When taking a long walk about the town, I found that, although inferior in size, it is a very desirable place for summer residences; being beautifully situated on romantic slopes crowned with elegant and tasty villas.
Canajoharie is regularly and appropriately laid out with wide, well kept and adequately lighted thoroughfares, and many citizens reside in spacious and architecturally ornamented houses. It is a recognized center of trade, from which agricultural products of all kinds are shipped.
In the first historic record, dated 1757, the place was styled "Fort Cannatchocary," and mentioned as a prospering settlement. Incorporated as a town in 1788, its population has been rapidly increasing since then, and now is estimated to amount to more than 3,000.
It was a glorious morning, the 24th of July, as we left Canajoharie. The sun rose up into a cloudless heaven and poured a flood of gorgeous splendor over the landscape, as if proud of the realm he shone upon.
When I entered the pilot-house I found Mr. James, in the absence of the captain, busy steering the yacht, and in the course of our long voyage I often had opportunity to admire his abilities as a navigator. On many occasions I observed that he was very cautious in all his proceedings; that he took nothing for granted, and was only convinced of a fact when properly certified by ocular demonstration.
Engaged in a French conversation with the dexterous commodore, the time, as well as the vessel, was rapidly gliding along; the latter being assisted by a little breeze that rippled the surface of the water. So, after a three miles' ride, we approached Fort Plain, which boasts of numerous factories, and also the largest spring and axle works of the world. The Clinton Liberal Institute, one of the leading military schools of the State, occupies a commanding position, overlooking the valley. The site of old Fort Plain, of revolutionary memory, is within the village limits.
Having passed Cox and Mindenville, a route of nine miles brought us into the proximity of the busy town of Little Falls, which has a population of about 10,000. It is romantically situated, and many elegant dwellings stand upon steep acclivities, commanding views of grand and attractive sceneries. The chief products of the numerous manufactories are knit goods. Little Falls is also one of the principal cheese markets of the Empire State. The Mohawk river supplies the place with abundant water-power, having at this point a fall of forty-five feet in half a mile.
Still proceeding on our voyage, the town was soon out of sight. The sun shone with the clearest splendor from the zenith, beautifully illumining the smiling valleys, wooded hills, sparkling brooks and dimpled lakes, which makes this landscape scene so attractive. We were unable to leave our seats on the stern-deck; for everything around us seemed to have assumed the character of enchantment, and—had I been educated in the Grecian mythology—I should scarcely have been surprised to find an assemblage of Dryads, Naiads and Oreads sporting on the plain beside us.
After having viewed Mohawk, eight miles from Little Falls; Herkimer, a town of about 5,000 inhabitants; Ilion, with a population of nearly the same number, and Frankfort, four miles from Utica, we reached the latter city as
"The sunset gorgeous dyes,
Paled slowly from the skies,"