9. Lorraine, 1804. 10. Rodman, 1804. 11. Le Ray, 1806. 15. Pamelia, 1819. 16. Alexandria, 1821. 17. Orleans, 1821. 18. Philadelphia, 1821. 19. Clayton, 1832. 20. Theresa, 1842. I. St. Lawrence River. a. Black River. b. d. Chaumont Creek. e. Perch. f. Stoney. g. Lakes, &c. J. Ontario. i. Perch. j. Yellow. k. Hungry Bay. 1. Black River. m. Chaumont Bay. o. Stoney. p. Grenadier. q. Fox r. Islands. n. Gallop Island. Villages. WATERTOWN. Carthage. Op the Black river at Champion, Long Falls, Wilna. Sacketts Harbor. Brownville. Cornelia. BOUNDARIES. North by the St. Lawrence River, and St. Lawrence county; East by Lewis county; South by Oswego county, and West by Lake Ontario. SURFACE. The surface of Jefferson county may be divided into two terraces, the broader of which is on the northwest. The Ridge Road, extending from the Niagara river, at a distance of from six to ten miles from the lake, and undoubtedly indicating the ancient limits of Lake Ontario, is here about 100 feet in height. The surface between this and the lake is level or gently undulating. From this ridge the county has a gentle descent toward the southeast, where an elevated ridge crosses it, and gives it a broken and hilly appearance. RIVERS. The chief streams of the county, besides the St. Lawrence, are the Black and Indian rivers, Chaumont, Perch, Stoney, and Sandy creeks. FALLS. There is a series of falls in the Black river, commencing at the Long falls in Carthage. LAKES. The chief lakes are Ontario, Perch, and Yellow. BAYS. Hungry, Black River, and Chaumont bays are indentations of greater or less extent, upon the lake coast. ISLANDS. Along its western line are situated Gallop, Stoney, Fox, Grenadier, Carlton, Grindstone, and Wells islands. CLIMATE. Equable and healthy. The winters are cold, but without sudden changes. The summer heats are moderated by the lake breezes. GEOLOGY AND MINERALS. The primary formation is confined to two or three small districts in the county, principally in the north and northeast part, In Alexandria, there is a small tract where the primitive rocks are near the surface. They are granite, primitive limestone, gneiss, and hornblende. The greater part of the county, however, belongs to the transition formation. The order of arrangement of the rocks of this formation, here, is the following, beginning at the northern part of the county: Potsdam sandstone, extending to a point a little south of Theresa falls; calciferous sand rock and birdseye limestone, appearing as far south as the Black river; Trenton limestone, extending through Houndsfield, Adams, Watertown, and Rutland, and succeeded by a narrow belt of the Utica slate; this is followed by the Lorraine shales, lying in Rodman, Lorraine, and Pinckney. In the southern line of towns, the gray sandstone occurs in small quantities. Bog iron ore, spathic iron, specular iron, arragonite, cacoxene, pyrites, celestine, terenite, tremolite, fluor spar, green malachite, tourmaline, strontianite, idiocrase, apatite, pyroxene, and massive heavy spar, tufa, peat, and graphite in six sided tablets, are the principal minerals. There is a cave in the town of Pamelia, nearly opposite Watertown, containing a number of apartments, and some fine spars. It has been explored for nearly half a mile. SOIL AND VEGETABLE PRODUCTIONS. The soil is generally a fertile sandy loam, with some clay and gravel, and susceptible of a high degree of cultivation. In the basin on the northwest, wheat grows abundantly, but the higher lands in the southeast are more favorable to grazing. The forests abound with oak, maple, beech, birch, walnut, ash, elm, hemlock, pine, tamarack, and red and white cedar. The cranberry grows abundantly in the swamps, and forms an article of export. PURSUITS. Agriculture is the leading pursuit of the people. Great numbers of cattle and swine are reared for the eastern market; the products of the dairy are very large. Potatoes, oats, corn, wheat, rye, barley, and flax are produced in great abundance, and the wool-growing interest is not neglected. The county ranks among the first for agricultural products in the state. The manufactures of the county are extensive and rapidly increasing. The principal articles are flour, lumber, iron, leather, distilled liquors, potash, and woollen goods. The value of articles manufactured in the county in 1845, was nearly $2,000,000. The commerce of this county is large and constantly increasing. About one half of its produce finds its way to a market down the St. Lawrence; the remainder through the Oswego and Erie canals, enters the Hudson, or through the Welland and Western canals, and the great lakes, is distributed over the Mississippi valley. The shipping of this county amounts to about 5000 tons. The completion of the Black River canal will open a more ready and convenient conveyance for the produce of portions of the county. STAPLE PRODUCTIONS. Butter and cheese, potatoes, oats, corn, wheat, wool, flax, barley, and peas. SCHOOLS. There were 368 district schools in the county, in 1846. The average length of the schools was seven monthsnumber of scholars, 22,866-amount of teachers' wages, $24,141 -and number of volumes in the school libraries, 37,552. There are also fifty-four private schools, with 1089 scholars, and two academies, with 173 pupils. RELIGIOUS DENOMINATIONS. Methodists, Baptists, Presbyterians, Congregationalists, Episcopalians, Universalists, Roman Catholics, Dutch Reformed, Unitarians, Friends, and Jews. There are ninety-two churches, and 106 clergymen of all denominations in the county. HISTORY. The first settlement made in this county by whites, was at Ellisburgh, in 1793, by Mr. Lyman Ellis. The next was at Champion, not long after, by settlers from Connecticut. The third was at Watertown, in 1800, by Mr. Henry Coffin, of New Hampshire. In the succeeding year, emigrants from New England settled in Adams, Rodman, Brownville, and Houndsfield; and the year after in Sacketts Harbor and Rutland. Mounds and fortifications of great antiquity, and exhibiting a high degree of architectural skill, are scattered over every part of the county. At the commencement of the late war with Great Britain, Sacketts Harbor was selected as the principal naval depôt of the lake frontier, on account of the