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NEW YORK STATE MUSEUM 



14. There was " much cleared land " at Albany. Father Jogues 

 wrote in 1644 that the Dutch " found some pieces of ground all 

 ready, which the savages had probably prepared." This was near 

 the river where Steamboat square is now located. With this excep- 

 tion there seems to have been little occupation of the lowlands near 

 the river between the Normans kill and Watervliet. The hilly land 

 west of the city, however, shows abundant traces of occupation. On 

 the sand plains and in the pine forests west of the city are numerous 

 camp sites. Most are of Algonkian origin though in a few ; Iroquoian 

 potsherds are found. 



Fig. 70 An early site on the Normanskill slope south of Graceland 

 cemetery, Albany. Site 6. 



15 There was an early village site in Cohoes and relics are found 

 there. According to the Iroquois traditions the village in which 

 Dekanawida and Hiawatha arranged the rules of the Five Nations 

 Confederacy was situated near the lower falls, above Cohoes, and on 

 the left bank of the Mohawk river. 



1 6 A trail led across the Helderbergs to the Schoharie valley. 

 The Indian Ladder was on the site of the present Indian Ladder 

 road, i mile from Meadowdale station. In a niche where the rocks 



