Modern Catskill

n8 HISTORY OF GREENE COUNTY. a joint will, in which th ey devised the lands in th e p at Several low ridges ex tend throug h the town, para llel ent to their children, Dirck, J aco b, Cornelius, Anna Kat with the river. The most conspicuous of these are th e rina, wife of Anthony Van Schaick, and Chri st in a, wife Ka lk berg , from one to two miles in land, a limes tone of David Van Dyck. Cornelius in r740 obtained a con ridge 50 to 100 feet high, and the L ittl e Mountains, a firmatory patent for his share in the inheritance . r:rnge of eleva tions reac hin g 300 to 500 feet, two or three miles further west. The latter are sometimes call ed the KISKATOM PATENT. Hooge -ber gs. Of th e main Catsk ill Mountains , parts of The plain which lies alm ost at the base of the Catskill the east ern slope of North and So uth Mountains and Mountain s was ca lled by th e Indians Kiskatominakauke, High Peak are the southwes tern part of this town . A that is to say, th e place of thin-shelled hickory nu ts or rich agricultural district borders the river , from Catskill shag-barks . The nam e, in a corrupted form, first occurs down to the gre at bend known as the Inbogt about four in a deed dated in 1708. miles below. Fruit raising is engaged in to a cons idera This pl ace was bought by H enry Beekman from th e ble extent, an d many fine orchards of choice pea r trees Indians, and in 17 r 7 he rec eived a patent for a portion are to be seen . St rawber ry cultu re has also of late ex thereof, nam ely, 370 acres. Two years afterward this cited mu ch att en tion. Natural meadows abound , and patent was co nfirmed and the grant enl arg ed by an add i grass is a profuse and spon taneous pruduct of the soil. tion of 2,000 acres. The description in the latter pat Katskill Creek, which rises in a swamp ca lled Ecker ent is as follows: '' Known by the name of Ki skat ameke , son Vl y, in Schoharie county, 34 mil es from its mouth, lying under the Blew Hills, beginning at a spru ce tree flows across th e northern part of this town, part of the marked with three notches and the lett ers H B standing way formin g th e dividing line be tw ee n it and Athe ns . on the East side of Katerskill being on a strai ght lin e 46 About two miles west of th e village of Catskill, it is joine d Ch ains be low where Kiskatametie Kill watereth into said by the Kaaters kill, which , descending th e mountain in Kater skill N. 44° E . 86 Chain s, thenc e N. 218 Ch ain s, the so uth western part of the town makes a zig-zag course thence W. 60 Chains, thence S. 46 Chains, thence S. 55° to a comparatively level plain, twice crossing the line into W. 70 Chain s, thence S. 28° E. 65 Chains, th ence S. 12° Saugerties, an d after return ing to this town, it finally W. 100 Chains, thence S. 35° E. 84 Chains, thence N. 30 flows in a course nearly nor th, to the junction referr ed to. Chains to the place of beginning." This nobl e gra nt The prin cipa l timb er growing J1ere is pine, yellow and covered the whole Kiskatom valley, excepting such white oak, maple and walnut. In the early part of the portions as had been previously covered by the Catskill cen tur y about 1,000 bushels of walnut s were ann ually Pat ent. sent from the town . At th at tim e we are told that black The settlement of this valley probably began immedi spruce grew in the western part of the town and a con ately. The records of the Luth era n Church at Athens siderable business was don e in extracting th e essence of show that its minister in 1727, and th e following year, fre that woo d. Large quantit ies of the product were ex quently bapti zed there the infant s of th e settlers, of ported and were used in making beer. Beck er, R au, Jun g, Schmid, and other Pa latines . But Shad, bass, herr ing, sturgeon, pik e, trout and perc h oth er d etails are wanting, and it may be presumed that are caught in the river. The sm aller of these fish, and durin g the Revolution, fea r of the Mohawks ca us ed th e some others are found in the sma ller streams. Wild valley to be deserted. Whatever history this lovely geese and ducks are num erou s in the spring and fall. region has, how ever, can only be recovered by th e Thes e and wild pigeons are the principal game birds. patient labor of a summer, in going from house to house Upon and amo ng th e mount ains, wild animals ling ered to examine ancient deeds and reco rd s, and to gat her the long afte r the sett lem en t of the county. Panthers, wolves , few traditions which remain_ deer, bears and wild ca ts were numerous, th e las t named , so much so, as to suggest names for the mountains and str eams. An occasional bear, wild cat and deer rema in, but they are seldom seen. The generat ion of hunters, MODERN CATSKILL. however, who have engag ed in personal encounters with wild beasts upon these mount ains, are still repr esente d By RICHARD M. BAYLES . among the living . Among those who ga in ed reputa tions for their hunting proclivities and num erous explo it s The town of Catskill occup ies th e south eas tern part with wild an imals, were Benj amin Peck, Frederick Sax, of the co unt y. It has a frontage on th e river of eigl1t John Pierson and Pa ul P eck . Many in cidents of narrow and two-th irds miles. Its population at the la st cens us escape from imminen t danger, whi ch these old hunte rs was 8,3 r r. In this respect as well as in wea lth and oth er passed throu gh, might be gathered from th eir own reco l points of im por ta nce, it is th e principal town of the lection or the traditio ns of their fam ili es, and a volume county. Its shape is ir reg ular, and its area compreh ends might be filled with those recita ls, that would be rich in about 33,000 acres. T he soil of the town is strong and exc 1t111g int erest . But we must forego the plea sure of fer tile, and agricu ltur e is carr ied on profitab ly. The sur introducing them here. face is hilly, but not so excessive ly so as to prevent a R especting the mo unt ains which lie on th e southwest large portion of the land being susceptible of cultivation. ern border of the town , and whose fastnesses furni shed ORGANIZATION-BOUNDARIES. a home for the wild animals referred to, as well as for the south of Coxsackie District." The district thus numerous rattlesnakes and other poisonous reptiles. formed was invested with some of the powers now ex Washington Irving has left on record the substance of erci sed by the town. The limits of the district, however, Indian mythical tradition gathered from an Indian trader were very much larg er than th ose of the present town, as with whom he was a passenger on board a sloop sailing the line of the county was then a line running west from up the river when a boy. H e gives the trader 's acco unt the mouth of Sawyer's Kill, the present site of Sauger in the following language: ties. This line , as the dividing line between the counties "In these mountains, he told me, according to Indian belief, was of Albany and Ulster, was run in 1765, in accordance kept the great t reasury of storm and su nshin e for th e region of the with ah ordinance that h ad been passed in 1733. The Hudson. An old squaw spirit had charge ofit, who dwelt on the highest town of Catsk ill was erected by the clause of the ac t of peak of the mouutain. Here she kept day and night sh ut up in her vr·tg·wam, Jetting out only one of them at a time. She made new n1oons March 7th 1788, for dividing the county of Albany into every month, and bung the1n up in the sky~ cutting up the old ones into towns, wh ich reads as follows: st,n·a. The great Manitou or mast er spirit employed her to manufacture clouds. Sometimes she wove out cobwebs, gossamers and morning "And that all that Part of the said County of Albany, bounded dew, and sent them off, flake after flake, to float in the air and give northerly by Coxsac/cie, easterly by the County of Columbia, souther ly light summer showe rs. Sometimes she would brew up black thunder by the County of Uister, sha lt be, and hereby is erected into a Town by storms, and send down drenching rains, to swell the streams and sweep the Name of Cats-Kill.

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