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GAZETTEER OF THE STATE OF NEW YORK By J. H. French R. P. Smith, Publisher Syracuse, New York 1860
COLUMBIA COUNTY Page 248 this last stream flows through a broad and fertile valley, but near the Hudson its banks are steep and rocky. The soil is a fertile, sandy loam. Johnstown, (Livingston p.o.,) situated near the center of the town, contains 1 church, a parochial school, and 28 houses. Glencoe Mills, (p.v.,) on Claverack Creek, contains a free chapel, 2 sawmills, and 16 houses. Bakers Mills, (p.o.,) on Roeliff Jansens Kil, contains a woolen factory, 2 paper mills, a gristmill and 10 dwellings. Elizaville, (p.o.,) Blue Store, and Linlithgo are hamlets. Settlement commenced soon after the patent was granted.1 There are 4 churches in town.2 NEW LEBANON--was formed from Canaan, April 21, 1818. It is the n. e. corner town of the co. The surface consists of steep hills separated by broad, irregular valleys. The Taghkanick Mts., upon the e., separate this town from Mass. The Wyomanock or Lebanon creek is the principal stream. The soil is a gravelly and slaty loam intermixed with clay. The valleys are generally narrow and the hills arable to the summits. Lebanon Springs, (New Lebanon Springs p.o.,) in the e. part of the town, is celebrated for its thermal springs.3 It contains 2 churches, 4 hotels, a female seminary, and a gristmill. Pop. 278. Tildens (New Lebanon (p.o.) contains 1 church, a barometer and thermometer manufactory, a laboratory for the preparation of medicinal extracts,4 and 35 houses. New Lebanon Center (p.v.) contains a gristmill, sawmill, tannery, and 22 houses; Moffatts Store, (p.v.,) 1 church and 23 houses; and New Britain, (p.o.,) 1 church and 6 houses. In the e. part of the town, about 2 mil. s. of Lebanon Springs, is a large Shaker community.5 The first settlement was made about 1760, by immigrants mostly from Mass. and Conn.6 There are 8 churches in town.7 STOCKPORT--was formed from Hudson, Ghent, and Stuyvesant, April 30, 1833. It lies upon the Hudson, n. of the center of the co. The surface consists of a high table land, rising from the river in bluffs and descending with a moderate slope toward the e. Kinderhook and Claverack Creeks unite near the center of the town. The valleys of these streams are narrow and their banks often steep and rocky. Near Stottsville are 4 mineral springs, known as the Columbia Springs.8 Stockport, (p.v.,) situated at the junction of Kinderhook and Claverack Creeks, contains 3 churches, several manufactories,9 and 44 dwellings. Chittendens Falls contains 1 church, 2 paper mills, and 14 dwellings, and Stottsville 2 woolen factories and 21 dwellings. Columbiaville10 (Stockport station on the Hudson R. R. R.) is situated on the Hudson. This town was settled at an early period by the Dutch. There are 4 churches in town.11 STUYVESANT12-- was formed from Kinderhook, April 21, 1823, and a part of Stockport was taken off in 1833. It is the n. w. corner town of the co., is situated on the bank of the Hudson, and includes the adjacent islands e. of the middle of the river. The surface is generally level, except along the river bank, where it is broken by ravines and low hills. Kinderhook Creek crosses the s. part of the town. The soil is generally clayey, but in some places it is a light sandy loam. Stuyvesant Falls, (p.v.) on Kinderhook Creek, contains 1 church, several manufctories,13 and 35 houses. Stuyvesant Landing, (Stuyvesant p.o.,) on the Hudson, contains 1 church, a flouring mill, a foundry, 2 coal yards, a lumber yard, and 34 houses. It is a steamboat---- ___________________________________________________________________ 1 On Beatty's map of 1714, the manorhouse and mill are located within this town, near the Hudson, and the residences of families named Witbeck, Claas, and Brusie near Claverack Creek.
2 2 Ref. Prot D., Evang. Luth., M. E.
3 The spring is 10 feet in diameter and 4 feet deep, and discharges 16 barrels of water per minute. The water is wholly tasteless, and has a temperature of 73o at all seasons. According to an analysis made by Dr. Meade, 1 pint of water contains 1.25 grs. solid matter, as follows:--1.25 grs. chloride of calcium, 0.44 grs,. chloride of sodium, 0.19 grs. carbonate of lime, and 0.37 grs. sulphate of lime. Bubbles of gas constantly rise from the bottom of the spring, giving it the appearance of boiling. This gas is composed of 89.4 parts nitrogen and 10.6 parts oxygen, and is given out in the proportion of 5 cubic inches from a pint of the water. So great is the volume of water discharged that it not only supplies several baths, but 2 or 3 mills are kept running by it both summer and winter.--L. C. Beck's Report, 1848, p. 48, and Geology 1st Dist., p. 105. The medicinal properties of these water were first brought to the notice of the public by Jas. Hitchcock. There are several similar springs of less volume in the vicinity.
4 Tilden & Co. have under cultivation 40 acres of medicinal plants,--chiefly dandelion, hyoscyamus, lettuce, belladonna, stramonium, yellow dock, burdock, poppies, digitalis, aconite, horehound, wormwood, and valerian. They also use large quantities of conium, gathered from the surrounding country, as well as imported medicinal herbs and roots. Sixty persons are employed in the preparation of their extracts.
5 There are 500 to 600 persons in this community. They own about 2000 acres of land in this State, besides a considerable tract in Mass. They have a large meeting house, a laboratory furnished with steam power, a gristmill, 4 sawmills, 2 machine shops, 8 dwellings, and several other buildings. They are principally engaged in farming, and in preparing extracts, roots, herbs, botanic medicines, and garden seeds. They also manufacture brooms, sieves, and fancy baskets. About 200,000 lbs. of medicinal articles and garden seeds are put up annually. The neatness of their grounds and premises is proverbial.
6Among the first settlers were families named Gilbert, Cornell, King, Skinner, Mudge, Gurnsey, Jones, Waddams, Sanford, and Patchin. An inn was kept at Lebanon Springs for several years before the closed of the Revolutionary War. The house is still standing, and is supposed to be nearly a century old.
73 M. E.., Bap., Christian, Presb., R. C., and a Shaker meeting house.
8The waters of these springs have never been analyzed. A hotel and bathing houses have recently been erected near them, and they are now much frequented.
92 Cotton factories, a mattress factory, machine shop, and sash and blind factory.
10Columbiaville was incorp. Feb. 21, 1812, but the act of incorporation was repealed April 20, 1833. It was formerly a manufacturing place of considerable importance. In 1813 it had a cotton factory of 1500 spindles, 2 paper mills, a4 cording mills, 2 fully mills, together with grist, saw, and plaster mills.
11M.E., Presb., Prot. E., and Univ.
12Named in honor of Gov. Peter Stuyvesant.
13 3 Cotton factories, a woolen factory, a gristmill, sawmill, machine shop, and an agricultural implement factory
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