ABORIGINAL USE OF WOOD IN NEW YORK 



115 



one above the other; and they were busy at the third angle. These 

 angles were constructed so solid and strong as not to be excelled by 

 Christians. O'Callaghan, 4:73 



A Mohawk fort of 1665 is described as " a triple palisade, sur- 

 rounding their stronghold, twenty feet in height, and flanked by 

 four bastions." It had " prodigious quantities of provisions," and 

 an abundant supply of water in bark tanks. 



The French said that the triple palisade of the Onondagas, burned 

 in August 1696, was built by the English; but there is no docu- 

 mentary evidence of this. It is thus described: 



It was an oblong, flanked by four regular bastions. The two 

 rows of stockades that touched each other, were of the thickness of 

 an ordinary mast, and outside, at a distance of six feet, stood 

 another row of much smaller dimensions, but between 40 and 50 

 feet in hight. O'Callaghan, Col. Doc. 9:653 



Beside the mission fort of 1656 at Onondaga lake, the French 

 unsuccessfully tried to build a blockhouse at Onondaga in 171 1. At 

 the same time Fort Hunter, with its chapel and blockhouses, was 

 built for the Mohawks, and similar buildings were contracted for 

 among the Onondagas. All these were to be garrisoned by white 

 men. In 1756 Sir William Johnson formed a different plan ; that of 

 building forts and blockhouses to be used by Indians, and this was 

 partly carried out. Figure 21 is the plan preserved of the one built 

 for the Schoharie Indians, and the others scarcely differed from this. 

 The directions for the one at Onondaga may be read with this in 

 hand, and part of these follow : 



Fort is to be one hundred & fifty feet square, the Logs to be either 

 Pine or Oak sixteen feet long, four feet of which to be set in the 

 ground well rammed and pounded t[w]o sides of each Log to be 

 square so as they may stand close to each other proper Loop holes 

 to be cut at four feet distance the height from the Ground to be 

 left to the Indians, two good Block Houses to be built at either 

 Gate of the opposite Corners each Block House to be 24 feet square 

 below the upper part above the beams to project a foot so as men 

 may fire down upon the enemy. You are to floor the Block Houses 

 Shingle the Roofs & build a good sentry Box on the top of each 

 house & two strong gates of oak Plank of three Inches thick to be 

 set up in the properest places with strong Iron Hinges. O'Callaghan, 

 Col. Doc. 7:101 



