The sun. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1833-1916, 1903-06-14
POTSDAM Is A CENTURY OLD.
EARLY DAYS IN ST. LAWRENCE
COUNTY RECALLED.
The Event to he Celebrated This Month
-Interesting Things About the Settle.
ment OF the North Country - Some
Early MagnatcS--A SOctalistic Failure.

ment OF the North Country - Some
Early Masnates.-A SoctaIistic Failure.
The centennial celebration Of Potsdam.
ST. Lawrence county, to occur on June 10
and II, Ia a matter Of interest to all old
st. Lawrence county people in New York
and to a good many others. The history
Of the town is closely interviewer with
that of New York State. Many Of its sons
have become prominent after going out
into the world. and there are many ro-
mantle episodes in it's annals.
The first white man known to have set
foot on the site Of the Town was one Gordon
Smith, who was sent up the Raquette River
by Ben iamin Wright Of Rome, who was at
ST. Regis in charge Of a surveying party.
He reached the site of Potsdam in June.
l7ea and here. in the untraversed wilder
ness. discovered tuft of timothy grass.
evidently the product Of single seed
dropped by some bird. He hailed the
familiar object as a proof that the region
would become what il afterward did, a
great grazing country.
St. Lawrence county was the scene OF
some big land deals in the early days. In
1885 the State Of New York created Land
Commission to further the settlement Of
this region. then unexpored. Ten towns
were established, of which Potsdam was
ore. All of them retain their original
names except Chambray and Hague which
have since been changed to Gouverneur
and Morristown.
| 1t was advertised that the ten towns
would be sold July 10, 1887, at XI. o'clock
| In the forenoon. at the Coffee house in the
city Of New York. One lot was to be
| retained in each town as a school and
gospel" lot and one for the promotion of
| literature" the rents and profits to be APP
| piled to churches and schools as the people
assembled in their town meetings might
direct" But much as they loved their
churches the pioneers Of the North Country
never appropriated dollar Of public money
| for their support.
| Philip Schuyler got $4,000 acres OF this
land Jeremiah Van Rensselaer, bought
the town of Massena. Gouverneur Morris
was a heavy holder OF land in the vicinity
| Of Norfolk and elsewhere. Alexander
McComb. Detroit fur trader, very well
known in the financial world Of that day
got most Of the county. So much did he
get. and at so very reasonable price
| 10 cents an acre-that there was a great
scandal and talk Of in,peaching the COM
| mission.
There was a life of leisure In the North
Country even in very early days. David
Paris lived the life of a country gentleman
in Ogdensburg before Commodore Wander.
hi|t ran ferryboat. He built roads and
drove over them at a furious pace. with
coach and four and relays every fifteen
! miles. His fine old house, surrounded by
great brick wall overgrown BY rot es
' ,~-l,a l,- ,,,l
and which furnished the scene for Irving
Bachelors story. THE Master Of Silence. =
is still standing in Ogdeps burg
Early in the last century Garrett Van
Horn and David NJ. Clarkson purchas ed
the town OF Potcdam, and in June, 1903.
their agent benjamin Raymond arrived
there to sell the land. Ee had left Rome
in May, with a bateau loaded with milling
machinery, provisions and twelve mon.
He went by way Of the Oswego River,
Lake Ontario and the St. Lawrence to Port
Iroquois. just above Wadddington. Here
he left his boat and cut his way through the
unbroken forest to Potsdam. having tpent
. month on the trip. The first white woman
| the wife Of Ebenezcr Patter on, entered
the town that summer.
| From that time on aettlers came, almost
all from Vermont They were nearly all
farmers, but from the first milling was an
important bus mess.
The first thing Benjamin Raymond did
was to build sawmill. and there have been
| sawmills at Potsd8m ever since The
pretty Raque'te. in Whose name the French
succinctly embodied the sense Of the Indian
name. Nihanawate or noisy river, has
furnished the abundant water power WIKI h
has made Potsdam n centre Of the lumber
indus try.
For century Potf dam has been cutting
logs in the Adirondack wilderness ard
floating them down 70 the Pot dam rni),r,
On" company alone put in 81 .ocO 600 fee, Ct
log stock last winter. and had 900 mon
living at tho lumber amp on its 5000 az res
OF Adirondack fnre'.
The woods srmeate the life OF tho place