Part 11

This work has been nearly obliterated by the plough. The only portions of the ancient wall yet remaining, are indicated by the letters B. B. At A, a dwelling house has been erected, flanked by gardens. C, is a turnpike or rectangular town road, passing over the apex of the elevation. The dotted angular lines denote fields in cultivation, and the dotted ellipses, through these grounds, are laid down from tradition, rather than from any well defined vestiges in these fields of the original wall yet visible. D,D, represents a native forest. Judging from the curves of the portions of wall entire at B,B, in connection with the era pointed out by the occupant, this work may have had a circumference of one thousand feet. It occupied a commanding site. The sections of the wall remaining, denote the labor of many hands, and if this rampart was crowned with palisades, and secured in the usual manner with gates, it must not only have furnished a garrison to a large body of warriors, but have been a work of much strength.

In excavating the grounds for the road, in the approach to the village, human bones were found, in considerable quantities, on the descent of the hill, together with some of the usual vestiges of ancient Indian art, as evinced in the manufacture of stone and clay pipes and implements. Nothing of this kind had, however, been preserved, which appeared worthy of particular description.

[_c._] Ancient entrenchments on Fort Hill, near Le Roy, Genesee county.

The following diagram of this work has been drawn from a pen-sketch, forwarded by the Rev. Mr. Dewey, of Rochester.

The work occurs on an elevated point of land formed by the junction of a small stream, called Fordham’s brook, with Allen’s creek, a tributary of the Genesee river. Its position is about three miles north of the village of Le Roy, and some ten or twelve northeast of Batavia. The best view of the hill, as one of the natural features of the country, is obtained a short distance north of it, on the road from Bergen to Le Roy.

To attain a proper conception of its susceptibilities and capacity, as the site of a work of defence, it is essential to conceive the country, for some distance, to have had the level of the extreme plain, forming the highest part of the fort. The geological column of this plain, after passing down through the unconsolidated strata, appears to be composed of various strata of corniferous limestone, Onondaga or hydraulic limestone, and perhaps Medina sandstone. Geological causes, originating, so far as we can immediately perceive, in the two streams named, have cut down this series of stratifications, on the north, east and west, unequally, to the depth of some eighty or ninety feet, isolating the original plain, on three sides, by the vallies of Allan’s creek and Fordham brook. Availing themselves of this heavy amount of natural excavation, the ancient occupants of it further strengthened its position, by casting up a wall and ditch along the brow of the two vallies, at the points of their junction, from A. to B., 60 rods; from A. to D., 30 rods; and from B. to C. 15 rods. This is as much of the embankment as now remains; but tradition adds, that, on the earliest occupancy of the county, there were evidences that the work had been continued south from the extreme points, C. and D., and connected by an enclosure, parallel to A. B., which would have given it a regular quadrangular shape. The encroachments of the respective vallies, at C. and D., now terminate the trench. And if we concede that geological changes of this kind must have required some time for their production, by the present power of action possessed by the streams named, it is an argument for the antiquity of the work. But, however antique, it was still the effort of a rude, and at best half civilized people, at an epoch when bows and arrows, clubs, spears and stones, and the stone _casse-tete_,[66] were the principal weapons of defence. For these are the chief objects of antiquarian interest dug from the ground. There are also disclosed by the place or its vicinity, the amuletum archæus and other amulets of sea shell, bone and fossil stone, which were so much prized by the ancient red races of this continent, by whom they were manufactured, and exclusively used before the era of the discovery. That the spot continued, however, whether a ruin or not, to be visited or occupied, after this era, is proved by some remains of art, which were found here and described by Mr. Follet, in a letter, which constitutes a valuable part of the materials employed in this description. [See appendix.] But the most remarkable and distinctive trait connected with its archæology is the discovery of human bones denoting an uncommon stature and development, which are mentioned in the same communication. A humerus or shoulder bone, which is preserved, denotes a stature one-third larger than the present race, and there is also a lower jaw bone, preserved by a physician at Batavia, from the vicinity, which indicates the same gigantic measure of increase.

[66] I find the French word casse-tete more exactly descriptive of the probable and exclusive uses of the antique stone tomahawk, than any other which has been met with. The shape of this warlike instrument resembled strongly the ancient crossbill. It presents the figure of a crescent, tapering gradually to the ends, which are rounded, and proceed to a sharp point. In the concave centre of the crescent is an orifice for a helve. It is an instrument denoting skill, and the possession of some mechanical tool for carving it harder than the dark silecious slate, from which it is generally made. One of these instruments, sent to me by Mr. Follet, of Batavia, and which, from an inscription, was found “in that vicinity by Jerome A. Clark, Esq. on the 16th May, 1844,” is worthy the chisel of a sculptor.

