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QUERIES.


I. Which is the best way for the purchaser of a large tract of forest or unsettled lands, to bring it into a productive state? What profit he ought reasonably to expect whilst he leaves to the tenant or settler the means of advancing himself? In short, what is the interest, and what the duty of such landlord?

II. What description of men is best qualified and most likely to settle in the Wilderness and become farmers? How they should proceed? Are mechanics apt to prosper?

III. What part of the state is best situated for present or future market? Where are the principal places of deposit for the produce of each part? How far natural or artificial means may open others, and when it is probable that great leading roads will be made or encouraged by the state? How far canals would be advantageous, productive, and practicable?

IV. Is there much variety in the soil? If so, what is best for each several kind of culture? How far is the soil and climate favourable to the growth of fruit trees, vegetables, grain, grass, flax, hemp, &c.? To what use can the trees of the forest be best turned? Is the timber durable for fencing, building, &c.? Is there no reason to fear that too great zeal for clearing, may render it in some time as scarce as it is now abundant?

V. What domestic animals are most profitable

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 to the farmer? What are the wild beasts of the forest? What are useful or noxious to the settler? Are there fish? Of what kind? How plenty? Is there much game? Are there valuable furs? How are they obtained?

VI. By what indications may the quality of the soil be known?

VII. What progress have manufactures made in the new settlements? What are the raw materials? What the encouragement? What are the principal exports?


In answering these Queries I should request you not to confine yourself to the heads therein specified. My ignorance of the subject, it being one upon which I have never meditated, makes it impossible for me to point to all its details, and therefore it is that the history of your own progress in the various settlements you have made, would be the best answer possible to the whole of my questions. How far you suffered from inexperience in the first undertakings; where you have erred or failed, or have observed others to do so from the same cause; what motives first led you to adventure in the Wilderness, example, necessity, or taste.

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Letter from Judge Cooper to William Sampson, Esq.

Sir,

I SHALL cheerfully answer the Queries you have put to me. The manly way in which you have challenged me, and the good sense you have shewn upon a subject of which you can have no experience, and the object I perceive you have at heart, that of procuring information in a matter interesting to your countrymen, does you honour, and makes it a pleasure for me so satisfy so fair a curiosity. I shall answer each Query in the order you have proposed them; and, although that knowledge acquired by practice alone, cannot well be imparted, yet I feel, I believe, the bent of your inquiries, and shall do all in my power to make my answers useful, as well to your countrymen as to my own.

I shall first make the general supposition, that either a wealthy individual, or else a company, purchase a large tract of land, say 50,000 acres. The purchaser, or some one strongly interested in the purchase, should go upon the spot, and give public notice of the day when he means to open the sales. The conditions should be advertised, and notice given, that every person desirous of buying, should have as much or as little as he chose, on a credit of seven or ten years, paying annual interest. The price will naturally vary according to soil and situation.

It should be distinctly understood, that the whole tract is open for settlement, without any

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 reserve on the part of the landlord, as nothing is more discouraging than any appearance in him of views distinct from the prosperity of the whole; and this would be evident, if in the very outset he reserved any part in contemplation of a future advance, at the expence of the labour of the original settlers, to whose advantage these reserved tracts had not contributed. The reason is plain; the first difficulties are the greatest, and it is only by combination and co-operation that they can be surmounted. The more the settlers are in number, the more hands can be brought to effect those works which cannot be executed by a few; such are the making of roads and bridges, and other incidents to the cultivation of the Wilderness, which are impossible to individuals, but which numbers render practicable and easy.

