TOWN OF EATHBONE. 



383 



and in his old age sits quietly by the fireside, or attends to 

 feeding the stock of the farm during the long, idle winter 

 months. Eail-making is almost entirely abandoned ; the 

 broad zigzag lines of fence, which have since the early set- 

 tlement furnished the growing-place for raspberries and 

 blackberries, are fast rotting down, and being replaced by 

 more modern fences of wire or boards. 



There are four saw-mills in that part of the town south 

 of the river, one of which contains a planing-, lath- 

 and shingle-mill. Seth Cook, the proprietor of this mill, 

 is one of the earliest settlers, and one of the oldest lumber- 

 men in the town. The gospel lot of one hundred acres, 

 donated by the Pulteney estate to the first religious organ- 

 ization in the original town of Woodhull, is in llathbone, 

 joining the Woodhull line, and is farmed by the society, 

 thirty acres of wheat having been grown on the newly- 

 cleared portion in 1878. 



The early elections were held on Bonny Hill, at the May- 

 bery tavern, which was a prominent place of gathering 

 for years, and at Addison. The first bridge was built on 

 the old county road, but after being carried off" by a flood, 

 the crossing was changed to Baker's, in Cameron. This 

 made it inconvenient for teams in high-water, but a man on 

 horseback could still follow the old way of crossing (with 

 knees in the saddle), or lead the horse behind a canoe. 

 There are four river-bridges in the town. 



RATHBONEVILLE. 



As seen from the east, towards the cemetery, the village 

 of Bathboneville, the principal settlement of the town, 

 presents an individuality of appearance characteristic of the 

 enterprise of its citizens. From the church on the right, 

 which stands out in bold relief against the only cleared 

 slope in sight, a succession of large business houses extend 

 across the narrow valley to the river's bank. First, just 

 beyond the church is seen the little brown depot, beside 

 which rise the tall wooden structures comprising Burgett's 

 Hotel and Burgett's business block, extending across the 

 west end of the public square, each three stories in height, 

 and hiding completely the street on which are the remainder 

 of the buildings comprising the village. To the left of this 

 street, near the river, rises the first brick block in the vil- 

 lage, and one of the finest in the county. This block, built 

 in 1876, is occupied by Whitmore Brothers & Co., of whom 

 Orman S. and Keyes Whitmore, who commenced business 

 here in 1845, were the original members. A few rods 

 farther down the river the large flouring-mill built by Henry 

 Rathbone, in 1855, occupies, with its out-buildings, the 

 south side of the square. On the bluiF across the river, 

 and nearly 500 feet above, the farm-buildings of Kitchell 

 Lyon are visible over the mill. Upon the street beyond 

 the square are located the remainder of the business houses, 

 and beyond, the few fine residences comprising the remain- 

 der of the village, shaded by closely set maples 40 feet in 

 height, and extending to the bridge, a quarter of a mile 

 distant, which leads to the saw-mill and farm houses where 

 once stood the Tracy mill of 1806. Surrounding the vil- 

 lage is a circle of hills, too steep to be cleared, and covered 

 to their tops with a growth of young pine and bare walls 

 of rock. Upon their summits are fine farming lands, well 



tilled, and occupied by an industrious and hardy people, 

 who have for the second time removed the pines from some 

 of their lands, where lumbering first began fifty years ago. 



A road was opened up the valley at an early day, and its 

 few citizens led an idle life, or worked hard for pleasure 

 rather than profit, until about 1828, when it began to be 

 learned that some gain might be had in rafting the logs cut 

 from trees near the banks of the river to the nearest mills 

 down stream, or selling theni to some speculator as they lay 

 upon the banks. The work of cutting logs was hard, but 

 when they lay upon the skid ways it required but little ready 

 cash to buy them. 



The first real business of the town began with the advent 

 of Gen. Ransom Rathbone, who came in 1842 and engaged 

 in lumbering, opening the first store in the town on the 

 ground now occupied by Burgett's Hotel. He also opened 

 the first hotel in the place, which was kept by John R. 

 Jones. A post-office was opened, and received the name 

 of Rathboneville. Business activity began to be manifest 

 on every hand. Lumbermen came into the valley, and 

 joined those who already resided there in the task of re- 

 moving the forests of pine, felling the tall trees in almost 

 inaccessible positions upon the face of the bluffs, where 

 (when once fallen and cut into logs) it required strong 

 hands and brave hearts to unloose them and send them 

 thundering into the valleys below. High upon the hill-tops, 

 too, were cut thousands of logs, which had to be placed in 

 the valley. Bare, smooth roads, descending in straight 

 lines and bordered by thick young pines, mark the path 

 followed by these logs as they were rolled off at the top, 

 and hurled with terrific force down the steep hill-side, wear- 

 ing away the solid rock to a depth of several feet, and 

 striking with such force as to split logs two or three feet in 

 diameter, or send them spinning across the frozen river in 

 a manner as dangerous as startling to the beholder. Among 

 the prominent men of those days were Martin B. and Capt. 

 James Young, James H., Isaac, and John Mills, Joseph 

 Loughry, A. H. Kinney, a merchant of the town, and first 

 station-agent, Whitmore Brothers, Henry Rathbone, and 

 F Goff*, farmer and lumberman. It was Maj. Rathbone, a 

 citizen of this town, who received the assassin's knife, while 

 intercepting the murderer of President Lincoln. 



The people of the surrounding country came into the 

 Canisteo Valley to buy and to sell, and in this valley were 

 collected the popular gatherings of the day. The boisterous 

 revelry of travel up and down the valley added to the 

 tumult, and furnished the groundwork for a name of law- 

 lessness which attaches to new settlements. Yet this valley 

 was remarkably free from crime. The earliest meetings 

 were held here; and in Rathbone, Cameron, and all the 

 valley towns from Corning to Arkport and Dansville, relig- 

 ious services were held as early as settlement was made. Of 

 the early settlers, men of hardihood, whose physical natures 

 were developed by the surroundings with which they battled, 

 many were early recorded as members of Christian churches, 

 and those still living are respected members of society. The 

 only destructive fire which has visited the village burned 

 the store of H. W. Rathbone and the Good Templars' Hall, 

 in 1853. But little shipment of butter was made at this 

 station previous to 1860, since which date it has been a 



