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330 GREENE COUNTY.
tion of the population. The principal manufactured products are brick, leather, and paper. Brick
are extensively made on the banks of the Hudson, in Catskiil, Athens, and Coxsaekie, for the New
York market. The co. has a considerable interest in the commerce of the Hudson, but less, per¬
haps, than it had many years ago. No co. has been more seriously damaged in its commercial and
manufacturing prospects by the public works of the State than Greene. Before the Erie Canal
was completed, Catskiil, the co. seat, commanded the trade of the adjacent cos. w., and of the s.
tier through to Lake Erie, and some portions of Northern Penn. It was a large wheat market;
and at the falls of Catskiil Creek, 3 mi. w. of the village, were the most extensive flouring mills in
the State.1 The canals and railroads have limited the commercial transactions of the co.'strictly
to home trade. A change scarcely less marked and important has taken place in the industrial
pursuits of the mountain towns. About 1817, upon the discovery of improved methods of tanning
leather, tanners rushed into the Catskiil Mts., purchased large tracts of mountain lands covered
with hemlock timber, and erected extensive tanneries. The valleys of Schoharie Creek, Batavia, and
West Kils soon teemed with a numerous, active laboring population, and the solitude of the deep
mountain glens was made vocal by the hum of industry, the buzz of the waterwheel, and the
rattling of machinery. Villages of considerable magnitude, with churches, schools, stores, and
taverns, rose up in the wilderness as if by magic. Thirty years ago Greene co. made more leather
than all the State beside. The supply of bark in this region was soon exhausted, and the pro¬
prietors gradually abandoned their establishments and followed the mountain chain s., erecting
new factories in Ulster and Sullivan cos.; and their successors are now pursuing the hemlock into
the heart of the Alleganies. The result of all this was to facilitate the occupation of the lands in
the mountain towns, and in many cases to carry cultivation to the summits of the most lofty
ranges, thereby opening one of the finest dairy and wool growing regions in the State.
The county seat is located at Catskiil, on the Hudson.2 The first courthouse was a wood building,
erected under act of May 26, 1812.3 Some years since, this building was torn down, and a new
brick edifice was erected in its place. It contains the court and jury rooms, and district attorney
and co. clerk's offices. A stone jail was erected in 1804, and a fireproof clerk’s office in 1812. The
co. poorhouse is located on a farm of 130 acres in Cairo, 10 mi. w. of Catskiil. The farm yields a
revenue of $900. It has on an average 130 inmates, supported at a weekly expense of $ .75
each. A school is taught in the house most of the year. The condition and adaptation of the
building, and the management of the inmates, are not thought creditable to the co. authorities.
Five weekly newspapers1 are published in the co.4
More than two centuries have elapsed since the settlements in the valley of the Hudson com¬
menced at various points between New York and Albany. It was 150 years later when a few,
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The Catskiil Recorder.
The Catskiil Messenger was started in 1830, hy Ira Dubois. It
was subsequently issued l?y Wm. Bryan, C. H. Cleve¬
land, and Trowbridge k Gunn. In 1849 it was
changed to
The Greene Co. Whig; and in 1857 to
The Catskiil Examiner, by which name it is now
published. .
The Catskiil Democrat was started' in 1843 by Joseph Josebury,
and in 1849 it was united with The Recorder.
The American Eagle was started at Prattsville in 1854 by Bul¬
lock k Allen, who removed it to Catskiil the same year.
In 1855 its name was changed to
The Banner of Industry, and published by Jas. H. Van Gorden.
In 1857 it was sold to Henry Baker, by whom it is now
published as
The Catskiil Democratic Herald,
The Greene Co. Advertiser was started at Coxsaekie in 1832,
and published for a time by Henry Van Dyck. In 1836
it was changed to
The Standard, and published by Thomas B. Carroll. It was
subsequently issued a short time as
The Coxsaekie Standard.
The Coxsaekie Union was established in 1851 by Ered.
W. Hoffman. In Jan. 1857 it passed into the hands of
D. M. & B. S. Slater, by whom it is still published.
The Prattsville Bee wTas started in 1852.
The Baptist Library was started at Prattsville in 1843 by L.
L. k R. H. Hill. In 1845 it was removed to Lexing¬
ton.
The Prattsville Advocate was established by John L. Hackstaff
in 1846, and was discontinued in 1858.
The Mountaineer was published at Prattsville in 1853 by Chas.
H. Cleveland.
The Windham Journal was started at Windham Center, March
21, 1857, by W. R. Steele.
The Athens Visitor was commenced in 1858 by R.
Denton. |
1
Of this place Spafford's Gazetteer (ed. of 1813) says, “ Cats¬
kiil has considerable trade already, and must probably expe¬
rience a rapid growth as the market town of an extensive back
eountry. At some place in this vicinity, and on the w. bank of
Ihe river, future ages will probably find the third, if not the
second, city on the Hudson, in wealth, population, and com¬
mercial importance.”
2
Ira Day, Isaac Dubois, Orin Day, Joseph Klein, Ezra Haw¬
ley, and Lyman Hall, having executed to thk supervisors a bond,
under a penalty of $16,000, to procure a lot and build a court¬
house, an act was passed May 26,1812, allowing the judges to
accept the premises when completed. Courts were previously
held at the academy, and the prisoners confined in Albany co. jail.
3
The first co. officers were Leonard Bronk, Fir at Judge; Eben¬
ezer Foot, District Attorney; James Bill, Go. Cleric; George Hale,
Sheriff; John H. Cuyler, Surrogate.
4
* The Catskiil Packet, the first paper in the co., was published
prior to 1800.
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