Mohawk Valley

“ Beyond, the amber waters of Canada Creek flow in from the north, giving the Mohawk a largely increased current, and the land becomes a region of gentle hills, with meadows and herds, a scene of pastoral beauty, the great dairy region of New York. Here is Herkimer, which was an Indian frontier fort, and a few miles farther is Utica, the dairymen's and cheese-makers' headquarters, a city of fifty thousand people. The whole Mohawk valley for miles has an atmosphere of peacefulness and content, innumerable cows and sheep grazing and resting upon the rich 343 pastures. ”

“ Here are Green Island, Adam's Island and Van Schaick's Island, making an extensive delta. The Mohawk, after flowing from central New York nearly one hundred and forty miles in a rich agricultural 216 section, pours down the falls at Cohoes, and enters the Hudson through four separate channels formed by these islands. The Mohawk Valley is largely a pastoral region, its dairies and cheeses having much fame, and in the lower valley hop-growing and broom-making are important industries, chiefly controlled by the Shakers. ”

“ I would it had been possible to say more concerning Thayendanega and Sir John Johnson, for they played important parts in the making of Mohawk Valley history; but Noel's own account was of such length that I did not feel warranted in adding to it.
To the best of my knowledge and belief, the tale of the "Minute Boys of the Mohawk Valley" is no more than a narration of facts, as can be verified by reference to any of our standard histories of the beginnings of this nation. ”

“ The Mohawk Valley proper, during the Winter of 1780, had enjoyed a period of comparative repose—interrupted only by the common alarms incident to an unprotected border, at all times liable to invasion, and the people, as a consequence, feeling continually more or less insecure. ”

“ The vale of the Mohawk, including its intersecting valley of the Schoharie-kill, was among the most thickly populated and wealthy agricultural districts of the country at the commencement of the war. The productiveness of its soil, and the riches of its people, rendered it ever an inviting object of plunder to the enemy—especially to the savages, and the swarms of refugees who had fled from the country, and were sharing a precarious livelihood among the Indian wigwams and in the wilds of Canada. ”

“ There were certainly three principal fortified towns in the Mohawk Valley all through the early colonial days, built and occupied by the Caniengas (Kanienkehaka) , or "People of the Flint," as they chose to call themselves, but who were known to the Dutch as Maquaas, to the French as Agniés, and to the English as Mohawks. These people were divided into three clans or gentes, each named for a certain animal, and each governing a town or castle of its own. Their three towns varied in name and location, but seem always to have borne the same relation to one another. ”

“ In the west especially, the distances to be traversed, the sparseness of the population, and the perils to which settlers are exposed, render the profession of a scout a useful and necessary one, and woman's versatility of character enables her, when necessary, to practice the art.
The traveler of to-day, passing up the Mohawk Valley will be struck by its fertility, beauty, and above all by the air of quiet repose that broods over it. One hundred years ago how different the scene! It was then the battle-ground where the fierce Indian waged an incessant warfare with the frontier settlers. ”

“ The Mohawk here breaks through the Allegheny ridge which primarily divided the waters of the Ontario Basin from the Hudson. The overflow from the basin here formed a waterfall that probably rivaled Niagara and gradually wore away the rock. The channel of the stream was very deep and on the subsidence of the ice sheet, which spread over the northern part of the continent, became filled with drift. The opening in the ridge and the formation of the valley of the Mohawk as now known are studies in the work of creation. The settlements known as the German Flats were on both sides of the river. ”

“ The valley of the Mohawk, through which we crept the whole sunshining day, is beautiful from beginning to end; fertile, soft, rich, and occasionally approaching sublimity and grandeur in its rocks and hanging woods. ”

“ Nothing is less paintable than a New England village; nothing is more monotonous than the woodland mountain of any of the ranges of eastern North America. The valley of the Mohawk is one of the earliest settled and least unpicturesque sections of the Eastern States, with its old Dutch farmhouses and the winding of the beautiful river ”

“ The ties of blood are strong in a noble heart. Anastasia, her own good friend and instructress, was there at the Sault; the adopted sister was there, a relative in name if nothing more; the "great Mohawk" was there, and he was a host in himself. But after all, what a handful were these compared to the brave men and women of her tribe in the Mohawk Valley,—those who had shared in the defence of Caughnawaga Castle against the Mohegans, and who still dwelt in her native land, and were bound to her by so many ties! Her uncle, her kindred, her nation, were against her in her Christian faith ”

“ Here the high ridge of the Alleghany range, which divides the head waters of the Mohawk and the Ontario streams from the Susquehanna and other Atlantic rivers, crosses the Mohawk Valley, and in ages long past, ere the great Falls of Niagara existed, doubtless formed the crown of a cataract almost as magnificent, when the waters of Ontario covered the upper valley, and a portion of its flood here found its way into the great lake that filled the Hudson basin, whose outlet, in turn, was among the rugged hills of the Highlands at West Point and vicinity. ”

“ In the whole valley there was only one hamlet of quiet Dutchmen, who had settled themselves at Corlaer (or Schenectady) , while in the great bend were nestled the snug bark huts of the Indians with their surrounding palisades. A chain of Mohawk castles lay on the south side of the river, linked together by a single trail,—a narrow footpath through the snow along the lower terrace, which is now occupied by the West Shore Railway. ”

“ Until the Peace of Ryswijk, in 1697, there was no safety in the Mohawk Valley except behind fortifications. The farmer worked with a musket at his side. There were many funerals of men found in the fields without hair and with lead inside their bodies. ”

