Transportation in the New West dollars each. For five-acre out-lots the price ranged from thirty-three to sixty-nine dollars. Fifty-five dollars were paid at Franklin for an inlot at the mouth of the French Creek, and from fifteen to fifty-nine dollars for in-lots at Waterford, which, at this time, promised to be at the head of navigation in this part of the Ohio Valley. A portage to Erie, fifteen miles to the north, would make the great lakes and the Ohio a commercial highway. Washington had a similar dream of uniting them by a canal from Chautauqua Lake to Lake Erie. The company originated at Harrisburg, and rated its shares at fifty dollars each. Profits were expected from sales of lands incident to immigration, also from a grist-mill which the company proceeded to erect at Erie. Milling supplies were hauled by wagon from Harrisburg. The road was fairly passable as far as Pittsburgh, but from that point to Erie was for long distances scarcely more than a bridle-path. In summer, at low-water, much of the journey could be made over the bed of the French Creek. The journey from Harrisburg consumed nearly four months. Three other "population companies" were speculating at this time in Pennsylvania lands; Aaron Burr, with others, had devised the Pennsylvania Company, received a charter from the Legislature in 1793, and purchased land-warrants covering nearly the entire Triangle. To encourage immigration, this company offered to give one hundred acres to each of the twenty families that should first settle on Lake Erie territory." The settler was to clear ten acres, erect a comfortable dwellinghouse, and live in it two years-" unless driven off by Indians." The time during which the Indians might drive him into involuntary exile was not to be counted against him, and his heirs were privileged to continue his claim. Two streams of population were at this time converging at Erie-one from Pennsylvania, Dauphin County, chiefly; the other from New England, and, principally, Connecticut and Eastern New York. The Pennsylvania stream was reinforced in Alleghany and Westmoreland counties, and consisted chiefly of people of Scotch-Irish stock. The New England migration was of English stock. Nearly all were farmers, and, as was often the case, neglected, or were unable to secure, good land-titles. Some held from one company, some from another; some from individuals; and many had title only by possession. The first crop was, therefore, one of lawsuits. A test case at last reached the Supreme Court, and John Marshall sustained the claims of the Holland Land Company.* In consequence, many pioneers were forced to pay for their land again or lose it. Some preferred to abandon their claim and take up cheap government land in Ohio. Others, at great sacrifice, paid the second time. They "went sailing on the lakes"; they made pearlash; they *See Huidekoper's Lessee vs. Douglass, 3 Cranch, pp. 3-73; the case gives much information regarding the condition of the Chautauqua country from 1792 to 1800. Unsettled Condition in the Chautauqua Country raised a few "extra head" of cattle; they hired out their labor. The evil reputation which the Triangle got among immigrants from the East, on their way to the Ohio country, helped some Pennsylvania farmers who were struggling to pay again. Farm - houses were converted into temporary inns, and, by entertainment of man and beast, the owners gathered a little silver money. Similar were the difficulties in Western New York; but for these the settlers themselves were chiefly to blame. Many relied on mere possession to give title. Some claimed under bargains with the Indians. Some had bought of the Holland Company and defaulted payment. News, more or less exaggerated, of cheap lands in the West kept the Chautauqua country in unrest, and was made an excuse for unsettled payments. Not until 1835 were the disputes ended-when William H. Seward, then a young lawyer from Albany, appeared at Westfield as the agent of the Holland Company.t By judicious compromises he secured title for the farmers, quieted the angry spirit of the region, and by his integrity and administrative skill laid the foundation of his popularity in Western New York. His pacific settlement of the land troubles contributed largely to his election as Governor of * My knowledge of early life along the Lake Shore from Buffalo to Cleveland has been principally derived from information contained in the letters of early settlers, from conversations with many of them, from the Forster manuscripts, and from early newspapers, especially the Buffalo Gazette. + His land-office, a low, one-story brick building, was standing in 1885. the State in the following year. It was this election that opened the way to a national career. In 1799 the Northwest was erected into a revenue district, with Presque Isle as the port of entry. Adams appointed Thomas Forster collector, and he held the office for thirty-eight years-the longest service of the kind in our history. The first entry was an open boat, called the Schenectady, with a cargo valued at $811.85. Its invoice shows the demands of the country in 1801.* There were muslins, and cotton shawls at $3.75 apiece; green cloth and blue at $3 a yard; elastic stripe at $1.25; spotted kerseymere of American manufacture at $1.40 per yard; men's stockings at $1 a pair; worsted caps for men and women at 25 cents each; watch-chains at 34 cents, and watch-keys at 15 cents; two dozen crooked combs at $1 each; penknives at $1.50; tin snuff-boxes at 5 cents; glass pendalls at 34 cents; bridle-bits at 54 cents; golosh shoes at $2.25; almanacs; pistols at $7; weaving-reeds; and needles at $2 a thousand. The Prince brought puncheons of spirits, bags of cocoa, and hogsheads of molasses; the Neptune, chests of hyson; the Tulip, silk shoes and china-ware; the Dauphin, claret, spermaceti candles, cases of jewelry and plated ware, and bandana handkerchiefs; the Wilkinson, bound for Detroit, carried cannon, shot, wine, muster - rolls, candles, and carriages. But the goods entered at the port were a small part of the merchandise imported * Custom-house records, Erie, Pennsylvania. |