Three Rivers
Hudson~Mohawk~Schoharie
History From America's Most Famous Valleys

The Life and Adventures
of Nat Foster,
Trapper and Hunter of the Adirondacks
by A. L. Byron-Curtiss
Utica, N. Y.
Press of Thomas J. Griffiths,
131 Genesee Street, 1897

Chapter XIII

During the time intervening between the adventures with which the preceding chapter closes, and the tragedy narrated in the next, which is the closing event in the life of our her, there were mighty changes wrought at that section of the Adirondack wilderness, where they occurred.

I am greatly indebted to E. E. Snyder, Esq., of Herkimer, N. Y., for much of my knowledge of the history of the tract where the closing tragedy of Foster's life occurred. Mr. Snyder recently prepared a paper on "Brown's Tract," which he read before the Historical Society of Herkimer County. He has given me the privilege, which I gladly avail myself of, of using his manuscript in my description of the development of the country where Foster hunted so many years; which development has such an important bearing on the closing scenes of his last days as a hunter and trapper.

In 1798, John Brown, a capitalist of Rhode Island, and a conspicuous patriot during the war of the Revolution, and afterwards a member of congress, came into possession of the region known so many years as "Brow's Tact." He got it through the foreclosure of a second mortgage he held on the territory. It embraced 210,000 acres about the head water of Moose River. It lay in the northern part of Herkimer, and the western part of Hamilton, and the eastern part of Lewis Counties, and included the Fulton Chain of lakes.

There lakes received their name from Robert Fulton, the inventor of the steamboat. He explored the region in 1811, to ascertain the practicability of adopting the lakes and streams there, into the canal system which was then being developed by the legislature of the State. Fulton was very enthusiastic over the beautiful chain, and probably made reference to it in his first report to the Canal Commission, of which he was a member. At all events, from this time the lakes have been known as "the Fulton Chain."

After the close of the War of the Revolution, a large part of the territory of Northern New York passed through the hands of speculators, who inaugurated a land boom, which must have been something like the western land booms of recent years. But one man it appears, made any money. That was William Constable, who bought 1,920,000 acres in 1792, and in the same year sole 1,280,000 acres, including what was afterwards Brown's Tract, to Samuel Ward of New York City, for one hundred thousand pounds. He doubled his money by the deal, and had 640,000 acres of his original purchase left. The ownership of this tract of 1,128,000 acres passed through several hands, until a part of it, what afterwards came into possession of Brown, was owned by Philip Livingston of New York City. A son-in-law of Brown's named Francis was responsible for the acquirement of the land by Brown, according to the statements of Mr. Snyder in his paper. He says:

"The story is told by the descendants of Brown's family, that a cargo of Indian merchandise had been landed and sold by Francis, who was an agent of Brown. Francis fell in with some land speculators, and yielding to the real estate boom then so universally prevalent, is said to have invested $50,000 of the money of John Brown in a second mortgage on Brown's Tract. This investment was from the start disapproved of by Brown, and was a source to him and his family of considerable loss.

"After Brown had acquired title to the land upon the foreclosure of the Livingston mortgage, he began to take measures to develop and settle the country. He first caused a survey of the land to be made by Arnold Smith, Elkanah French and John Allen. The 210,000 acres were subdivided into eight townships, which were numbered from one to eight consecutively, and also named. The names which Brown gave them are mottoes which are said to have been used by him in his business career. Township No. 1 was named Industry and was surveyed into 160 acre farms. Township No. 2 was named Enterprise and was surveyed into one-half mile squares. Township No. 3 was named Perseverance and was also surveyed into one-half mile squares. Township No. 4 was named Unanimity, Township No. 5 Frugality, Township No. 6 Sobriety, Township No. 7 Economy, Township No. 8 Regularity.

