HISTORY. The first settlers in Seneca county were Messrs. Horatio Jones and Lawrence Van Clief, who located themselves at Seneca Falls, in 1784 or 1785. Mr. James Bennet settled at West Cayuga, in 1787. Colonel Mynderse, who established himself in Seneca Falls in 1795, founded the village of that name in 1816.

The county belonged to the Military Tract, granted to the soldiers of the state, by the legislature, and the land titles are derived from them. The Indian title to these lands was not extinguished till 1789. Its growth has been rapid since its first settlement.

VILLAGES. WATERLOO Village, in the town of Waterloo, is a half shire town, lying on the north side of the Seneca outlet, and incorporated in 1824. It is a very flourishing manufacturing village, containing, besides the county buildings, a number of churches and a chartered academy, occupying a fine building, and amply provided with apparatus for the illustration of the natural sciences. Large quantities of limestone are quarried in the vicinity. The Cayuga and Seneca canal, and the Auburn and Rochester railroad, both pass through the village. Population 3200.

OVID, a half shire village, was incorporated in 1816. It is situated on elevated ground, about midway between the lakes, and commands a fine and widely extended prospect. It has a chartered academy. Population 700.

Seneca Falls was incorporated in 1831, and, like Waterloo, is situated on the Seneca outlet, the canal and railroad. It derives an abundant hydraulic power from the Seneca outlet, the water of which is constant and steady, and is applied extensively to manufacturing purposes, by means of four dams having a total fall of forty-seven feet. A flourishing academy is located at this village. Population 3000.

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Falls. Falls on the Black river, at Denmark and Greig.
Villages. MARTINSBURG. Lowville. Copenhagen.

BOUNDARIES. North by Jefferson and St. Lawrence counties; East by Herkimer; South by Oneida, and West by Oswego and Jefferson counties.

SURFACE. The county is divided by the Black river into two nearly equal sections. The eastern ascends somewhat rapidly, from the river, to the mountainous region on its eastern line. The western is rolling and frequently hilly, rising from the Black river, for six or eight miles, and then inclining to the south and west. Broad alluvial flats are found along the Black river.

RIVERS. Black and Beaver rivers, Independence, Moose, Deer, Otter, Fish, Salmon, and Indian creeks, and the west branch of the Oswegatchie, are the principal streams.

FALLS. Black river has a fall of sixty-three feet, in the town of Leyden, and Deer creek of 175 feet, in the town of Denmark. CANAL. The Black river canal, when finished, will unite with Black river just below the high falls at Leyden.

CLIMATE. The climate of Lewis county is cold, but healthy. The winters are long, but the uniformity of the temperature renders them less unpleasant, than would be expected.

GEOLOGY AND MINERALS. The country east of the Black river is primitive in its character. The rock underlying this portion of the county, and frequently appearing on the surface, is granite. West of the river, the whole county is underlaid with a fine compact limestone, which appears every where, on the borders of the streams. The Utica slate also occupies a narrow belt in the western part of the county.

Iron ore is very abundant and of a superior quality; lead ore, (galena,) also occurs in considerable quantities. The other minerals worthy of notice are, sulphuret of zinc, (blende,) very beautiful quartz crystals, scapolite, tabular spar, green cocolite, feldspar, sphene, crystallized pyrites, calcareous and fluor spar, manganese, and Rensselaerite. Probably few counties in the state are richer in mineral wealth.

SOIL AND VEGETABLE PRODUCTIONS. The soil is various, composed of a fertile alluvium, or a gravelly, sandy, and clayey loam. It is susceptible of a profitable cultivation, and furnishes fine grazing. The timber is principally pine, spruce, hemlock,

beech, maple, elm, ash, with some white oak and walnut. The eastern section still has extensive forests. From the maple. are manufactured considerable quantities of sugar.

PURSUITS. Agriculture is the chief employment of the inhabitants; the products of the dairy are large.

Manufactures. The county has abundant water power, but as yet it is but little improved. Flour, lumber, leather, and fulled cloths, are the chief articles of manufacture.

Commerce. There is little or no commerce; the completion of the Black River canal will aid materially in bringing the produce of their rich and fertile lands to market.

The STAPLES of the county are butter and cheese, wool, potatoes, oats, and wheat. Considerable quantities of barley, buckwheat, flax, hops, and sugar, are also produced.

SCHOOLS. The district school-houses in the county, in 1846, were 150 in number, in which were instructed 6139 pupils. The average length of the schools was seven months. The teachers wages, $6196; the number of volumes in the district libraries, 11,886. There were six private schools with eightythree scholars, and one academy with sixty-two pupils.

RELIGIOUS DENOMINATIONS. Methodists, Baptists, Presbyterians, Congregationalists, Universalists, Roman Catholics, Episcopalians, and Friends. The total number of churches is thirty-seven, of clergymen, forty-four.

HISTORY. The whole of this county was originally owned by Alexander Macomb. The western part was afterward sold to a company of capitalists in New York city, and the eastern to a French company at Paris. The first settlers were pioneers from Connecticut and Massachusetts, who made their way, in 1797, from Utica and Fort Stanwix, (now Rome,) at that time small settlements, by a line of marked trees, to the falls of Black river, and from thence to the town of Lowville, where they established themselves. Their families followed, the succeeding winter, through snow so deep as to make it necessary to break paths for the cattle and teams, while mothers, shod with snow-shoes, bore their infants in their arms. For some time after, the farmers were obliged to go forty miles to mill, carrying their grain upon their shoulders.

VILLAGES. MARTINSBURG, in the town of the same name, contains the county buildings, a female seminary, and a number of factories. Population 800.

Lowville is a village of some business in the town of Lowville. It has an incorporated academy. Population 800.

Copenhagen, in the town of Denmark, is situated on both sides of Deer river. It is a flourishing village, and engaged in manufactures. Population about 500.