TWO DAYS AT SYEACUSR 149 



this, the present site of Syracuse, then an un- 

 promising stretch of swamps, was the home of the 

 wolf and bear. Over its dreary waste the cry of 

 the wild cat, the warning of the rattlesnake and the 

 hooting of the owl lent their sounds to the weird chorus 

 of Nature, and it was here that the wily Indian came to 

 seek his game. It was through Father Le Moyne, 

 too, that we hear of the great Salt Springs, which he 

 visited at the southern end of the lake in company 

 with some Huron and Onondaga chiefs. The Indians, 

 unable to comprehend the strange effect of salt and 

 clear water bubbling from the same fountain, had a 

 superstition that the springs were possessed by an evil 

 spirit and were afraid to drink from them ; but when 

 the white man began to share their old haunts, we hear 

 of the bewitched water being fearlessly used, and the 

 evil spirit converted into a propitious one. It was 

 Major Asa Danforth and his companion, Colonel Com- 

 fort Tyler, who began early in the present century the 

 enterprise which has since proved such a splendid suc- 

 cess. These two pioneers started out afoot for the 

 springs with no other implements than an axe, chain 

 and kettle, which seem primitive enough to us who 

 know of the means that are now employed in the mak- 

 ing of this great staple. Arrived at the springs, two 

 young trees were cut, a stout branch placed in their 

 crochets and on this the kettle was hung. When the 

 work was finished, the men hid their implements in the 

 bushes for safety, shouldered their rich possession and 

 started home over the ground that in a few years w^as 

 to be the scene of such striking and sudden changes. 



Joshua Forman was the first man who saw a prom- 

 ising field in the unhealthy land south of Lake Onon- 