excellency of its harbor. On the twenty-second and twenty-third of April, 1813, General Dearborn, with a force of 1700 men, embarked from this port, to attack York, (now Toronto,) Canada West. The assault on York was successful, though the brave General Pike, by whom it was led, lost his life by the explosion of the magazine. But the withdrawal of so large a body of troops from Sacketts Harbor, left the important military stores there exposed; and as might have been expected, the British forces at Kingston, availed themselves of the opportunity, to make a descent upon that village. On the twenty-eighth of May, 1813, they appeared off the harbor, with four ships, one brig, two schooners, two gun boats, and thirty-three flat bottomed boats, containing in all 1200 troops. The alarm of their approach had been given, and General Brown had made every exertion in his power to defend the harbor. The British suffered themselves to delay, in the attempt to capture some boats, coming from Oswego with troops, and thus the militia from the vicinity had time to assemble; but not more than 1000 troops could be collected in all, of whom more than 500 were raw militia, and about 200 more, invalids. General Brown arranged the militia behind a breast work, hastily thrown up, to oppose the landing of the enemy. In the rear of these he had stationed a part of the regular troops. The regular artillerists occupied Fort Tompkins, and Lieutenant Chauncey, with a small corps, defended the naval stores at Navy Point. The British made an effort to land, but were at first repulsed with severe loss; but after the second fire, the militia became panic struck, and abandoning their breast work, fled in the utmost confusion. Colonel Mills, their commander, was killed in the attempt to rally them. Meantime the enemy effected a landing, and commenced their march towards the village, but met with the most desperate opposition. Finding, however, that he was likely to be overpowered by the superior force of the enemy, General Brown concerted a stratagem which gained him the day, and compelled the enemy to retreat. Learning that the militia, whose flight had prevented success in the onset, were still in the neighborhood, he hastened to them, put himself at their head, ordered them to follow him, and passing silently through a distant wood, in the direction of the enemy's boats, induced the British commander to believe that he intended to cut off his retreat. Alarmed at this, and believing the American force superior to his own, in point of numbers, the British general withdrew his forces with the utmost precipitation, leaving his dead and wounded behind him. He was not pursued, because pursuit would have exhibited the weakness of the American force. While the battle was at its height, intelligence was brought to Lieutenant Chauncey, that the Americans were about to surrender, and accordingly he, in compliance with his orders, set fire to the stores and shipping, to prevent their falling into the hands of the enemy. Learning his error, however, he made the utmost effort to arrest the flames, and succeeded in saving a considerable portion. The British loss was severe in this action, three of their field officers being killed, and not less than 150 wounded, killed and prisoners. The American loss was about the same in number. After retreating to their shipping, the British demanded the surrender of the village, which was promptly refused. On the thirtieth of May, 1814, a number of boats coming from Oswego, with cannon and rigging for the new vessels, building at Sacketts Harbor, and well manned with sailors, riflemen and Indians, were pursued into Henderson harbor, by five British gunboats, manned with about 200 English marines and sailors. Captain Woolsey, of the American navy, had command of the American boats, and landing as quickly as possible, stationed a part of his riflemen and Indians in ambuscade on each side of the road, and placed a small body of militia in front of the landing, to contest the passage of the enemy. His stratagem was successful. The British rushed on, and the militia fled before them, but the party in ambush poured upon them so deadly a fire as to compel them to surrender, with the loss of twenty killed, and forty or fifty wounded. The number of prisoners was 137. Five gunboats, armed with heavy cannon, were also captured. After the war, the extraordinary facilities afforded by the county, for sustaining an abundant population, gave it a rapid growth, and it is now one of the largest counties in the state. Its population quadrupled between 1810 and 1840, and is still fast increasing. VILLAGES. WATERTOWN, the seat of justice for the county, is a large and flourishing manufacturing village, situated at the falls of the Black river. Perhaps no village in the United States possesses more extensive and easily available hydraulic privileges. The Black river here has a fall in the space of a mile, of eighty-eight feet, over seven artificial dams and five natural cascades, each of which can be used for manufacturing purposes. The volume of water is estimated at 10,000 cubic feet per second-being sufficient to keep in motion more than one million of spindles. But a small portion of this immense water power, is employed; yet the manufactories of cotton and woollen goods, flour, leather, paper, machinery, pumps, sash, wagons, and carriages are extensive. The Jefferson County Institute, located here, is a highly flourishing and well conducted seminary. It has about 180 pupils. There are several other schools of considerable reputation. The village has also a "Young Men's Association for Literary Improvement," which is in a flourishing condition, and has accumulated a respectable library. Population 4200. Sacketts Harbor, in the town of Houndsfield, is an important village, having one of the best harbors on Lake Ontario. It has also some manufactories, propelled by water power, furnished by a canal, extending from the Black river, near Watertown, to the lake at this place. The United States government has erected extensive stone barracks here for troops. They occupy a lot of about forty acres, surrounded by a fence, on three sides, and the fourth open to the water. In the military burial ground, attached to |