To supply the fort with water, a trench was continued about fifteen rods, from B at the northeast angle to E, in order to reach a spring below the declivity. In the isolated portion of the hill, marked F. haiks of moderate sized round stones have been found, which were probably one of the ancient means of defence. This spot, from the remains found, appears also to have been an ancient place of burial. Among the articles exhumed, were several curious pipes of stone and earthenware. One of these was formed out of granular limestone; another was of baked clay in the form of a man’s head and face, the nose, eyes and other features being depicted in a style resembling some of the figures in Mr. Stephens’ plates of the ruins of Central America. The top of the head is surrounded by a fillet; on the occipital part are also two fillets. The neck has a similar ornament, and there is another on the breast. The orifices of the ears are denoted, and the whole evinces no little degree of art. This is the most curious relic found.

Another pipe of reddish baked clay is ornamented with dots; two rows of which extend round it, and another in festoons, like a chain looped up.

Other parts of the topography are denoted by the plot. Q, W, is Allen’s creek. H, I, K, Fordham’s brook. L, P, M, a branch of Fordham’s brook. R, N, V, denote the road, which passes through the centre of the work. A former road led from U down the ravine to T. There was formerly a bridge at N, to cross the ditch. This trench was estimated by early observers at from eight to ten feet deep, and as many wide. The earth in making it, had been thrown either way, but much of it inwards. Forest trees were standing, both in the trench and on its sides. In size and age they appeared to be equal to the general growth of the forest. Prostrate upon the ground, there were found numerous trunks of the heart-wood of black cherry trees of large size. These were evidently the remains of a more antique forest, which had preceded the existing growth of beech and maple. They were in such a state of soundness as to be employed for timber by the first settlers.

There were no traditions among the Indians of the country respecting the use and design of this work. It was to them, as to the first settlers, an object of mystery. About half a mile below the hill, Allen’s creek has a fall of some eighty feet. It is a perpendicular fall of much beauty. At this place the hydraulic limestone is seen to be the underlying rock. This rock had also been struck in excavating the north line of the trench, on “Fort Hill,” and some portions of it had been thrown out with the earth.

Such are the interesting facts communicated to me, by the gentlemen whose names have been mentioned. The notice of the present altered state of the site, and the following just reflections naturally springing from the subject, may be stated in the exact words of Dr. Dewey:

“The forest has been removed. Not a tree remains on the quadrangle, and only a few on the edge of the ravine on the west. By cultivating the land, the trench is nearly filled in some places, though the line of it is clearly seen. On the north side the trench is considerable, and where the road crosses it, is three or four feet deep at the sides of the road. It will take only a few years more to obliterate it entirely, as not even a stump remains to mark out its line.

“From this view it may be seen or inferred,

“1. That a real trench bounded three sides of the quadrangle. On the south side there was not found any trace of trench, palisadoes, blocks, &c.

“2. It was formed long before the whites came into the country. The large trees on the ground and in the trench, carry us back to an early era.

“3. The workers must have had some convenient tools for excavation.

“4. The direction of the sides may have had some reference to the four cardinal points, though the situation of the ravines naturally marked out the lines.

“5. It cannot have been designed merely to catch wild animals to be driven into it from the south. The oblique line down to the spring is opposed to this supposition, as well as the insufficiency of such a trench to confine the animals of the forest.

“6. The same reasons render it improbable that the quadrangle was designed to confine and protect domestic animals.

“7. It was probably a sort of fortified place. There might have been a defence on the south side by a _stockade_, or some similar means, which might have entirely disappeared.

“By what people was this work done?

“The articles found in the burying-ground at F, offer no certain reply. The axes, chisels, &c. found on the Indian grounds in this part of the State, were evidently made of the greenstone or trap, of New-England, like those found on the Connecticut river in Massachusetts. The pipe of limestone might be from that part of the country. The pipes seem to belong to different eras.

“1. The limestone pipe indicates the work of the savage or aborigines.

“2. The third indicates the age of French influence over the Indians. An intelligent French gentleman says such clay pipes are frequent among the town population in parts of France.

“3. The second and most curious, seems to indicate an earlier age and people.

“The beads found at Fort Hill are long and coarse, made of baked clay, and may have had the same origin as the third pipe.

“Fort Hill cannot have been formed by the French as one of their posts to aid in the destruction of the English colonies. In 1689, or 156 years ago, the French in Canada made serious attempts to destroy the English colony of New-York. If the French had made Fort Hill a post as early as 1660, or 185 years ago, and then deserted it, the trees could not have grown to the size of the forest generally in 1810, or in 150 years afterwards. The white settlements had extended ‘only twelve miles west of Avon’ in 1798, and some years after 1800, Fort Hill was covered with a dense forest. A chestnut tree cut down in 1842, at Rochester, showed 254 concentric circles of wood, and must have been more than 200 years old in 1800. So opposed is the notion that this was a deserted French post.