"After surveying the land Brown built a road through the forest from Remsen, Oneida county, to Township No. 7, upon his tract, a distance of about twenty-five miles. The road terminated near the south shore of the middle branch of Moose river in the center of the township, about two miles from the south boundary line of his tract, at which place he planned a settlement. The building of this road for a single individual must have been a great undertaking * * Brown's aim was to make permanent settlements on the tract and to convert the wilderness into farms. A mill dam was built across the mouth of the middle of the Moose river, than called Mill creek, on the site of the present dam at Old Forge, for the purpose of obtaining power to run the sawmill and grist mill. The saw mill which he built is said to have been located in about the same place as the present sawmill at Old Forge. His grist mill is said to have been erected on the opposite side of the river, a little lower down the stream."

After the dam was built it was three months, it is said, before the water flowed over it, and a search was made supposing the water had found another outlet.

"Personally, Brown, so far as I can find," continues Mr. Snyder, "was only once upon the tract superintending its settlement. Its development was entrusted almost entirely to agents. Personally, Brown was a man of short stature and weighed in the neighborhood of three hundred pounds. He drove about in a specially constructed gig, built low so as to make it possible for him to get in and out. However, notwithstanding these physical defects, his descendants, I am informed, have recently discovered a letter showing that under all these personal disadvantages he made a visit to the tract.

"Brown did not long survive his attempted settlement; he died in 1803. How many settlers there were, and who they were and whence they came, is not known, so far as I have learned. The climate was cold and unfavorable for agricultural operations. The soil was poor, the location in the center of a large dreary forest, miles and miles away from any settlement. The tide of immigration was all towards the west, leaving this little community far to one side. Gradually the settler who he brought there left the place.

"By the will of John Brown the title to the larger part of Brown's Tract passed to his grandson, John Brown Francis, of Warwick, Rhode Island. Francis was at one time a Senator, representing his State in the United States Senate, and subsequently became its Governor.

Brown had another son-in-law named Charles F. Herreshoff, who became interested in the tract, through renewed attempts made by Francis to settle the tract after the war of 1812. He purchased a considerable part of Township No. 7, where he afterwards built the famous forge. He was a German by birth, and had a commanding appearance, being six feet tall, and very gentlemanly in his ways. It is also said that he was extremely proud and aristocratic, though this must be taken with consideration, for those from whom was received this verdict where the hardy settlers of the rural parts of the country who would not appreciate the retiring disposition and courteous bearing of a foreign gentleman. He was a finished scholar.

He went onto the tract in 1817 and spent the greater part of his time until his death, in the wilderness attempting to subdue and improve it. It is said that as he entered the forest for the first time he declared with an oath, that he would settle the tract or settle himself. Although less calculated than some men of smaller mental caliber to do the great work of settling a wilderness, still he accomplished considerable towards the fulfillment of his purpose. He repaired the mills Brown had erected, which had fallen into decay, and in the course of a few years had cleared up large tracts of his wild territory. Iron ore had been discovered during the old settlements, and ironworks were projected by Herreshoff. At the site of the mills he erected a forge for the smelting of ore, and opened several roads from there to the settlements he scattered about on the tract.

Herreshoff is said to have manufactured exactly a ton of iron at his famous forge. It was of the very best quality, and cost, it is said, one dollar a pound. Black sand found on the lake shore and separated by magnets, was principally used in making this ton of iron. He expected to find ore in abundance in the mountains, but only succeeded in locating a small vein in some tow hundred feet of rock, which he dug out at an enormous expense.

Mr. Snyder says of this attempt to obtain ore for smelting: "An iron mine was opened nearly opposite the site of the depot at Fulton Chain, and on the westerly side, where to this day is pointed out to the tourist a large hole in the rocks from which the ore was taken. Old drill marks are still to be seen about the mine at the entrance of which is a tree some eight inches in diameter, growing up among refuse thrown out of the mine; while at the bottom, fed by little veins of pure cold Adirondack water, is a well of some little depth. The place is spoken of as John Brown's well. * * * *

"There was no power near the mine to operate an iron works, or to reduce the roe, and Herreshoff accordingly built a mill, or forge, about one and a half miles away, near the dam across the middle branch of the Moose river, previously built by Brown, he father-in-law. His forge is said to have been located just below the grist mill, Heavy machinery was taken through the woods and set up here in the heart of the forest. Considerable preparation was made for manufacture of iron. A nail shop was started.

