SCOTIA.

(Schenectady County)

(By Turnpike, N.Y., 166 m.; Buff., 288 m. Pop., 1920, 4,358; 1910, 2,957. Sea elevation, 211 ft.)

The Schenectady railroad and turnpike distances practically apply to Scotia, which is separated by the Mohawk river and about a mile of distance from Schenectady of which it is actually a part, although a separate incorporated village.

Glen-Sanders House, 1713.

Alexander Lindsay Glen was an original proprietor, under the Schenectady patent, being called by the Dutch Sander Leendertse Glen. He was a Scotchman of the Highlands, born in the vicinity of Inverness. The correct Scottish form of his name was Alexander Lindsay of Glen. He was a scion of the noble house of Lindsay, the earls of Crawford, which family for two centuries ruled Scotland. Glen became a political refugee and fled to Holland, whence he emigrated to New Amsterdam with his wife in 1639. He was an agent of the West India Company at Fort Nassau on the Delaware and was prevented from settling there by the Swedes, who were then disputing that river's control with the Dutch. Glen acquired property in New Amsterdam and in Gravesend on Long Island. In 1658 he secured lands opposite Schenectady, receiving title from the Mohawks. Here he built a stone house and called the location Nova Scotia or New Scotland, which soon became called Scotia, from which the present village takes its name. Glen was a Schenectady patentee of 1661-4 and received a patent from the Dutch Colonial government for his Scotia lands in 1664.

Captain Johannes Glen, youngest of Alexander Lindsay Glen, built the present Glen-Sanders house in 1713. The original house of 1658 was built close to the Mohawk and the river had eaten the bank away so that the structure became unsafe, and the present house was built utilizing much of the material in the first one. This property has been (1924) in the same family for over 265 years and this house has been in its possession for over two centuries. This is one of a number of instances of long ownership of Mohawk river lands and houses, with which the tourist will come in touch along the Old Mohawk Turnpike. The Sanders family intermarried with the Glens and hence the present name of the house.

Many famous Colonial and Revolutionary personages have stopped here and the place has witnessed the passing and halting here of many of the forces which won American liberty. It houses (1924) most interesting souvenirs of the picturesque past of the Mohawk and should be preserved for all ages as an evidence of the important part played by the Schenectady district in the making of America. Much of legend and romance also clusters about this ancient building.

Soon after 1658, a band of Mohawks brought a captive French Jesuit priest to the Glen house and announced they would torture him in the morning. Glen gave the savages plenty of liquor and, as they slept later, he put the priest in a hogshead and sent him by cart to Albany. The savages were furious but Glen ascribed the priest's escape to witchcraft.

The war party which burned Schenectady (1690) spared the house. Glen tried to warn the fated town, knowing from his Mohawk friends that the enemy was on the warpath. Capt. Glen prepared to defend his house with servants and some Indians but the French officers spared it and took breakfast in his home (the 1658 house). Glen crossed the river on the ice and his pleadings saved the lives of many captives.

The Glen-Sanders house was built for defense as well as a residence, although there is no record of it ever having been attacked, probably because of the generally good relations between the Glens and the Indians. Nearby but upon higher ground the Indians had a place where they stopped, after returning from forays, to sacrifice their war victims by burning and torture.

A large stone addition to the house has been torn down, which was used as slave quarters from 1713 until the abolishment of slavery in New York State in 1827.

"The Camp."

The Camp was the name of a Colonial military camping and training ground, on the flats west of the Glen-Sanders house, now part of Scotia village. Here, in 1759, the Schenectady district militia mobilized, prior to marching under Sir William Johnson, in the British-American expedition which took Fort Niagara from the French, during the war of 1754-1760. This camp site will doubtless eventually be marked.

This camp was also the mobilization point of Gen. Amherst's 10,000 Americans and British preparatory to their march up the Mohawk valley to the conquest of Canada in 1760 and of Gen. Scott's American army in the War of 1812-1814.

