# Historic Highways of America/Volume 7/Part 2/Chapter 3

CHAPTER III
NEW YORK PORTAGES
THE strategic value of the "Great Pass" from New York by way of the Hudson, Lakes George and Champlain, and the Richelieu River has already been emphasized. The important military points on the route were the portages from the Hudson to Lake George, from Lake George to Lake Champlain, the narrows at Crown Point, and the portage from Chambly to La Prairie on the St. Lawrence. These portages are marked on numerous early maps; the Hudson–Lake George portage is quite accurately drawn on Colonel Romer's Map of 1700.From that year on throughout the century the greater accuracy with which it is mapped illustrates its growing importance.
One of the most interesting early descriptions of this famous pass is given on a ​"Map of part of New York, comprehending the country between New York and Quebec, the river Connecticut, &c., to shew 'the way from Albany to Canada . . part by land and part by water;' drawn about 1720." The route is thus described:
Another itinerary is given in a "Sketch of the Indian Country on the north of New York" presented "to the board by Maj$^r$. gov$^r$. Winthrop:
​"The Several Distances from Albany to Cubeck
Perhaps the most detailed description of the Pass is given by a former prisoner among the French who has written the following observations on a copy of a "French Draught of Lake Champlain & Lake George." The text shows that the date of the observations is about 1756:
"From Fort Edward to Fort William Henry, on Lake George fifteen Miles good Road. This Lake is thirty Six Miles Long, ​and in the Widest part not quite three, all very good Navigation But for two miles at the farther End Becomes a Narrow Winding Creek, Very Mountainous on Each Side particularly the East, the Landing place is within three Miles of Ticonderoga, where the Lake Begins to Discharge itself into Champlain over Several Little Falls which Interupt the Navigation for a mile & half, where every thing is Carried over Land for that Distance, on the Eastern Side, to a Saw Mill the French have there, from the Mill to Ticonderoga is a mile & ahalf more, water carriage only dry a very narrow Creek Overlook'd by Steep Mountains on each Side, this is the only Communication their is from Lake George to Ticonderogo for Artillery, and heavy Baggage and is altogither one of the most Difficult and most Dangerous Passes in North America.
"French Draught of Lake Champlain & Lake George with Remarks of an English prisoner who Return'd from Quebec to Fort Edward, by the River S$^t$. Lawrence River Sorrelle & these Lakes touch'd at Fort Chamblay Fort S$^t$. Johns Crown point & Ticonderoga.
​"This Draught is pretty Correct from Crown point towards Canada But from Crown point to Fort Edward is not so Exact. however their are no Capital Errors to Mislead an Army or Party going that way the whole Being Sufficient to give a good Idea of those important Waters.
"Distances in these Remarks are from the River S$^t$ Lawrence to Fort William Henry taken from French Authoritys, But from Ticonderogo to Fort Edward by way of wood Creek from the English.
"From Fort Edward to wood Creek where it Becomes Navigable for Batteaux, Eleven Miles, from thence to wood Creek Falls twenty eight miles, from these Falls to Ticonderogo thirty miles uninterrupted Navigation. A few miles Beyond the Falls is a Branch of wood Creek Call'd South Bay, a noted Rendevous for the Enemys Scalping parties from Ticonderogo. It was from this place that General Dieskeau march'd when he Attack'd General Johnston's Entrenchment on Lake George, it is twenty five miles Distance from Fort Edward & Sixteen from Fort William Henry.
​"Ticonderogo by the French call'd Carrillon is Distance from Fort Edward by way of Lake George fifty four miles, stands upon that part of Champlain Call'd by the English wood Creek on the western side it is a small Square wooden Fort Advantageously Situate & Regularly built, has two Ravelins, one to the Land, the other, to the water, which with the Ditch are still Unfinish'd Because of the Rockyness of the Ground, the Garrison Usually Consists of Four Hundred men & Fort will Contain no more.
"From Ticonderogo to Fort S$^t$. Frederick or Crown point Fifteen miles, good Navigation some Islands & the Creek not above a mile wide, but the Strait at the point is about three hundred & fifty yards.
"Fort St Frederick is a place of no Strength being Commanded by several rising Grounds, is Built of Stone very ruinous & irregular, and however its appearance may be upon paper is by no means Tenable once an army gets before it. their are several houses on the outside but it cannot contain so many men within the walls as Ticonderogo.
