CITIES AND VILLAGES. UTICA, situated on the south side of the Mohawk, on the site of old Fort Schuyler, is a thriving and business city, in the midst of one of the most fertile and wealthy sections of the state, having a central location. Its locality being on a gentle declivity to the north, commands a beautiful prospect of the Mohawk valley. The streets are spacious, and the buildings neat and commodious. Being connected with Albany and Troy, and with Syracuse, Rochester and Buffalo by railroad and canal; with Binghamton by the Chenango canal, and by stages, with the northern and southern counties of the state, it is the centre of an extensive business. It is also engaged in manufactures. Several large steam mills have recently been erected for the manufacture of cotton and woollen goods. The New York State Lunatic Asylum, located here, is a noble institution, and when completed will surpass in extent and convenience any other in the United States. A farm of 160 acres is attached to it. The Utica Academy, and the Utica Female Seminary, are both excellent institutions, and have a high reputation. The Young Men's Association possess a good library and have maintained a course of lectures for some years. The museum contains a fine collection of curiosities and antiquities. The early growth of Utica was slow; in 1794 it contained but three or four houses. It was incorporated as a village in 1798, and received its present name. It was chartered as a city in 1832. Population 12,190. ROME, on the site of Fort Stanwix (the new Fort Schuyler) is situated at the junction of the Black river and Erie canals. The Utica and Syracuse railroad also passes through it. The village has some manufactories, and is largely engaged in the forwarding trade. The United States government have an arsenal, magazine, and a number of workshops here. The Rome Female Seminary is well sustained. Population 2800. WHITESBORO', in the town of Whitestown, also a county seat, was incorporated in 1813. It is a pleasant village, finely decorated with shade trees, and is engaged in the manufacture of cotton goods. It has also a very large flouring mill and an extensive pail and tub manufactory. The Whitesboro' Academy is a large and flourishing institution. The Oneida Institute, a manual labor school of a high order, intended for a boarding school, is also located here; connected with it is a farm of 114 acres. The students are required to labor three hours per day. Population 2000. Oriskany is a large manufacturing village in the same town. Broadcloths and cassimeres are the principal articles of manufacture. Population 1200. New York Mills, in the same town is an important village largely engaged in the manufacture of cotton goods. Popula tion 1000. Waterville, in the town of Sangerfield, is a thriving village, engaged in the manufacture of woollen goods, carriage springs, starch, and musical instruments. Population 1000. Trenton Falls is a small village, worthy of notice for the picturesque and beautiful falls on the West Canada creek, from which it derives its name. Trenton, in the town of the same name, is a somewhat larger village, incorporated in 1819. Clinton, in the town of Kirkland, is pleasantly situated on the Oriskany creek, nine miles from Utica. The literary institu tions of this village and its vicinity, have given it a wide celebrity. Hamilton College, situated a mile west of the village, was founded by the exertions of the venerable Kirkland, and is now in a prosperous condition. It has four fine stone edifices. The Clinton Liberal Institute is a chartered institution. The edifice is of stone, ninety-six by fifty-two feet, and four stories high above the basement, for the male department, and a smaller building for the female department. It is conducted by six teachers. There is a farm attached to this institution, for the benefit of such students as may desire to defray the expense of their education by manual labor. The Clinton Grammar school, and the Clinton Domestic seminary, a female institution of some note, are also located here. In the vicinity are several manufactories. Population 800. New Hartford, in the town of the same name, and Oriskany Falls, in the town of Augusta, are flourishing manufacturing villages. Vernon, in the town of Vernon, Sauquoit, in the town of Paris, and Hampton, in the town of Westmoreland, are thriving villages. Oneida Castleton, a post village in the town of Vernon, occupies the place where the councils of the Six Nations were formerly held,-the large white walnut trees under which they assembled are still standing in full vigor, and often, by the autumnal blasts, sing the requiem of that almost annihilated race of the aborigines. 