The Greatest Highway in the World / Historical, Industrial and Descriptive Information of the Towns, Cities and Country Passed Through Between New York and Chicago Via the New York Central Lines. Based on the Encyclopaedia Britannica.

by New York Central Railroad Company

216 M. LITTLE FALLS, Pop. 13,029.

(Train 51 passes 12:58; No. 6, 1:59; No. 41, 6:17; No. 25, 7:14; No. 19, 10:39. Eastbound: No. 6 passes 4:22; No. 26, 4:55; No. 16, 10:22; No. 22, 12:16.)

Our route here lies through a ravine cut by the Mohawk River through a spur of the Adirondack Mts. The town is picturesquely situated on the sides of the gorge overlooking the rapids and falls. The Mohawk here descends 45 ft. in ½ M.

In the gorge, there are crystalline rocks which are of interest as belonging to the Laurentian formation, the oldest rock formation on the face of the globe.

According to geological classification, these rocks belong to the Archæan system. They represent formations of the very earliest period of the earth's history—probably before there was any animal or vegetable life whatsoever. The Archæan rocks have sometimes been spoken of as the original crust of the earth, but this is disputed by many geologists.

Little Falls dates from about 1750. In 1782 there was an influx of German settlers into the village, and almost immediately thereafter the town was destroyed by Indians and "Tories.". It was resettled in 1790. Two and a half miles east of the town was the boyhood home of Gen. Nicholas Herkimer.

Gen. Herkimer (1728-1777) was the son of John Jost Herkimer (d. 1775), one of the original group of German settlers in this section of the Mohawk Valley. Gen. Herkimer was colonel of the Tyrone County Militia in 1775, and was made brigadier general of the state militia in 1776. He was mortally wounded at the battle of Oriskany.

It is planned to establish an Historical Museum at the old Herkimer homestead. Near the city is the grave of Gen. Herkimer, to whom a monument was erected in 1896.

The water power derived from the falls has stimulated manufacturing in the city; its output includes cotton yarns, hosiery, knit goods, leather, etc., valued at $15,000,000 annually. The city is one of the largest cheese markets in the U.S.

Fort Plain (1777)
(From an old print in the N.Y. Public Library)

This was built in place of another unsatisfactory fort by the American government early in the Revolution, and was designed by an experienced French engineer. "As a piece of architecture, it was well wrought and neatly finished and surpassed all the forts in that region."