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ORGANIZING A WILDERNESS;
ORGANIZING A WILDERNESS;
The Niagara Frontier
The Niagara Frontier

y K
enneth M. S
laugenhoupt, PLS
By Kenneth M. Slaugenhoupt, PLS
B
There is an old poem that says “for the want of a nail the horse was to travel by bateaus (smaller boats) all the way from the Gulf of
lost …”. I recently read about the Pioneer History of the Holland St. Lawrence, to Lewiston. Water travel in the 18 century was
th
Land Survey, and was struck by an interesting premise given by faster and easier than land because the 300 miles from “Albany” to
the author O. Turner when the book was published in 1850. “Lewiston” was very heavily wooded and there were no Thruway
rest stops. In Lewiston, however the lower rapids below Niagara Falls
During the French and Indian War, one of many between became impassable, so to reach the coveted inner lakes and places
France and Great Britain, there came a time about 1760, destined to become Detroit, Cleveland, Green Bay and Chicago,
when the British said “enough” and made a determined push people and goods came to Lewiston and were carried around
to get France out of what is now eastern US. They did. But Niagara Falls to the Upper Niagara, where they were reloaded onto
Turner opined that there was a crucial race by the respective other boats and onward to the west they went. Natives, France,
navies, both headed for the Gulf of St. Lawrence which was England and of course the fledgling US fought and died to control
the funnel leading to resupply for French dominated Montreal this critical path over a period of two hundred years.
and Quebec. The British won that race and thus choked off
the supplies to the French armies and therefor, Britain ruled At Lewiston the goods needed to be raised up “Three Mountains”,
the area. BUT, if the French fleet had arrived first, the opposite or the escarpment where Niagara Falls had been born some
would most likely have been a reality, and you and I would twelve thousand years earlier, then hauled on heavy packs to
speak much more fluent French to this day. the upper river, some 6 – 7 miles. The first ever “railroad” or
tramway in North America was built in Lewiston in 1760 by
After this swing in New World power, the French abandoned British military engineers and then a roadway from the top of
their posts at Niagara, Du Quesne (Pittsburgh) and Detroit the escarpment to the upper docks. Each day wagon trains with
among many others. England now had free sway over dealing oxen and horse drawn carts made their way along this path.
with Native Americans and harvesting the great bounties of
North America. In 1763, local Native Americans, notably the Seneca Nation of
the Iroquois Confederacy, joined with Pontiac and ambushed
About this time, the Native Americans were having other one such wagon train at a place known to this day as “Devil’s
thoughts. Under Chief Pontiac from the Michigan area, there Hole”. Approximately 500 warriors lay in the woods as the train
was a concerted effort to organize the various nations and push approached. When the time was right, they rushed forward with
the English back into the sea. This was not the last such attempt, wild war hoops and in short order killed everyone but two people,
but it yielded some interesting results for a western New York one was John Steadman, manager of the portage for England, who
Land Surveyor like me.
mounted at the head of the line spurred his horse on and safely
When the British took over Fort Niagara, six miles north of reached the upper landing. The other was a very young drummer
modern Village of Lewiston where I live and grew up, they boy who was so frightened that he threw himself over the bank of
also claimed dominion over “Le Portage”, one of the most the river which was about 150 feet deep at that point. The strap of
important paths in all of the New World. Europeans were able his drum was caught in tree branches and saved his life.

Early map of the
Portage or Carrying
Place where goods
and people walked
around Niagara Falls,
gaining access to the
upper Niagara River,
and Lake Erie and
beyond.

20 EMPIRE STATE SURVEYOR / VOL. 57 • NO 5 / 2021 • SEPTEMBER/OCTOBER