iron ore occurs in the same vicinity. Calcareous tufa abounds on the side of the mountains. Anhydrous sulphate of lime has been discovered in Sharon.

Gebhard's cavern, or Ball's cave, in the town of Schoharie, contains numerous apartments abounding in stalactites and stalagmites of great beauty; some of the apartments are large and magnificent.

Otsgaragee cavern, in the same town, has numerous large apartments, highly decorated with spars and stalactites. There are other caves in the vicinity, of less extent.

There are several sulphur springs; those at Sharon have attained considerable notoriety.

SOIL AND VEGETABLE PRODUCTIONS. The flats in the valley of Schoharie creek, are among the most fertile lands in the state. The county generally is fertile, and some sections are adapted to wheat; some portion of the southern towns is sterile and sandy.

The timber consists of oak, maple, elm, linden, ash, poplar, hickory, walnut, white pine, and hemlock. The two latter prevail in the southern part of the county.

PURSUITS. Agriculture is the employment of a majority of the inhabitants. Oats, rye, barley, wheat, corn, buckwheat, peas, potatoes, and flax, are raised in large quantities, and butter and wool produced to a very considerable extent.

tance.

Manufactures generally have not attained any great imporThe facilities afforded by the hemlock forests, have led to the extensive tanning of leather. The quantity prepared in the county, in 1845, exceeded in value $400,000. Flour and lumber are also manufactured to some extent.

The county has no commerce and no mines.

The STAPLE PRODUCTIONS are oats, rye, barley, wheat, corn, peas, butter, and wool.

SCHOOLS. There are in the county, 184 school-houses. In 1846, schools were taught, on an average, nine months; 11,043 children received instruction, at an expense for tuition of $13,726. The district libraries contained 17,985 volumes.

There were also in the county, twenty-five private schools, with 334 scholars, and two academies with ninety-four pupils.

RELIGIOUS DENOMINATIONS. Methodists, Baptists, Lutherans, Dutch Reformed, Presbyterians, Unitarians, and Universalists. Number of churches fifty-eight, of clergymen fifty-six.

HISTORY. The first white settlements in this county were made in the spring of 1711.

The benevolent Queen Anne formed the design of establishing a colony of Germans, the families of German soldiers who had served in the English wars, in her transatlantic possessions. She accordingly sent them over to New York, and thence to Albany, and permitted them to select for themselves, from the unoccupied lands of New York, a tract suited to their

tastes. They selected the a'y of the Schoharie, and the Queen's agent accordingly purchased for them, about 20,000 acres of fertile land, along that creek.

Industrious and frugal, these hardy settlers soon acquired a competence, and perhaps in no part of the stat at the commencement of the troubles which preceded the Revolution, could there have been found a more peaceful and happy settlement. Highly cultivated farms, and substantial dwellings greeted the eye of the traveller in every direction.

But in those exciting times, differences of opinion prevailed, and when the conflict came on, the citizens of Schohaire county were found arrayed in hostility against each other, and, oft times, members of the same family met in deadly strife.

The patriots of Schoharie county seemed, in an especial manner, to have excited the hostility of the enemy. Again and again did the marauding hordes of tories and Indians, under the command of Sir John Johnson, Brant, and the infamous Walter Butler, descend upon the farms of the hapless citizens, murdering and scalping all whom they met, without regard to age or sex, plundering and burning their dwellings, and making that fertile and beautiful valley a desolate and gloomy waste.

On the 1st of June, 1778, a bloody conflict took place at Cobleskill, in which about fifty whites, regular troops and militia, contended with a force of 350 Indians, under the command of Brant, until twenty-two of their number were killed, and eight or ten more severely wounded.

A short distance from Middleburgh village are still visible the remains of the old Middle Fort, which was quite noted in the annals of the border wars in this county. On the 17th of October, 1780, it was attacked by Sir John Johnson with a force of 800 tories and Indians.

The garrison of the fort consisted of about two hundred continental troops, and between one and two hundred militia. Their supply of ammunition was scanty, and the commander of the fort, Major Woolsey, entirely unfitted for his station.

