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Show IN NEW YORK'S EARLY DAYS Simple Reason Why the First Settlement Settle-ment Grew in Length Instead of Breadth. The province of New York was in reality a fringe of settlements on the Hudson river, Manhattan island and Long island ; back of this fringe was a waste of trackless forest land, the land of mountains and ravines, where lurked vast hordes of Indians, driven from the water front by the daring mariners, to whom, for a song,' the simple savages had sold their birthright. birth-right. The foolish white man, sowing seeds of cunning and distrust, had pushed the red man into a mightier stronghold among1 the crags and cliffs but not before he had learned the use of firearms, and had learned also the lesson of killing for revenge. With this menace at their back, it is no wonder that the territory of New York grew in length rather than in breadth, though, as early as 16G0, a handful of dauntless pioneers, led by Arendt Van Curler or "Brother Cor-laer," Cor-laer," as the Iroquois Indians called him, traveled up to Albany, through what is known as Clinton avenue, until un-til reaching Norman's Kill they struck a forest trail which led them to their future home on a low plateau on the banks of the Mohawk. From "Heroes of the American Revolution," by Oliver Clay. |