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 Nezv York. Joshua V. H. Clark's Onondaga; 

 or, Reminiscences 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 prevaihng 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. 



