The American Locomotive Co., which likewise has a factory here, with 5,000 employees, turns out some of the largest and fastest locomotives produced in America or abroad. During the last 35 years Schenectady has become one of the greatest industrial centers in the United States; its total annual output has a value of nearly $100,000,000, the output of the General Electric Co, alone being about $75,000,000.
We now cross the Mohawk River, and Erie Canal, and our route ascends the valley of the Mohawk as far as Rome. To the south the Catskill Mts. are visible in the distance, and the outline of the Adirondack Mts. can be faintly seen to the north.
This beautiful group of mountains was once covered, all but the highest peaks, by the Laurentian glacier, whose erosion, while perhaps having little effect on the large features of the region, has greatly modified it in detail, producing lakes and ponds to the number of more than 1,300 and causing many falls and rapids in the streams. In the Adirondacks are some of the best hunting and fishing grounds in the United States, which are so carefully preserved that there are quantities of deer and small game in the woods, and black bass and trout in the lakes. Some 3,000,000 acres are preserved. The scenery is wonderfully fine and the air so clear that many sanatoriums have been established for tuberculosis patients.
175 M. AMSTERDAM, Pop. 33,524.
(Train 51 passes 12:15; No. 3, 1:12; No. 41, 5:20; No. 25, 6:30; No. 19, 9:52. Eastbound: No. 6 passes 5:07; No. 26, 5:39; No. 16, 11:10; No. 22, 1:03.)
Sir William Johnson (1715-1774)
Sir William was a remarkable figure in early N.Y. history. He is said to have been the father of 100 children, chiefly by native mothers, either young squaws or wives of Indians who thought it an honor to surrender them to the king's agent. According to an early historian, the Indians of the Six Nations "carried their hospitality so far as to allow distinguished strangers the choice of a young squaw from among the prettiest of the neighborhood, as a companion during his sojourn with them."
Amsterdam was settled about 1775 and was called Veedersburg until 1804 when its present name was adopted. It was for some time the home of Elisha Arnold, father of Benedict Arnold, but the latter was born in Norwich, Conn. (Jan. 14, 1741.) The so-called Guy Park Mansion built in 1763, by Guy Johnson, nephew of Sir William Johnson is still used as a private residence. Today Amsterdam ranks as the first city in the United States in the manufacture of carpets and second in the manufacturing of hosiery and knit goods. It has one of the largest pearl button factories in the country; other products are brushes, brooms, silk gloves, paper boxes, electrical supplies, dyeing machines, cigars, wagon and automobile springs; the total value of the output being about $30,000,000 annually.