THE TOWN OF CORTLANDT. 1 83 



Just south of Ouger's is the Island of Oscawana, now owned by Hen- 

 ry P. DeGraff, President of the Bowery Bank, who is so largely interes- 

 ted in property at Cruger's, and also owner of Iona Island. Mr. De 

 Graff , is now erecting a splendid mansion of brick with suitable out- 

 buildings, on the high grounds of Oscowana, overlooking the splendid 

 scenery of the Hudson River. At Cruger's there are four brick- yards 

 owned by John Peach Cruger, and occupied by D. J. Haight, employ- 

 ing about one hundred and twenty men, and paying out about $23,400 

 for labor during the season. On George's Island, about one-half a mile 

 above Cruger's, there are three brickyards employing about one hundred 

 and twenty men, and occupied by William Tompkins, paying about 

 $25,000. A little to the north of this are two more brick yards, owned 

 and occupied by Orrin Frost, employing about eighty men, and paying 

 out about $20,000 during the season. On the turnpike leading to Peek- 

 skill is the hamlet of Boscobel; here is a Methodist Episcopal 

 church erected in 1868, of which the Rev. Mr. Blake is the present pas- 

 tor. The celebrated Lieutenant William Mosier, or Mosher, of the 

 Revolution, formerly resided in this neighborhood. His brother Abel 

 Mosher, left a son Daniel whose son is the present Isaac Mosher of 

 Boscobel. 



A small mountain stream enters the Hudson near Boscobel called the 

 Furnace brook, upon which stood the manorial mills, long since super- 

 seded by Ramsay's mill now owned by Mr. Phelps above Crugers; crown- 

 ing the bold banks of the mountain torrent is situated the Cortlandt 

 Furnace, which has given name not only to the brook but to an exten- 

 sive tract of forest, consisting of 1,500 acres called the " Furance Wood," 

 on the borders of which are numerous peat beds. 



In the year 1760 a mining company was established in England, and 

 German miners employed for the purpose of obtaining and smelting iron 

 ore in this vicinity. It would appear, however, that the ore was not 

 found here in sufficient abundance ; for, at a vast expense, we find it 

 subsequently transported from the Queensburg mine, in the forest of 

 Dean, Rockland county, by the route of King's ferry, and melted in 

 this furnace. But even in Rockland County the ore was not found in 

 sufficient quantities to render it of any importance, so that prior to the 

 Revolution, the enterprise was wholly abandoned, and the property sold 

 to Mr. John Ramsay whose daughter married John Cruger, father of 

 John P. Cruger. The furnace woods are now held by various proprietors. 

 Mr. Benjamin Odell occupies the Ramsay residence and mill. The 

 mansion house of the late Hon. Nicholas Cruger, who for several years 

 represented this county in assembly, is delightfully situated near the land- 