Abraham Glen House, Scotia, 1730. Recently known as the Collins house; now occupied by the Sisters of the School of St. John's R. C. church.  It is No. 14 Mohawk Ave., Scotia and stands on the east side of the beginning of the Old Mohawk Turnpike at the Scotia end of the Great Western Gateway Bridge.

Abraham Glen House, 1730.

Across the Turnpike westward from the Glen-Sanders house is the steep-roofed frame house built in 1730 by Abraham Glen, a cousin of Capt. Glen. It is now owned by St. John's R. C. church and occupied as a summer home by the Sisters of St. John's School.

Scotia Barge Canal Dam No. 4, Lock No. 8 - Mohawk River Movable Dam Type.

At the western limits of Scotia is Dam No. 4 and Lock No. 8, Erie section Barge canal - the first westward of Schenectady - known also as the Scotia lock and dam. The dam raises the river water 14 feet, from 211 feet sea elevation below, to 225 feet above the dam. The Scotia dam level extends 3 m. west to Rotterdam Junction.

The dam is known as a bridge dam, Mohawk river type. The idea was obtained from the movable dams at Mirowicz on the Moldan river, Bohemia (in present Czecho-Slovaka). The heads maintained vary from 8 feet to 15 feet and water depths, from sill to crest, from 16 to 20 feet. The gates, which form the dam proper, slide on supports which are themselves supported by the bridge, at the upper end, and an embedded cast iron sleeve, at the lower end. The gates vary in height from 2 feet to 13 feet. Two gates usually form a panel, all gates being 30 feet wide. Both gates and supports are raised and lowered by movable electric winches, in the eight dams between Scotia and Fort Plain. These bridge dams are available for bridge use by the building of flooring and the construction of proper approaches.

In 1924 only one (that at Rotterdam Junction) was thus used.

Battle of Beukendaal, 1748.

A few miles west of Schenectady, close to your route, some forty Mohawk Dutch farmer-militiamen were ambushed and massacred by a French and Indian war party in 1748, locally called the battle of Beukendaal (Dutch for Beechdale).

About 20 of the Schenectady militia were killed. The survivors barricaded themselves in the old DeGraff frame house and fought off the enemy. This house, north of the Turnpike, was demolished recently, but is still to be located by the cellar, and will probably eventually be marked as the site of this skirmish of our Colonial border wars.

ROTTERDAM JUNCTION.

(Montgomery County)

(By West Shore R.R., N.Y., 160 m.; Buff., 273 m.; sea elevation, 225ft.)

Rotterdam Junction (population 1,500) lies on the south side of the Mohawk, on the West Shore R.R., and about five miles west of Schenectady. It is a terminus for the Boston & Maine and here the New York Central and West Shore R.R. resume their parallel course, which is continued through the Mohawk valley 70 miles, or until Utica is reached, where they again diverge.

Rotterdam has a West Shore and Boston & Maine station, express office, telegraph office and postoffice.

The Boston & Maine R. R. bridge here crosses the Mohawk at Rotterdam.

The south shore turnpike from Schenectady to Rotterdam Junction is (1923) an improved road and is much used by westbound motor traffic, crossing at Rotterdam to the Mohawk Turnpike on the north side.

Lock No. 9, Dam No. 5.

There is a Barge canal lock and dam at Rotterdam Junction, with a 15-foot rise from 225 feet to 240 feet sea level elevation. This is Lock No. 9 and Dam No. 5, also known as the Rotterdam lock and dam. The Rotterdam dam river level extends westward 6 miles to Cranesville dam.

The Rotterdam bridge dam is the only Mohawk river Barge canal dam used (1924) as a highway bridge, and it is the only roadway dam, over the Mohawk, in the sixteen-mile run between Schenectady and Amsterdam. Here a crossing may be made to view the

Jan Mabie House, Rotterdam, 1670. This stone house stands over a half mile west of Rotterdam, near South Shore Road.

Mabie House (1670).

This old farm house is situated near the Mohawk South Shore Road and is the oldest structure in the Mohawk valley and one of the oldest houses in the State. D. J. Van Antwerp secured the original patent for this farm and built the house about 1670. Jan Pieterse Mabie bought the place in 1706 and it has remained (1924) over 200 years in the ownership of the Mabie family. Mabie was a settler in Schenectady city, prior to 1690.

