Creeks. b. Black creek. c. Allen's d. Oak Orchard. r. Tonawanda. Falls on Allen's Creek in Le Roy.

Villages. BATAVIA. Le Roy.

BOUNDARIES. North by Orleans and Monroe; East by Monroe and Livingston; South by Wyoming; West by Erie and Niagara.

SURFACE. The surface of this county may be considered as a table land, inclined toward the north, and divided into two sections. The first embraces the northern portion, from five to eight miles in breadth, and includes the Tonawanda swamp. Separated from this by a rocky ridge, the second gradually rises to the southern boundary of the county.

RIVERS. The general direction of its streams is north-east and north-west, of which Tonawanda, Allen's, (so called after

Indian Allen who had his residence in this neighborhood,) Oak Orchard, Black and Murder Creeks, are the principal.

RAILROADS. The Tonawanda railroad, entering the county in the town of Bergen, has a southward course through Batavia, to Attica. The Batavia and Rochester connects this with the eastern lines.

CLIMATE. Mild, temperate and equable. At the early settlement of the county, intermittent and remittent fevers prevailed, but they are now very rare.

GEOLOGY AND MINERALOGY. The whole county is comprised in the transition formation. Its principal rocks are the different varieties of limestone, sandstone and calciferous and marly slate.

The minerals are few in number; the most important are gypsum, argillaceous iron ore, marl and peat.

SOIL AND VEGETABLE PRODUCTIONS. The soil is chiefly a sandy or gravelly loam, highly productive in grass, summer crops, and especially in wheat. The timber of the county is oak, elm, beach, maple, birch, &c. The maple is very abundant, yielding large quantities of sugar.

PURSUITS. The inhabitants are principally employed in agriculture. Wheat is extensively raised.

Manufactures. Flour, lumber, leather, woollen cloths, and potash, are the principal articles of manufacture.

Commerce. The railroads furnish the principal means of transportation within the county.

STAPLES. Wheat, potatoes, oats, wool, corn and butter. SCHOOLS. The county, in 1846, contained 166 district schools, which were in session an average period of nine months each, and were attended by 9,316 scholars. $12,506 was paid to teachers, and the libraries contained 19,458 volumes.

There were also seventeen private schools, attended by 431 pupils; three academies, and two female seminaries, with 360 students.

RELIGIOUS DENOMINATIONS. Methodists, Baptists, Presbyterians, Congregationalists, Episcopalians, Universalists, Unitarians and Friends. The total number of churches is fifty; of clergymen, sixty-seven.

HISTORY. Nearly the whole of this county lies within the Holland Land Company's purchase, from whom the present inhabitants hold their titles. Some small tracts in the southern part of the county, still belong to the successors of that company.

A tract of 87,000 acres, comprising the towns of Sweden and Clarkson, in Monroe county, and part of Bergenand Le Roy, in

this county, and known as the Triangle tract, was sold by Robert Morris, to Messrs. Le Roy, Bayard and McEvers.

The first settlement in the county was at Batavia, about the commencement of the present century. The Holland Land Company erected their land office here in 1801. In October, 1804, the settlement contained from twenty to thirty houses, mostly built of logs. It was at that time very sickly. The fertility of its soil and its adaptation to the culture of grain, caused a rapid immigration, and it was organized as a county, in 1802. It then comprised, however, the present counties of Allegany, Chautauque, Niagara, Erie, Cattaraugus, Orleans, Wyoming, and the western portions of Monroe and Livingston.

VILLAGES. BATAVIA Village, the county seat, was incorporated in 1823. It is laid out in a plat, two miles square, and has over 300 buildings, a female seminary, the office of the Holland Land Company, and a number of manufactories.

Le Roy, in the town of Le Roy, is a thriving village, situated on Allen's Creek, and incorporated in 1834. The village lots are spacious, and the dwellings are generally built of stone, presenting a very neat appearance. The rapid growth of this village is due to the hydraulic power of the creek, which has three considerable falls.

The first fall at the village, is eighteen feet, the second about a mile below, twenty-seven feet, and the third within two miles, eighty feet, affording great facilities for manufacturing purposes. A number of sites are occupied by flour, oil, and other mills.

It is a remarkable fact that much of the water of this creek disappears before it reaches the highest fall, which is supposed to supply the Caledonia spring in the adjoining town, in Livingston county. It has about 2000 inhabit-ants. Here is a flourishing female seminary.

Alexander is a village of some importance, in the town of the same name. It has an incorporated classical school. Population, 500.

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Mountains. PP. Highlands of St. Lawrence county.

Rivers. I. St. Lawrence. a. Oswegatchie. b. Indian. c. Grasse. d. Racket. e. St. Regis. f. Deer. g. East branch Oswegatchie. h. West branch Oswegatchie.

Lakes. k. Black.

Falls. On the St. Regis, in Brasher, Hopkinton and Parishville. On the Racket, at Potsdam, Colton and St. Regis. On the Grasse, at Canton and Pierrepont. On the Oswegatchie, at Canton and Rossie.

Forts. Ogdensburgh.

Battle Fields. Ogdensburgh.

Villages. CANTON. Ogdensburgh. Rossie. Brasher's falls. Pots dam. Gouverneur. Waddington. Massena. Norfolk.

BOUNDARIES. North by the river St. Lawrence; East by Franklin county; South by Hamilton and Herkimer; and West by Lewis and Jefferson counties, and the St. Lawrence river.

SURFACE. The surface of this county is agreeably diversified. Along the bank of the St. Lawrence river, for a distance of seventy-five miles in length, and from thirty to forty in breadth, the county consists of gentle swells, broad valleys, or extensive plains. Farther south it rises into hills, and finally assumes a mountainous character, in the southeast, where are situated the Highlands of the St. Lawrence.

RIVERS. The principal streams of the county besides the St. Lawrence, are the St. Regis, Racket, Grasse, Indian, Oswegatchie and Deer rivers, which by their long and circuitous courses and numerous tributaries, abundantly water it. A natural canal, six miles long, connects the Oswegatchie and Grasse rivers, in the town of Canton.

FALLS. Most of these streams have numerous falls or rapids, furnishing a large amount of water power.

LAKES. Black Lake is the only one of importance. There are many extensive marshes.

CLIMATE. The climate is less variable than in most counties of the state. The air is clear, and the seasons uniform, compensating for the severe cold of winter, and contributing to the health of its inhabitants.

GEOLOGY AND MINERALS. That portion of the county lying along the St. Lawrence, for a width of ten or fifteen miles, belongs to the tertiary, or rather the alluvial formation, consisting of clay and gravel; this is succeeded, at a distance of fifteen or twenty miles from the river, by a belt of Potsdam sandstone, running nearly parallel to the St. Lawrence, and varying in width from five to ten miles; the remainder of the county belongs wholly to the primary formation, and consists of hypersthene, gneiss, granite and primitive limestone.