"From Crown Point to Fort St Johns is ​one hundred and five [?] miles all Navigable as from wood Creek Falls, for vessels, the French have two upon the Lake of Sixty Tons each, but their is water for much Larger a good many very fine Islands very safe Navigation good Anchoring & Shelter every where against all Winds the Lake is very unequal in its breadth but its greatest is seven miles. it abounds with Creeks & Bays particularly on the East side which give admission to the New England Colonies as wood Creek & Lake George Do to New York. Notwithstanding the French Plantations with the names of their owners mark'd out in the Draught there is not a Single Inhabitant between St Johns & Ticonderoga from under the Cannon of their Forts a few Straggling houses indeed there are, which have been deserted since the war.
"Fort St John is built of Pallisados only & two wooden Blockhouses in the Angles next the water has a few Swivels & is of no use but against small arms for which it was Originally Design'd. From Fort St Johns to La Prarie on the South Bank of St Lawrence River is fifteen miles Land ​Carriage Only over a Level Country Partly Settled from La Prarie to the Town & Island of Montreall is Three miles.
"From Fort S$^t$. Johns Down Sorrell River to Chamblay there is no Navigation for vessels & a mile from the Fort they are Obliged to Lighten their Batteaux for a hundred yards in Dry Seasons but from that to S$^t$. Etreze [Threse?] half way betwixt both Forts Six miles from Each is good Batteau Navigation & a fine Landing place on the west side covered by an Island. here Commence the French Settlements & here is a Magazine for Supplying the Forts on Lake Champlain.
"From S$^t$. Etraze to Chamblay Fort the River is very rocky & rapid and not Navigable But for Light Batteaux when the waters are high so that they most Commonly Carry for that Distance by Land. from Chamblay to La prarie Opposite to Montreall is twelve miles good Road in Dry Seasons & a fine Level Country. Chamblay is a stone Fort built above Sixty years ago & is not Tenable against Cannon. a Little below the fort, Sorrell River forms a Beautiful Bason Continues so till it empties itself into ​the great River St Lawrence at Sorrell Village forty five miles below Montreall & one hundred & thirty five above Quibec.
"There are no Indians upon Lake Champlain except a small tribe of the Abnacques consisting of twenty families who Live at the Bottom of Massisque Bay, neither does it abound with Bever or such other Commoditys as Constitute the Indian Commerce therefore it has been formerly too much Neglected & represented as an Aquisition of Less Value than more Distance Lakes & Rivers which would Never have been thought of had it not been for the riches they produced, But this Lake is Nevertheless by far the most important Inland water in North America, Because it is the key of the Enemys Country, a Canal leading from New England, & New York, to the very Bowels of Canada, to Montreall in particular, the Seat of all their Indian trade & warlike preparations & which with the country round it is the most fertile part of all that province.
"Crown point Commands the whole Lake as it is the only Strait there is upon it, that can in the Least Among Vessels or ​boats in passing, till Arrived within a few miles of the French Settlements, therefore the English when in possession of that pass can land an Army openly or partys Secretly, in many Different places within a few hours march of the French Inhabitants, by which means they will have it in their power not only to Invade in time of War, but make reprisalls upon any other Occasion whenever they receive the Least Injury from French or Indians in any part of his Majestys Dominions In North America.
"Lake Champlain (besides being the only Channel by which the English can possibly invade Canada from their frontiers) is the only one by which they can be Invaded from thence, for through the whole Extent of the South Bank of S$^t$. Lawrence River, or the great Lakes there is not another Communication by which an Army can be brought Sufficient to make any Conquest."
The forts which guarded this historic route have been mentioned, and it is possible here only to hint of the remarkable story of the ebb and flow of the war tides which have made the "Grand Pass" perhaps the most alluring field of study in America. Under the specific title "Saratoga and the Northern War-path" an entertaining writer has sketched the place in history occupied by this water thoroughfare and its vital land connections. The story beginning far back in the seventeenth century includes De Tracy's expedition to ​the Mohawk country in 1666; between 1686 and 1695 "numerous war parties passed through Kay-ad-ros-se-ra and Saratoga on their way to and from the hostile settlements on the St. Lawrence and the Mohawk and lower Hudson." A list of the important expeditions only would include those of 1689; 1690, under Le Moyne upon Schenectady; 1690, under General Winthrop; 1691, under Major Schuyler; and 1693–95. From this time peace reigned until Queen Anne's War in 1709. This year witnessed Winthrop's and Nicholson's campaigns; in 1711 Nicholson again swept up the Hudson on his way toward Quebec, but was compelled to abandon his plan. From 1713 until 1744 there were thirty-one years of peace—during which time the French built Forts Crown Point and Ticonderoga on Lake Champlain. In 1744 the war was again resumed; "during this short war no less than twenty-seven marauding parties swept down from Fort Frederick at Crown Point upon the settlers of what are now Saratoga and Rensselaer counties." On June 17, 1747, in the night, the new English Fort Clinton at Saratoga was ​attacked by La Corne. In the following year it was destroyed by the English because of its exposed situation, and Albany once more became the most northern outpost. The peace signed in 1748 lasted until the outbreak of the final struggle in 1755. Then followed Johnson's, Winslow's, and Abercrombie's campaigns up the Hudson against Ticonderoga, and Montcalm's swoop upon Fort William Henry.
