shore; above this appears the Clinton group of limestones; the Niagara group forms the surface rock of the second terrace, and abounds in fossils; the Onondaga salt group appears as the surface rock of the third terrace, and contains as usual large quantities of gypsum, and numerous brine springs.

Bog iron ore is found in various parts of the county; copper, in minute quantities, has been discovered near Lockport; sulphate of strontian, calcareous spar, anhydrous sulphate of lime, selenite, pearl spar, and occasionally fluor spar, and sulphuret of zinc, are found at Lockport. Sulphur springs are numerous; some of them have considerable reputation. The brine springs are too weak to be of much practical value. There is also a chalybeate spring, and one emitting carburetted hydrogen gas, in sufficient quantity to maintain a steady flame. Shell marl is found in the swamps.

SOIL AND VEGETABLE PRODUCTIONS. The soil is highly fertile, yielding grains and grasses in abundance. Fruit is cultivated here in great perfection. The timber is mainly oak, beech, maple, tamarack, ash, &c.

PURSUITS. A majority of the inhabitants are engaged in agricultural pursuits. The culture of wheat and the other grains, occupies the attention of most of the farmers of the county. Butter and wool are also produced in considerable quantities.

The manufactures of the county are numerous, and constantly increasing in value and importance. Flour is manufactured in large quantities. Lumber, cotton and woollen goods, iron ware, potash and leather, are the other principal articles produced. Their value, in 1845, was nearly two millions of dollars. Commerce. The commerce of the county is quite extensive, both on the lake and on the canal. Lewiston is the principal port on the Niagara river.

STAPLE PRODUCTIONS. Wheat is the great staple of this county. The other principal agricultural products, are oats, corn, potatoes, peas, butter and wool.

SCHOOLS. In 1846, there were in the county 158 district school-houses, in which schools were maintained an average period of eight months each. 11,919 children received instruction, at an expense for tuition of $15,034. The number of volumes in the district libraries was 16,612.

822 pupils were instructed in twenty-nine select schools. There were also in the county one academy, and one female seminary, with 185 students.

RELIGIOUS DENOMINATIONS. Methodists, Presbyterians, Baptists, Episcopalians, Friends, Congregationalists, Universalists, Dutch Reformed, Lutherans, and Roman Catholics. There are fifty churches and fifty-nine clergymen of all denominations, in the county.

HISTORY. In 1697, M. de la Salle erected a palisade fort at or near the site of Fort Niagara.

In 1712, the Tuscarora Indians removed to this county from

North Carolina, and united themselves with the Iroquois confederacy, which thenceforth assumed the name of "the Six Nations." They still hold a reservation of about 5000 acres, lying in the town of Lewiston. They are about 200 in number, and are mostly in prosperous circumstances. They have a church and school, both under the direction of the American Board of Commissioners for Foreign Missions.

In 1725, the French erected a fort at the mouth of the Niagara river, in this county, in pursuance of their design of connecting their Canadian settlements with those on the Mississippi, by a chain of military posts.

Here their efficient emissaries, the Jesuit missionaries, won the affections of the simple hearted red men, by their ready compliance with their dress and customs; and extolling the power and grandeur of the French monarchs, incited them to deeds of aggression and bloodshed against the English. Not long after the erection of this fort, a stockade fortress, since known as old Fort Schlosser, situated about a mile above the falls, was also erected.

In 1759, Fort Niagara was captured from the French, by the British army, under the command of Sir William Johnson. It was rebuilt and garrisoned anew the same year.

During the revolution, it was held by the British, and from its time-stained walls, issued numerous bands of Indians and tories, bound on expeditions of bloody revenge, or lawless plunder, to the hapless valleys of the Schoharie and Mohawk. To this place, too, they brought the prisoners and scalps they had taken, to claim the reward which a British ministry offered for these evidences of their own inhumanity.

In 1796, this fort was surrendered to the United States. At that time there was but one white family, beside the occupants of the fort, within the present limits of the county.

During the late war with Great Britain, the American garrison, consisting of 370 men, were surprised by an unexpected attack from a force of more than 1200 British troops, who crossed the river, and after a brief but severe struggle, captured the fort. Sixty-five of the garrison were killed, and twenty-seven pieces of ordnance, with a large quantity of military stores, fell into the hands of the captors. In March, 1815, it was again surrendered to the United States. On the 14th of September, 1826, Morgan, of antimasonic notoriety, was confined in the magazine of the fort.

There can be no doubt that during its occupancy by the French, it was occasionally used as a prison for state offenders; and from that time to the close of the revolution, deeds of crime and blood were committed there, which the light of the judgment day alone will reveal.