Yantapuchaberg, 1160 ft. Above Mohawk. One of the highest Mohawk river mountains from Schenectady to Rome.  Seen from Central Railroad and Turnpike.

Yantapuchaberg, 1,160 Feet High.

Between Rotterdam and Hoffmans, from the south shore of the Mohawk rises the high peak of old Yantapuchaberg, 1,400 feet high and 1,160 feet above the Mohawk. In contrast to the rocky Highlands, this Mohawk valley mountain rises in sweeping slopes of forest and field to its wood-crowned summit and is a hill of much impressive beauty. At Jacksonburg Mount Okwari is nearly as high (over 1,000 feet above the Mohawk) as "Yanta-poosh-a-berg." Its correct spelling would be Jantapuchaberg, as "Yan" is the phonetic spelling of "Jan," Dutch for "John." It is frequently referred to locally as "Old Yantapoosh."

Opposite Yantapuchaerg, on the north shore, is Tou-er-eu-na, 1,097 feet sea elevation. They form part of a mountain ridge connecting the Helderbergs (Catskill system) with the Adirondacks.

The Mohawks called Yantapuchaberg and Glenville Hill "Touereuna," meaning "neighboring hills." The name Touereuna is now applied solely to the northern summit. The two mountains form an eastern Mohawk valley gateway. Yantapuchaberg is Dutch for "John-ear-of-corn-hill;" pronounced "Yan-ta-poosh-a-berg." The two hills form the eastern geographical door of the Iroquois "Long House," as well as the eastern entrance to the Mohawk country of which Fall Hill formed the western gateway.

Prehistoric Indian Burial Sites.

East of Hoffmans Ferry, two burial sites have been unearthed of a valley Indian people antedating the Mohawk occupancy. These graves have yielded stone tubes, one elaborately engraved, a shuttle-shaped object made from cave alabaster, shell beads, a copper axe and several hundred beads hammered from welts of native copper. One of these grave sites is close to the Turnpike.

Six miles north of Hoffmans is the Consaulus Vly, a small filled lake bed, and, on its shores an Indian village site has been unearthed, which is possibly one of the Mohicans.

PATTERSONVILLE.

(Schenectady County)

(By West Shore R.R., N.Y., 162 m.; Buff., 271 m.; sea elevation, 225 ft.)

On the south shore Mohawk Turnpike and West Shore R.R., seven miles west of Schenectady, two miles west of Rotterdam and opposite Hoffmans Ferry, is the little village of Pattersonville, with a population of about 200. It has a West Shore station, telegraph and express office and postoffice. It takes its name from the Patterson family, early settlers here.

Hoffman's Ferry. Established by Harmanus Vedder in 1790 and called Vedder's Ferry until 1835, when bought by John Hoffman.  The Hoffmans New York Central station and the lower slopes of Touareuna are seen in the distance.

Nine miles west of Schenectady is

HOFFMANS FERRY.

(Schenectady County)

(Over N.Y.C.R.R., N.Y., 169 m.; Buff., 270 m.; sea elevation, 240 ft.)

This is a Central railroad station for the surrounding agricultural community.

A ferry has been located here since 1790, connecting with the south shore and Pattersonville.

Central Railroad Freight Bridge.

At Hoffmans all slow freight trains on the New York Central are diverted from the main line to the West Shore over a bridge here crossing the Mohawk. Freight for the Boston & Maine R.R. goes into Rotterdam Junction and trains for Weehawken continue over the West Shore. There are similar Central freight connections, between the Central and West Shore, at Kirkville, ten miles east of Syracuse; at Schuyler Junction, three miles east of Utica, and at Carman, three miles east of Schenectady and fourteen miles west of Albany. A similar cross-over bridge is planned to span the Hudson below Castleton to handle New England freight via the Boston & Albany R. R.

Mohawk-Mohican Battleground, 1669.

