An Outline
History of Orange County
with an
Enumeration of Names
of its
Towns, Villages, Rivers, Creeks,
Lakes, Ponds, Mountains, Hills and
Other Known Localities,
and their
Etymologies or Historical Reasons Therefor;
Together With
Local Traditions
And Short
Biographical Sketches
of
Early Settlers, Etc.
~~~~~~~~~~~
By Sam'l W. Eager, Esq.,
Member of the Historical Association of Newburgh, and
Corresponding Member of the Historical Society
Of the State of New York.
~~~~~~~~~~~
Newburgh:
S. T. Callahan,
1846-7.
We cannot, without disrespect to the memory of a lost but giant race, and slighting the wide-spread reputation of old Orange as the mother of the most perfect and magnificent specimens of terrestrial animals, omit to tell of the Mastodon. Contemplating his remains as exhumed from their resting place for unknown ages, we instinctively think of his great power and lordly mastery over the beasts—of his majestic tread as he strode these vallies and hill-tops—of his anger when excited to fury—stamping the earth till trembling beneath his feet—snuffing the wind with disdain, and uttering his wrath in tones of thunder,—and the mind quails beneath the oppressive grandeur of the thought, and we feel as if driven along by the violence of a tornado. When the pressure of contemplation has subsided and we recovered from the blast, we move along and ponder on the time when the Mastodon lived ,—when and how he died, and the nature of the catastrophe that extinguished the race; and the mind again becomes bewildered and lost in the uncertainty of the cause. Speculation is at fault, and our thoughts wander about among the possible accidents and physical agents which might have worked the sudden or lingering death of this line of terrestrial monarchs.
Upon these subjects, wrapt in the deep mystery of many ages, we have no fixed or well-considered theory; and if we had, the limits of our paper would forbid us to argue it up before our readers, and argue down all hostile ones. But we may briefly enquire, whether the cause of the death and utter annihilation of the race, was one great overwhelming flood which submerged the earth and swept down these animals as they peacefully and unsuspiciously wandered over the plains and hills around us. Or was it some earthquake convulsion, full of sudden wrath, which tore up its strong foundations and buried this race among the uplifted and subsiding mass of ruins; or was it some unusual storm, black with fury and terrible as the tornado, which swept the wide borders of these grounds, and carried tree and rock and living Mastodon in one unbroken stream to a common grave? or was it the common fate of nations, men and every race of created animals of water, land or air, which overlook and laid the giants low? that by the physical law of their nature, the decree of heaven, the race started into being—grew up to physical perfection,—and having fulfilled the purpose assigned by their creation, by a decrease slow, but sure as their increase, degenerated in number, and gradually died away and became extinct. Or was it some malignant distemper, fatal as the Egyptian marrain, which attacked the herd in every locality of this wide domain—sending its burning poison to their very vitals—forcing them to allay an insatiate thirst and seek relief in the water ponds around them, and there drank, and drank, and died? Or was it rather, as is the general belief in this community, that individual accident, numerous as the race, befell each one, and in the throes of extrication sank deep and deeper still in the soft and miry beds where we now find their bones reposing?
We have thus briefly laid before our readers all the causes which we have heard assigned for this remarkable, ancient and wide-spread catastrophe, and leave them to the speculation of others, while we wait for time and the developments of geology to uncover the cause.
"> But when did these animals live and when did they perish, are questions equally wrapt in profound mystery, and can he answered only when the tree cause of their death is found. In the meantime we, ask, were they pre-Adamites, and did they graze upon the fields of Orange and bask in the sunlight of that early period of the globe?—or were they antideluvian, and carried to a common grave by the deluge of the Scriptures?—or were they postdeluvian only, and till very recent periods wandered over our hills and fed in these Vallies; and that now some wandering lord of the race, an exile from the land of his birth on the banks of the great father of waters, is gone in silence and melancholy grandeur to lay himself down and die in the yet unexplored regions of the continent? On these points, of vital interest in solving the great question of time and mode of death, we hazard no conjecture. Among geologists the opinion is fast gaining ground, that the epoch of the appearance of the Mastodon on earth was about the middle of the tertiory period ,—and that he was here ages before man was created,—that before that epoch warm-blooded terrestrial animals had not appeared. The period of their extinction is thought to be more doubtful, but probably was just before the creation of the human race.— Geologists think there is no evidence sufficient to establish the fact that man and the Mastodon were contemporary.— Time and further investigation may explain the mystery.
