaga at the Lachine
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  Speaker 1: Rapids on the Saint Lawrence River, where she arrived in
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  Speaker 1: the autumn of sixteen seventy seven. She died April seventeenth,
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  Speaker 1: sixteen eighty, at the age of twenty four. In Miss
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  Speaker 1: Walworth's Lily of the Mohawks, the story of her life
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  Speaker 1: is told. A few months ago, I was riding in
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  Speaker 1: a drawing room car on the New York Central Railroad
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  Speaker 1: through the Mohawk Valley. In the same car was a
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  Speaker 1: small party of gentlemen and ladies, and it was apparent
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  Speaker 1: from their conversation and personal appearance that they were well
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  Speaker 1: to do, educated people from from one of the western states,
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  Speaker 1: making their first trip through the Valley of the Mohawk.
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  Speaker 1: It was very interesting to note their enthusiasm over the
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  Speaker 1: rocks and hills after a lifelong residence on the flatlands
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  Speaker 1: of their western prairies. As they would call their companion's
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  Speaker 1: attention to a picturesque group of rocks or the wooded
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  Speaker 1: slope of some slight elevation, Unconsciously, my eyes would follow
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  Speaker 1: the direction of their gaze and would become aware of
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  Speaker 1: charming bits of scenery that, through familiarity with the banks
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  Speaker 1: of the Mohawk, I had passed many times without comprehension.
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  Speaker 1: From being interested in their evident enjoyment of the scenes
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  Speaker 1: they were so swiftly passing through, I became interested in
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  Speaker 1: the scenery itself and discovered many beauties in the valley
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  Speaker 1: of my lifelong home that I had overlooked or had
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  Speaker 1: become so familiar with that they were in a measure,
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  Speaker 1: rocks and hills and streamlets, and nothing more. Since that
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  Speaker 1: day I have looked upon the scenery of the valley
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  Speaker 1: with the eye of an enthusiast, and have found beauty
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  Speaker 1: in every bend of the river and in every ripple
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  Speaker 1: of its rifts and shallows. Here and there throughout the valley,
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  Speaker 1: numerous tributaries flow into the river, some of them being
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  Speaker 1: large permanent streams, others mere rivulets magnified into torrents at
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  Speaker 1: every considerable rainstorm. In many of the ravines or gorges
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  Speaker 1: through which these smaller streams flow are hidden charming bits
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  Speaker 1: of scenery, some of which might be dignified by the
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  Speaker 1: word sublime. I have in mind the ravine through which
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  Speaker 1: Lewis Creek runs, which I visited with Charles Newman of Cranesville.
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  Speaker 1: As before stated, this creek is the eastern boundary of
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  Speaker 1: the land which was purchased by Lewis Groat in seventeen fifteen,
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  Speaker 1: who was one of the first purchasers of land in
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  Speaker 1: the town of Amsterdam, and named Adriuta and known as Cranesville.
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  Speaker 1: There are many objects of interest in this ravine, one
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  Speaker 1: of which is a very large spring that is situated
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  Speaker 1: at the base of the hill, about three hundred feet
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  Speaker 1: from the turnpike. The volume of water issuing from this
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  Speaker 1: spring was sufficient to furnish the requisite power for the
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  Speaker 1: primitive mill erected by Groat in seventeen thirty on the
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  Speaker 1: site of the old building now known as Schwartz Mill.
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  Speaker 1: At the present time, there are the ruins of two
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  Speaker 1: old mill dams between the mill and the spring, the
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  Speaker 1: woodwork of the structure having decayed and almost entirely disappeared.
