TRAILS 



35 



Mr Morgan's three Onondaga villages are not well located, as 

 is easily proved. Ka-na-ta-go'-wa, or great village, is now where 

 he placed it, but it was 3 miles north of this in 1779, the farthest 

 north of all. There was no village at Gis-twe-ah'-na. In this 

 scheme the trail passed up the hill west of the present village of 

 Onondaga Valley, northwest through the sites of Camillus and 

 Elbridge, thence through Sennett and Auburn, crossing Owasco 

 creek just above the prison, following the old turnpike halfway to 

 Cayuga lake, then going direct to the old Cayuga ferry, half a mile 

 above Cayuga bridge. It crossed the foot of the lake about 4 miles 

 farther north, at the oTd fording place near the lower bridge. This, 

 however, was not the trail used by the Moravians and others 

 in the middle of the 18th century. That went directly over the 

 hills from Onondaga, at that time 4 miles south of the present 

 canal, passed some miles south of Marcellus village, crossed the 

 foot of Skaneateles lake and that of Owasco, reaching the village of 

 Ganiatarage i l / 2 miles north of Union Springs, intersecting there 

 the trail which connected the Cayuga villages east of the lake. This 

 was also Colonel Gansevoort's route in going eastward from the foot 

 of Cayuga lake to Fort Stanwix in 1779. The principal Cayuga 

 village was at Great Gully brook, 3 miles southeast of Union 

 Springs. From the mouth of this stream the lake was usually 

 crossed in canoes, and the trail went on to the foot of Seneca lake, 

 passing through the Cayuga village of Nuquiage, not far from that 

 lake. This is an historic route from Onondaga to the first Seneca 

 castle. That given by Mr Morgan seems much later. 



In his scheme, after fording the foot of Cayuga lake, the trail 

 followed the north bank of Seneca river to Seneca lake. He noted 

 another trail, crossing the lake in canoes, and running west from 

 the shore to Seneca Falls. Thence it followed the south bank of 

 the river, intersecting the other trail at the lake, and running 1 1 2 

 miles north to the first Seneca castle, near Geneva. Thence it fol- 

 lowed nearly the line of the turnpike to Canandaigua, at the foot of 

 that lake. 



The Moravian journals make quite a difference here. From the 

 foot of Seneca lake they went 4 miles west-southwest to a deserted 



