Onondaga, Onondaga County, NY

A Gazetteer of the State of New-York, by Horatio Gates Spafford, LL.D., 1824, pp. 371-373

ONONDAGA,* a Post-Township, the capital of Onondaga County, 134 miles WNW. of Albany, 41 S. of Oswego, 50 W. of Utica; bounded N. by Salina, E. by Manlius and Pompey, S. by Otisco, W. by Marcellus and Camillus. It is 9 miles in extent, by 10. The surface has a rich and pleasing diversity, and the soil is of the very richest quality of clay loam, marley loam, and vegetable mold. A broad, exuberantly fertile valley, extends N. and S. through the eastern part, bounded by high, swelling ridges on each side, the tops of which rise rather above the level of the surrounding countries.  Through this vale of rich alluvion, called Onondaga Hollow, the Onondaga Creek flows northward to Onondaga lake, in the town of Salina, being the only considerable mill-stream, but well supplied with mill seats. Formerly, the travel westward, from Albany to Buffalo, was lamost wholly by the turnpike across this Township, over its hills and hollows, but latterly it is divided between this and a road thorugh Salina, more level, and nearer the Salt Works, which everybody has a curiousity to see, and the Erie Canal. See SALINA. Gypsum, and marie, and limestone, are found here in plenty, productions of the utmost importance to agriculture and the arts, and lately immense quarries of hydraulic lime, or water cement, have been opened in this town, about 2 miles NW. of the court house, now much used in the masonry of the canals, which, in time, will be employed in constructing cisterns, &c., and become an important article for exportation by the canal. Supposed iudications of mineral coal have been found, a grand desideratum, noticed under WOODSTOCK. But the present age must not expect to be much beenfited by coal found in that region, abounding as it is, already, in so much that is the gift of nature. A soft, dark colored slate-stone, found in the hills in the S. part of this town, imbedding iron pyrites, is a much better indicating of a warm, productive, kind soil, than of stone coal. Mud Pond, in the W., is about 1 mile long and 1/2 mile wide, and might easily be drained and converted into rich meadow land. The lands are held in fee simple, but many of the farms are still mortgaged to the State for the original purchase money. The inhabitants are sober and industrious, and manufacture the most of the common clothing in the household way. The whole population, 5552; free white males, 2800; free white females, 2642; slaves 23; free blacks, 83; persons engaged in agriculture, 804; in manufactures, 183; in commerce 12; foreigners not naturalized, 14; taxable property, $447040; school districts, 30, schools kept 9 months in 12; public monies received in 1821, $644.41; No. of children between 5 and 15, 1640; No. taught in the schools, 1663; electros, 1048; 20496 acres of improved land; 4959 cattle, 1113 horses, 13028 sheep; 39164 yards of cloth made in families; 6 grist mills, 10 saw mills, 3 fulling mills, 4 carding machines, 1 iron works, 7 distilleries, and 5 asheries. -

I can never speak or think of Onondaga, with adverting, in my mind, to its connection with the sons of the soil, the native tribes, ancient lords of that region. The Onondagas were unquestionably one of the most numerous and powerful of the Confederacy of the Six Nations, and they lived in and around, all that rich and favorite region, which became the heard and centre of Confederate power. This Confederacy called itself Aganuschioni, United People, and was called by the French the Iroquois, and by the English the Fix, or Six Nations. See INDIANS, POMPEY, TUSCARORA, &c. The Onondaga Castle, or the chief town of the remnant of the Onondaga in this State, is in the hollow, 3 miles S. of the Village of O. Hollow, described below, on a small reservation of theirs, and contains about 50 Indian houses, on a street near 1 mile in length, and about 150 souls, - 50 less than 10 years ago. Their houses are built of hewn logs, the spaces filled with masoned mortar-work, and are comfortable enough - quite comfortable enough for Indians, though they would not do for our 'Christian Missionaries,' at the Sandwich Islands, in S. Afrida, and 'the Lord knows where.' There are 2 considerable Villages in this town that remain to be described. The Post Borough of Onondaga, [or Village, incorporated by law,] the seat of the County buildings, is situated on the W. hill, before noticed, on a delightful eminence, and has the court-house and jail, 2 churches, a fire proof Clerk's office, and about 80 houses, stores, shops, &c. This borough is also called Onondaga Court House Village, and Onondaga West Hill Village, and in the Table of Post-Offices, 'Onondaga C. H.' a singular and awkward confusion of names, and is situated from Albany, 132 miles by the way of Cherry Valley, 149 by way of Utica, a little N. of west. Here is a printing office, which issues a weekly gazette. The houses are painted white, and make a beautiful appearance. The Post Village of Onondaga Hollow,** is situated in the vale before mentioned, about 1 mile E. of the court house, and has 70 houses, stores, &c., a church, an arsenal belonging to the State, an academy, a printing office, which issues a weekly newspaper, and a great many mechanical establishments. The inhabitants are principally mechanics, and at a small distances to the N. there is an air furnace. The first attempt at settlements in this town by Americans, was in 1786, when Ephraim Webster, the present interpreter, removed to Onondaga, by consent of the Indians. He also obtained their consent for Asa Danforth and Comfort Tyler, who removed hither in the spring of 1788, with their families. This was then a part of Whitestown, in the County of Montgomery. There is probably no part of the United States, who Indigenal History is of such importance, as that of Onondaga and the region thereabout. And, strange as it may seem, the early history of that region, which, of all others, is the most interesting in tracing the progress of improvement, and the progressive history of the Man of America, will only attract the attention it so imperiously demands, in the remote periods of future ages. Time, which is so rapidly destroying all the records of memory, increases their interest in perpetual progression! In anticipation of these facts, it were much to be wished, that in the present age, some person would collect all that yet remains of the history of Onondaga, with all that Indian tradition has preserved. The present numbers of the Onondagas, may be 500; - 150 of which are at Onondaga, 150 on Buffalo Creek, 100 on the Alleghany River, and 100 on the Ouse, or Grand River, of Upper Canada. They receive annually 2000 dollars from the State of New-York, being the interest of the sum for which they sold their share of the Military Lands, now the Counties of Onondaga, Cayuga, Seneca, Cortlandt, Tompkins, and a small part of Oswego. This half of this sum belongs to those in this Town.

E.W.C., J.M.A., J.H., E.W.

* Onondaga, is purely an Indian word, signifying a swamp under or at the foot of a hill or mountain.

** Onondaghara, a place between 2 hills. I wish the people at Onondaga Hollow would take a hint from this, and let their Village be 'Onondaghara,' and that on the hill, 'Onondaga,' the capital of the County of Onondaga. Sacandaga, is swamp, or marsh.

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14 June 1997

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