DESCRIPTION OF THE COUNTRY BETWEEN ALBANY & NIAGARA IN 1792. [1 Mass. Hist. Coll. I.] : I am just returned from Niagara, about 560 miles west of Boston. I went first to Albany, from thence to Schenectada, about Sixteen miles; this has been a very considerable place of trade, but is now falling to decay: It was supported by the Indian traders; but this business is so arrested by traders far in the country, that very little of it reached so far down it stands upon the Mohawk river, about 9 miles above the Falls, called the Cohoes; but this I take to be the Indian name for Falls: Its chief business is to receive the merchandize from Albany, and put it into batteaux, to go up the river, and forward to Albany Such produce of the back country as is sent to market. After leaving Schenectada, I travelled over a most beautiful country of eighty miles to Fort Schuyler, where I forded the Mohawk: This extent was the scene of British and Savage cruelty, during the late war, and they did not cease, while anything remained to destroy. What a contrast now! every house and barn rebuilt, the pastures crowded with cattle, Sheep, &c. and the lap of Ceres full. Most of the land on each Side of the Mohawk river, is a rich flat highly cultivated with every species of grain, the land on each side the flats, rising in agreeable Slopes; this, added to the view of a fine river passing through the whole, gives the beholder the most pleasing Sensations imaginable. I passed next through Whitestown. It would appear to you, my friend, on hearing the relation of events in the western country, that the whole was fable; and if you were placed in Whitestown, or Clinton, ten miles west from Fort Schuyler, and see the progress of improvement, you would believe it enchanted ground. You would there view an extensive well built town, surrounded by highly cultivated fields, which Spot in the year 1783 was the "haunt of tribes" and the hiding place of wolves, now a flourishing happy Situation, containing about Six thousand people-Clinton stands a little South of Whitestown, and is a very large thriving town. After passing Clinton, there are no inhabitants upon the road, until you reach Oneida, an Indian town, the first of the Six Nations; it contains about Five hundred and fifty inhabitants; here I slept, and found the natives very friendly. The next day I went on to Onondaga, leaving the Oneida lake on the right, and the Onondaga lake on the left, each a few miles distant. I slept at Onondaga, at the house of a Mr. ——, who is employed in boiling down the waters of the Salt springs, which are about 7 miles north of his house, for supplying the country with Salt-he told me that he made about fifty bushels per week, which he sold at five shillings per bushel, but that any quantity may be made, and at a less price; these springs are in the State reservation, and are a wonderful benefit to the country, every part of which is so united by lakes and rivers as to render the Supply of this bulky and necessary article very easy. Independent of our own Settlements, we can supply the British in the whole of Upper Canada. Thirty five miles from this place I struck the Cayuga Lake. The road is tolerable for a new country; the land excellent, and very heavy timbered. There are but three houses upon this road. This lake is from about thirty five to forty miles along, about two miles wide. and abounds with Salmon, bass, |