Besides, he who comes to better his condition, by embarking in such an enterprize, would find it no relief from his present poverty, to be doomed to a life of savage solitude; he will still desire the society of his species, and the ordinary comforts of life; he will look for some religious institution, some school for his children. There must be mechanics to build houses, and erect mills, and other useful or necessary purposes. Where there are a number of settlers, each bearing his proportion of the labour, and contributing to the expence, these things arise almost of course; but it would be very discouraging to a few scattered settlers to reflect, that they were toiling under all the hardships and disadvantages of a new and arduous undertaking, whilst others,

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who had contributed nothing, should afterwards come in and reap all the advantages of their activity. The reserved tracts, therefore, serving only to separate them from each other, and depriving them of the comforts of society, and the advantage of co-operation, would be sources of just discontent, and the landlord who seemed to harbour the ungenerous project of trafficking with the future profits of their industry, and to give all his care to his own interest, without any sympathy with them, would become deservedly an object of distrust and jealousy: his influence would cease, and that confidence, which could alone animate and invigorate a difficult enterprize, once vanishing, nothing but failure could ensue.

Thus the advantage of the landlord is to reserve no part, if he can possibly dispose of it. Sometimes a man of large property with an enterprising spirit, will seek for a tract suitable to his means and his ambition. Such a one may have friends and connexions, who may want courage to face the first difficulties, or venture on untried ways, but whom he hopes to draw after him by example. It is of great importance to promote the success of such a person, and he will be justly entitled to kindness and support. His task will be to smooth the way for others. As soon as he is himself seated, his next wish will be to draw around him a neighbourhood of relatives and friends, whose habits are congenial to his own. He will be repaid for his labour and risk, by selling at a small advance beyond the price he paid, and the interest upon it. Such,

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 besides that he will come provided with stock and capital, will be useful, as it were, to sound the horn and proclaim the settlement, and will be a new centre of attraction.

But whilst we acknowledge the importance of the wealthy undertaker, we must not despise the offer of the poor man. He can never be insignificant, who is willing to add his labour to the common stock: for the interest of every individual, from the richest landholder to the poorest settler, conspires and contributes to the great primary object, to cause the Wilderness to bloom and fructify; and each man prospers in proportion as he contributes to the advantage of his neighbour.

With respect to the lands: although they will naturally vary in quality, I never in the first instance make any difference in price, but leave that matter to regulate itself. In the beginning the poorer settler will refuse the rougher spots, and rightly, as they will yield him no immediate subsistence. I therefore leave them until that period, when the timber they afford shall become valuable for the purposes of fencing and of fuel; and by the simple measure of letting things take their own course, I find my interest and that of the whole community promoted; and in no instance have the rough grounds and the swamps failed to be eventually most profitable to me: nay, in fifteen years time their value has increased to seven-fold.

The poor man, and his class is the most numerous, will generally undertake about one hun-

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dred acres. The best mode of dealing with him, is to grant him the fee-simple by deed, and secure the purchase money by a mortgage on he land conveyed to him. He then feels himself, if I may use the phrase, as a man upon record. His views extends themselves to his posterity, and he contemplates with pleasure their settlement on the estate he has created; a sentiment ever grateful to the heart of man. His spirit is enlivened; his industry is quickened; every new object he attains brings a new ray of hope and courage: he builds himself a barn and a better habitation; plants his fruit-trees, and lays out his garden: he clears away the trees, until they, which were the first obstacles to his improvement, becoming scarcer, become more valuable, and he is at length as anxious to preserve, as he was at first to destroy them: he no longer feels the weight of debt, for having the fee, he can sell at an improved value, nor is he bound to remain against his will.

Not so if he had been bound by special contracts and conditions, subjecting him to the forfeiture of his land, and with it of his labour. Gloomy apprehensions then seize upon his mind; the bright view of independence is clouded; his habits of thought become sullen and cheerless, and he is unable to soar above the idea of perpetual poverty.

Thus, by the adoption of a rational plan, it appears that the interest of all parties are made to coincide. The settler sleeps in security, from the certainty of his possession, and the landlord is safe in the mortgage he holds, and the state

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 profits by the success of each in the increase of its wealth and population.