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  Speaker 1: The dam nearest the spring is the smaller of the
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  Speaker 1: two and seems to have received the water from the
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  Speaker 1: spring alone. The sides in front of the dam are
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  Speaker 1: earth embankments, but the face of poor is reinforced by
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  Speaker 1: a wall of flat stones. This stone front is further
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  Speaker 1: reinforced by stone buttresses on each side in the shape
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  Speaker 1: of a quarter circle, while in the face of the
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  Speaker 1: front wall is a square opening or gate with rotten
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  Speaker 1: wood facings, evidently used to discharge the water into the
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  Speaker 1: lower dam. The lower dam is constructed of earth and
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  Speaker 1: stone in the same manner as the upper one, but
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  Speaker 1: without the stone buttresses, the two together being capable of
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  Speaker 1: storing quite a respectable quantity of water. The gray or
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  Speaker 1: rather almost black stone walls are moss grown and in
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  Speaker 1: various other ways give evidence of their age, which is
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  Speaker 1: nigh on to one hundred and seventy years. The spring
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  Speaker 1: itself will warrant more than a passing notice. Care was
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  Speaker 1: taken ages ago to wall it up on three sides,
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  Speaker 1: making an encline closure about six feet square in the
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  Speaker 1: center of which the water boils as though forced from below,
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  Speaker 1: in a quantity that would fill an eight or ten
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  Speaker 1: inch pipe, and from the situation of the dams, it
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  Speaker 1: would appear as though the water from the creek, which
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  Speaker 1: is some distance away, was excluded from the dams, probably
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  Speaker 1: because the flow of water in the stream was small,
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  Speaker 1: except in storms when it became a torrent penetrating the ravine.
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  Speaker 1: A little farther over a rugged path, we find that
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  Speaker 1: Lewis Creek is made up of two streams, one from
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  Speaker 1: the east and another from a northerly direction, the acclivity
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  Speaker 1: of the banks of both ravines being almost insurmountable. Entering
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  Speaker 1: the bed of the stream which flows from the northerly direction,
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  Speaker 1: we become aware of an obstacle in our path that
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  Speaker 1: it will be impossible to overcome, which is the sheer
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  Speaker 1: precipice of perhaps fifty feet anas height of Adriuta Falls.
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  Speaker 1: I would say that this name Adriuta is applied to
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  Speaker 1: the falls, probably for the first time, as it is
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  Speaker 1: usually spoken of by the homely name of Buttermilk Falls,
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  Speaker 1: although the application is not evident. All this locality between
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  Speaker 1: Lewis creek and aviskill was called Adriuta or Adriush, and
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  Speaker 1: this name is mentioned in the transfer of this parcel
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  Speaker 1: of land and flats and woodland directly opposite at Kleine
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  Speaker 1: the supposed sight of one Kagonka to Hendrik Kayler in
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  Speaker 1: sixteen eighty six. I would therefore ask the public to
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  Speaker 1: accept the name of Adriuta Falls for this picturesque feature
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  Speaker 1: of nature in this wild gorge, instead of the wholly
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  Speaker 1: inappropriate name Buttermilk Falls. Also to apply it to the
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  Speaker 1: large spring in the glen Adriuta Spring. I have been
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  Speaker 1: told that in the spring and in rain storms the
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  Speaker 1: falls are a beautiful sight, but for the greater part
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  Speaker 1: of the year no water falls over this precipice. Reaching
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  Speaker 1: the top of the cliff from another direction, we find
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  Speaker 1: that about fifty feet from the brink is another fall
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  Speaker 1: about ten feet high, that cannot be seen from the
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  Speaker 1: bend of the creek below. Water is running over this cascade,
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  Speaker 1: but disappears before it reaches the brink of the precipice.
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  Speaker 1: The ascent to the top of the banks of the
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  Speaker 1: ravine is somewhat tiresome, but if the climber enjoys the
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  Speaker 1: picturesque features of nature. He will be well paid for
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  Speaker 1: his labor. About one hundred feet below the precipice, at
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  Speaker 1: one side of the gorge is a very large boulder,
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  Speaker 1: which geologists will probably say was deposited where it now
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  Speaker 1: rests during the glacial period. Over this boulder and on
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  Speaker 1: the cliff that constitute the rocky bank of the stream,
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  Speaker 1: honeysuckles are growing, the profusion of the many pointed purple
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  Speaker 1: flowers adding a charming bit of color to the gray
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  Speaker 1: rocks that seemed to be incapable of affording the requisite
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  Speaker 1: nourishment to this hardy climber. The branch of the stream
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  Speaker 1: from the east is broken by many cascades, and the
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  Speaker 1: banks of the ravine are quite abrupt, but at one
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  Speaker 1: point a steep ridge or spur, sometimes called a hog's
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  Speaker 1: back is seen, with a well worn path from creek
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  Speaker 1: to summit. The acclivity would be very difficult if it
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  Speaker 1: were not for trees and saplings to assist the climber
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  Speaker 1: along its narrow ridge. My principal object in visiting this
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  Speaker 1: ravine was to find, if possible, some evidence of Indian occupation.
