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Joined: Jan 2001
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Carpal Tunnel
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OP
Carpal Tunnel
Joined: Jan 2001
Posts: 13,858 |
It should not be supposed that all who were termed "land-sharks" deserved the name. Many of them were reputable men of good business character. Some of them could walk into the most august councils of the State and say: "Gentlemen, we would like to have this, and that, and matters go thus." But, next to a three years' drought and the boll-worm, the Actual Settler hated the Land-shark. The land-shark haunted the Land Office, where all the land records were kept, and hunted "vacancies" -- that is, tracts of unappro- priated public domain, generally invisible upon the official maps, but actually existing "upon the ground." The law entitled any one possessing certain State scrip to file by virtue of same upon any land not previously legally appropriated. Most of the scrip was now in the hands of the land-sharks. Thus, at the cost of a few hundred dollars, they often secured lands worth as many thousands. Naturally, the search for "vacancies" was lively."
Land scrip, a certificate that the purchase money for a
certain portion of the public land has been paid to the
officer entitled to receive it. [U.S.]
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Joined: Mar 2002
Posts: 1,692
Pooh-Bah
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Pooh-Bah
Joined: Mar 2002
Posts: 1,692 |
Scrip was also a word for a small bag or wallet, often worn slung around the neck rather like the satchel used by London bus conductors to carry change many moons ago. (Remember those Rhuby?)
1 Samuel 17: David and Goliath:
… David made haste, and ran to the fight to meet the Philistine. And he put his hand into his scrip, and took a stone, and cast it with the sling, and fetching it about, struck the Philistine in the forehead …
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Joined: Oct 2000
Posts: 5,400
Carpal Tunnel
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Carpal Tunnel
Joined: Oct 2000
Posts: 5,400 |
much of NY state was 'settled' by revolutionary vets, who were given 'land script'(basicly, all the 'towns' northward, along 'old Rte. 17'(which follows streams and tributaries to the upper the upper delaware river) --right up to rochester--they were 'hard country' until the opening of the Eire canal(a scant 20 years later)-- when many moved westward, into, as was pointed out by Sparteye, years ago, MI and other northwestern states.
land along the Mohawk was already somewhat settled, (as was the hudson) Many of the 'land script' towns are at the southern edges of the finger lakes, and could ship produce up the fingerlakes to the canal with only a short portage...
the area is rich in salt (sodium cloride) which was a valued asset. (the town of Watkins Glen today is better known for the race car rally, but it started life as salt town. (and the brine from it's saltwell are still dried to make rock salt for clearing steets)--good pasture, and cheap salt made for moderately successful farming (and easy living when compared to New England!)
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Joined: Dec 2000
Posts: 13,803
Carpal Tunnel
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Carpal Tunnel
Joined: Dec 2000
Posts: 13,803 |
Syracuse, NY is sometimes called Salt City. There is a Cargill's Salt Plant in Watkins Glen and a salt mine just north of Ithaca, on the eastern shore of Cayuga Lake.
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Joined: Mar 2002
Posts: 1,692
Pooh-Bah
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Pooh-Bah
Joined: Mar 2002
Posts: 1,692 |
…good pasture, and cheap salt made for moderately successful farming… ~ of troy
At first thought, salt and successful farming seem like an odd mix, though I know the UK has the same situation in Cheshire. Of course, in Cheshire at least, the salt is a longish way down and has to be mined.
“Revolutionary vets” - that conjured up a weird picture at first until all became clear. In the UK the abbreviation ‘vet’ is generally (exclusively?) used for veterinary surgeon.
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Joined: Oct 2000
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Carpal Tunnel
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Carpal Tunnel
Joined: Oct 2000
Posts: 5,400 |
yes, salt it needed for good animal husbandry, and for making cheese--and cheese is easier to transport long distances, (ie to NYC))than milk. salt is also added to butter to preserve it. (more was added in the past before refridgerations was commonly available.)
the book Salt, a world history points out that cheap readily available salt was just another one of the commodities that the northern states were rich in, and the souther states lacked when it came to the american civil war.
cheap salt meant it was easy to preserve meats (hams and corned beef, and other foods.(and since an army marches on its stomach...
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