HISTORY OF AGRICULTURE 67 



hocton turnpike led to the Delaware Eiver and cen- 

 tral Sullivan County. A road was early developed 

 along the Mohawk and at Utica left the river and 

 followed a course by Wampsville and Syracuse to 

 Auburn, and thence to Geneva and Canandaigua. It 

 was pushed through to Buffalo with branches to 

 Geneseo and a north fork west of the Genesee River 

 leading to Lewiston on the Niagara. This road was 

 opened to Auburn in 1789 and to the Genesee in 

 1791. At that time the western half was known as 

 the Genesee road and as it developed sections passed 

 under different names, such as Seneca Turnpike. 

 From the region of Utica a northern branch swung 

 around by Camden into Jefferson County, and as a 

 result of a special improvement was known as the 

 Plank road. Many of these early roads were im- 

 proved through the swamps by means of logs placed 

 crosswise and more or less covered with earth, known 

 as Corduroy. These were more substantial than com- 

 fortable to ride over, especially in the common spring- 

 less wagon of the region. Many of these old trunk 

 line roads have now been linked up in the state im- 

 proved highways system over which automobiles glide 

 with great speed where once oxen drew carts that 

 made slow, rumbling and jolted progress. Linked 

 with the early development of the canal was the in- 

 troduction of Fulton's steamboat, the Clermont, 

 which on August 7, 1807, traversed the Hudson at 

 the " remarkable speed " of a little more than five 

 miles an hour. 



The Erie Canal, which was originally forty feet 