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  Speaker 1: I had been told by some of the residents on
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  Speaker 1: the top of Schwartz Hill, that there were a number
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  Speaker 1: of holes or prussians in the ground along the ravine
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  Speaker 1: that were objects of interest on account of the mystery
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  Speaker 1: surrounding them and their evident ancient origin. It had been
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  Speaker 1: suggested that they had probably been used as corn pits
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  Speaker 1: by the Aborigines. A thorough search along the eastern bank
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  Speaker 1: failed to reveal them, but ashes and charcoal were found
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  Speaker 1: five or six inches under the earth on the eastern
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  Speaker 1: brink of the ravine, at the point where the path
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  Speaker 1: or trail on the hog's back reached its summit. Unexpectedly,
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  Speaker 1: I found the holes near the Adriuta falls on the
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  Speaker 1: western bank, but in such numbers that they could hardly
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  Speaker 1: have been used as corn pits. Instead of four or
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  Speaker 1: five holes, I found fifteen.
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  Speaker 2: Near the western slope of the ravine.
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  Speaker 1: In an irregular regularity that would indicate that they had
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  Speaker 1: been dug for a purpose. But for what object I
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  Speaker 1: was unable to decide. A thorough examination of a few
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  Speaker 1: of these holes may solve the problem. It may be
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  Speaker 1: thought that I am spending a good deal of time
• 22:08
  Speaker 1: in investigations that cannot possibly bring any fee or reward
• 22:13
  Speaker 1: from a financial point of view that is probably true,
• 22:17
  Speaker 1: But there is a matter of great historical interest connected
• 22:20
  Speaker 1: with the location of a large Indian village that undoubtedly
• 22:24
  Speaker 1: existed on the banks of the Mohawk River between Amsterdam
• 22:28
  Speaker 1: and Schenectady. The early history of the Mohawks is shrouded
• 22:33
  Speaker 1: in mystery. Even the exact location of their castles at
• 22:37
  Speaker 1: the time of the discovery of the Hudson River in
• 22:40
  Speaker 1: sixteen o nine is still a matter of conjecture. Before
• 22:45
  Speaker 1: the discovery of Van Kerhler's journal of sixteen thirty four,
• 22:50
  Speaker 1: all or nearly all of the researches of archaeologists were
• 22:54
  Speaker 1: directed to points above Skraheri River, and theories were built
• 22:59
  Speaker 1: up to prove that as early as sixteen forty two,
• 23:02
  Speaker 1: the first Mohawk castle was located on the west bank
• 23:06
  Speaker 1: of the Skoheri. The only knowledge we have of that
• 23:09
  Speaker 1: early period is obtained from the relations of the Jesuits,
• 23:14
  Speaker 1: the statement of some of the Hollanders at Fort Orange,
• 23:18
  Speaker 1: and in sixteen sixty six, the accounts of de Corcel
• 23:22
  Speaker 1: and de Tracy's expeditions to the Mohawk country, at which
• 23:27
  Speaker 1: time they destroyed the four forts or castles of the
• 23:30
  Speaker 1: Mohawks and in all these accounts I can find nothing
• 23:34
  Speaker 1: to contradict the theory that the first castle was located
• 23:38
  Speaker 1: between the city of Amsterdam and the village of Pattersonville.
• 23:43
  Speaker 1: That many of the Mohawks frequented the north bank of
• 23:46
  Speaker 1: the Mohawk in that locality is shown by the numerous
• 23:50
  Speaker 1: relics that are found along the flats and first range
• 23:54
  Speaker 1: of the hills north of the river. The location of
• 23:58
  Speaker 1: an Indian site is the object of our search, and
• 24:01
  Speaker 1: the residents of the valley will assist materially by reporting
• 24:05
  Speaker 1: their fines or any embankments or holes of ancient origin
• 24:10
  Speaker 1: they may have discovered in their immediate vicinity. The finding
• 24:14
  Speaker 1: of flint or stone implements, ancient pottery, freshwater, clam shells,
• 24:21
  Speaker 1: burnt stone ashes, and charcoal at a little distance underground
• 24:27
  Speaker 1: has often led to the discovery of the ancient site
• 24:30
  Speaker 1: of an Indian village.