“ On the morning of the 4th [August 1777] nearly a thousand men had assembled about Fort Dayton, a little stockade fort built the year before by Colonel Dayton upon a slight eminence some hundred and fifty yards from the site of the present court-house at Herkimer, and which had been selected by Herkimer as a place of rendezvous. Never had a more heterogeneous mass of men been gathered together in the valley of the Mohawk ”

“ Although, largely in the eighteenth century, economic pressure in the happier valleys forced many farmers to move to the hills, the opening of the West drew many of, them to the prairies during the following century, and the population, like water which had been forced above its level, slowly drained off the uplands again, through the sluiceway of the Mohawk Valley. To-day, dying hill-towns, abandoned farms, and the yet unpeopled wilderness of northern Maine, tell the story of this struggle against geographical conditions. ”

“ After leaving the town, we entered at once the glorious valley of the Mohawk which runs nearly westerly, and whose course we followed eighty miles to Utica. There may be lovelier vallies in the world, but certainly not another like this, for it is unique in its kind. Imagine a long green valley covered with rich farms—through its centre a bright transparent river, having a rail road on one bank and a canal on the other ”

“ The upper valley of the Mohawk, which narrows to a deep, rocky ravine at Little Falls, has, within a few miles of its lower extremity, a rich and fertile alluvial plain on each side of the river, known as the German Flats, so called in consequence of being first settled and cultivated by German families. The settlement was originally called Burnet's Field, from the circumstance that the patent had been granted by Governor Burnet. ”

“ Nowhere on the river were there fuller barns than in the populous district that went by the name of the German Flatts. Bordering the Mohawk river on either side, it stretched for ten miles along the valley, rich in soil, and with broad green pastures and plenteous herds. The settlers knew that the enemy was not far off, and they grew more afraid of attack with each passing day. They had two strongholds to which they could flee in case of trouble, Fort Herkimer on one bank of the river, Fort Dayton on the other ”

“ Mayall directed his steps towards East Canada Creek, where he arrived in safety, and commenced his journey up the valley which had been scooped out by the stream since the morning of creation. He soon passed beyond the noisy bustle of civilization in the Valley of the Mohawk River, and launched into a solitude which appeared to him as a divine retreat, and was better fitted for a wild hunter than a civilized man. ”

“ We are still in the valley of the Mohawk, which is narrow and fertile, but the surrounding country has nothing to boast of as to soil. The river at this place is not, I should suppose, over 50 to 70 yards wide, and is, wherever I have seen it, chequered with little islands, which give it a pleasing [Pg 20] appearance. The locks and bridges are very numerous, and it requires great attention and care in passing them, or you may be knocked down, and rise up without your head on your shoulders, which, before you can say "look out," may be in possession of the canal fishes. ”

“ Thus there was much letter writing and much fighting among the colonists, while each side tried to make friends of the Indians and get the whole of the fur trade. The result was that either in war or in trade the white men and the savages were always going up and down the Mohawk valley, which thus was a19 well-traveled path long before there were turnpike roads, canals, or steam cars. ”

“ The underlying rock of the country is generally charged with lime, which assures a better soil for grain crops than those derived from the more argillaceous formations of New England. The Mohawk is for its size perhaps the most fertile valley in America. The climate of this district is on the whole more severe than that of New England, but the summer temperature admits the cultivation of all the crops of the Northern States. ”

“ Like the other village-sites, already described, it is on high ground, or the upper-river terrace. Near the farm-house is a large spring, surrounded by shade-trees, in the centre of a meadow. It is now frequented principally by thirsty cows; but it was once the chief water-supply of the Mohawk castle. Behind the house is a perfectly level plateau; from it the land descends on its northern side by steep terraces to the Mohawk, and to the west it sinks rapidly into a picturesque ravine, where strawberries, wintergreen berries, rare ferns, and little pink flowers grow in abundance. ”

“ Connected with this spring is the story of a short girl-life, pure, vigorous, sorrow-taught. It is written out in authentic documents; while Nature, also, has kept a record of an Indian maiden's lodge beside the spring. There on the banks of the Mohawk River, at Caughnawaga, now called Fonda, in Montgomery County, dwelt the Lily of the Mohawks two centuries ago, when the State had neither shape nor name. She saw her people build a strong, new palisaded village there. ”

“ For some years after the war, it was still the beaver country of the aborigines, or the place of their wigwams; and the country round about, now stocked with villages, and without a red-face to be seen, was a hunting-ground, in which ranged bears, foxes, wolves, deer, and other game, the Indians themselves calling it couxsachraga, or the dismal wilderness. The town of Mohawk, where the tribe dwelt up to the year 1780, is but thirty-six miles west of Albany. ”

“ In Mohawk, Sandy Hill would probably be called Gea-di-go, "Beautiful plain," but it has no Indian name of record. The village stands upon a high sandy plain. It has its traditionary Indian story, of course; in this section of country it is easy to coin traditions of the wars of the Mohawks, the Hurons, and the Algonquians; they interest but do not harm any one. ”

“ This town is principally inhabited by low Dutch, and was the first town formed in this State. The houses are built in the old Dutch style, and the streets are very narrow. Not far from this town the Mohawk nation, now residing on the Grand River, Upper Canada, formerly lived, previous to the Revolutionary War, which territory they lost on account of their allegiance to Great Britain, The Mohawk River passes alongside of this old town. In the evening we held a meeting in the Methodist Church, and we severally addressed the Indians. ”

“ When the war broke out, the Mohawks resided on the Mohawk River, in the state of New York, but on peace being made, they emigrated into Upper Canada, and their principal village is now situated on the Grand River, which falls into Lake Erie on the north side, about sixty miles from the town of Newark or Niagara; there Brandt at present resides. He has built a comfortable habitation for himself, and any stranger that visits him may rest assured of being well received, and of finding 280a plentiful table well served every day. ”