VI. WILDERNESS TRIBUTARIES OF THE MOHAWK. The Mohawk River, whose Indian name was Te-uge-ga, runs along the whole southern border of the Great Wilderness, but rises in the Lesser Wilderness, to the north of Oneida lake. Its principal tributaries from the north, however, take their rise in the heart of the Great Wilderness, in the region of the Raquette lake. They are the East and West Canada creeks. Upon the West Canada creek are the famous Trenton Falls, one of the principal attractions of Northern New York, so often visited by summer tourists. The Indian name for Trenton Falls was Date-wa-sunt-ha-go -"Great Falls," and for Canada creek was Kan-a-ta, meaning "Amber River," in allusion to the color of its waters. This completes the list of the principal rivers which flow in and around Northern New York and its Great Wilder ness. CHAPTER XII. LA FAMINE AND THE LESSER WILDERNESS. By la Riviere de la Famine, ocean tried and travel sore, Never Dominus Vobiscum falling upon human ears I. ITS LOCATION. Among the problematical places of the olden time in Northern New York, whose names were once familiar in European circles but are seldom heard in modern story, no one was once more famous than La Famine. Two hundred years ago, La Famine was a well-known stopping-place upon the eastern shore of Lake Ontario for the weary hunter and the bold explorer, and the spot where even armies encamped, and the ambassadors of hostile nations met in solemn council. To-day its name can only be found on the historic page, and in old maps and musty records, while its locality is often a matter of controversy. The ancient Indian landing-place and camping-ground known to the French as La Famine, was situated on the shore of Famine Bay, now called Mexico Bay, in the southeast corner of Lake Ontario, at the mouth of La Famine River, now known as Salmon River. The Salmon River, the ancient French La Famine and the Indian Ga-hen-wa-ga, rises in the central part of the plateau of the Lesser Wilderness, in the south-west corner of Lewis county, and runs westerly through the northern part of Oswego county into Lake Ontario. The Lesser Wilderness, like Couch-sach-ra-ge, the Greater Wilderness, was one of the beaver hunting countries of the Iroquois. The key to this hunting ground of the Lesser Wilderness from the west was the Salmon river. On their way to the hunting ground through Lake Ontario, the western Indians landed at the mouth of this river, and their trail then led up its banks. La Famine then was the ancient seaport of this famous hunting ground of the Lesser Wilderness, and was situated near what is now the village of Mexico. The Indian name for this entre-pot of theirs was Ga-hen-wa-ga. Hence we find on a map of New France, published by Marco Vincenzo Coronelli, in 1688, this place put down at the mouth. of what is now known as the Salmon River, but in his map it is called la Famine Rivere. It bears the following inscription: "Cah-ihon-oiia-ghe ou la Famine, lieu ou la plus part des Iroquois des barquent pour aller en traitte du Castor," which may be translated thus: Ga-hen-wa-ga, or La Famine, the place where the greater part of the Iroquois embarked to go upon the trail of the beaver. II. THE LESSER WILDERNESS. The Lesser Wilderness of Northern New York is situated upon the long narrow plateau which stretches first westerly and then northerly from the Upper Mohawk valley and the Oneida Lake almost to the city of Watertown. It lies between Lake Ontario on the west and the valley of the Black River on the east. The rocky ground work of this plateau is composed of level strata of limestone and slate which rise in a series of terraces of a mile or two in width from its borders into a high level table land. Upon the central part of this table land, which has an elevation of near two thousand feet above the level of the sea, are situated the forests, swamps, marshes and wild meadows of the Lesser Wilderness. Numerous streams take their rise in the swamps and wild meadows of this region. Down the southern slope of this ridge of highlands the Mohawk, which rises in the Lesser Wilderness, flows first southerly and then easterly toward the Hudson. The Fish Creek and other streams run into Oneida Lake. On its western border, the Salmon River, once La Famine, the Sandy Creek, once the Au Sable, and other streams, run into Lake Ontario. Down the more regular terraces of its western slope, locally called Tug Hill, the streams which rise in the swamps of the Lesser Wilderness hurry in a series of falls and cascades into the Black River, wearing deep chasms in the yielding rocks along their courses. Among these streams are the Deer River, which is the Indian Ga-ne-gato-da, (pounding corn) the Silvermine, the Martins, the Whetstone and other Creeks. This Lesser Wilderness was one of the most famous hunting grounds of the Indian. Its woods were literally filled with game, and its streams with fish. La Hontan says that there were so many salmon in La Famine River that they often brought up a hundred at one cast of the net. The deer came across the valley of the Black River from the Great Wilderness, every spring, in droves to feed upon the luxuriant summer herbage, and returned every autumn to escape the deep snows of the Lesser Wilderness. Their runways were along the valleys of the Deer River, the Sugar River and other streams, which as before stated run down the eastern slope of the Lesser Wilderness into the Black River. The deer were caught in great numbers by the early settlers of the Black River valley, during this half-yearly migration. The forests of the Lesser Wilderness have always been favorite nesting places for the wild pigeons. Even now-adays these birds often build their nests in these woods, in countless myriads, over miles in extent. The Lesser Wilderness has always been celebrated for its deep snows. The snow in March and April is almost always six or seven feet in depth. The present season, 1876, the snow was three feet in depth over the Lesser Wilderness on the first day of May. III. ORIGINAL BIRTH PLACE OF THE IROQUOIS. It is an old tradition of the Iroquois that the Lesser Wilderness was the original birth place or Eden of their race. It is a well known mythical story of the Iroquois that their race once dwelt in a subterranean world, which was at first a vast chaos, but which by degrees came to be a solid area of sea and land, like the upper earth. In the course of time their great sachem Hi-a-wat-ha came to their relief, and enabled them to crawl up out of their dark abode into the bright sunshine and pleasant |