In 1777 the "Northern War Path" became again the route of armies—and here the decisive battle of Saratoga was fought and won. Of this campaign mention will be made again.
The western war-route to the Lakes was up the Mohawk and down the Onondaga (Oswego) Rivers. Albany and Oswego were its termini; and the Oneida carrying-place of one mile (in favorable seasons) between the Mohawk River and Wood Creek, at Rome, New York, was its key. This famous route is interestingly described by Mr. Sylvester as follows:
"The first carrying place on the great western route was from the Hudson at ​Albany through the pine woods to the Mohawk at Schenectady. This carrying place avoided the Ga-ha-oose Falls. At the terminus of the old Indian carrying place on the Hudson, now called Albany, the Dutch, under Hendrick Christiensen, in 1614, built Fort Nassau on Castle Island. . . In 1617 they built another fort at the mouth of the Normanskill, at the old Indian Ta-wa-sent-ha—'the place of the many dead.' In 1623 Fort Orange was built by Adriaen Joris, and eighteen families built their bark huts and spent there the coming winter. . .
"In the year 1662 Arendt van Curler, and other inhabitants of Fort Orange, 'went west' across the old carry through the pines to the rich Mohawk flats and founded a settlement. To this settlement they applied the old Indian name of Albany, calling it Schenectady. From Albany it was the new settlement on the Mohawk beyond the pines. . .
"From Schenectady the western trail ran up the Mohawk to what is now the city of Rome, where there was another carry of a mile in length, to the Wood Creek which ​flows into Oneida Lake. This carrying place, afterward the site of Fort Stanwix, was called by the Indian Da-ya-hoo-wa-quat (Carrying-place). From it the old trail ran through the Oneida Lake, and down the Oswego River to Lake Ontario. At the mouth of the Oswego River, on Lake Ontario, was the old Indian village called Swa-geh, the lake-port of the Iroquois. . . Between Schenectady and Swa-geh was a line of forts built for the protection of the traveling fur-traders, and as barriers to French and Indian invasion from the valley of the St. Lawrence. The first of these was at the mouth of the Schohariekill, and was called Fort Hunter. It was built on the site of old Indian Te-hon-de-lo-ga, the lower castle of the Mohawks. Above Fort Hunter, near the Indian Ga-no-jo-hi-e—'washing the basin'—the middle Mohawk castle, was Fort Plain. The Indian name of Fonda was Ga-na-wa-da—meaning 'over the rapids.' Of Little Falls, it was Ta-la-que-ga—'small bushes,' and of Herkimer the Indian name was Te-uge-ga, the same as the river. At Herkimer was Hendrick's castle and Fort Herkimer, near Ga-ne-ga-ha-​ga, the upper Mohawk castle. . . The Indian name for Utica was Nun-da-da-sis—meaning 'around the hill.' At Utica, the Indian trail from the west crossed the river. . . A little above Utica was a small Indian station called Ole-hisk—'the place of nettles.' This is now Oriskony, one of the famous battle-grounds of the Revolution. . . At the mouth of Wood Creek, on the Oneida Lake, a Royal Blockhouse was built, and at the west end of Oneida Lake, in 1758, Fort Brewerton was built. The Indian name for Wood Creek was Ka-ne-go-dick; for Oneida Lake was Ga-no-a-lo-hole—'head on a pole.' For Syracuse the Indian name was Na-ta-dunk, meaning 'pine-tree broken with top hanging down,' and the Indian name of Fort Brewerton was Ga-do-quat."