• 24:32
  Speaker 2: What I mean by ancient.
• 24:34
  Speaker 1: Is a village that existed previously to sixteen oh nine,
• 24:38
  Speaker 1: or perhaps as late as sixteen sixty six. In all
• 24:43
  Speaker 1: the early maps of the Mohawks country, Van Derdons of
• 24:47
  Speaker 1: sixteen fifty five, Vishures of sixteen fifty six, or the
• 24:52
  Speaker 1: Jesuit map of sixteen sixty five. Although the three or
• 24:56
  Speaker 1: four Mohawk castles are depicted thereon the Skahari, which might
• 25:01
  Speaker 1: well be called a river where it enters the Mohawk,
• 25:04
  Speaker 1: is not shown on any of them. If it was
• 25:08
  Speaker 1: located between Fort Orange and the castles or Indian villages,
• 25:13
  Speaker 1: it ought to have been known to the map makers,
• 25:15
  Speaker 1: especially as the Little Mariahville Pond is shown on two
• 25:19
  Speaker 1: of these maps. Therefore, we are inclined to look for
• 25:23
  Speaker 1: three of the Mohawk castles of the above date below
• 25:26
  Speaker 1: Skahari River.
• 25:28
  Speaker 2: I have no.
• 25:29
  Speaker 1: Intention of posing as a scientist, but a recent visit
• 25:33
  Speaker 1: to the picturesque little city of Little Falls, with its
• 25:36
  Speaker 1: vast jumble of ragged rocks and high water worn cliffs,
• 25:41
  Speaker 1: turned my attention to the probable cause of the natural
• 25:44
  Speaker 1: phenomena so plainly visible at the rocky city of the
• 25:48
  Speaker 1: Upper Mohawk. As early as eighteen forty, Professor Lewis Agazis,
• 25:54
  Speaker 1: the noted naturalist, advanced the theory that the northern part
• 25:58
  Speaker 1: of North America during the glacial period was covered with
• 26:02
  Speaker 1: an ice cap which reached as far south as the
• 26:06
  Speaker 1: fortieth parallel of latitude and north to the utmost limit
• 26:10
  Speaker 1: of the Earth. This included all of New York State
• 26:14
  Speaker 1: to the Atlantic Ocean. The time of this period no
• 26:18
  Speaker 1: man knows or will ever know, but it was eons
• 26:21
  Speaker 1: upon eons ago. The movement of the glacier, whose great
• 26:26
  Speaker 1: weight and impetus were irresistible, was toward the sea, and
• 26:31
  Speaker 1: in its journey it carved out valleys and converted jagged
• 26:35
  Speaker 1: rocks into polished boulders, which were in some cases carried
• 26:40
  Speaker 1: hundreds of miles and deposited in valleys and on mountain tops.
• 26:45
  Speaker 1: In the vicinity of the Adirondacks and the White Mountains,
• 26:49
  Speaker 1: this glacier was more than a mile high, while in
• 26:52
  Speaker 1: British America its estimated thickness was about two miles. This
• 26:58
  Speaker 1: immense body of ice in gas increased gradually from age
• 27:01
  Speaker 1: to age, from north to south, and as gradually disappeared
• 27:06
  Speaker 1: from south to north. The valley of the Mohawk was
• 27:10
  Speaker 1: probably formed by part of this great stream of ice,
• 27:14
  Speaker 1: denuding the hillsides and disrupting mountains. As the ice cap
• 27:19
  Speaker 1: receded from the sea, it left the valley of the
• 27:22
  Speaker 1: Hudson Bear, which became the means by which its melting
• 27:26
  Speaker 1: body was conveyed to the Atlantic Ocean. Gradually, the valley
• 27:31
  Speaker 1: of the Mohawk was uncovered and the ice receded to
• 27:34
  Speaker 1: the vicinity of Lake Ontario, while yet the ice barrier
• 27:39
  Speaker 1: blocked the Saint Lawrence Valley, forcing the Lake Ontario depression
• 27:43
  Speaker 1: to fill and the waters to extend in every direction
• 27:48
  Speaker 1: except the north, until it found relief at Rome, New York,
• 27:52
  Speaker 1: and the Mohawk Valley became the only outlet to the
• 27:55