"Coal was, of course, necessary for the reduction of iron ore, and for this purpose charcoal was manufactured. * * * * * *

"Herreshoff built for himself what must have been in those days and for that place, a fine house, made of timber and boards sawed at the old mill built by his father-in-law. The house was located nearly opposite the site of the railway depot at Fulton chain, and on the westerly side, and subsequently became known as the Arnold house. It was standing until about a year ago (1895), in a dilapidated condition, when it was destroyed by fire. Herreshoff also built a large barn a short distance from his dwelling, on the top of which was a cupola in which a bell was placed for the purpose of summoning the men to their meals.

"Herreshoff struggled heroically," says Mr. Snyder, "against great odds. He planned for the conversion of the forest into farms and at the same time for the development of iron mines and iron works. The conditions for settling the country were, of course, just as unfavorable with Herreshoff as with Brown. The settlers whom he brought upon the tract became discontented; poor soil, severe climate and isolation in the midst of a great forest, was more than Herreshoff could successfully contend with. Then he became indebted considerably to his miners and iron workers. The fund which he brought with him became exhausted. Drafts which he drew upon his family in Providence were returned and he was confronted with ruin."

I have learned from an old resident of the tract, that at about this time he began to brood much over his troubles, and was really suspected of losing his mind by his employees, and they rather expected that he would make away with himself. One day he ordered some of his men to the senseless task of filling up the great hold that had been dug in search of iron. They set about the work and continued it until Herresfoff went down into the pit and then ordered them to continue throwing in the rocks, logs and brush they were using to fill it with, when they decided he wished to commit suicide, and laid off from work that day.

Herreshoff is described by Simms as a good feeling man in spite of his reserved ways and dignified bearing. "On one occasion," he says, "Herreshoff went with some of his men in a boat to the head of Fourth Lake, to select some pine timer. Passing one of the islands of the lake, he desired to be set ashore on a bluff extending some distance into the lake.

"He was a great smoker, and having lit his pipe, he concluded to increase the fumigation by also lighting the grass and dry brush on the bluff about him. A few minutes only sufficed, with the breeze blowing, to spread the flames over the entire bluff. The wind drove the heat towards him, and calling for the boat to come to him, he gained the extreme point of land in hope of escaping the fire. Before the boat could get to him, however, the flames drove him out onto a tree which extended horizontally over the water.

"The craft seemed to him to move at a snail's pace, as the heat and smoke--of which latter commodity he for once had enough,--became more insufferable. He held on to his footing until he saw a sheet of flame coming along the trunk of the tree, and directly into his face, when he sprang off into the water, among the trout. He did not glide as noiselessly as they in that element, however, but floundered about like a porpoise, and for once, if we mistake not, quit smoking with tobacco still in his pipe; he was rescued by his employees, half drowned and half frozen, as he took the unexpected bath in September, and shivered for hours to pay for it."

The end came, however, in a short time; winter was upon him, and the great, ambitious man was no doubt keenly sensible of his utter helplessness. Cast down and burdened with despair, on the morning of the 19th of December, 1819, he went out to the northeastern corner of his house and sent a pistol ball crashing through his brain. A young woman named Hannah Merry, an employee of the house, was outside and looking up saw her employer fall to the ground. The report of the firearm brought other of his servants and attendants from the house, and David Sweet and Seth Lathrop, hired men, carried him into the house, where he soon expired.

"Such," says Simms, "was the melancholy and tragic fate of one of the most enterprising men that ever entered the wild lands of New York to subdue them."

