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HISTORY OP STEUBEN COUNTY, NEW YORK. 



County adapted to grape-culture is that portion bordering 

 on Crooked Lake, in the towns of Pulteney, Wayne, and 

 Urbana, and in Pleasant Valley, at the head of the lake in 

 the last-mentioned town. This district lies in latitude 

 forty-two degrees thirty minutes north, and longitude thirty 

 minutes west of Washington, at an elevation above tide- 

 water of nearly seven hundred feet. The valley of Pleas- 

 ant Valley and Crooked Lake has an indefinite beginning 

 near Bath, and extends in a northeasterly direction eight 

 miles, with an average width of two miles, to the head of 

 the lake where the village of Hammondsport is situated, 

 the direction of the lake being mainly the same for twenty 

 miles farther to Penn Yan. This lake is three hundred 

 and fifty feet in depth, of pure, clear water, and seldom 

 freezes over at the head in the coldest winters. It has two 

 branches, separated by a promontory of great elevation 

 called Bluff Point. The circumference of the entire lake, 

 and that portion of the valley in vineyards, is something 

 over sixty miles. 



The soil is a clay loam largely mixed with shale, gravel, 

 and stone of black slate. The face of the country border- 

 ing the lake and valley is remarkably uneven and hilly, and 

 has in places a slope of forty degrees. This belt or border 

 of the valley and lake is deeply cut and gashed at various 

 distances by rushing, dashing streams (at certain seasons of 

 the year), with ravines a hundred feet deep or more, with 

 cascades, at intervals, of rare beauty, and again by laugh- 

 ing, dancing rivulets, draining the border, the plateaus, and 

 hills which lie back from the lake at every varying distance 

 and height. It is upon these slopes or borders that the 

 vineyards of this justly-celebrated grape and wine region 

 have their location. The belt occupied by the vine is from 

 a quarter of a mile to a mile in width. 



The circumstances and material elements which conspire 

 to make this a grape locality of earliness and healthfulness 

 of the vine, above most others, are the composition and 

 formation of the soil, the perfect drainage by nature, the 

 influence of the lake, and the links of mountain heights 

 surrounding it; besides it is believed that Canandaigua 

 Lake north, and Ontario and Seneca near by, lend their 

 influence in lengthening the season beyond that natural to 

 the latitude, so tempering the atmosphere in moisture and 

 warmth as to result in a location for the vine of great health- 

 fulness, and in giving to the fruit a flavor untainted of soil 

 or anything of a foreign nature. 



GRAPE-CULTURE. 



Vine-culture as a business commenced in this region in 

 1854, by the planting of Catawba and Isabella varieties, 

 which had been grown in gardens for twenty years before, 

 having been first introduced into Pleasant Valley by Rev. 

 William Bostwick. 



As early as 1836, Mr. J. W. Prentiss, of Pulteney, had 

 obtained a few cuttings of Mr. Bostwick, and planted them 

 on an elevation of eight hundred feet above the lake, and 

 about two miles back from its western shore. From these 

 he continued the experiment year after year, until he had 

 a vineyard of three acres. 



In 1854, Andrew Reisenger, a German vine-dresser, 

 came into Pulteney, eight miles north of Hammondsport, 



and planted about an acre and a half on the hill-side on the 

 banks of the lake with Catawbas and Isabellas, mostly the 

 former. The soil was a heavy clay, and he trenched it in 

 the German mode two and a half feet deep. Reisenger's 

 experiment was rather a failure, and was ultimately aban- 

 doned by him. But in 1855, Orlando Shepherd and Judge 

 Jacob Larrowe brought vines from there to Pleasant Vallev, 

 and set out about half an acre each on the hill-side, near 

 Hammondsport. 



The minds of the people in the valley have received a 

 strong impetus towards grape-culture from several causes. 

 The first of these w^as the uniform prolificacy and excellence 

 of the grape on their lands under almost any treatment ; 

 second, the great success and profits of Longworth and 

 others at Cincinnati in its culture, and the example nearer by, 

 in Avon, and also that of Mr. McKay, of Naples, Ontario 

 Co., who had cultivated a vineyard of several acres from 

 about 1848, with great profit; and finally, the agricultural 

 newspapers of that period were specially engaged in calling 

 attention to the subject. An influx into the neighborhood 

 of industrious and honest Germans, familiar with grape- 

 culture and wine-making, gave the people an opportunity 

 to obtain further information on the subject. They became 

 satisfied that their soil and climate were adapted to that 

 culture, and the Germans supplied them with experienced 

 laborers. They, therefore, did not await the result of Shep- 

 herd's and Larrowe's experiment. In 1858 both of these 

 gentlemen increased their vineyards to two or three acres 

 each ; Bell and McMaster set out six or eight acres of vines ; 

 Edwin P. Smith, two acres; Grattan H. Wheeler, four 

 acres ; Charles D. Champlin, one acre ; Stanley B. Fair- 

 child, one acre; Timothy M. Younglove, one acre. 



In the fall of 1858, Aaron Y. Baker, of Pleasant Valley, 

 went to Ohio, and examined the vineyards at Kelley's 

 Island, four hundred acres of which were probably then in 

 bearing. He brought back thirty thousand cuttings, and 

 his report of what he saw further stimulated the enterprise 

 of his townsmen. But we can no longer trace the history 

 of individual enterprise. 



In 1859 and 1860 full two hundred acres of vines were set 

 out. The surface since planted has extended to about five 

 thousand acres, a large proportion of which are in bearing. 

 The present vineyard region extends along the hill-slopes 

 on the west side of Pleasant Valley and the west shore of 

 Crooked Lake for a distance of ten or twelve miles, and 

 occupies a productive area of considerable extent on the 

 east side in the town of Wayne. 



The varieties now chiefly grown are Catawba, Isabella, 

 Delaware, Diana, lona, and Concord, while there are many 

 others grown in less quantities. Their rank for wine has 

 been graded about as follows : first, lona ; then Delaware ; 

 then Catawba. Diana, for white wine ; Norton's Virginia 

 Seedling, Ives Seedling, Isabella, Clinton, and Concord, for 

 red wine. 



The average annual yield, taking the entire acreage in 

 bearing, is estimated at three thousand pounds per acre. 

 Some vineyards of Catawbas, Isabellas, and Concords do 

 sometimes yield four tons, and even more, per acre. Other 

 varieties, as Delaware, Diana, lona, and many others, do not 

 yield as much under like circumstances. 



