Selecting the Farm 45 



protects the Lake Erie Valley with blankets of 

 clouds from November till April, moderating the 

 winter and thus sheltering all kinds of berries, 

 vines, and fruit trees. The moderate snowfall 

 is sufficient to cover the ground with this best of 

 all winter covers. From May till November the 

 weather is ideal, rarely attaining eighty degrees 

 of heat, and the coldest winter day seldom shows 

 zero weather. Within this Valley are upwards 

 of thirty million grapevines in highest productivity; 

 thousands of acres of berries, peaches, apples, 

 prunes, plums, cherries, melons, com, wheat, 

 potatoes, peas, beans, and vegetables. The Valley 

 was the far ''West'* until a few years after the 

 close of the Revolution, when settlers began enter- 

 ing at the east from New England and New York, 

 and from Philadelphia, Harrisburg, and Pittsburgh, 

 through the west, near Erie. La Salle discovered 

 the region in 1679, while voyaging on the Griffon 

 westward along the south shore of Lake Erie, 

 accompanied by Father Hennepin, that charming 

 romancer, and others, first of Europeans to behold 

 this garden of the New World. Baron La Hontan, 

 in 1688, penetrated the region at the command of 

 Denonville, Governor of New France; and Charle- 

 voix, in 1720, traversed the Valley, recording the 

 prodigality of Nature, the abundance of wild apples, 

 plums, grapes, the forests of nut trees, the deer, 

 bear, elk, and buffalo on every side. It was 

 Charlevoix who left the name " Aux Boeuf ** which 

 yet lingers in Erie County, though better known 