The Oneida portage—as the carrying place between the Mohawk and Wood Creek is known in history—was guarded at its Mohawk terminus as early as 1732 by the erection of Fort Williams, and at the Wood Creek terminus as early as 1737 by Fort Bull. Throughout the century of conflict between French and English the Oneida ​portage route was of utmost importance. In the crucial years between 1755 and 1759 it was especially important. The route is thus described in a contemporaneous account:
"Oswego, along the accustomed route, is computed to be about 300 miles west from Albany. The first sixteen, to the village of Schenectady, is land carriage, in a good waggon road. From thence to the Little Falls in the Mohawk River, at sixty five miles distance, the battoes are set against a rapid stream; which too, in dry seasons, is so shallow, that the men are frequently obliged to turn out, and draw their craft over the rifts with inconceivable labour. At the Little Falls, the portage exceeds not a mile: the ground being marshy will admit of no wheel-carriage, and therefore the Germans who reside here, transport the battoes in sleds, which they keep for that purpose. The same conveyance is used at the Great Carrying-Place, sixty miles beyond the Little Falls; all the way to which the current is still adverse, and extremely swift. The portage here is longer or shorter, according to the dryness or wetness ​of the seasons. In the last summer months, when rains are not infrequent, it is usually six or eight miles across. Taking water again, we enter a narrow rivulet, called the Wood-creek, which leads into the Oneida Lake, distant forty miles. This stream, tho' favorable, being shallow, and its banks covered with thick woods, was at this time much obstructed with old logs and fallen trees. The Oneida Lake stretches from east to west about thirty miles, and in calm weather is passed with great facility. At its western extremity opens the Onondaga River, leading down to Oswego, situated at its entrance on the south side of the Lake Ontario. Extremely difficult and hazardous is the passage thro' this river, as it abounds with rifts and rocks; and the current flowing with surprising rapidity. The principal obstruction is twelve miles short of Oswego, and is a fall of about eleven feet perpendicular. The portage here is by land, not exceeding forty yards, before they launch for the last time."
The Old Oneida Portage in 1756 (Rome, New York)
(From the Original in the British Museum)
​site of Fort Williams in 1758 and Fort Wood Creek (on the site of Fort Bull) and Fort Newport were built about the same time or a little earlier. In the British Museum may be seen a colored "plan of the forts at the Onoida, or great carrying place, in the province of New York in America," built by Major-General Shirley, commander-in-chief in North America, and destroyed by Major-General Webb, August 31, 1756, before they were finished. This map must ever be of entrancing interest to the student who views it knowingly. The strategic nature of this little plot of ground was recognized, a century or so ago, by a continent—indeed by a world. In the Old French War there was not, perhaps, so important a spot on the continent as this, the path from the Hudson to Lake George alone excepted. And when it is recalled that the Oneida portage led to the West—to the Lakes and the Ohio Basin—the Oneida path, taken throughout the years, can but be considered of preëminent importance, commercially.
A visit to thriving little Rome and a study of the country roundabout will prove ​of appealing interest. Here, within cannon shot, stood half a dozen forts; here, in the very center of Rome is the wide straight roadway over which millions of pioneers moved to their conquest of the West; here is the junction of the Black River and the Erie Canal, which, "conceived by the genius, and achieved by the energy of De Witt Clinton, was, during the second quarter of this [nineteenth] century, the most potent influence of American progress and civilization." And, in its turn, here lie the gleaming rails of the New York Central—and the "Empire" has covered the canal boat with dust.
The conditions here make it almost possible to say, "All roads lead to Rome, New York." From one and the same point of observation it is possible to see the junction of the Erie and Black River Canals, the portage path from the Mohawk to Wood Creek, the New York Central Railway, and the terminus of the Utica and Mohawk Valley Electric Railway. Two canals, a highway, a railway, and an electric line converging within an air-rifle shot would not be found in a town of only a few thou​sand inhabitants were it not for some extraordinary geographical reason.
In the olden days the adage was very true indeed, though Rome was not the old-time name. It is deemed a pity that Stanwix could not have been preserved as the name of this historic site, but it is said the revulsion against everything English during and after the Revolution made the retention of that fine historic name impossible. During the Revolutionary War the name of Fort Stanwix was changed to Fort Schuyler; but that name, with all its heritage of nobility and patriotism, was not retained, and "Fort" Schuyler has been dropped to make room for "Fort" Stanwix, which is exceedingly contradictory. When the deluge of classical names passed over central New York—Utica, Manlius, Troy, Syracuse, Rochester, etc.—that of Rome was deposited here.
