(The following was published in the March 2004 edition of "Fortress Niagara," the Newsletter-Journal of the Old Fort Niagara Association, editor Harry M. DeBan, pgs. 9-14. Permission to post it has been granted. To view the entire journal on line go to http://www.history.rochester.edu/canal/bib/campbell/Chap06.html. ) DE WITT CLINTON. HIS PRIVATE CANAL JOURNAL - 1810. [August 1810] [July 31st, 1810] .... Three miles from Lewiston we passed through a village of Tuscarora Indians, containing 300 souls. Their territory consists of three miles square - one given them by the Senecas, two by the Holland Company. They follow agriculture and keep a number of hogs and neat cattle. They also plant corn and cultivate wheat, which looks poor. I saw a chief with a cross on his back. When Jackson [*] was at Queenstown, they were sent for to play ball for his amusement. They frequently visit the British and receive presents. [*editor's note: Francis James Jackson, Minister Plenipotentiary, to the United States (1809-1810) of His Britannic Majesty King George 111. Jackson was a despised figure in Washington, and he moved his "diplomatic family" from there to New York City for a period, in protest of his treatment. After a particularly angry-toned letter to President Madison, Madison finally refused to receive any further correspondence from him, in effect, declaring J! ackson "persona non grata," and thus ended the ambassadorship of Jackson to the US. During the Summer of 1810, before be returned to England, Jackson toured-out to "Niagara," and Clinton makes mention of him several times in his journal. Jackson was also known in many American and foreign circles as "Copenhagen Jackson "for the role he played in the destruction of the Danish city by British naval and land forces in 1807.] We put up at a tavern kept in Lewiston, by T. Hurtler, an old sergeant in the army. The Surveyor General and I slept at Mr. Barton's, one of the house of Porter, Barton & Co., where we were kindly accommodated. Lewiston contains but a few houses. It is within the State reservation of a mile, on the east side of the Niagara reservation, and is laid out in a town by the State. The portage round the Falls commences here, and is eight miles on the American, and ten on the British side. The portage has been leased from the State by Porter, Barton & Co., and the principal article conveyed is salt; three yoke of oxen can carry twelve barrels of salt, and make one trip a day. There are twenty-two teams of various kinds employed in this portage. The distance from here to the Falls is seven miles; to the outlet of the river into Lake Ontario, seven and a half miles. A vessel will float this distance by the current in three hours. The whole length of Niagara river, or rather the distance from lake to lake, is thirty miles. There is a ferry between this place and Queenstown and the width of the river is one quarter of a mile. Mr. Barton is building an elegant stone house, on a commanding situation. At his house I saw a large horned owl, with the head like a cat, and with talons. He had committed great trespasses on the poultry, biting off their heads and sucking their blood; he was shot on the poultry-house.
vee, Thanks for this article, it is very interesting. My husband, being a Mr. Barton, wants to know if you know anything about Mr. Barton of Porter, Barton & Co? If you don't don't trouble yourself about it. I think he feels left out sometimes because I'm so wrapped up in the stuff here in the house which is, of course, all MY family stuff. Ruth At 4:53 PM -0500 3/13/04, Vee L. Housman wrote: >We put up at a tavern kept in Lewiston, by T. Hurtler, an old sergeant in >the army. The Surveyor General and I slept at Mr. Barton's, one of the >house of Porter, Barton & Co., where we were kindly accommodated. -- Ruth Barton [email protected] Dummerston, VT