A moderate price, long credit, a deed in fee, and a friendly landlord are infallible inducements to a numerous settlement: and where there is much people there will be trade; and where there is trade there will be money; and where there is money the landlord will succeed; but he should be ever in the midst of the settlers, siding and promoting every beneficial enterprize.

In this point of view I have often compared the dealer in land to a ship. Money is the element he swims in; without money, he is aground; and as a ship that is not afloat is no better than a wreck, so when he ceases to have money, his activity and usefulness are gone.

So, in rural phrase, may we compare the poor settler to the creature of draft. Unsustained, over-loaded, and oppressed, he yields no profit; well treated, in good heart, and gently driven, his labour is lighter, and his profit more. It is no otherwise with man. He can bear so much and no more; if forced beyond that, his spirits will finally sink under oppression; whereas, by timely aids, encouraging words from a landlord, who has his confidence, and whom he feels to be his friend, he will perform wonders, and exceed his own hopes.

You have desired to know something of my own proceedings, and since I am to speak of myself, I can no where better to introduce that subject than now, in proof of what I have asserted.

I began with the disadvantage of a small ca-

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pital and the incumbrance of a large family, and yet I have already settled more acres than any man in America. There are forty thousand souls now holding directly or indirectly under me, and I trust, that no one amongst so many can justly impute to me any act resembling oppression. I am now descending into the vale of life, and I must acknowledge that I look back with self-complacency upon what I have done, and am proud of having been an instrument in reclaiming such large and fruitful tracts from the waste of the creation. And I question whether that sensation is not now a recompence more grateful to me than all the other profits I have reaped. Your good sense and knowledge of the world will excuse this seeming boast; if it be vain, we all must have our vanities, let it at least serve to show that industry has its reward, and age its pleasures, and be an encouragement to others to persevere and prosper.

In 1785 I visited the rough and hilly country of Otsego, where there existed not an inhabitant, nor any trace of a road; I was alone three hundred miles from home, without bread, meat, or food of any kind; fire and fishing tackle were my only means of subsistence. I caught trout in the brook, and roasted them on the ashes. My horse fed on the grass that grew by the edge of the waters. I laid me down to sleep in my watch-coat, nothing but the melancholy Wilderness around me. In this way I explored the country, formed my plans of future settlement, and medi-

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tated upon the spot where a place of trade or a village should afterwards be established.

In May 1786 I opened the sales of 40,000 acres, which in sixteen days, were all taken up by the poorest order of men. I soon after established a store, and went to live among them, and continued so to do till 1790, when I brought on my family. For the ensuing four years the scarcity of provisions was a serious calamity; the country was mountainous, there were neither roads nor bridges.

But the greatest discouragement was in the extreme poverty of the people, none of whom had the means of clearing more than a small spot in the midst of the thick and lofty woods, so that their grain grew chiefly in the shade; their maize did not ripen; their wheat was blasted, and the little they did gather they had no mill to grind within twenty miles distance; not one in twenty had a horse, and the way lay through rapid streams, across swamps, or over bogs. They had neither provisions to take with them, nor money to purchase them; nor if they had, were any to be found on their way. If the father of a family went abroad to labour for bread, it cost him three times its value before he could bring it home, and all the business on his farm stood still till his return.

I resided among them, and saw too clearly how bad their condition was. I erected a storehouse, and during each winter filled it with large quantities of grain, purchased in distant places.

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I procured from my friend Henry Drinker a credit for a large quantity of sugar kettles; he also lent me some pot ash kettles, which we conveyed as we best could; sometime by partial roads on sleighs, and sometimes over the ice. By this means I established pot ash works among the settlers, and made them debtor for their bread and labouring utensils. I also gave them credit for their maple sugar and pot ash, at a price that would bear transportation, and the first year after the adoption of this plan I collected in one mass forty-three hogsheads of sugar, and three hundred barrels of pot and pearl ash, worth about nine thousand dollars. This kept the people together and at home, and the country soon assumed a new face.