  Speaker 1: sea of the Great Lake Iroquois or Ontario and Lake Spencer,
• 28:01
  Speaker 1: as the enlarged basin of Lake Superior, Michigan, Huron, and
• 28:06
  Speaker 1: Erie combined has been called. Some of the water found
• 28:10
  Speaker 1: its way to the Mississippi Valley at Chicago, but the
• 28:13
  Speaker 1: greater part flowed through the Mohawk Valley. This continued until
• 28:18
  Speaker 1: the Saint Lawrence Valley was relieved of the glacier, which
• 28:22
  Speaker 1: continued to waste slowly at both ends, and the waters
• 28:26
  Speaker 1: of the Great Lakes found their natural outlet to the
• 28:29
  Speaker 1: sea by the Saint Lawrence and the Mohawk Valley was
• 28:32
  Speaker 1: relieved of this vast accumulation of waters. The above theory
• 28:37
  Speaker 1: has been gathered from a monograph on Lake Agazis by
• 28:41
  Speaker 1: Warren Uppham and published by the Director of the United
• 28:45
  Speaker 1: States Geological Survey in Volume twenty five. On the beautiful
• 28:50
  Speaker 1: Sunday afternoon and evening that I wandered about the rock
• 28:54
  Speaker 1: bound city of Little Falls, I tried to imagine this
• 28:58
  Speaker 1: wild spot as it appeared in the phlegmatic Palatine settlers
• 29:02
  Speaker 1: at Mannheim, Danube and the German Flats in seventeen twenty two.
• 29:08
  Speaker 2: At that date, the rapids.
• 29:10
  Speaker 1: And their adjoining shores were in all their primitive grandeur,
• 29:14
  Speaker 1: unadorned or marred by the works of man. Undoubtedly, the
• 29:19
  Speaker 1: water power early attracted to their border the saw and gristmills,
• 29:24
  Speaker 1: whose dams probably were an unwelcome barrier to the daring
• 29:27
  Speaker 1: warriors who trusted their lives to the birch and canoe.
• 29:31
  Speaker 1: In shooting the rapids in every direction would have been
• 29:35
  Speaker 1: seen rocks and running water, and rocky hills crowned with
• 29:39
  Speaker 1: the primeval forests. For nearly a mile extended the cascades
• 29:45
  Speaker 1: between perpendicular cliffs from two to four hundred feet high,
• 29:49
  Speaker 1: while at the foot of the rapids the stream was
• 29:52
  Speaker 1: deflected by Moss Island or Moss Rock to pass through
• 29:56
  Speaker 1: a rocky channel about forty feet wide to the place
• 30:00
  Speaker 1: Acid Stream. Beyond, on the south side of the river,
• 30:04
  Speaker 1: the perpendicular face of a cliff one hundred feet high,
• 30:08
  Speaker 1: called Lover's Leap, through its dark shadow on the turbulent stream,
• 30:13
  Speaker 1: while to the west, for nearly a mile, the bare, perpendicular,
• 30:18
  Speaker 1: rocky face of a hill four hundred feet high rose
• 30:22
  Speaker 1: sheer from the shore of the rapids. A story is
• 30:26
  Speaker 1: told of a young Indian maiden and her dusky lover, who,
• 30:30
  Speaker 1: being pursued by a hostile band of Indians, sprang from
• 30:34
  Speaker 1: this cliff, clasped in each other's arms, preferring death to separation.
• 30:40
  Speaker 1: This occurrence gave to the locality the name spoken of above,
• 30:45
  Speaker 1: but judging from the numbers of Jackson Jills who now
• 30:48
  Speaker 1: congregate on this elevated spot on summer evenings, it might
• 30:52
  Speaker 1: well be named Lover's Retreat. In eighteen forty eight, Benson J.
• 30:59
  Speaker 1: Lossing passed down the Mohawk Valley, stopping at points of
• 31:03
  Speaker 1: interest in search of material for his field book of
• 31:06
  Speaker 1: the Revolution. His description of Little Falls is very interesting.
• 31:12
  Speaker 1: Among other things, he describes a cavern on one of
• 31:15
  Speaker 1: the cliffs, which at that period overhung the New York
• 31:19
  Speaker 1: Central Railroad at a point nearly opposite the Lover's Leap.