In the hills to the north and here on and close to the Turnpike a great battle was fought (August 6, 1669) between Mohawks and Mohicans in which the Mohawks repulsed their invading enemies and killed many, including their chief, Chicataubet. For a century after the Mohawks remained undisturbed masters of their home valley, while the Iroquois (of which the Mohawks were a tribe) were masters of the Indian tribes of the eastern United States. This is called the battle of Tou-er-eu-na from the high hill on which it was fought. It was the last great struggle between Mohawks and Mohicans and one of the bloodiest Indian conflicts of which we have record. The Mohicans formerly occupied the eastern Mohawk valley and were driven out by the Mohawks about 1600. In 1669, in spite of the protests of the English provincial government the Mohicans made an effort to recover their old Mohawk valley lands. They attacked the lower Mohawk castle of Kahaniaga or Caughnawaga (near present Fonda) and were beaten off. The Mohicans retreated down the valley to present Hoffmans Ferry, where they built defenses.

"Led by their war chief, the Great Kryn, the Mohawks pursued their enemies rapidly down the valley and found the Mohicans posted on the steep ridge of Towereune, just west of the present ferry, This hill formerly extended to the river, ending in a rocky point (Chuctanunda), and formed a strong natural barrier, which could not well be scaled. Quietly the pursuing Mohawk warriors climbed the hill to the west of this position till they reached the rear of the Mohican position, which they fiercely attacked. When the sun went down the Mohicans haad been driven back into their camp." At the first streak of dawn, the next morning (August 6, 1669), the Mohawks charged their enemies, drove them, with great slaughter, from their position down the hill, and through the ravine of the Chaughtanoonda and into the river, where many were drowned or killed in the water, a few escaping by canoes or swimming.

The scene of this savage wilderness battle is accessible by road up the valley of this little stream in Wolf's Hollow.

Kin-quar-i-ones.

The Mohawks called this battleground Kin-quar-i-ones, meaning "she arrow maker," a name which it bears to this day.

It was along this steep, high, rocky ridge that this terrific savage battle was fought. Kinquariones is a southwestern spur of Touraeuna mountain. It formerly pushed it rocky point to the waters of the Mohawk. The tip of this point has been blasted away to give room for the New York Central railroad and the Mohawk Turnpike, just as a similar point has been cut off at Big Nose, 24 miles west. The Mohawks called a sharp, steep rocky point like this a "Chuc-ta-nun-da" - or "Chaugh-ta-noon-da," and hence the name of the small stream running through Wolf's Hollow along the eastern side of Kinquariones.

World War Camp of the New York Guard, 1917.

On a plateau on the rise of the Chuctanunda (rocky point) of Touareuna hill, a detachment of the New York State Guard (2d Reg't.) was encamped while guarding the Barge canal and railroads during the World war (1917). This was on the Van Epps-Paterson farm on the edge of the Mohawk-Mohican battlefield (1669).

Hoffmans, Historical.

About 1684, Karel Haensen Toll and his wife, Lysbet Rinckhout, settled east of Hoffmans in a dugout house.

Johannes van Eps was the first settler of Hoffmans, locating here in 1720. In 1923 the Van Epps homestead plot was in the possession of the seventh generation of the Van Epps family after 200 years of ownership.

Harmanus Vedder established a ferry here in 1790 and it was called Vedder's Ferry until 1835, when John Hoffman bought it and the place and ferry became known as Hoffman's Ferry or Hoffman's, the name given to the station of the Utica & Schenectady railroad (now New York Central) on its opening in 1836.

Wolf Hollow - Road to Saratoga.

Leaving the Mohawk Turnpike west of Hoffmans station, a road leads up Touareuna hill through Wolf Hollow, in which runs the Chaughtanoonda. This is the famous Mohawk-Mohican battleground referred to and is worth a visit for its wild picturesqueness. At the first sharp bend in the hollow, is "Johnny's Spring," a good picnicking spot. Unsuccessful attempts at coal mining were made here, the shaft opening being called the "Coal Mine."