The body of Herreshoff was carried to Russia Corners, a distance of fifty miles, where an inquest was held, after which the remains were taken to Boonville and interred in the village burying ground. When the present cemetery of the town was laid out, his body was taken up with other in the old burial plot and interred in the new one, where it is now, marked by an old fashioned slab of marble which his relations caused to be erected at his grave a few years after his death. It bears the simple inscription of "Charles Frederick Herreshoff, Obiit Dec. 19th, 1819, Aetat 50."

With the death of Herreshoff his settlements became tenantless, and remained so with exceptions of two or three renewed attempts made from time to time by different families to live on some of the clearings. But they were generally deserted, being only visited by hunters who camped in the deserted dwellings. Those clearings about the foot of the chain were the ones occupied by tenants longest. Otis Arnold was the last one to occupy the old Herreshoff house and farm it for a living. He rented the place soon after Foster got into trouble by shooting the Indian at Indian Point in 1833, and remained there many years. He grew large crops of oats, and threshing them in the fall, would draw the grain to market in the winter' about the only time loads could be taken over the road, which had fallen into decay.

Of this period of the history of the tract Mr. Snyder says: "Many accounts are to be met with our visits to Arnold's, during this period, all of which are entertaining. In the autumn of 1855, the Honorable Amelia M. Murray, main of honor to Queen Victoria, went over the lake belt of the wilderness with Governor Seymour, the Governor's nieces and other friends. On their way out they stopped at Arnold's, and the story of the diary of Lady Amelia is in these words: 'Mr. Seymour remained to make arrangements with the guide, while his niece and I walked on to Arnold's farm; there we found Mrs. Arnold and six daughters. These girls, aged from twelve to twenty, were placed in a row against the wall of the shanty, with looks so expressive of astonishment, that I felt puzzled to account for their manner, until their mother informed us that they had never before seen another woman than herself. I could not elicit a word from them, but at last when I begged for a little milk, the eldest went and brought me a glass. I then remembered that we had met a single hunter, rowing on Moose river, who called out, 'Where on earth did them women come from.'"

"Another tourist, Wallace, in his 'Babes in the Woods,' gives this account of a visit to Arnold's: "As we approached the house we passed through a yard where the daughters of the family were engaged in milking, with a little smoking fire beneath every cow. Here was a new feature. Such remarks as the following greeted the ears of the milkers: "If they are not smoking their beef with the skins on!" 'I have heard of building fires under balky horses, but I fail to see the necessity of serving cows that way.' 'Boys, can't you see,' said another, 'that this is done as a matter of domestic economy. The gradual and increased warmth acts upon the udder of the animal and through this upon the lacteal contents thereof, producing a sort of coagulation whereby the creamy globules are precipitated.' By this time we had begun to learn by experience that the smouldering fires were smudges to drive the punkies from the cows so that they might be milked in peace." "Here, perhaps, is another reason," says Mr. Snyder, "why the Brown and Herreshoff settlements proved disastrous. Unless they knew how to manage punkies, they certainly did a wise thing in moving away."

But let me return to the period when Foster occupied the house as a tenant. In May, 1830, the premises were leased by Caleb Lyons as agent of the Browns, to David an Solomon Maybee, for thirty dollars. Two years later, Feb., 1832, Foster who had traversed the regions as a hunter during all the vain attempts to settle it, purchased an assignment of the lease for ten dollars and moved his family there, that he might with greater convenience follow in his old age his favorite avocation of a wilderness trapper and hunter. He intended, no doubt, to spend the remainder of his days there among the mountains and lakes he loved, and to thread the forests in pursuit of noble game. But he was destined to spend but a few years there, however, and that, harassed and rendered unsafe by a lazy, but treacherous Indian, who made himself at home on the tract. It seems as if the Indians were to be forever his foes, and that even in his old age, he must administer some of his stern discipline to intrusive red men.

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