• 31:24
  Speaker 1: He says, the rugged shores present many incontestable evidences of
• 31:29
  Speaker 1: abrasion by the violent action of water thirty to sixty
• 31:33
  Speaker 1: feet above the present level of the river.
• 31:36
  Speaker 2: Many of them are.
• 31:37
  Speaker 1: Circular perpendicular cavities in the hard rocks, which are composed
• 31:42
  Speaker 1: chiefly of nice granite and hornblend. On the western northern
• 31:49
  Speaker 1: shore of the river, a few yards from the railroad
• 31:52
  Speaker 1: and about thirty feet above its bed, is a large
• 31:56
  Speaker 1: circular cavity with an opening about ten feet wide, facing
• 32:01
  Speaker 1: the river, and over its entrance a massive lintel which
• 32:05
  Speaker 1: appears as if hewn and placed there by the hands
• 32:08
  Speaker 1: of man. Within this cavity, which is open at the top,
• 32:13
  Speaker 1: are smaller ones on its concave side. Indian legends invest
• 32:19
  Speaker 1: these cavities with romantic interest. One of them I will
• 32:23
  Speaker 1: repeat in brief as it was told to me, for
• 32:26
  Speaker 1: it is identified with the spot described long years ago,
• 32:31
  Speaker 1: when the river was broader and the falls were more lofty.
• 32:35
  Speaker 2: A feud arose.
• 32:36
  Speaker 1: Between two young chiefs of two of the clans of
• 32:39
  Speaker 1: the Mohawk tribe, the Wolf.
• 32:41
  Speaker 2: And the Tortoise.
• 32:43
  Speaker 1: A maiden of the Bear clan, was the cause of
• 32:46
  Speaker 1: the feud. As maidens often are, she was loved by
• 32:51
  Speaker 1: both of the young chiefs, and for a time she
• 32:54
  Speaker 1: so coquetted that each thought himself beloved by her in return,
• 32:59
  Speaker 1: as maidens often do. Her father was a stern old
• 33:04
  Speaker 1: warrior and loved his child tenderly. Both chiefs had fought
• 33:09
  Speaker 1: the Mingoes and Mohegans by his side, and the bravery
• 33:14
  Speaker 1: of each entitled him to the hand of the maiden.
• 33:17
  Speaker 1: Her affections were at length stirred by the more earnest
• 33:21
  Speaker 1: importunities of the Wolf, and she promised to become his bride.
• 33:26
  Speaker 1: This decision reached the ears of the Tortoise and the
• 33:29
  Speaker 1: embers of jealousy, which disturbed both. While unaccepted suitors burst
• 33:34
  Speaker 1: into a flame of ungenerous revenge in the bosom of
• 33:38
  Speaker 1: the disappointed lover. He determined to possess the coveted treasure
• 33:43
  Speaker 1: before the wolf should take her to his wigwam with
• 33:47
  Speaker 1: well dissembled acquiescence in her choice and expressions of warm
• 33:52
  Speaker 1: friendship for herself and her affianced. He allayed all suspicions,
• 33:57
  Speaker 1: and the maiden rambled with him in the moonlight light
• 34:00
  Speaker 1: upon the banks of the river. When her affianced was away,
• 34:04
  Speaker 1: unconscious of danger. The day approached for the maiden to
• 34:08
  Speaker 1: go to the wigwam of her lord. The tortoise was
• 34:12
  Speaker 1: with her alone in a secluded nook upon the bank
• 34:15
  Speaker 1: of the river. His light canoe was near, and he
• 34:19
  Speaker 1: proposed a voyage to the beautiful little island in the stream,
• 34:23
  Speaker 1: where the fireflies sparkled and the whipper will whispered its
• 34:27
  Speaker 1: evening serenade. They launched, but instead of paddling for the island,
• 34:34
  Speaker 1: the tortoise turned his prow toward the cataract like an arrow.
