of its produce and manufactures, upon the Erie and Chenango canals.

STAPLE PRODUCTIONS. Hops, cheese, butter, wool, oats, sugar and potash.

SCHOOLS. There are in the county 234 district school- houses. The schools were taught in 1846 an average period of eight of months; 13,523 children received instruction at an expense $15,721. There were 26,456 volumes in the district libraries. There were, also, in the county, forty-three private schools, with 1072 pupils, and four academies, with 198 pupils. There is one University in the county, chartered in 1846, and called Madison University. It has in all its departments 209 students.

RELIGIOUS DENOMINATIONS. Baptists, Methodists, Congregationalists, Presbyterians, Universalists, Friends, Dutch Reformed, and Episcopalians.

There are eighty-one churches, and ninety-four clergymen, of all denominations, in the county.

HISTORY. Madison county originally formed a part of Che nango county, from which it was taken in 1806. The first settlement in the county was made at the village of Eaton, in the town of the same name, by Mr. Joseph Morse, in 1790.

In 1793, Colonel John Linklaen, agent for a company in Holland, settled in Cazenovia. This Holland Company owned a large portion of the county, and their agent sold most of it to New England settlers. The growth of the county was not rapid until the completion of the Erie and Chenango canals by which a market was opened for its produce.

VILLAGES. MORRISVILLE, in the town of Eaton, is the seat of justice for the county. It is situated on the Cherry Valley turnpike. It was settled principally by emigrants from Connecticut, and has some manufactories. Population, about 800.

Eaton, another village in the same town, has a number of manufactories. Population, about 700.

Cazenovia village, in the town of the same name, is pleasantly situated on the south-eastern margin of Linklaen lake. It is well laid out, and has some manufactures and considerable trade. The Oneida Conference Seminary, located here, is under the direction of the Methodist Episcopal church, and is a flourishing and well conducted institution. Here is also a high school and a seminary for young ladies. The village contains nearly 2000 inhabitants.

Hamilton village, in the town of the same name, is principally noted as the seat of Madison University, formerly the Hamilton Literary and Theological Institution. This institution was incorporated in 1819, and commenced operations in 1820. It received a charter as an University in 1846. It is well endow

ed, has an able corps of professors, and is in a tugly prumperous condition.

There is also an academy of some distinction in the village. Population, about 1600.

Chittenango, in the town of Sullivan, is largely engaget i the manufacture of water-lime, or hydraule enment. 11 118 also other manufactures. There is a sulptur spring of ILE note, one mile south of the village. It has two other springs, charged with carbonate of time, and onetrated for their petryfying quality.

In this village is an academy, under the patronage of the Dutch Reformed Church. Population, 1000

Canastota, in the town of Lenox, is a thriving and bury village, on the canal and railroad. It derives its name from the Indian appellation, given to a cluster of pines, which united their branches over the creek, which passes through the village. In this village is a high school of some celebrity. Population, about 1300.

De Ruyter is a small but pleasant village, in the town of the same name. Here is located the "De Ruyter Institute," a flourishing literary institution, under the direction of the Seventh Day Baptists. Population, 500,

Madison, in the town of the same name, is a thriving village. Population, 600.

Clockville, in the town of Lenox, and Bridgeport, in the town of Sullivan, are villages of some importance.

c. Great

Rivers. K. Allegany. . Connewango Creek. b. Oil.
Valley. e. Cold Spring. f. Cattaraugus. g. South Branch.

n. Ischua.

Lakes. 1. Lime. m. Ischua Creek Reservoir.

Villages. ELLICOTTVILLE. Olean. Hinsdale. Lodi.

BOUNDARIES. North by the counties of Erie and Wyoming; East by Allegany county; South by the state of Pennsylvania, and West by Chautauque county.

SURFACE. The surface of the county is elevated and much broken. The high grounds in its centre divide the waters of the Allegany from those of the Chautauque Creek. The valley of the Allegany river is from one to two miles in breadth, and has a depression of 700 or 800 feet below the general surface of the county. North of this river, the land rises for fifteen or twenty miles, and attains the summit of the very irregular ridge which commences at Perrysburgh, on the north-west, and terminates at Farmersville, on the east.

RIVERS. The Allegany river, Cattaraugus, Oil, Great Valley, Cold Spring, South Branch, Connewango and Ischua creeks, are the principal streams of the county.

LAKES. Its lakes are Lime lake and Ischua creek reservoir. RAILROADS. The line of the New York and Erie railroad crosses the southern part of the county.

CLIMATE. From the elevation of the surface, the climate is cold but healthful.

Geology and MINERALOGY. This county is wholly within the Erie group. In the northern part, the Ludlowville slate is the surface rock, with occasional alternations of limestone. In the central and southern portions, the Chemung sandstone predominates. On the highest points in the county, the conglomerate of the Catskill group is occasionally found.

The Rock City, situated seven miles from Ellicottville, and near the line between Great and Little valley, is a remarkable natural curiosity.

The rock here is conglomerate, and by the removal and disintegration of portions of it, large masses from fifteen to thirty-five feet high, have been left standing isolated, and are separated by alleys and passages of various widths. The whole area covered by these blocks is over one hundred acres. The scene is in the highest degree imposing, and impresses upon the beholder the conviction that the name has not been improperly chosen.

The minerals are not numerous; the most valuable are, peat, marl, bog iron ore and manganese. There are also some saline and sulphur springs; petroleum or mineral oil, similar to the Seneca oil, found in Cuba, Allegany county, has been discovered at Freedom.

SOIL AND VEGETable ProductiONS. The soil is well adapted to grazing. Grain thrives better in the northern section than in the southern.

Probably no region of equal extent in the United States has produced inore valuable timber. The forest trees consist chiefly of pine, oak, hickory, ash, elm, linden, chestnut, walnut, beech, maple and hemlock. The maple is abundant, and affords large quantities of sugar.

PURSUITS. The people of this county are an agricultural community, paying more attention however, to the productions of the dairy, and the rearing of cattle, than to the raising of grain.

Manufactures. These are in their infancy, and chiefly confined to lumber, flour, fulled cloths, and leather.

The manufacture of lumber is prosecuted to a greater extent than in any other county in the state, 200 million feet being exported from the county annually.

Commerce. The Allegany is navigable for arks and small steamboats, at high water, to Olean; large quantities of lumber are exported from this county to Pittsburgh and Cincinnati, by this channel.

Its STAPLES are lumber, potatoes, oats, butter and cheese. SCHOOLS. The county had, in 1846, 234 district schools, which were in session an average period of six months each. The number of children taught was 11,914; the amount paid for tuition $10,870, and the number of volumes in the district libraries, 16,087.

There were twelve select schools, with 264 scholars.

RELIGIOUS DENOMINATIONS. Baptists, Methodists, Presbyterians, Episcopalians, Congregationalists, and Unitarians. The number of churches of all denominations, is thirty; of clergymen, sixty-seven.

HISTORY. This county belonged originally to the Holland Land Company's purchase, and the titles of most of the inhabitants are derived from that Company. The first settlement in the county was made early in the present century, at Olean, by Major Hoops, of Albany, who named it after General Hamilton, "Hamilton on the Allegany."

The next settlement was in the present town of Persia, in 1813. The growth of the county has been quite rapid. Cornplanter and Big Kettle or Ganoth-jowaneh, two of the most distinguished of the Seneca chiefs, resided in this county.

A tract along the Allegany river, extending through the towns of Cold Spring, Little Valley, Great Valley and Carrollton, is still held as a reservation by the Indians.