56 



HISTORY OF STEUBEN COUNTY, NEW YORK. 



Loon Lake, in the town of Wayland, is situated in a high 

 valley. The outlet passes for some distance underground, 

 and then comes to the surface with a volume of water suf- 

 ficient to drive a mill. It runs northward, while the waters 

 of Mud Lake, a little distance south of it, run south to 

 Neil's Creek. The surroundings of Loon Lake are marsh 

 and swamp. This lake is over a mile long and three- 

 quarters of a mile wide. The summit here is about eighteen 

 hundred feet above tide-water. 



East of the village of Bath lies a beautiful little lake, 

 nestled amid the surrounding hills, its waters pure and 

 clear, its name Salubria. The little gem was probably 

 dropped there in the breaking up of the great inland sea, 

 as a " tear-drop" to remind one of by-gone days.* It is 

 a beautiful sheet of water, and fulfills in all its phases the 

 characteristics pi'edicated upon the name by which it is 

 known. 



In the northern part of the town of Howard are two 

 lakes. One of them is to the north of Howard Flats, the 

 outlet of which empties into Neil's Creek, some two miles 

 above its confluence with the Conhocton. The other lake, 

 northeast of Howard Flats, is a beautiful sheet of water, 

 termed ^ pond by the inhabitants^ and surrounded by a fine 

 cultivated country called the ^' Pond Settlement." This 

 lake debouches to the south in a crooked outlet, which runs 

 past GofF's Mills, thence northeast to the Conhocton. Along 

 this outlet and creek are developed some of the most re- 

 markable characteristics of the geological features of Steu- 

 ben County. Ascending the creek to and past the mills of 

 Alonzo Graves, we find rocks of shale and grit in masses, 

 here thrown up in rounded hills, and there torn asunder by 

 the passage of the water. The valley of this stream through- 

 out is in marked contrast with the alluvial character of the 

 Howard Flats above. 



In the southern part of the town of Thurston is Friends' 

 Lake, the outlet of which passes southward through the 

 hills to the Canisteo. This outlet is in character with all 

 the streams which are precipitated from the hills into the 

 valleys below. In dry seasons it secretes its waters beneath 

 the debris of the shales scattered along its channel. In wet 

 weather it is the " mad mountain torrent," sweeping every- 

 thing in its course, and excavating rock and gravel as a 

 pathway for its tumbling waters. 



Goodhue Lake, covering an area of about five hundred 

 acres, and surrounded by hills and forests of pine, lies in 

 the extreme northwest corner of the town of Addison, and 

 forms the head of Goodhue Creek, which passes southeast 

 through the town, affording hydraulic power for several 

 saw-mills. It enters the Canisteo below Addison. This is 

 a wild, picturesque stream in all its surroundings of hill 

 and valley, sometimes beautiful and quiet as it winds along 

 its tortuous course, sometimes impetuous, dashing and surg- 

 ing against the hills as it hastens downward to the Can- 

 isteo. 



RIVERS. 



The principal rivers of Steuben County are the Conhoc- 

 ton, Canisteo, Tioga, Chemung, Cowanesque, Canaseraga, 

 and their several tributaries, denominated creeks. The 



* Goldsmith Denniston. 



Conhocton stretches from the summit in Livingston County 

 to the extreme southeast part of the county, where it unites 

 with the Canisteo and Tioga, forming the Chemung River, 

 which retains that cognomen until it is merged in the Sus- 

 quehanna. The head-waters of the Conhocton are found 

 in the town of Springwater, Livingston Co., far north 

 among the hills, and north of the inlet of Hemlock Lake, 

 which empties north into Lake Ontario. Thence it enters 

 the northwest corner of the town of Cohocton, passing 

 through Avoca, Bath, Campbell, Erwin, and Corning, 

 where it assumes the name of Chemung. This river, to- 

 gether with its tributaries, drains all the northern and 

 middle portions of the county. Upon its waters have been 

 rafted much of the timber of the county, and formerly a 

 large quantity of grain was floated upon it to market in 

 Pennsylvania and Maryland. The Conhocton was declared 

 navigable from the " twenty -two mile tree' (Bivin's Cor- 

 ners, now Blood's) to Painted Post, and Gen. McClure, as 

 early as 1795, constructed an ark seventy-five feet long and 

 sixteen feet wide, and passed down the river with a cargo 

 of staves to near Harrisburg. Others frequently navigated 

 this river with arks during the early period of the coun- 

 try's settlement. 



The Canisteo River takes its rise in the towns of Alfred 

 and Grove, in Allegany County, and passes eastward through 

 Steuben to near Painted Post, where it unites with the 

 Tioga, and thence the united waters of the latter and the 

 Conhocton flow into the Chemung. This river and tribu- 

 taries drain the southwestern part of the county ; its flats 

 rank with the most fertile lands, and the surrounding hills 

 furnish the most valuable lumber. This river was also 

 famous in the early days as an avenue of commerce with 

 the lower Susquehanna, and with Baltimore and Phila- 

 delphia, Arkport, in its upper valley, being the headquarters 

 for fitting out arks laden with provisions and lumber, and 

 sending them down to the Chesapeake Bay. (See Histories 

 of Hornellsville, Bath, Urbana, and Bradford.) 



The Tioga River rises in Pennsylvania, and enters Steu- 

 ben County from the south, in the town of Lindley, running 

 north to the Canisteo, midway between Painted Post and 

 Addison. Near the Pennsylvania line the Cowanesque 

 Creek enters the Tioga. This creek has its rise in the town 

 of Troupsburgh ; from that town it passes into Pennsylvania, 

 and thence into the town of Lindley, entering the Tioga 

 near the State line. The valley of this creek presents 

 some of the most beautiful and fertile lands in the State. 



The TusCARORA Creek rises in the town of Jasper, and 

 passes by a tortuous course through the southwest corner 

 of Rathbone into Woodhull, thence to the Canisteo, at the 

 village of Addison. The hills on either side of this creek 

 are quite near in their approach, leaving a contracted valley 

 of fertile alluvium. This creek drains the southeast part 

 of Jasper, the town of Woodhull, Southern Addison, and 

 Tuscarora. These towns rank in fertility of soil and graz- 

 ing adaptation with any portion of Steuben County. The 

 hills and valleys of the Tuscarora and its tributary creeks 

 furnish some of the most favorable advantages for^ wool- 

 growing and dairy purposes to be found anywhere. 



Stephen's Creek has its rise in Jasper, near the head- 

 waters of the Tuscarora, and runs north through the hills 



