712 [AsSEMBLT 



grant of unappropriated lands, covering an area of about 73,000 

 acres. It costs, in the construction of these roads, according to 

 the estimates preserved by tradition, " one penny and two farthings 

 per acre." 



Essex county was organized in 1799, in the division of Clinton 

 county, and is now bounded on the north by Clinton and Fjanklin 

 counties, on the west by Franklin and Hamilton, on the south by 

 Washifigton and Warren, and on the east by Lake Champlain. 

 The area of this county embraces 1,779 square miles, or 1,1:38,500 

 acres. It is the second county in territorial extent in the^State, 

 being only exceeded by St. Lawrence. 



New towns, by repeated divisions, have been occasionally form- 

 ed, as circumstances and the convenience of the population re- 

 quired. The county now comprises seventeen incorporated town- 

 ships, several of which comprehend more territory than some of 

 the counties in the State. Nearly all of them are too extended for 

 the convenient exercise of their civil and political functions. 

 The village of Essex was originally constituted the county shire, 

 and the old block-house, mentioned before, was appropriated for 

 the public use, and was occupied for these purposes, until the re- 

 moval of the county seat to Pleasant Valley. By the census of 

 1800, the combined population of Clinton and Essex counties, was 

 8,572, including 58 slaves. The next decade exhibits a very 

 decisive increase. Essex alone contained, by the census of 1810, 

 9,525 population, and Clinton 8,002. The following tabular ex- 

 hibit, will present the progress of the county in population. 