WHEN FIRST FOUND.
The remains of the Mastodon were first found in this State, near Albany, probably as early as 1705, as appears from the letter of Gov. Dudley to the Rev. Cotton Mather, of July 10, 1706—a copy of which is furnished and worth reading. The accounts which state it to have been in 1712 are erroneous— taking, probably the date of Cotton Mather’s letter (of that date) upon this subject to Dr. Woodward as the date of the finding. They were next found by Longueil, a French officer, on the Ohio River, in 1739. In 1740 large quantities were found at Big Bone Lick, in Kentucky, carried to France, and there called the “Animal of the Ohio.” Since which many have been found in various parts of the Union.
No locality, except the Big Bone Lick, has contained a greater number of these remains than Orange County. The first were discovered in 1782, about three miles south of the village of Montgomery, on the farm now owned by Mr. Foster Smith. These bones were visited by Gen. Washington and other officers of the army while encamped at Newburgh in 1782—3. The Rev. Robert Annan, who then owned the farm, made a publication at the time, describing the bones, locality, &c., which caused Mr. Peale subsequently to visit this County.
In 1794 they were found about five miles west of the village of Montgomery, just east of the residence of Archibald Crawford, Esq., and near the line of the Cochecton turnpike. In 1809 they were found about seven miles northeast from Montgomery, on or near the farm of Dr. George Graham.— In 1803, found one mile east of Montgomery, on the farm now owned by Dr. Charles Fowler. These were the bones dug out by Mr. Peale of Philadelphia, in 1805 or 6,—and the writer, then a boy at school in the village, saw the work in progress from day to day. In 1838 a tooth was found by Mr. Daniel Embler, of Newburgh, on or near the farm of Samuel Dixon, Esq., of that town. In 1844, found eight miles southwest from Montgomery, on the farm of Mr. Conner, near Scotchtown, in Walkill. In 1845, found about seven miles east of Montgomery, on the farm of Nathaniel Brewster, Esq.; and, in the same year, on the farm of Jesse C. Cleve, Esq., in Hamptonburgh, about twelve miles southeast of Montgomery. They were also found in the town of Goshen some years since, but the time and locality we do not know. There have been at least a dozen findings of these bones in the County. From this enumeration it would appear as if the village of Montgomery was the centre of the circle of these various findings.
The different species of this animal are contained in the annexed letter to the writer, from Mr. James Darrach, Professor in the Orange County Scientific and Practical Agricultural Institute, at Coldenham, who has taken an interest in the welfare of our paper, and to whom we are indebted for many of the facts of this article.
DIMENSIONS OF THE PRINCIPAL BONES OF THE BREWSTER MASTODON.
Length of the skull,
Between the eye-sockets,
Width of occiput,
Length of tusks,
Circumference of tusks,
Incision of tusks in head,
A part in largest curve,
At the ends,
Shoulder blade, length,
Width,
Length of humerus,
Diam. head of humerus,
Lth spinal proces, bk. bn.
Pelvis, breadth,
Pelvis orifice,
Acetabulum diam.
|
3 ft. 10 in.
2 1
2 7
10 6
2 1
2 5
7 0
2 0
2 10
2 9
3 1
1 0
2 1
6 1
1 11
0 8
|
Tibia, long, Thigh bone, long,
WEIGHT.
Weight of head and tusks,
Shoulder blades,
Hip bones,
Fore legs
Hind legs,
Ribs,
Back and neck bones,
Feet and other bones,
Length of animal, 33 feet. Whole number of bones, 220.
|
2 ft. 6 in.
3 10
692 lbs.
94
165
180
164
120
197
383
1995
|
40 ribs, 20 on each side,—7 bones of the neck, 19 of the back, 3 of the loins. The teeth were 2 in each row, making 8 in all—the front ones 3 by 4 1/2 inches—the bark, 3 1/2 by 7 1/2-inches, and firmly held in the jaws.