I had not funds of my own sufficient for the opening of new roads, but I collected the people at convenient seasons, and by joint efforts we were able to thro bridges over the deep streams, and to make, in the cheapest manner, such roads as suited our then humble purposes.

In the winter preceding the summer of 1789, grain rose in Albany to a price before unknown. The demand swept the whole granaries of the Mohawk country. The number of beginners who depended upon it for their bread greatly aggravated the evil, and a famine ensued, which will never be forgotten by those who, though now in the enjoyment of ease and comfort, were then afflicted with the cruelest of wants.

In the month of April I arrived amongst them with several loads of provisions, destined for my own

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 use and that of the labourers I had brought with me for certain necessary operations; but in a few days all was gone, and there remained not one pound of salt meat nor a single biscuit. Many were reduced to such distress, as to live upon the roots of wild leeks; some more fortunate lived upon milk, whilst others supported nature by drinking a syrup made of maple sugar and water. The quantity of leeks they eat had such an effect upon their breath, that they could be smelled at many paces distance, and when they came together, it was like cattle that had pastured in a garlic field. A man of the name of Beets mistaking some poisonous herb for a leek, eat it, and died in consequence. Judge of my feelings at this epoch, with two hundred families about me, and not a morsel of bread.

A singular event seemed sent by a good Providence to our relief; it was reported to me that unusual shoals of fish were seen moving in the clear waters of the Susquehanna. I went and was surprised to find that they were herrings. We made something like a small net, by the interweaving of twigs, and by this rude and simple contrivance, we were able to take them in thousands. In less than ten days each family had an ample supply with plenty of salt. I also obtained from the Legislature, then in session, seventeen hundred bushels of corn. This we packed on horses backs, and on our arrival mad a distribution among the families, in proportion to the number of individuals of which each was composed.

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This was the first settlement I made, and the first attempted after the revolution; it was, of course, attended with the greatest difficulties; nevertheless, to its success many others have owed their origin. It was besides the roughest land in all the state, and the most difficult of cultivation of all that has been settled; but for many years past it has produced every thing necessary to the support and comfort of man. It maintains at present eight thousand souls, with schools, academies, churches, meeting-houses, turnpike roads, and a market town. It annually yields to commerce large droves of fine oxen, great quantities of wheat and other grain, abundance of pork, pot ash in barrels, and other provisions; merchants with large capitals, and all kinds of useful mechanics reside upon it; the waters are stocked with fish, the air is salubrious, and the country thriving and happy. When I contemplate all this, and above all, when I see these good old settlers meet together, and hear them talk of past hardships, of which I bore my share, and compare the misery they then endured with the comforts they now enjoy, my emotions border upon weakness, which manhood can scarcely avow. One observation more on the duty of landlords shall close my answer to your first inquiry.

If the poor man who comes to purchase land has a cow and a yoke of cattle to bring with him, he is of the most fortunate class, but as he will probably have no money to hire a labourer, he must do all his clearing with his own hands. Having no pasture for his cow and oxen, they

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 must range the woods for subsistence; he must find he cow before he can have his breakfast, and his oxen before he can begin his work. Much of the day is sometimes wasted, and his strength uselessly exhausted. Under all these disadvantages, if in three years he attains a comfortable livelihood, he is pretty well off: he will then require a barn, as great losses accrue from the want of shelter for his cattle and his grain; his children, yet too young to afford him any aid, require a school, and are a burden upon him; his wife bearing children, and living poorly in an open house, is liable to sickness, and doctors bills will be to pay. If then, in addition to all this, he should be pressed by his landlord, he sinks under his distress; but if, at this critical moment, he be assisted and encouraged, he will soon begin to rise. The landlord should first give him a fair time; if after that he cannot pay the principal money, he may take from him a release of the equity of redemption, and then grant him a lease for ever with a clause of fee on payment of the principal, and the rent reserved, which it would be well to make payable in wheat, with a moderate advance on the first price and interest.

