CHAPTER I.
From A Tour To The River Saguenay, In Lower Canada by Charles Lanman
28 minute read
The Catskill Mountains—South Peak Mountain—A thunder storm—Midnight on the mountains—Sunrise—Plauterkill Clove—Peter Hummel—Trout fishing—Stony Clove—The Kauterskill Fall—The Mountain House—The Mountain Lake. Plauterkill Clove, May. I commence this chapter in the language of Leather Stocking:—“You know the Catskills, lad, for you must have seen them on your left, as you followed the river up from York, looking as blue as a piece of clear sky, and holding the clouds on their tops, as the smoke curls over the head of an Indian chief at a council-fire.” Yes, everybody is acquainted with the names of these mountains, but few with their peculiarities of scenery. They are situated about eight miles from the Hudson, rise to an average elevation of about thirty-five hundred feet, and running in a straight line from north to south, cover a space of some twenty-five miles. The fertile valley on the east is as beautiful as heart could desire;...
CHAPTER II.
From A Tour To The River Saguenay, In Lower Canada by Charles Lanman
13 minute read
A spring day—The sky—The mountains—The streams—The woods—The open fields—Domestic animals—Poetry—The poultry yard. Plauterkill Clove, May. May is near its close, and I am still in the valley of the Hudson. Spring is indeed come again, and this, for the present year, has been its day of triumph. The moment I awoke, at dawn, this morning, I knew by intuition that it would be so, and I bounded from my couch like a startled deer, impatient for the cool delicious air. Spring is upon the earth once more, and a new life is given me of enjoyment and hope. The year is in its childhood, and my heart clings to it with a sympathy that I feel must be immortal and divine. What I have done to-day I cannot tell. I only know that my body has been tremulous with feeling, and my eyes almost blinded with seeing. Every hour has...
New York to Albany by the Old Post Road.
From The New York And Albany Post Road by C. G. (Charles Gilbert) Hine
28 minute read
In 1703 the Provincial Legislature passed a "Publick Highways" act, part of which reads as follows:— "Publick and Common General Highway to extend from King's Bridge in the County of Westchester through the same County of Westchester, Dutchess County and the County of Albany, of the breadth of four rods, English measurement, at the least, to be, continue and remain forever, the Publick Common General Road and Highway from King's Bridge aforesaid to the ferry at Crawlier over against the city of Albany." This, being in the reign of Queen Anne, was at first known as the Queen's Road, but in due time became known as the Albany Post Road. Stages for the north originally started from Cortland Street; later the starting point was moved up to Broadway and Twenty-first Street, and as other means of conveyance improved and multiplied, the point for starting was moved north and further north...
CHAPTER V.
From A Tour To The River Saguenay, In Lower Canada by Charles Lanman
10 minute read
The Scaroon country—Scaroon Lake Pike fishing by torchlight—Trout fishing—Lyndsay’s Tavern—Paradox Lake. Lyndsay’s Tavern, June. Emptying into the Hudson River, about fifteen miles north of Glen’s Falls, is quite a large stream, sometimes called the East Branch of the Hudson, but generally known as Scaroon River. [1] Its extreme length is not far from fifty miles. It is a clear, cold, and rapid stream, winds through a mountainous country, and has rather a deep channel. The valley through which it runs is somewhat cultivated, but the mountains which frown upon it on either side, are covered with dense forests. The valley of the Scaroon abounds in beautiful lakes and brooks; and as I have explored them pretty thoroughly during the past week, I will now record the result of my observations. The most prominent pictorial feature of this region is Scaroon Lake, through which the river of that name forms a...
AT THE ARCTIC CIRCLE.
From A Woman Who Went To Alaska by May Kellogg Sullivan
10 minute read
E were now at the Arctic Circle. For three days we had no sunshine, and flurries of snow were frequent. The mountain tops, as well as the banks and sand-bars of the river, were spread with a thin covering of snow; enough at least to give a wintry aspect. This added to the leaden sky above, made the warmth of big coal fires acceptable indoors, and fur coats comfortable on the decks. At Fort Yukon the low water prevented our landing. We were told, however, that the place contained one hundred log houses, as well as an old Episcopal Mission, in which Mrs. Bumpus had lived and taught the natives for twenty years. Many of the Eskimo girls are trained as children's nurses and make very satisfactory ones. Into the Yukon Flats empty the Porcupine River, Birch Creek and other streams. Fort Yukon was established by the Hudson Bay Company...
VALLEY OF THE RED RIVER OF THE NORTH.
From Minnesota And Dacotah by C. C. (Christopher Columbus) Andrews
15 minute read
Climate of Minnesota— The settlement at Pembina— St. Joseph— Col. Smith's expedition— Red River of the North— Fur trade— Red River Settlement— The Hudson's Bay Company— Ex-Gov. Ramsey's observations— Dacotah. CROW WING, October, 1856. A CELEBRATED geographer of the first century wrote, "Germany is indeed habitable, but is uninhabited on account of the cold." I am not so certain, but some people have a similar idea of the upper portion of Minnesota. If there are any, however, thus distrustful of its climate, they probably live out of the territory. I have no means of knowing what the climate is here in winter, except from hearsay and general principles. It seems to be an approved theory, that the farther we approach the west in a northern latitude the milder becomes the winter. The stage-drivers tell me that the snow does not fall to such a depth as in the northern part...