The animal was supposed to the of great age—judging from the length and size of the tusks, and from the fact that some bones, which in young animals are separate, in this had grown firmly together.
Having measured the giant, let us inspect, the place where found, uncover his resting place, and observe his position in death. Mr. Brewster was digging out marl, and his workmen came upon time skeleton, every bone of which they succeeded in exhuming. Though wanting some of the toes of the fore foot, we believe they were found and carried away in the pockets of some of the early visitors. Like all others in this County, these were found in a peat formation, but of very limited extent, between two slate ridges. They were six feet beneath the surface—yet so deep was the peat below the bones of the neck formed for more upright action; which caused him to carry his head higher than the elephant, and gave him a sprightly and comparatively gay appearance.— If seen together there would be observed about the same difference there is between a large horse and a large ox. The bones of the elephant’s head are more rounded than those of the mastodon. The crowns of the teeth of the former in the upper jaw are convex, and fit in the concave surfaces of those in the under jaw. The teeth of the mastodon are formed of two rows of conical prominences like cones or nipples, from which the animal receives its name, while the teeth of the elephant are more horizontal on the masticating surface.— The jaws of one had more circular motion than those of the other. These are a few of the physiological differences which mark the distinction between the animals, yet the formation of the bones and tusks show them to be nearly allied.
ORANGE COUNTY SCIENTIFIC AND PRACTICAL
AGRICULTURAL INSTITUTE, near Walden.
To Sam’l W. Eager, Esq.:—
My Dear Sir,—lt is a very happy feature of the age that there is a disposition to record and embody those traditionary items of our nation’s history at such short intervals that they shall not have lost all the authenticity upon which their verity might depend. The characteristics of mature years are always manifested in childhood and adolesence, and it is likewise true that the character of the latter mark the former. If this is true also of nations, your labors are gathering up data upon which we can speculate as to the future, and not only speculate, but actually interpret with correctness the signs of the times, and be able to aid the progress of approaching blessings, or avert the destructions of threatening mischiefs. But to my business.
Enclosed you will receive a copy of a letter from Gov. Dudley to the Rev. Cotton Mather, D. O., under date of July 10, 1706. This letter is of considerable importance, because Comstock and other geologists, in reference to the bones found at Albany, refer to a letter from Cotton Mather to Dr. Woodward, 1712, as the earliest notice. When at Worcester and having, through the politeness of Mr. Haven, the secretary and librarian of the American Antiquarian Society, access to their rooms and also to the very large collection of the manuscripts of Cotton Mather deposited there, I searched for that letter to Dr. Woodward, but it was not among them. I found a letter concerning some bones of an unearthly character found at Virginia. The copy of that letter I can not now find, as it is mislaid, and I can not with certainty say to whom it was addressed, nor the date.
I also found a letter from Gov. Joseph Dudley to Cotton Mather, six years earlier than Comstock’s date. If you can weave it into your very interesting little work, of which we have had a few specimens in the Gazette, you will contribute to set to rights another item of history, as you have already done in regard to the Glebe school house. Allow me here just to state some particulars in regard to the mastodon, of which our county has been so :
fruitful a fountain—in the language of correspondent—" the centre of fossils.”
Memoir on Extraneous Fossils, Am. P/ri. Soc. Trans.. VOL 4, p. 510.—— Read July 21, 1797. (Extract.)
But judge of my surprise where attentively examining them, I discovered that almost every bone of any length had received a fracture, occasioned most likely, by the teeth of the mammoth while in the act of feeding over his prey.
It is well known that the buffalo, deer, elk, and some other animals are in the constant habit of making such places their resort, in order to drink the salt water and lick the impregnated earth. Now may we not from these facts infer, that nature had alloted to the Mammoth the beasts of the forest for his food how can we otherwise account for the numerous fractures which every where mark these strata of bones! May it not be inferred, too, that as the largest and swiftest quadrupeds were appointed for his food, he necessarily was endowed with great strength and activity? That as the immense volume of the creature would unfit him for coursing after his prey through thickets and woods, nature had furnished him with the power of taking it by a mighty leap. That this power of springing to a great distance was requisite to the more effectual concealment of his bulky volume while lying in wait for prey. With the agility and ferocity of a tiger; with a body of unequalled magnitude and strengths, it is possible the Mammoth may have been at once the terror of the forest of man! And may not the human race have made the extirpation of this terrific disturber a common cause?