“Must we not refer Fort Hill to that race, which peopled this country before the Indians, who raised so many monuments greatly exceeding the power of the Indians, and who lived at a remote era?”

[_g._] Antique rock citadel of Kienuka, in Lewiston, Niagara county.

In the preceding sketches, evidences have been presented of the readiness and good judgment of the aboriginal fort builders of western New-York,[67] in availing themselves of steeps, gulfs, defiles, and other marked localities, in establishing works for security or defence. This trait is, however, in no case more strikingly exemplified than in the curious antique work before us, which is called, by the Tuscaroras, KIENUKA. The term Kienuka is said to mean the stronghold or fort, from which there is a sublime view. It is situated about three and a half or four miles eastward of the outlet of the Niagara gorge at Lewiston, on a natural escarpment of the ridge.

[67] It is not without something bordering on anachronism, that this portion of the continent is called New-York, in reference to transactions not only before the bestowal of the title, in 1664, but long before the European race set foot on the continent. Still more inappropriate, however, was the term of New-Netherland, i. e. New-Lowland, which it bore from 1609 to 1664, many parts of the State being characterized by lofty mountains, and all having an elevation of many hundreds of feet above the sea. In speaking of these ancient periods, a title drawn from the native vocabulary would better accord with the period under discussion, if not with the laws of euphony. But the native tribes were poor generalizers, and omitted to give generic names to the land. The term of Haonao for the continent, or “island,” as they call it, occurs, but this would have no more pertinence applied to New-York, than to any other portion of it. The geographical feature most characteristic of the State, is NIAGARA, and next in prominence, ONTARIO, and either would have furnished a better cognomen for the State, had they been thought of in season. But it is too late now to make the change, and even for the remote era alluded to, the name under which the country has grown great, is to be preferred. It is already the talismanic word for every honorable and social reminiscence.

This ridge, which rises in one massy, up-towering pile, almost perpendicularly, on the brink of the river, developes itself, as we follow its course eastward for a mile or two, in a second plateau, which holds nearly a medium position in relation to the altitude of the ridge. This plateau attains to a width of a thousand yards or more, extending an unexplored distance, in the curving manner of the ridge, towards Lockport. Geologically considered, its upper stratum is the silurian limestone, which in the order of superposition, immediately overlies the red shaly sandstone at the falls. Its edges are jagged and broken, and heavy portions of it have been broken off, and slid down the precipice of red shaly under grit, and thus assumed the character of debris. Over its top, there has been a thin deposit of pebble drift, of purely diluvial character, forming, in general, not a very rich soil, and supporting a growth of oaks, maples, butternut, and other species common to the country. From the ascent of the great ridge, following the road from Lewiston to Tuscarora village, a middle road leads over this broad escarpment, following, apparently, an ancient Indian trail, and winding about with sylvan irregularity. Most of the trees appear to be of second growth; they do not, at any rate, bear the impress of antiquity, which marks the heavy forests of the country. Occasionally there are small openings, where wigwams once stood. These increase as we pass on, till they assume the character of continuous open fields, at the site of the old burying ground, orchard and play ground of the neighboring Tuscaroras. The soil in these openings appears hard, compact and worn out, and bears short grass. The burial ground is filled almost entirely with sumach, giving it a bushy appearance, which serves to hide its ancient graves and small tumuli. Among these are two considerable barrows, or small elliptic mounds, the one larger than the other, formed of earth and angular stones. The largest is not probably higher than five feet, but may have a diameter of twenty feet, in the longest direction.

Directly east of this antique cemetery, commences the old orchard and area for ball playing, on which, at the time of my visit, the stakes or goals were standing, and thus denoted that the ancient games are kept up on these deserted fields, by the youthful population of the adjacent Tuscarora village. A small ravine succeeds, with a brook falling into a gulf, or deep break in the escarpment, where once stood a saw mill, and where may still be traced some vestiges of this early attempt of the first settlers to obtain a water power from a vernal brook. Immediately after crossing this little ravine, and rising to the general level of the plain, we enter the old fields and rock fortress of Kienuka, described in the following diagram.

