History of Syracuse NY

ort Tyler, whose engineering skill contributed to regional development, arrived four years later. All three settled in Onondaga Hollow south of the present city center at the head of Onondaga Lake, which was then marshy.

In late 1788, after the Treaty of Fort Stanwix (1784), the Onondaga Nation relinquished part of their reservation including Onondaga Hollow to the local salt producers. The land was now open to settlers and the natives were left with only hunting and fishing rights. Tyler and Danforth began making salt for the family, but did not produce it to sell. Danforth built a sawmill and gristmill and Tyler laid the first roads and built bridges, and later supported the building of churches and schools.

Swamp land

The ground upon which the city stands was originally part of the Onondaga Salt Springs Reservation. The first locality to receive a name was called Webster's Landing after early settler Ephraim Webster, an Indian trader on the banks of the Onondaga Creek.

By 1793, the Westside of the future city was described as "dark, gloomy, and almost impenetrable swamp that was a favorite resort for wolves, bears, wildcats, mud-turtles, and swamp rattlesnakes." The western portion of the valley about Syracuse was originally timbered with hemlock, birch and soft maple; the eastern portion with cedar and pine.

In 1804, an act was passed that directed the sale of 250 acres (1,000,000 m) of the Onondaga Salt Springs Reservation for the purpose of "laying out and improving a road" running from lot 49, Manlius, to lot 38, Onondaga, east and west through the reservation. James Geddes laid out the road in "rather an irregular form so that as much dry land might be secured as possible." The land, now the central portion of the city, was purchased by Abraham Walton for $6,650 and the area was later named the