Identifier: touroffourgreatr00smitrich (find matches)
Title: A tour of four great rivers: the Hudson, Mohawk, Susquehanna and Delaware in l769; being the journal of Richard Smith of Burlington, New Jersey;
Year: 1906 (1900s)
Authors: Smith, Richard, 1735-1803 Halsey, Francis W. (Francis Whiting), 1851-1919
Subjects: Pioneers -- Middle Atlantic States Hudson River (N.Y. and N.J.) Mohawk River Susquehanna River Delaware River (N.Y.-Del. and N.J.) Middle Atlantic States -- Description and travel
Publisher: Port Washington, N.Y. I.J. Friedman
Contributing Library: University of California Libraries
Digitizing Sponsor: MSN

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he chimneys. The place thrived, however, as a trading post. Inthe year 1656, 46,500 beaver and other skins wereshipped from Albany to New Amsterdam. And yetwhen Mr. Smith made his visit one hundred yearsafterward, the houses in Albany numbered only threehundred, and it was by no means attractive as a placeto live in. It was still guarded by a stockade, andhad in the centre a small fort, a sort of citadel,provided with cannon, and capable of holding threehundred men.1 In 1678, this fort with its 12 gunswas described as sufficient against the Indians, andin 1687, it had small arms for forty men.2 It wassometimes called Fort Aurania, but more often FortOrange. In these years the Dutch had well explored theinterior of the Province. The Visscher Map ofNew Netherlands, which dates from before 1656,shows the course of the Hudson, Mohawk, Susque-hanna and Delaware with a fair degree of general 1 Documents Relating to the Colonial History of New York. 2 Dongans ** Report on the Province. xxvii
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PART OF THE VISSCHER MAP OF NEW NETHERLANDS DRAWN BEFORE 1656 AND SHOWING THE HUDSON, MOHAWK, ST. LAWRENCE, SUSQUEHANNA AND DELAWARE RIVERS From a copy in the Emmet Collection of the Lenox Library PIONEERS OF THE HUDSON accuracy, while the number of place names givenis surprisingly large. The first efforts made to establish settlements alongthe Hudson met with constant obstructions in theform of Indian hostilities. In one of the outlyingsettlements the Indians, in 1643, killed forty Hol-landers and burned many houses, besides barns filledwith grain.1 At Esopus, or Rondout, a tradingpost had been established in 1614,2 and what couldbe called a settlement was made there about 1640,when the entire population of the Province did notexceed one thousand. These first pioneers at Esopus were forced awayby the Indians, but the place was soon settled again,and in 1655 Peter Stuyvesant personally staked outa village there and sent twenty-four soldiers to guardit. In 1657 the place was described

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