• 34:39
  Speaker 1: They sped down the swift current, while the young chief,
• 34:42
  Speaker 1: with vigorous arm, paddled for the northern shore. Skillful as
• 34:48
  Speaker 1: with the bow and hatchet, he steered his canoe to
• 34:51
  Speaker 1: the mouth of the cavern, described as Then upon the
• 34:54
  Speaker 1: water's brink seized the affrighted maiden and leaped ashore at
• 34:59
  Speaker 1: the same time, moment securing his canoe by a strong
• 35:02
  Speaker 1: green wythe The cave was dry, a soft bed of
• 35:07
  Speaker 1: skins of beasts was spread, and abundance of provisions were
• 35:11
  Speaker 1: there stored at the top of the cave. Far above
• 35:15
  Speaker 1: the maiden's reach, an opening revealed a passage through the
• 35:19
  Speaker 1: fissures of the rocks above. It was known only to
• 35:23
  Speaker 1: the tortoise, and there he kept the maiden many months
• 35:27
  Speaker 1: until her affianced gave her up as lost to him forever.
• 35:32
  Speaker 1: At length, while hunting on the southern hills in flowery May,
• 35:37
  Speaker 1: the wolf saw the canoe at the cavern.
• 35:40
  Speaker 2: It solved the.
• 35:41
  Speaker 1: Question in his mind. The evening was clear, and the
• 35:45
  Speaker 1: full moon shone brightly. He waited until midnight, when, with
• 35:50
  Speaker 1: an arm as strong and skill as accurate as his rivals,
• 35:54
  Speaker 1: he steered his canoe to the mouth of this cavern,
• 35:57
  Speaker 1: which was lighted up by the moon. By its light
• 36:02
  Speaker 1: he saw the perfidious tortoise sleeping in the arms of
• 36:05
  Speaker 1: an unwilling bride. The wolf smote the tortoise, but the
• 36:10
  Speaker 1: wound was slight. The awakened warrior, unable to grasp his hatchet,
• 36:16
  Speaker 1: bounded through the opening at the top of the cavern
• 36:19
  Speaker 1: and closed it with a heavy stone. The lovers embraced
• 36:23
  Speaker 1: in momentary joy. It was brief, for a fearful doom
• 36:28
  Speaker 1: seemed to await them. The tortoise would return with power,
• 36:33
  Speaker 1: and they had to make choice of death by the
• 36:36
  Speaker 1: hatchet of the rival chief or by the waters of
• 36:39
  Speaker 1: the cataract. The latter was their choice, and in affectionate embrace,
• 36:45
  Speaker 1: they sat in their canoe and made the fearful leap.
• 36:49
  Speaker 1: The frail vessel struck propitiously upon the boiling waters, and unharmed,
• 36:55
  Speaker 1: passed over the gulf below. Down the broad stream they glided,
• 37:00
  Speaker 1: and far away upon the margin of the lower lake.
• 37:03
  Speaker 1: They lived and loved for two generations, and saw their
• 37:07
  Speaker 1: children's children go out to battle and the chase in
• 37:12
  Speaker 1: the long line of their descent tradition, a RS came Brandt,
• 37:17
  Speaker 1: the Mohawk sachem, the strong wolf of his nation. Since
• 37:22
  Speaker 1: the above was written in eighteen forty eight, the New
• 37:26
  Speaker 1: York Central Railroad has been widened at this point by
• 37:29
  Speaker 1: cutting away the face of the northern cliff, and the
• 37:33
  Speaker 1: Dolgeville Railroad now climbs along an incline also cut from
• 37:37
  Speaker 1: this cliff, and has undoubtedly destroyed the cavern spoken of above. However,
• 37:44
  Speaker 1: about five hundred feet from the viaduct that carries the
• 37:48
  Speaker 1: last named railroad across a deep ravine at the eastern
• 37:52
  Speaker 1: end of the city is to be seen what seems
• 37:55
  Speaker 1: to be the back of this cavern, recessed about two
• 37:59
  Speaker 1: feet from the face of the cliff and surmounted by
• 38:02
  Speaker 1: slab or lintel perhaps fifteen feet long and three feet thick,
• 38:08
  Speaker 1: reminding one of an entrance to some rock temple of India,
• 38:12
  Speaker 1: as described by travelers. On the tops of both the
• 38:16
  Speaker 1: northern and southern hills are found many potholes of varying
• 38:21
  Speaker 1: size and depth, plainly indicating that the immense prehistoric streams
• 38:26
  Speaker 1: that flowed through the Mohawk Valley from Lakes Iroquois and
• 38:30
  Speaker 1: Spencer must at some period have passed over the highest
• 38:34
  Speaker 1: hills at that point. That there was a very high
• 38:38
  Speaker 1: fall in existence where the foot of the rapids now
• 38:41
  Speaker 1: is seems to be indicated by the disrupted rocks in
• 38:45
  Speaker 1: that vicinity and the great depth of water at that point,
• 38:49
  Speaker 1: which is said to be one hundred feet or more.
