Alba .ny County 93 



Learning that furs wore largely obtained from the Iroquois, 

 Hendrick Christiansen resolved to form a permanent trading 

 post at the entrance of their country. Accordingly he built, in 

 1614, a solid log house nearly forty feet long surrounded by a 

 stockade. It was located on Castle Island below Albany, and was 

 know as Fort Xassau; there he left a permanent garrison of ten 

 men. In 1623 Fort Orange was built near the present steamboat 

 landing in the southern part of the city, and Albany was there- 

 after known as Fort Orange for a number of years. From Fort 

 Orange the ship Xieu Xederlandt took 1,500 beaver and 500 otter 

 skins at the close of the first season. In 1658 the number exported 

 reached 57,640 beaver and 300 otter skins, a beaver skin being 

 valued at about eight guilders, or $3.20. 



Until after the year 1625, the Dutch did not seriously consider 

 making any permanent settlements in this state. They merely 

 visited the country in autumn and winter, with a view to the 

 fur trade with the Indians, returning in the spring to Holland. 

 In that year, however, the Dutch West India Company offered 

 large appropriations of land to such families as should settle in 

 " Xew Xetherlands," as the Dutch possessions in America were 

 then called. Four years later a grant of land, including nearly 

 all of that now forming the counties of Albany and Rensselaer, 

 was conferred upon Killian Van Rensselaer, who was known as 

 the " Patroon " of the manor of Rensselaerwyck. By the terms 

 of the grant the charter would be forfeited unless the lands were 

 settled in seven years by at least fifty persons over fifteen years 

 of age. A shipload of emigrants was forwarded the next year, 

 and during the succeeding decade there followed many families 

 whose names are still prominent among their descendants. 



The emigrants were furnished with stock, seeds, and farming 

 implements, and the land was leased at an annual rent, payable 

 in grain, beeves, and wampum, or a share of the products. This 

 period marks the beginning of agricultural improvements. 



From earliest times the leasehold tenures excited discontent 

 among the tenants. As succeeding patroons treated the appeals 

 of the tenants with very little regard, the intense feeling led to 

 armed resistance to the collection of rents. The excitement resulted 

 in calling out the militia to enforce the laws. In 1846 a clause 