On the 17th of September, 1763, a company of troops, numbering with the teamsters, about 175 men, were escorting a quantity of stores to Fort Schlosser, and had reached the ravine known as the Devil's Hole, on the Niagara river, when they were beset by a party of Seneca Indians, who were then in the French interest, and all but two murdered, or dashed to pieces in their fall over the precipice.

One, a drummer, was saved by the strap of his drum being caught in the branches of a tree, in his fall; the other, a man by the name of Stedman, being well mounted, forced his way through the hostile crowd and fled, at the utmost speed of his horse, to Fort Schlosser. His clothes were riddled with balls, but he was unhurt. The Indians considered his escape as miraculous, and gave him a large tract of land, embracing all that he had rode over in his flight.

In December, 1813, the British burned Lewiston, Youngstown, Manchester, (now Niagara Falls village,) and the Tuscarora Indian village, alleging the burning of Newark, in Canada West, by the Americans, as an excuse for their barbarity. Early in December, 1837, after the failure of the attack of the "Canadian patriots," (so called,) on Toronto, McKenzie and Sutherland, two of their leaders, who had escaped to the United States, together with some twenty-five of their adherents, took possession of Navy island, in the Niagara river, above the Falls, and remained there nearly a month, bidding defiance to the British troops, who were congregated on the Canadian shore, to the number of 3000 or 4000 men.

The ranks of the "patriots" were constantly reinforced by volunteers from the American frontier, until they numbered about 600. The British fired upon them, and killed one man; the fire was returned, and preparations made to cross into Canada, when by the interposition of General Scott, the island was evacuated, and the patriot army dispersed.

It was during the occupation of this island, that Mr. Wells, of Buffalo, the proprietor of a small steamboat, called the Caroline, formed the project of running his steamer as a ferry boat, between Navy island and old Fort Schlosser, in order to accommodate the numbers who wished to pass and repass daily.

Accordingly, on the 29th of December, the boat commenced running, and having made several trips during the day, was moored at night, beside the wharf at Schlosser. Numbers, who had been attracted by curiosity to the place, were unable to obtain lodgings at the tavern, the only dwelling in the vicinity, and sought accommodations on board the boat.

About midnight, the watch on board the steamer observed a boat approaching; he hailed, but before he could give the

alarm, a body of armed men from Canada, rushed on board, crying cut them down, give no quarter;" no resistance was made on board the boat; all who could do so, escaped to the shore. Five persons were known to be killed.

The boat was cut from her moorings, towed out into the stream, set on fire, and suffered to drift down the river, and over the falls. It was supposed that several persons were on board at the time she went over the cataract. This outrage produced great excitement on the frontier, and had well nigh involved our government in a war with Great Britain.

VILLAGES. LOCKPORT, the county seat, is a large and busy village in the town of the same name. It was founded in 1821, and incorporated in 1829. The Erie canal here descends, by five massive double locks, sixty feet. Before reaching these locks, in its progress eastward, the canal passes, for several miles, through a deep cutting of limestone, where the walls of rock, on either hand, rise twenty or thirty feet above the level of the canal. The descent of the canal furnishes an immense water power, which is partially improved. The village has a great variety of manufactures. Several very large flour mills are in operation. Population, 6800.

Niagara Falls Village is a beautiful and thriving place, deriving much of its importance from its proximity to the cataract. It has been proposed to devote the waters of the Niagara at this place, to manufacturing purposes, but it is to be hoped that such a project may never be carried into execution. Population, 1000.

Lewiston, in the town of the same name, has considerable trade with Oswego, and other ports on Lake Ontario. Here is also a ferry across the Niagara river, to Queenstown. It is the head of steamboat navigation on the river. Population, 900.

Youngstown is a thriving little village in the town of Porter. It has a good steamboat landing, and is connected with the village of Niagara, in Canada, by a steam ferry. Population, 700. Middleport, in the town of Royalton, is a village of some importance.

Mountains. P. Shawangunk mountains.
Rivers. H. Delaware river.

R. Nevisink. a. Collikoon. e. Mongaup. g. Bashe's kill. k. Beaver kill. i. Little Beaver kill. Falls. On the Mongaup and Nevisink, Fallsburgh and Forrestburgh. Lakes. h. White Lake. 1. Long Pond. m. Round. n. Sand.

Canals. Delaware and Hudson canal.

Villages. MONTICELLO. Bloomingsburgh. Wurtzborough. Fallsburgh. Cochecton.