II
Indian Villages
in the
Upper Valley
THE Indian population on the upper Susquehanna was centred in small villages. It was never large. Parkman, in reference to the whole continent, has remarked that the Indians everywhere were few and scattered Even in parts thought to be well peopled, " one might sometimes journey for days together through the twilight forest and meet no human form/' Around the Susquehanna villages small clearings had usually been made. Apple-orchards had been planted and there were frequent corn-fields; but otherwise the virgin territory bore few indications that men were dwelling upon it.
The foot of Otsego Lake was a favorite resort. In that fact Cooper found the origin of the word Otsego, the particular place where meetings were held being Council Rock. A meaning cited by Campbell * is " clear, deep water," but other writers, like Morgan, pass the word by without defining it. Dr. Beauchamp gives the forms Otesaga and Osten
- Annals of Tryon County. The author of this work, William W. Campbell, was born in Cherry Valley in 1806, and died in 188 1. He was graduated from Union College, read law with Judge Kent, and practised in New York, where, in 1849, he was appointed a Justice of the Superior Court. From 1857 until 1865 he was a Judge of the State Supreme Court for the Sixth District. He also served a term in Congress. His Annals were published in 1831, and a revised edition with a new title, Border Warfare, in 1849. A third edition came out
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