13* 1. Aurelius, 1789. 10. Mentz, 1808. 11. Stirling, 1812. Rivers. TOWNS 12. Conquest, 1821. 22. Niles, 1833. a. Owasco Outlet. b. Salmon Creek. c. Owasco Inlet. e. Little Sodus Creek. k. Seneca. Lakes, &c. J. Lake Ontario. DD. Cayuga. d. Owasca. f. Skeneateles. g. Duck. i. Cross. 1. Little Sodus Bay. Villages. AUBURN. Aurora, Cayuga, Montezuma. Moravia. BOUNDARIES. North by Lake Ontario; East by Oswego, Onondaga and Cortland counties; South by Tompkins county; West by Cayuga lake, and Seneca and Wayne counties. SURFACE. The southern section of the county has an irregular surface, rising into ridges on the shores of Cayuga and Owasco lakes. Poplar ridge, the watershed of the county, is between these two lakes, and has an elevation of 600 feet. The northern part is comparatively level, yet has a rolling appearance, in consequence of numerous gravelly hills, which seem like mounds formed by art. RIVERS. The principal streams are the Seneca river, Salmon and Little Sodus creeks. The Seneca has a very sluggish course through a marshy country. LAKES. Cayuga lake on the western border, Skeneateles on the eastern, and Owasco in the centre, are the largest lakes. Besides these it has Cross, Duck and Otter lakes, and Lock pond. BAYS. Little Sodus bay is an inlet of Lake Ontario. CANALS. The Erie canal crosses the county a few miles distant from the Seneca river, and parallel with it. RAILROADS. The great line of Railroad between Albany and Buffalo also passes through this county. CLIMATE Mild and temperate, much moderated by the numerous bodies of water around and within it. It is regarded as salubrious. GEOLOGY AND MINERALOGY. This county embraces quite a variety of formations. On the borders of Lake Ontario is found the Medina sandstone; immediately south of this the Clinton, Niagara and Onondaga limestone groups; next the Helderberg series, and in the extreme southern part of the county, the Ludlowville slaty rocks. Gypsum, water limestone, sulphate of Barytes, Epsom salts, fluor spar, sulphate of iron, and pure sulphur are the principal minerals. Petroleum or mineral oil is found on Cayuga lake. Valuable brine springs occur in Montgomery. Here are also sulphur springs, and a chalybeate spring has been discovered in the town of Sennet. SOIL AND VEGETABLE PRODUCTIONS. The soil of this county, in consequence of its peculiar geological structure, is rich, and its lands are among the most fertile and highly cultivated in the state. Wheat yields the most abundant crops; and fruits thrive in great perfection. The timber consists of oak, beech, butternut, elm, poplar, basswood, pine and hemlock. PURSUITS. The attention of the inhabitants is chiefly turned to agriculture. Large quantities of the various kinds of grain and wool are annually produced, and considerable numbers of cattle reared. Manufactures. The principal articles of manufacture are flour, woollen and cotton goods, leather and lumber. Salt is manufactured in considerable quantities. Commerce. It has a considerable amount of commerce-being connected by the Cayuga lake with the southern countiesby the Erie canal and Auburn and Syracuse railroad with the Hudson and Lake Erie, and by the Cayuga and Seneca canal with the Seneca lake, and the country bordering on it. THE STAPLES of the county are wheat and other grains, potatoes, butter and wool. SCHOOLS. The common schools, in 1846, numbered 256. They were taught an average period of eight months, attended by 16,781 scholars, at an expense for tuition of nearly $21,312. The number of volumes in the school libraries was 29,718. The number of private schools was thirty-five, having in attendance 658 pupils. It has also four academies and one female seminary, with 388 scholars, and one theological seminary with seventy-one students. RELIGIOUS DENOMINATIONS. Baptists, Presbyterians, Methodists, Friends, Universalists, Congregationalists, Episcopalians, Dutch Reformed, Unitarians, and Roman Catholics. There are in all seventy-seven churches and eighty clergymen. HISTORY. The first settlements in this county were made in Aurelius, Genoa and Scipio, about the time the Indian title was extinguished, in 1789. The first settlement at Auburn was made in 1793, by Col. John L. Hardenburg, from whom it was named Hardenburg's corners. It received its present name in 1805. In Moravia, settlements were commenced in 1794. At that |