To obtain a proper conception of this plan, it is necessary to advert to geological events, in this part of the country, whose effects are very striking. The whole country takes an impress, in some degree, from the great throe which worked out a passage for the Niagara, through seven miles of solid rock, severing, at its outlet, the great coronal ridge, at its highest point of elevation. Nothing, we think, is more evident to the observer, in tracing out the Kienuka plateau, than the evidences which exist of Lake Ontario having washed its northern edge, and driven its waters against its crowning wall of limestone. The fury of the waves, forced in to the line of junction, between the solid limestone and fissile sandstone, has broken up and removed the latter, till the overlying rock, pressed by its own gravity, has been split, fissured or otherwise disrupted, and often slid in vast solid masses down the ragged precipice. Kienuka offers one of the most striking instances of this action. The fissures made in the rock, by the partial withdrawal of its support, assume the size of cavern passages; they penetrate, in some instances, under other and unbroken masses of the superior stratum, and are, as a whole, curiously intersected, forming a vast reticulated area, in which large numbers of men could seek shelter and security.

A. denotes the apex of this citadel of nature. At this point, heavy masses of the limestone, rest, in part, upon the fissures, and serve as a covering. From these primary fissures, others, marked C. C. C. C. C., proceed. The distance from G. to H. is 227 paces. The cross fissure at I., thirty-seven paces.

Most of these fissures which extend in the general parallel of the brink appear to have been narrow, and are now covered with the sod, or filled with earth and carbonaceous matter, which gives this portion of them the aspect of ancient trenches. D. denotes a small mound or barrow. E. F., a brook, dry at midsummer. B. the site of an abandoned saw-mill, at the head of an ancient lake inlet or gorge. The arrow head denotes the site of habitations, which are marked by remains of pottery, pipes, and other evidences of the ancient, rude arts of the occupants. The parallel dots at B. mark the road, which, at this point, crosses the head of the gorge. Trees, of mature growth, occupy some portions of the brink of the precipice, extending densely eastward, and obscure the view, which would otherwise be commanding, and fully justify the original name. Directly in front, looking north, at the distance of seven or eight miles, extends the waters of Lake Ontario, at a level of several hundred feet below. The intermediate space, stretching away as far as the eye can trace it, east and west, is one of the richest tracts of wheat land in the State, cultivated in the best manner, and settled compactly, farm to farm. Yet such to the eye is the effect of the reserved woodlands on each farm, seen at this particular elevation, that the entire area, to the lake shore, has the appearance of a rich, unbroken forest, whose green foliage contrasts finely with the silvery whiteness of the lake beyond. It requires the observer, however, at this time, to ascend the crown of the ridge, to realize this view in all its beauty and magnificence.

[_h._] Site of an ancient battle-field, with vestiges of an entrenchment and fortification on the banks of the Deoseowa, or Buffalo creek.

The following sketch conveys an idea of the relative position of the several objects alluded to. Taken together they constitute the distinguishing feature in the archæology of the existing Indian cemetery, mission station, and council-house on the Seneca reservation, five or six miles south of the city of Buffalo. As such, the site is one of much interest, and well worthy of further observation and study. The time and means devoted to it, in the preparation of this outline, were less than would be desirable, yet they were made use of, under favorable circumstances, as the current periodical business and deliberations of the tribe brought together a large part of them, including the chief persons of education and intelligence, as well as many aged persons who are regarded as the depositories of their traditions and lore.

Tradition, in which all concur, points out this spot as the scene of the last and decisive battle fought between the Senecas and their fierce and inveterate enemies the KAH-KWAHS, a people who are generally but erroneously supposed to be the same as the Eries.[68] It is not proposed in this place, to consider the evidences on this point, or to denote the origin and events of this war. It is mainly alluded to as a historical incident connected with the site. It is a site around which the Senecas have clung, as if it marked an era in their national history; although the work itself was clearly erected by their enemies. It has been the seat of their government or council fire, from an early period of our acquaintance with them. It was here that Red Jacket uttered some of his most eloquent harangues against the steady encroachments of the white race, and in favor of retaining this cherished portion of their lands, and transmitting them with full title to their descendants. It was here that the noted captive, Dehewamis, better known as Mary Jemison, came to live after a long life of most extraordinary vicissitudes. And it is here that the bones of the distinguished ORATOR, and the no less distinguished CAPTIVE, rest side by side, with a multitude of warriors, chiefs and sages. Nor can we, on natural principles of association, call in question the truthfulness or force of the strenuous objections, which, for so many years, the whole tribe has opposed to the general policy of its sale. But these events are now history; the tribe has come into arrangements to remove to reservations owned by their brethren, in more westerly parts of the State, and there will soon be no one left whose heart vibrates with the blood of a Seneca, to watch the venerated resting places of their dead.

[68] This is a French pronunciation of a Wyandot or Huron term. Vide Hennepin, Amsterdam, ed. 1698.

It was suitable, before the plough was put into these precincts, and the last trench and mound of the tribe were obliterated, that some memorial of the locality should be preserved, and I can only regret that the labor itself has not been better or more successfully accomplished.