Indeed justice and policy combine to point out the duty of the landlord; for if a man has struggled ten years in vain, and is, at the end of that time, unable to pay, not only humanity, but self-interest dictates another course, and some new expedient for reciprocal advantage. So here, the tenant instead of being driven for the principal, will not only keep his possession, but retain

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the privilege of re-acquiring the principal at a future day, by the very produce of the lands. He will be happy in the idea of still preserving his home, will pay his rent with cheerfulness, and the landlord has so much certainly added to his capital, whether the tenant re-purchases the fee or not; the improvements if he does purchase it, and if not, the price agreed upon.

Therefore, independently of the reasons above given, it is better for the landlord to accept of the poorest settler, than to reserve tracts in his own hands, because every part of the land by this means is made to contribute to the common stock of labour, co-operation, and general improvement, and because he has a better profit by the consent of the individual, and consistent with the advantage of all.

For example: if you sell one hundred acres for one hundred pounds, with interest at the end of ten years, it will amount to one hundred and seventy pounds; and though the tenant cannot presently pay this sum, (at least without selling his farm,) yet the landlord has his security for it in his mortgage-deed, and the improved value of the land, and is therefore no loser by the delay. In most instances the tenant will be very unwilling to sell the farm he has reclaimed with so much pains, and worn with years and labour to enter upon the hardships of a new undertaking. He sees that his land is now in good order and productive, and that he will be able easily to pay the yearly rent of fourteen pounds in produce, and

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 that he can always acquire the disposal of the simple upon performance of the condition.

Having now given you an idea of the difficulties of our first settlement, it is right I should observe to you, that the settlement of lands in general is not at this day attended with such obstacles. In many parts of the state the soil is so fine, and so many settlements are already formed throughout, that the rest will follow of course; but still the landlord who resides on the spot, and pursues such a track as I have pointed out, will succeed with much the most certainty, and will gain many years of time.

Some rich theorists let the property they purchase lie unoccupied and unproductive, and speculate upon a full indemnity from the future rise in value, the more so as they feel no want of the immediate profits. But I can assert from practical experience, that it is better for a poor man to pay forty shillings an acre to a landlord who heads the settlement, and draws people around him by good plans for their advancement, and arrangements for their convenience, then to receive an hundred acres gratis from one of these wealthy theorists; for if fifty thousand acres be settled, so that there is but one man upon a thousand acres, there can be no one convenience of life attainable; neither road, school, church, meeting, nor any other of those advantages, without which man’s life would resemble that of a wild beast.

Of this I had full proof in the circumstances of the Burlington company; they were rich, and

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 purchased a tract of sixty-nine thousand acres, and made a deed of gift of one hundred acres out of each thousand to actual settlers; and this they were bound to do in compliance with a condition in the king’s patent. They provided these settlers with many articles of husbandry under the particular agency of Mr. Nathaniel Edwards. But he very soon returned, and not long afterwards the settlers followed, stating, that they could not support themselves so far in the woods in that scattered situation.

I then resided in Burlington, and when I undertook to make the settlement on those very lands, where so rich a company had failed, it was thought a romantic undertaking for a man unprovided with funds, to attempt what gratuitous donations had not been able to achieve. Nevertheless I succeeded, and for that very reason that I made no partial gifts, but sold the whole at a moderate price with easy payments, having for myself a handsome profit; and people were readily induced to come when they saw a number of co-operators, and the benefits of association.

You have now before you, as well as I can explain, the advantages and the difficulties which belong to an enterprize in new lands. But let me be clearly understood in this, that no man who does not possess a steady mind, a sober judgment, fortitude, perseverance, and above all, common sense, can expect to reap the reward, which to him who possesses those qualifications, is almost certain.

W. C.

Transcribed for this website by Terri Nan Ahrens.

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