OUR LOG FOUNDATIONS. 7 



1 81 2, the supply from Nova Scotia having been shut off 

 on account of the war, gave an impulse to commercial 

 enterprise. In 1820 the population numbered 859. The 

 same year the keel of the Enterprise, the first steamer 

 bnilt on the lake was laid, and the boat was launched 

 May 4th, 1 82 1 . The boat connected with the Newburgh 

 stages, making the most direct route from New York 

 to Buffalo, the entire journey occupying only three 

 days. The Erie Canal, completed in 1825. gave direct 

 communication with the Atlantic seaboard. In 1834 

 the Ithaca and Owego railroad was completed. The 

 old style strap rail was used throughout, and the road 

 ascended the hill from Ithaca by two inclined planes, 

 up the steeper of which the cars were drawn by means 

 of a huge windlass worked by horse power. Bright 

 anticipations of the future were, of course, raised by all 

 these increased facilities, and Ithaca, like most nascent 

 cities, went through its era of speculation. It was 

 destined, however, to be prosperous, but not great as a 

 commercial centre, and it gradually settled down to a 

 steady growth. In 1845 the population was about 

 4,000, in i860 about 7,000, and now it is nearly 12,000. 

 But from all this let us turn to our Ithaca, as we 

 know it to-day, as it is loved by its citizens and admired 

 bv all comers. 



