1. Aurelius, 1789. 2. Geneva, 1789. 3. Scipio, 1789. 4. Sempronius, 1789. 5. Brutus, 1802. 6. Cato, 1802. 7. Locke, 1802. 8. Owasco, 1802. 9. Sennet, 1807. 10. Mentz, 1808.

11. Stirling, 1812.

Rivers.

TOWNS

12. Conquest, 1821.
13. Summer Hill, 1821.
14. Victory, 1821.
15. Ira, 1821.
16. Auburn, 1823.
17. Fleming, 1823.
18. Springport, 1823.
19. Venice, 1823.
20. Ledyard, 1823.

21. Moravia, 1833.
22. Niles, 1833.

a. Owasco Outlet. b. Salmon Creek. c. Owasco Inlet. e. Little Sodus Creek. k. Seneca.

Lakes, &c. J. Lake Ontario.

DD. Cayuga. d. Owasca. f. Skeneateles. g. Duck. i. Cross. 1. Little Sodus Bay. Villages. AUBURN. Aurora. Cayuga. Montezuma. Moravia.

BOUNDARIES. North by Lake Ontario; East by Oswego, Onondaga and Cortland counties; South by Tompkins county; West by Cayuga lake, and Seneca and Wayne counties.

SURFACE. The southern section of the county has an irregular surface, rising into ridges on the shores of Cayuga and Owasco lakes. Poplar ridge, the watershed of the county, is between these two lakes, and has an elevation of 600 feet. The northern part is comparatively level, yet has a rolling appearance, in consequence of numerous gravelly hills, which seem like mounds formed by art.

RIVERS. The principal streams are the Seneca river, Salmon and Little Sodus creeks. The Seneca has a very sluggish course through a marshy country.

LAKES. Cayuga lake on the western border, Skeneateles on the eastern, and Owasco in the centre, are the largest lakes. Besides these it has Cross, Duck and Otter lakes, and Lock pond.

BAYS. Little Sodus bay is an inlet of Lake Ontario.

CANALS. The Erie canal crosses the county a few miles distant from the Seneca river, and parallel with it.

RAILROADS. The great line of Railroad between Albany and Buffalo also passes through this county.

CLIMATE. Mild and temperate, much moderated by the numerous bodies of water around and within it. It is regarded as salubrious.

GEOLOGY AND MINERALOGY. This county embraces quite a variety of formations. On the borders of Lake Ontario is found the Medina sandstone; immediately south of this the Clinton,

Niagara and Onondaga limestone groups; next the Helderberg series, and in the extreme southern part of the county, the Ludlowville slaty rocks.

Gypsum, water limestone, sulphate of Barytes, Epsom salts, fluor spar, sulphate of iron, and pure sulphur are the principal minerals.

Petroleum or mineral oil is found on Cayuga lake. Valuable brine springs occur in Montgomery. Here are also sulphur springs, and a chalybeate spring has been discovered in the town of Sennet.

SOIL AND VEGETABLE PRODUCTIONS. The soil of this county, in consequence of its peculiar geological structure, is rich, and its lands are among the most fertile and highly cultivated in the state. Wheat yields the most abundant crops; and fruits thrive in great perfection. The timber consists of oak, beech, butternut, elm, poplar, basswood, pine and hemlock.

PURSUITS. The attention of the inhabitants is chiefly turned to agriculture. Large quantities of the various kinds of grain and wool are annually produced, and considerable numbers of cattle reared.

Manufactures. The principal articles of manufacture are flour, woollen and cotton goods, leather and lumber. Salt is manufactured in considerable quantities.

Commerce. It has a considerable amount of commerce-being connected by the Cayuga lake with the southern countiesby the Erie canal and Auburn and Syracuse railroad with the Hudson and Lake Erie, and by the Cayuga and Seneca canal with the Seneca lake, and the country bordering on it.

THE STAPLES of the county are wheat and other grains, potatoes, butter and wool.

SCHOOLS. The common schools, in 1846, numbered 256. They were taught an average period of eight months, attended by 16,781 scholars, at an expense for tuition of nearly $21,312. The number of volumes in the school libraries was 29,718.

The number of private schools was thirty-five, having in attendance 658 pupils. It has also four academies and one female seminary, with 388 scholars, and one theological seminary with seventy-one students.

RELIGIOUS DENOMINATIONS. Baptists, Presbyterians, Methodists, Friends, Universalists, Congregationalists, Episcopalians, Dutch Reformed, Unitarians, and Roman Catholics. There are in all seventy-seven churches and eighty clergymen.

HISTORY. The first settlements in this county were made in Aurelius, Genoa and Scipio, about the time the Indian title was extinguished, in 1789. The first settlement at Auburn was made in 1793, by Col. John L. Hardenburg, from whom it was named Hardenburg's corners. It received its present name in 1805.

In Moravia, settlements were commenced in 1794. At that

time there were still some Indians residing on the flats. The county has had a rapid and prosperous growth, and in its zeal for public improvements ranks among the first counties in the state.

VILLAGES. AUBURN, the shire town of the county, and one of the most flourishing villages in the state, is situated on the outlet of Owasco lake. Though irregularly laid out, its streets are spacious, and many of its buildings elegant. Besides the county buildings, it contains seven churches, a male and a female seminary, and the Auburn Theological seminary, under the control of the Presbyterians, which has four professors, seventy-one students, and a library of 5000 volumes.

The Auburn State Prison, located here, is a massive granite building, erected at an expense of over half a million of dollars. The main building has a front of 276 feet, and is three stories high besides the basement. The two wings, one on either end, are each 242 feet long, and forty-five wide. The whole is enclosed by a solid stone wall, from sixteen to forty feet high, and three feet thick. The number of prisoners is about 700, who labor in work shops during the day, and are confined in separate cells at night. Population 6171.

Moravia is a thriving incorporated village, in the town of the same name. The Moravian Institute is a chartered institution of some note. Population 600.

Aurora, in the town of Ledyard, lies upon the Cayuga lake, and is hardly surpassed in the beauty of its location, by any village in western New York. The Cayuga academy is a flourishing institution. Steamboats stop here several times a day on their route between Ithaca and Cayuga bridge. Popuulation 500.

Cayuga is a pleasant village on the eastern bank of the Cayuga lake. A daily line of steamboats plies between this place and Ithaca, connecting the Ithaca and Owego and the Auburn and Rochester railroads. A toll bridge, and a railroad bridge, each of them upwards of a mile in length, here cross the Cayuga lake.

Montezuma. A number of saline springs are here found, from which salt of the best and purest quality has been manufactured ever since the earliest settlement of the country. The Montezuma marshes commence about a mile west of the village, and are known as the Paradise of musquitoes. Population 700. Weedsport is a thriving village on the canal in the town of Benton. It has a large amount of business. Population 800. Port Byron, in the town of Mentz, is a large village, on the Erie canal. It has one of the largest flouring establistments in the state, beside several other manufactories. Population 1000.