A square block in the center of Rome, higher than the surrounding land, is the site of Forts Stanwix and Schuyler. It is covered with dwellings on all sides, but at each of the corner bastions is planted a cannon bearing a bronze tablet reading: ​"A Fort which never surrendered. Defended August 1777 by Col. Peter Ganseboort & Lieut. Col. Marinus Willett. Here the Stars & Stripes were first unfurled in battle. Erected 1758."
The country about Rome is very level, the declension in any direction being slight; water from one field is said to flow into the Gulf of the St. Lawrence and into New York Bay. The explorer on the Oneida portage will find it difficult to identify the historic sites. The Erie canals have completely drained the country, and the last course is, in part, in the very bed of Wood Creek—the stream to which the portage from the Mohawk led. The nearest point to Wood Creek is distant about one mile from Rome; by the old route it was crossed again two miles further west. Of course the length of portage between the Mohawk and Wood Creek depended upon the stage of water in the latter. The portage for canoes was probably never more than the mile; in later days, when Fort Oswego was erected and supplies were sent thither by batteaux from Albany, a three and even six-mile portage ​was necessary in order to reach water that would float the heavy freight. At either end of the three-mile portage stood Fort Williams, on the Mohawk, and Fort Bull, on Wood Creek. The longer portage was, a little later, artificially shortened by damming the waters of Wood Creek. By the appended map it will be seen that in 1756 Fort Newport was being built at the end of the one-mile portage. The explorer of today will note in the western extremity of Rome the old basin of Wood Creek where the water was held back by dam and floodgate. The end of this basin, near where the road crosses Wood Creek, was the site of old Fort Newport. On the ruins of Fort Bull—which was destroyed in 1756 by a French raid from Canada—was erected Fort Wood Creek in 1758, distant, as the map shows, three miles from Fort Newport.
Fort Stanwix, New Fort, Fort Williams, Fort Newport, Fort Bull, and Fort Wood Creek were all erected within twenty-five years, and within three or four miles of each other. Nothing could suggest more plainly the strategic nature of this roadway on the backbone of New York. Of them ​all, the remains of Fort Wood Creek alone are visible, save the embankment of Fort Stanwix. Here, three miles out from Rome, where the old portage path used to run, beside the little creek now only a shadow of the oldtime stream, is the interesting star-shaped ruin of Fort Wood Creek, surrounded by a moat still five feet deep. The southern side, as the map shows, (K), was not fortified strongly like the others, as the water of the creek protected it. The dam and floodgate were just beyond the southwestern bastion and the old embankment of the dam can still be traced. The broad pond formed by the dammed water is clearly visible in outline; the present stream runs near the center of it. It was probably seldom in the olden days that the creek was not navigable here; the dam doubtless made it so, for a large part of the year, from Fort Newport downwards. Yet the narrative just quoted affirms that the portage was sometimes "six or eight miles across" in unusually dry seasons. This was certainly prior to the erection of the dams and floodgates, which "saved so much land carriage" according ​to the map. In dry seasons, the map assures us, the floodgates saved a portage of seven miles to Canada Creek. This is evidently the "six or eight miles" portage mentioned by the narrative.
The British campaign of 1777 was a spectacular event which covered the three great valleys which converge from the north, south, and west upon Albany. A bird's-eye view of this campaign emphasizes as it is almost impossible to do otherwise the strategic value of portage paths. From the north, Burgoyne comes up Lake Champlain and Lake George and across the portage to the Hudson, and starts down the valley; to meet him, General Clinton leaves New York and ascends the Hudson toward Albany. From Oswego St. Leger starts up the Onondaga (Oswego) River toward the Oneida carrying place and Albany—where the three armies are to form a union for the final overthrow of the revolution. St. Leger never got fairly over the Oneida portage; he could not carry Fort Schuyler which guarded it, and at Herkimer he was completely routed. Burgoyne crossed safely the portage to the Hudson, but had ​hardly done more when Gates was upon him and Saratoga was the early turning point of the war. To all intents and purposes the great campaign was utterly thwarted because the Americans successfully held the strategic keys of the continent—the Lake George–Hudson and the Oneida carrying places.
* ↑ Board of Trade Maps, case 11, no. 29.
* ↑ Crown Maps (British Museum), vol. cxxi, no. 11.
* ↑ Board of Trade Maps, case 11, no. 28.
* ↑ Crown Maps (British Museum), vol. cxxi, no. 16.
* ↑ Sylvester's Northern New York, ch. xxxiii.
* ↑ Northern New York, pp. 275–281.
* ↑ A Review of the Military Operations in North America (London, 1757), pp. 42–43.
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