In the beginning, there were loggers. And then there were farmers.
*When white people muscled into our region, the lucky ones got fields that had been cleared by Native farmers. For others, though, their first priority was to clear the forests, and lumber was their first product.
*By clearing the land, they created space where they could either run livestock, or plow and plant. Practically everybody in the world was engaged in food production, at least as a sideline. Every single country dedicated at least 90% of its economy to food production.
*Most of us know that George Washington, Thomas Jefferson, and James Madison owned and operated plantations growing large amounts of foodstuffs, and even experimented with ways of improving the yields and strengthening the strains.
*But they were all rich. Even for non-rich John Adams, his home was a farm, and even while he was president he worked it alongside the hired men whenever he was home.
*So our early white residents were almost all involved with farming.
*That percentage is now much lower… though it has crept back upward, with Amish and Old Order Mennonites buying and operating small farms. But Steuben is still one of New York’s top counties for agriculture.
*In the earliest years the main product (after timber) was grain, and men might spend a week each winter haulting their grain by sledge to Naples for milling. Later Jemima Wilkinson built mills on Keuka Outlet, and eventually there were mills right here at home in Steuben.
*They might haul unmilled grain to Bath or Arkport, there to be poured into capacious “arks” that would then be poled and drifted downriver to Baltimore by way of the Conhocton, Canisteo, Chemung, and Susquehanna Rivers. Since they couldn’t work UPriver, once the grain was gone they’d sell the arks as lumber, and then walk home with their cash.
*When the Erie Canal opened it 1825 it wrecked that river traffic, and pretty much wrecked the Southern Tier along with it. Business (and farming) picked up again about 10 years later, once canals connected Keuka Lake and the Conhocton River to Seneca Lake, and thence to the Erie system. Produce now flowed north instead of south, but at least it WAS flowing again.
*Just as the Civil War approached the Keuka Lake towns discovered grapes, soon making growing and winemaking a big business in Yates and Steuben.
*For the rest of the county, potatoes and dairy became major products. But the Civil War… and later, the two World Wars… required mechanizing agriculture to replace all those young farm hands who’d gone into uniform. Now we grow more food, but with fewer workers and with fewer (and bigger) farms.
*All of that will be the focus of this year’s Steuben County History Awareness Week, October 1 through 5. Multiple agencies and historical societies have created exhibits that will be in the Horticultural Building at Steuben County Fairground (2 to 6 on Tuesday through Friday, ten to noon on Saturday).
*On Thursday Allegany County Historian Craig Braack will speak on “The Story of Barns, Silos and Outhouses.” On Friday I will present “From Wheat to Grapes: The Steuben Farming Story.” Both presentations will be at 6:30 in Haverling High School, and all the activities are free and open to the public.
*The finale will be on Saturday at Howard Community Center. At 1:00 there will be a demonstration of vintage plowing with work horses, followed from 2 to 4 by a Barn Dance with live music, “taste of Steuben” refreshments, and Harvest Basket Raffle. Please – join us at least once this week!