2l6 NEW YORK STATE MUSEUM 



The late Seymour H. Sutton of Naples published in 185 1 

 a series of articles entitled the Annals of Naples in which he states 

 that the first party of settlers came up the lake on the ice in Feb- 

 ruary 1790 and " moved up the inlet till they arrived at a. wigwam 

 where they sought the hospitality of the Indian owner, while the 

 cattle were turned out to feed on the tall dry grass that grew in the 

 valley of Koyendaga. 



On the succeeding morning they saw the smoke of 40 wigwams 

 against the sky and the Indians began to assemble in small groups 

 to view the white intruders. Hiotonta in the native dignity of a 

 chief of gigantic stature and graceful manners, and Canesque 

 (Ka-nes-ka?) the tall and venerable ex-chief of a hundred winters, 

 also comes to look. 



' The lofty hills,' says Parrish (one of the first settlers) ' on 

 either side of Koyendaga were so destitute of timber that a deer 

 might plainly be seen from one extreme end to the other, even to 

 the very top.' 



At this time the Indians cultivated a large portion of the land 

 along the creek. The flats were interspersed with patches of wild 

 plum and the dry .land sparsely covered with black walnut and 

 sugar maple trees." 



Although the Indians had surrendered all claim to the land, they 

 had reserved the right to hunt and fish here for 20 years, and many 

 of them remained and appear to have lived on the most amicable 

 terms with the settlers. 



Even after they had removed to the reservation on the Gen- 

 esee river, they returned annually during the hunting season. The 

 late Col. N. W. Clark could remember seeing their group of wig- 

 wams near where the Methodist church now stands in Naples 

 village. They assisted the first settlers in their construction of 

 a hominy block or stump mortar, the pestle or pounder of which 

 was operated by aid of a spring pole, and took their turn in the use 

 of it. 



Sutton relates some later incidents connected with the Indians 

 here: "They were in the habit of visiting Squakie hill near the 

 Genesee river. Canesque was there and, dying of old age, he 

 desired to be brought back to Koyendaga to die and be buried 

 with those he loved. In the winter of 1794 two Indians, from 

 sympathy and kindness, conveyed the aged chief on a sled over 

 40 miles to the place where he chose to die. The whites ad- 

 ministered to his comfort till he died. . . His funeral was 



