42 A H R I G 1 N A L MONUMENTS OF NEW YORK. 



cate the sites which they occupied according to the best information obtained 

 from the early settlers. It is asserted that an enclosure of considerable size exists 

 in the town of Irondequoit, west of Irondequoit Bay, and near the Genesee River, 

 about five miles north of Rochester. A day was spent in search of it, but without 

 success. Its discovery may reward the perseverance of some future explorer.* 



A fine work once occupied a commanding site at the point known as " Hand- 

 ford's Landing," three miles north of Rochester. It consisted of a semicircular 

 embankment, the ends of which extended to the very edge of the immense ravine 

 which shuts in the Genesee River below the falls at Rochester. It had three 

 narrow gateways placed at irregular intervals. 



There is a locality in the town of Parma, about seven miles west of Rochester, 

 where the earth has subsided into the fissures of the sand rock, forming what has 

 generally been supposed to be a line of entrenchments. From some distance the 

 apparent ditch has all the regularity of a work of art ; but still it is hard to under- 

 stand how it came to be regarded as an " Indian Fort," by which name it is 

 currently known in the neighborhood. It would seem incredible that errors of this 

 kind should become general, had not a large experience shown that upon no class 

 of subjects do the mass of men exercise so little sound judgment, as upon those 

 which relate to the history and monuments of the past. 



In the town of Ogden, which adjoins Parma on the south, it is reputed that some 

 ancient works are to be found; but from the best information which could be 

 obtained, it seems probable that the report has no better foundation than hun- 

 dreds of similar ones, and originated, it is very likely, in the discovery of an Indian 

 cemetery, or of the traces of an Indian village. 



Ascending the valley of the Genesee for twenty miles, we come to a section of 

 country which is very rich in evidences of aboriginal occupancy, but chiefly such 

 as may be referred to a comparatively late date. In the town of Wheatland, and a 

 short distance to the westward of the village of Scottsville, there formerly existed 

 two very interesting earth-works. There is scarcely a trace of them now to be 

 seen. They were visited by Kirkland in 1788. He found the first work " about 

 two miles west of Allen's residence, which was an extensive flat, at a deserted 

 Indian village near the junction of a creek (Allen's Creek) with the Genesee, eight 

 miles north of the old Indian village of Kanawageas, and five miles north of the 

 Magic Spring (Caledonia Springs), so called by the Indians, who believed its 

 waters had the power of petrifying all things subjected to its influence. This 

 work enclosed about six acres, and had six gates. The ditch was about eight feet 

 wide, and in some places six feet deep, and drawn in a circular form on three 

 sides. The fourth side was defended by nature with a high bank, at the foot of 

 which was a fine stream of water. The bank had probably been secured by a 

 stockade, as there appeared to have been a deep covered way in the middle of it. 



* McCauley states that there is an ancient work on Irondequoit Bay, in Penfield township, on the 

 north side of the " ridge." No information coidd be obtained concerninir it. 



