THE TOWN OF LEWISBORO. 457 



J. G., 1776, Congress, (John Gilbert.) The Gilbert powder-horn which 

 was borne through the Revolutionary war, is now in the possession of 

 the Hon. John Jay. This relic is curiously engraved, showing the lines 

 of the American army while stationed at Boston and Charleston, Mass. 



Between two and three miles north-west of the village of South Salem 

 lies Lake Wepuck or Waccabuck, (Long Pond,) a beautiful sheet of 

 water, covering one hundred and twenty-eight acres and a half of ground. 

 Near by are two other sheets of water, called the north and south lakes, 

 connected with the Wepuck by a small stream ; the former containing 

 thirty-seven acres, the latter sixty-six and a half., all are fed and 

 supplied chiefly, (perhaps entirely,) by springs and rivulets from the 

 great Wepuck mountain. Near the western shore is located the Wacca- 

 buck house kept by Mr. Rockwell Mead. The northern shore of the 

 lake is bordered with hanging woods, and surrounded by rocky moun- 

 tains of the most picturesque form, presenting altogether an interesting 

 scene as the traveller approaches from Lower Salem. The hills on the 

 southern shore are much lower, but equally attractive ; their bases being 

 profusely covered with foliage to the very margin of the water. Its 

 shores are also diversified with wooded points. A short distance from 

 the southern shore of the Lake, on the land of Edwin Bouton, is the 

 well-known angle of the oblong, where the Commissioners in 1734 

 erected a monument which they deemed twenty miles from Cortlandt 

 Point (Verplanck) on the Hudson River. The fences still remain as 

 they were laid out by the original proprietors of the adjoining lands. 

 Lake Wepuck or Waccabuck was once famous for the abundance of its 

 beavers (castor fiber.) It is upwards of fifteen years since, that the last 

 solitary hermit was observed upon the edge of the lake. This animal 

 had been noticed at different intervals throughout the summer of 1832. 

 In the fall of that year a . laboring man (residing near the lake) deter- 

 mined upon securing it if possible. For this purpose he took his station 

 early one morning in the vicinity of one of the beaver's haunts. It soon 

 made its appearance, and commenced felling a small tree, which it drew 

 to the water's edge ; but the man who had refrained from firing, in order 

 to watch the motions of the animal, making a slight noise, it became 

 alarmed, and suddenly plunged into the water,* 



The numerous rivers of Westchester county must have afforded (the 

 Indian hunter) an abundant supply of this useful animal. Van der 

 Donck, the Patroon of Yonkers, informs us that in 1656, beavers were 

 found not far from his residence, and several were brought in by the 

 Indian hunters; also that 80,000 of these animals were annually killed 

 a It is said that the same animal wa3 observed in the Fall of 1837. 



