New-York tribune., 1894-10-14

70 see ono OF tn" early propretors who might
help hin. He found the man under arrest and on
the Washinston jail limits. He thought ne could
phla. So Mr. Beers ~ night put him In carriage.
was found. and got the finder back In the ja!l
limits without his absence having ben discovered.
erasp.nS rrnntor OF the IceI got nothing
Philadelphia vas far more closely connected with
did Robert Norris I've there but the agent of the
Holland Land Company had office there ana
agents were Philadelphia men. The connection
with philadelphia was SO strongly impressed on
wiliInk and Jan Willlnk and their Two sont OH
,snGd The Tige TO choo,s o Gcr"s anywhrre In
cnt AlIegany county. about the least valniaslo
was nearest to Philadelphia"
These Dutchmen put Theophlus Cazenove in
Philadelphia agent. and afterward sent over
Paul Busii. native OF Milan. who managed their
AFFAIRS for many years. Mr.. Iiust selected Joseph
where the land was To do this he Invented a
ors compass varied 80 that II was useless Ia run
ment which he had made I'm Philadelphia II was
modelled the transit instrument us,d 10y astrono
mers. and contained telescope which enabled the
surveyor 10 follow straight Inc accurately when
The base had been laid m for short distance.
With this MIR Ellicott wen, to the Pennsylvania
line and. measuring along II TIL hc found the south
corner OF the Purchase. he started north. II
was trouble enough 10 hnd out what north was In
a country with variations OF the compass
calcula ted. nut II worse going straight IN that
direction with cornpass that varied differently.
and nobody knew how much. at every station.
Here the transit brought into service To
II IL was necessary to cut the forest ana make "A
clear path north by the compass and wide enough so
that ts variations would leave clear straight line
for the transit. This immense work done as
planned and To this day Tn" eastern boundary OF
the Holland Purchase is known as the Transit Line
Mr.. Elllcott In 1901 picked out site FOR land
Office on Tonawanda Creek ~ the junction Of the
State Road from Albany to Niagara and the Big
Tree Road which south toward GencseO. In
May Of that year he wrote to NJ. Bust OF his
selection OF a site at the bend Of the Tonewanta" "
and proposed to call the settlement Buata or Bus
;ville Mr. Busu objected To- being thus immor-
talizcd. and tho place named Batavia out oc
settled and managed the Holland Company's affairs
for twenty-one years He came TO have great in
fluencc in tho region. and one of the promoters
OF the Erie Canal The new county of Gcneaee was
set of from Ontario which had TIL then included
all OF Western Ncw-York. with tho county seat at
Canandaigua. Batavia was made the county town
OF the county, and n courthouse erected
in 1907. 1t has long been known Elcott Hail
and after having been used as courthouse. jail
land office. fire insurance Office and skating rink
Is n storchOuse for second hand furniture.
used by the Iiolland Land Company until lS}9
when. the land being all disposed Of, the company
went out OF existence. Since then the building
has been put to vnrious uses. until now II has
been rescued from decay and as Il historical mu-
viii stand monument To recall Robert
Morris. Joseph Eilicott. the pioneers on the Hol-
land Purchase. and the ignorance which led 10
such strange complications as one State owning the
land OF another