The nature and mode of life of the Mastodon were not well understood at the date of the above extract, and the writer supposed him to belong to the carniverous race, subsisting on flesh, in place of the gramniverous, as his teeth abundantly prove. If he had subsisted on flesh he would have been the most destructive butcher that ever drew blood.
Extract from an Address of Roderick Impey Marchison, F.R.S., before the Geo. Soc. of London, Feb. 17, 1843.
Speaking of the collection of bones obtained by Mr. Koch, he says:--
The arrival of such a collection could not fail to excite the most lively interest and curiosity among our naturalists and the bones having been attentively examined many members of this Society, produced a diversity of opinion respecting the generic character of the chief remains. North America had long been a fertile mine of such reliquiae, and the naturalists of the United States had not been backward in studying and dissecting them. It is not, therefore, a little remarkable that the same difference of opinion as to the generic and specific identity of the animals that prevailed across the Atlantic, is presented in the memoires which have recently been read before us: Dr. Hadon and Mr. Cooper having maintained opinions with which to a great extent Prof. Owen comes, while Dr. Grant and M. Koch have supported the views of the late Dr. Godman. Citing the American authorities on his side of the question, including Dr. Hoges, and enumerating no less than 13 species of Mastodon and 6 species of Tetracaulodon, Dr. Grant hits made a vigorous effort to vindicate the true generic characters of the Tetracaulodon, as founded on the presence of a tusk or tusks in the lower jaw, and certain variations in the form of the crowns of the molar teeth.
This view has been sustained by Mr. A. Nasmith in an elaborate paper on the minute structure of the tusks of extinct Mastodontoid animals.
Microscopical examinations of portions of the tusks, believed to belong to foe distinct species, viz:—M Gigantius, Tetracaulodon Godmani, T. Kochii, T. Taperoides, and the Missourium, has also led this author to the same inference as Dr. Grant and he concludes with the remark, that if it be established that specific differences positively do exist among all these animals, the value of such microscopic researches is great: but if the five animals are grouped as one, then such mode of observation is of no value in palaeontological science.
Prof. Owen had previously expressed opinions at variance with those of Dr. Hoges, Godman, Grant, and Mr. Nasmith, and his views have been supported within these walls by my predecessor, Dr. Bucklove. Pointing out certain mistakes in the setting up of the Missourium, as exhibited in Egyptian Hall, he compares the fossil with all forms with which he was acquainted; and, showing that it must have belonged to the Unjulata, he judges that the enormous tusks of the upper jaw constitute it a member of the Proboscidian group of Pachedumes, and that the molar teeth prove it to be identical with Tetracaulodon or Mastodon giganteus. He argues that the genus Tetracaulodon was erroneous, founded upon dental appearances in the lower jaw of a very young proboscidian, and that Mr. W. Cooper was correct in suggesting that the Tetracaulodon was nothing but the young of the gigantic Mastodon, the tusks of which were lost as the animal advanced in age. A comparison of the whole of Mr. Koch’s collection produced the result in Mr. Owen’s mind, that with the exception of a few bones of the Eliphas princigenius (Mamoth) all the other remains of the Proboscidian pochydieus in it belong to the Mastodon giganteus. And in respect to the Mastodon giganteus he expresses his conviction that it had two lower tusks originally in both sexes, and retained the right lower tusk only of the adult male.
Although unable to form a correct judgement on the probable structure of those extinct quadrupeds, I may call your attention to a recent work of Mr. Kaup, whose striking discovery of the Dunotherium is familiar to you, and who now seems to advocate, from perfectly independent sources of evidence, the same views as Prof. Owen, concerning the oxeology and generic characters of the Mastodon, founded upon the comparison of a series of bones and teeth belonging to the Mastodon longirostus, more numerous and complete than even those of the Mastodon giganteus.