ABORIGINAL OCCUPATION OF NEW YORK 17 
ABORIGINAL OCCUPATION OF NEW YORK 
Gov. DeWitt Clinton was the first to treat of the New York 
earthworks in a prominent way, and his memoir on them was long 
a standard. His accounts are good, but necessarily brief and with 
some natural errors. Rev. Samuel Kirkland had previously de- 
scribed some forts in the Seneca country, often quoted from his 
journal. Rev. Thomas Robbins described an earthwork in Onon- 
daga county in 1802, and Rev. John Taylor gave accounts and plans 
of several forts in Jefferson county in the same year. The illustra- 
tions of these are very regular in form and nearly all can be located. 
His journal appears in the third volume of the New York docu- 
mentary history. 
Brief notes relating to this class of antiquities will be found in 
other early journals; some being of much value. Others appear in 
the various town and county histories published during the last 
half century. Josiah Priest’s odd and popular work on American 
antiquities contains notices of a few, all at second-hand and with 
curious deductions. Some are grouped and described in James 
Macauley’s History of New York. Joshua V. H. Clark’s Onondaga; 
or, Remumscences of earlier and later times, marked an era in the 
illustration and description of early works. It is to be regretted 
that his plans of these were not more carefully prepared, but for 
some of them he depended on other men. His dimensions are 
often doubled, but his accounts are of great value. 
Mr Henry R. Schoolcraft gave notes on a few New York an- 
tiquities in his report on the Iroquois, with plans and descriptions 
in his well-known style. Something may be gathered from these. 
Then came Mr E. G. Squier’s judicious work, devoted entirely to 
the subject, and at once affecting prevailing opinions. He repro- 
duced Mr Clark’s matter, but wisely omitted some of his plans. 
His own careful field work stands every test, though limited by 
means and time. His book gives a general view of New York 
antiquities which is now of priceless value. The surveys were care- 
fully made and the conclusions sound, his opinions having changed 
after he wrote on the monuments of the Mississippi valley. 
