112 NEW YORK STATE MUSEUM 
22 There was a recent fort on Cranston’s farm at Oneida castle 
east of the creek, probably the one built by Johnson in 1756. St 
Peter’s Indian church was there also before the Oneidas went to 
Green Bay. The cemetery west of the station was cut into by the 
West Shore railroad. 
23 “At the orchard the first Methodist mission house was built. 
The orchard is an old and very large one situated in the southwest 
corner of Vernon. It was set out by the Indians long before the - 
arrival of the first white settlers, it being apparently an old orchard 
in 1794.’ The noted Orchard party had its name from this.— 
Hammond, p. 114 
24 Dr Hinsdale reported a large site less than a mile west of the 
village of North Bay, with stone relics. 
25 He found a large straggling site near the mouth of Oneida 
creek, and another large village half a mile from the mouth, with 
early articles of bone, clay and stone. Net sinkers are common 
near the mouth of the creek. 
Onondaga county. This county was the historic center of the 
powerful Iroquois league and there the great council fire burned, — 
though not always in the same place. For nearly or quite a cen- 
tury the Onondaga towns were on the hills bordering the valley of 
Limestone creek. About 1690 or a little earlier they shifted to the 
east bank of the Butternut creek, a mile south of Jamesville. The 
next half century found them in the Onondaga valley east of the 
creek, but by 1750 nearly all were on the west side. ‘Their present 
location is quite recent. While part of this nation seem to have 
been immigrants but little over three centuries since, it is probable 
that they united with some of the same family who had preceded 
them, settling near Seneca river. Another group of this family was 
in Elbridge but may not have united with them, their natural as- 
sociations being farther west. 
Preceding the Onondagas and their kindred, and mainly in the 
northern towns, were those visitors who left so many interesting 
relics on the Seneca and Oneida rivers and the adjacent lakes and 
streams. These came from many places, but when, we can not 
tell. In this field the writer has worked for many years with the 