• 38:53
  Speaker 1: A very interesting rock is seen near the lower Iron Bridge,
• 38:57
  Speaker 1: and about one hundred feet from the river bank and
• 39:00
  Speaker 1: perhaps thirty feet above the present level of the stream.
• 39:05
  Speaker 1: The rock stands about fifteen feet above the surrounding earth
• 39:09
  Speaker 1: and is in the shape of a horseshoe whose outer
• 39:12
  Speaker 1: diameter is about fifty feet, inner diameter about twenty feet,
• 39:17
  Speaker 1: and the width of the horseshoe about fifteen feet with
• 39:21
  Speaker 1: the opening to the west.
• 39:23
  Speaker 2: Or up the stream.
• 39:26
  Speaker 1: The inner surface of this horseshoe or broken circle, which
• 39:30
  Speaker 1: is bowl shape, is perpendicular and marked with segments of
• 39:34
  Speaker 1: a circle all around the inside, plainly showing the rotary
• 39:39
  Speaker 1: motion of water and debris as it was poured in
• 39:42
  Speaker 1: immense volume from high falls. Above it, at the eastern
• 39:47
  Speaker 1: end of the inner circle is a pothole five feet
• 39:51
  Speaker 1: deep and about two feet in diameter.
• 39:54
  Speaker 2: This hole has been worn through the.
• 39:56
  Speaker 1: Side near the bottom, indicating the manner in which this
• 40:00
  Speaker 1: immense bowl was formed. I have no doubt that the
• 40:04
  Speaker 1: removal of the accumulation of earth and water from the
• 40:07
  Speaker 1: bottom of this bowl would uncover a cavity of remarkable interest.
• 40:13
  Speaker 1: But Little Falls is historic as well as prehistoric. Across
• 40:18
  Speaker 1: the river, below the state dam which feeds the Erie
• 40:21
  Speaker 1: Canal are the remains of a well constructed, shallow aqueduct
• 40:26
  Speaker 1: of seventy feet span, which was formerly used for floating
• 40:30
  Speaker 1: canal boats from canal to a large basin which was
• 40:34
  Speaker 1: situated on the north side of the Mohawk back of
• 40:37
  Speaker 1: the present station of the New York Central Railroad. This
• 40:41
  Speaker 1: aqueduct is no longer used, one of the arches having
• 40:45
  Speaker 1: been destroyed. In a previous chapter, mention is made of
• 40:50
  Speaker 1: the early mode of navigating the Mohawk River and the
• 40:53
  Speaker 1: canal at Little Falls, and from Rome to Wood Creek
• 40:57
  Speaker 1: and so on through Oneida Lake and Oswego River to
• 41:01
  Speaker 1: Lake Ontario, with two short portages in Oswego River.
• 41:07
  Speaker 2: To improve the.
• 41:08
  Speaker 1: Waterway to the west, the Inland Lock Navigation Company in
• 41:13
  Speaker 1: seventeen ninety five constructed a canal about two miles long
• 41:18
  Speaker 1: from below the rapids to the deep water above the falls.
• 41:23
  Speaker 1: This canal was cut through the rock on the north
• 41:26
  Speaker 1: bank of the river, and with the aid of five
• 41:29
  Speaker 1: locks batteaux were raised forty two feet and launched into
• 41:33
  Speaker 1: the smooth water above the falls. A small portion is
• 41:37
  Speaker 1: still to be seen in the western part of the city. Also,
• 41:41
  Speaker 1: the stone work of the two upper guard locks or gates.
• 41:46
  Speaker 1: The canal seems to have been cut through solid rock,
• 41:50
  Speaker 1: was about ten feet wide and ten feet deep at
• 41:54
  Speaker 1: the upper lock. The width of the old canal indicates
• 41:58
  Speaker 1: the maximum width of the bat tow used by the
• 42:01
  Speaker 1: early navigators, end of Chapter nineteen. Recording by Roger Molin