The garrison, however, determined to defend the fort to the last, and when Major Woolsey proposed to surrender, they opposed it, and as he was so much overcome with fear as to be a subject of derision to the' garrison, Colonel Vrooman, a militia officer in the fort, took the command.

After continuing the attack through the greater part of the day, without effect, Sir John withdrew down the valley of the Schoharie, burning all the houses and other buildings in his route. In this action the loss of the British was heavy, while

that of the garrison was but four wounded, two of whom afterward died.

There were two other forts in Schoharie county, the Upper, five miles southeast from the middle, on the Schoharie creek, in the town of Fulton; and the Lower, near the village of Schoharie.

Many other incidents connected with these incursions are deeply interesting, but pertaining only to individual conflicts, must necessarily be omitted.

Justice, however, requires that we should notice, in passing, the brave and fearless Schoharie rifleman, Timothy Murphy, whose services to the cause of freedom were numerous, and rendered with a cheerfulness and devotion worthy of all praise. Such was his skill in the use of his rifle, that the foeman who came within its range, was always sure to "bite the dust."

After the Revolution, quiet was restored, and the beautiful valley of the Schoharie was soon again lined with farms and dwellings, which indicated the thrift and competency of their

owners.

The German language is still spoken by many of the older inhabitants, but their children receive an English education.

VILLAGES, &C. SCHOHARIE, in the town of the same name, is a small village situated in the midst of a region rich in minerals. Its public buildings are neat and substantial. Population about 500.

Esperance, the only incorporated village in the county, is in the town of the same name. It has some manufactures. Population about 500.

Sharon Springs, in the town of Sharon, and near the boundary line of Schoharie, Otsego, and Montgomery counties, has recently become a place of fashionable resort. The sulphur waters are said strongly to resemble those of the White Sulphur springs of Virginia. There is also a chalybeate spring here. The Pavilion, a fine hotel, was erected in 1836, and during the season is usually thronged with visitors.*

The following is Dr. Chilton's analysis of the waters of these springs.

Sulphate of magnesia, (Epsom salts,)

Grains.

42.40

12*

Rivers, O. Chemung river. a. Canisteo. b. Conhocton. c. Bennett's creek. d. Tuscarora. j. Mud. k. Five Mile. 1. Twelve Mile. q. Cowanesqua. r. Canascraga. s. Tioga river.

Lakes. BB. Seneca. m. Crooked. n. Little. o. Mud. p. Loon. Villages. BATH. Corning. Painted Post. Hammondsport. Hornellsville.

BOUNDARIES. North by Livingston, Ontario and Yates counties; East by Seneca lake and Chemung county; South by the State of Pennsylvania; and West by Livingston and Allegany counties.

SURFACE. This county belongs to the great table land, which extends through the southern tier of counties; owing, however, to the perishable character of the rocks on which it is based, the rivers have worn deep valleys, whose precipitous banks, frequently 400 or 500 feet in height, give it a greatly diversified surface. The general elevation of the table land is about 1500 feet above tide water. An irregular ridge on the west separates the waters of the Susquehanna from those of Genesee river.

66

RIVERS. The principal stream of the county is the Chemung, formed by the union of the Tioga, the Canisteo, and the Conhocton. The name of the river means a horn in the water," and is said to be derived from an immense horn or tusk which protruded from the bank of the river many years since. These streams are navigable during the freshet season. Their principal tributaries are Bennett's and Tuscarora creeks, of the Canisteo; and Mud, Five Mile and Twelve Mile creeks, of the Conhocton. The only other streams of any size are the Canascrága and Cowanesqua.

LAKES. Seneca lake forms the eastern boundary of the county for about eight miles. Crooked lake extends into it from Yates for about the same distance. Little, Mud and Loon are the names of the other lakes. The latter has a subterranean outlet half a mile long.

RAILROADS. The Corning and Blossburg railroad entering the county from the south, terminates at Corning, which is situated at the head of the navigable feeder of the Chemung canal. The New York and Erie railroad will pass through this county.

CLIMATE. The surface is so much elevated that the winters are generally cold and severe, and the seasons backward. The county, however, is generally healthy.

GEOLOGY AND MINERALS. The surface rock of this county, to the depth of nearly 1000 feet, is the Chemung group of sand