CHAPTER X.
From Destruction And Reconstruction by Richard Taylor
47 minute read
MOVEMENT TO THE RED RIVER—CAMPAIGN AGAINST BANKS. Recent events on the Mississippi made it necessary to concentrate my small force in the immediate valley of Red River. Indeed, when we lost Vicksburg and Port Hudson, we lost not only control of the river but of the valley from the Washita and Atchafalaya on the west to Pearl River on the east. An army of forty odd thousand men, with all its material, was surrendered in the two places, and the fatal consequences were felt to the end of the struggle. The policy of shutting up large bodies of troops in fortifications, without a relieving army near at hand, can not be too strongly reprobated. Vicksburg should have been garrisoned by not more than twenty-five hundred men, and Port Hudson by a thousand. These would have been ample to protect the batteries against a sudden coup , and forty thousand men...
THE GENESEE ROAD
From Pioneer Roads And Experiences Of Travelers by Archer Butler Hulbert
14 minute read
The military importance of the Mohawk Valley and strategic portage at Rome, New York, was emphasized in our study of Portage Paths. [31] Throughout the French and Indian War and the Revolutionary struggle the water route to the Hudson from Lake Ontario, by way of the Onondaga, Lake Oneida, Wood Creek, and the Mohawk, was of great moment. But only because it was a route—a thoroughfare; not because the territory through which it coursed was largely occupied or of tremendous value. The French held the lakes and the English were constantly striving for foothold there. When Fort Oswego was built on the present site of Oswego, the first step by the English was taken; the route had been the river route with a portage at Fort Wil liams (Rome). When Fort Niagara was captured in 1759 by Sir William Johnson, the French were driven from the Lakes; Johnson’s route to...
One Hundred and Twenty-Ninth Street to Yonkers.
From The Hudson by Wallace Bruce
18 minute read
This upper landing of the Hudson River Day Line has a beautiful location and is a great convenience to the dwellers of northern Manhattan. On leaving the pier the steel-arched structure of Riverside Drive is seen on the right. The valley here spanned, in the neighborhood of 127th Street, was once known as "Marritje Davids' Fly," and the local name for this part of New York above Claremont Heights is still known as "Manhattanville." The Convent of the Sacred Heart is visible among the trees, and Trinity Cemetery's Monuments soon gleam along the wooded bank. Among her distinguished dead is the grave of General John A. Dix whose words rang across the land sixty days before the attack on Fort Sumter: "If any man attempts to pull down the American flag shoot him on the spot." The John A. Dix Post of New York comes hither each Decoration Day and...
IN COMMAND AT NEW YORK
From "Old Put" The Patriot by Frederick A. (Frederick Albion) Ober
10 minute read
Return to Table of Contents The British had been forced out of Boston; they had embarked aboard their fleet; but for more than a week they lingered in the outer harbor, as if uncertain whither to go. While Washington was in doubt as to their next movement, he shrewdly guessed that the city of New York, being so advantageously situated, especially commanding communication with Canada by the valley of the Hudson River, would be their ultimate, if not immediate objective. He had already despatched thither General Lee, who was planning defenses for the harbor; but as he desired Lee to command in the South, he looked around for another man to take his place. Troops were on the way, also, under Generals Heath and Sullivan, to be followed by many more, and there was every indication that soon a large army would be concentrated in and around New York. Who...
WEST POINT, ITS ENVIRONS AND STONY POINT AT ENTRANCE TO HUDSON HIGHLANDS—NEW YORK
From Quaint And Historic Forts Of North America by John Martin Hammond
14 minute read
The long trough of land which runs 384 miles from New York to Montreal, consisting of the Hudson River Valley, Lakes George and Champlain and the Richelieu River Valley, is without doubt the most vital of American natural highways and its importance has been recognized from the earliest days of American history. The French in the days when the lilies of France waved over half of the American continent sent their war parties down this depression to prey upon the English settlements, and hence came about the building of Ticonderoga at the northern entrance to the long march. The American colonists years afterward, when they had need to defend the southern mouth of the valley, fortified West Point and its neighboring points and crags, their first cover being taken at Peekskill some three or four miles south of West Point. It will be remembered that in 1777 came about that...
SOURCE OF THE HUDSON.
From The Hudson by Wallace Bruce
14 minute read
In our journey from Albany to Plattsburgh, we have indicated various routes to the Adirondacks: By way of Saratoga and North Creek to Blue Mountain Lake following the course of the Hudson which might therefor be called "The Hudson Gateway;" via Lake George, Westport, and Elizabethtown, suited for carriage and pedestrian trips, and via Plattsburgh, which might be termed "The Northern Portal." In addition to these it has been my lot to make several trips up the valley of the Sacandaga to Lake Pleasant and Indian Lake, and via Schroon Lake to Sanford and Lake Henderson—and four times to ascend the mountain trail of Tahawas to the tiny rills and fountains of the Hudson, but one trip abides in memory distinct and unrivalled, which may be of service to those who wish to visit in fact or fancy the head waters of the Hudson. The Tahawas Club. —We took the...