Thirty species of ferns and some uncommon orchids are here found. Wolf Hollow marks a tremendous earthquake of past geological ages, the rock displacement here evidenced being called the "Hoffmans Ferry Fault." This geological disturbance outrivaled any earthquake of history, the rock crust to the east having dropped 1,000 feet.

A cave in the northern cliff is called "the Bear's Den."

The Wolf Hollow road forms a short cut to Saratoga (24 m.) for the eastbound motorist, via Glenville, West Charlton, Scotch Street, thence on the State road through Ballston to Saratoga.

Kinquariones and Wolf Hollow would make a fine State park site, being accessible and available to the thousands of motorists on the Old Mohawk Turnpike.

Touareuna, 857 feet Above Mohawk.

The high hill back of Hoffmans Ferry, on which this fierce savage battle was fought, is called Touareuna, or Glenville Hill or Glenville Mountain. It is a true small mountain, 1,097 feet above sea level and 857 feet above the Mohawk. It is best seen from the south shore road, across the river just as Yantapuchaberg is best seen from the Turnpike on the opposite of north shore.

Touareuna is locally pronounced Tow-er-yoon-ie, and, as before mentioned, means "neighboring hills," with reference to the summit of Yantapuchaberg, opposite on the south shore.

Falls of the Adriutha.

About three miles west of Hoffmans and a half mile east of Cranesville, the Adriutha, a little stream, enters the Mohawk. About 400 feet north of the Turnpike are the pretty little falls of the Adriutha, accessible by footpath and one of the few cascades close to the highway.

CRANESVILLE.

(Montgomery County)

(Over highway, New York, 177 m.; Buffalo, 271 m.; Pop., 1920, about 250.
On the Schenectady (electric) railway. Sea elevation, 240 ft.)

Mohawk River Barge Canal Work Begun at Cranesville, 1906.

At Cranesville, the first work was begun, Oct. 3, 1906, on this important Mohawk river section of this great waterway. The first work on the Barge canal was started at Waterford, June 6, 1905.

Lock No. 10, Dam No. 6.

At Cranesville is Lock No. 10 and Dam No. 6, Erie section, Barge canal, also known as the Cranesville lock and dam. The rise in the water level here is 15 feet, from 240 feet sea level below the dam, to 255 feet above.

The Cranesville dam river level extends five miles westward to Amsterdam.

The old Mohawk river channel from Fort Hunter to Cranesville (7 m.) is filled with islands, formed from the detrius brought down by the Schoharie river. Many yet remain in the canalized river course, between these two points.

Adirondack Power & Light Corp., Steam Plant. On south shore, west of Cranesville, about opposite east end of Amsterdam.  Built to supplement the corporation's hydro- electric developments on the Hudson River and East Canada Creek.  Plant is seen from Railroad and Turnpike.

Cranesville, "Willigas," 1700.

About 1700, Philip Groot and his family located on Lewis creek and built a mill, which was then the most westerly of the Schenectady settlements. The creek here and neighboring section was then and later known as "Willigas" (Dutch, Wilge," willow), from the willows here growing.

The hamlet of Cranesville is 14 miles west of Schenectady and two miles east of Amsterdam. The neighborhood bore the name of Adriucha, variously said to be the name of a Mohawk chief and interpreted as "valiant," with possible reference to the Mohawk-Mohican battle at Touareuna or Hoffmans Ferry. Cranesville was settled by the widow of Philip Groat and her family in 1716. Her three sons built a grist mill on the Evaskil, the first mill on the river west of Schenectady. The name Evaskill comes from Mrs. Eva Van Alstyne, having been wounded and scalped by Canadian Indians while crossing this stream in 1755.

In 1684 Claas Willemse Van Coppernoll settled the Willegen Vlachte (Willow Flat, east of South Amsterdam), selling to Philip Philipse de Moer in 1689.

Adirondack Power and Light corporation Steam Plant.

Between Cranesville and Amsterdam, on the south river bank, is the steam power plant of the Adirondack Power and Light Corporation, which is intended to supplement that company's hydro-electric power service.