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[1866.] July 2. Monday. By 2*20' train, with
wife, to Rochester, & thence to Charlotte, took the Bay State
for Ogdensburgh.
[1866.] July 3. Arrived at Odgensburgh at about 10
A.M., received & escorted to the Seymour House by Col. Judson & Mr.
Skeels. On the N.W. corner of Main
& Ford St. by the side door of the General Ticket office, opposite the
Seymour House, about a dozen plants of a smallish crucifer with a leaf like
southern [?] wood [?]. Next day sent one to Gray. Could find no more of it
with the closest search I could make. [Written above the line: "Gray
writes Sisymbrium canescens, Nutt. = probably S. Sophia."]
In the afternoon, went, in row
boat, with young Mr. Judson, to Chimney
Island, crossed to the
main & explored the woods. On the Island,
& along the shore, a very showy white Galium (=G. trifidum v. tinctorium)
the flowers in cymose clusters. Poa serotina very common along the river,
looks like a Glyceria. On r. r. track found one specimen of Thlaspi
arvense.
[As a Clinton,
G. W. is treated rather like a celebrity. According to Clinton's Miscellaneous Index, Mr. Skeels
was an Editor. Note the general proximity of inns and hotels to
transportation facilities, such as the railroad ticket office.]
[1866.] July 4. After breakfast, walked to the
cemetery, pretty, on right bank of the Oswegatchie. Rev. G. L. Hewitt of Ogdensburg tells me
that the Rev. J. Anderson & Prof. Hamilton, of Oswego, are naturalists. A heavy shower dispersed the procession
when it was just formed by the Seymour House. Reformed when it was over
(about 2 hours) and went direct to the church, orated. They left me to
pay my own expenses, and gave me $75. had sent me $25 = $100 expenses.
[This is another example of Clinton's Fourth of
July orations for which he was usually in demand. The Oswegatchie River
is the main stream in Oswegatchie township in
St. Lawrence Co. where Ogdensburgh is situated on the St. Lawrence.]
[1866.] July 5. At 7*45' A. M. wife & I left,
by rail, for Rome,
thence to Herkimer, which we reached at about 4*30' P.M., took tea, &
hired a carriage ($10) which landed us safe. At the American, Richfield
Springs, at about 8 1/2 P.M., found George, Lil & Minn well, Henry still
in New York.
[These are Clinton's
children. Kate doesn't seem to be present.]
[1866.] July 6. In the rear of the American,
going to the stables, Sonchus arvensis, coming into flower. (At Dennison's tavern, about 4 miles from
Herkimer, where the stages water, the common lovage or smallage (Ligusticum
Levisticum) was growing the the road. Caraway common all over). After
breakfast, walked to the top of "Round Top" the highest hill in the
region, &, in descending it toward's Allen's Lake,
on the dry, wooded side hill, found Linnaea borealis. On the road side, in
wood, by Allen's Lake, Lonicera hirsuta, the
orange flowers quite showy. In the swamp meadow at the head of the swamp,
found a low grass (Gray writes = Glyceria pallida, Sed?) which I took for
examination. Took also the Nuphar of the pond, = N. advena. [Written later
vertically on the left‑hand margin: "In the wood, at the head, abundant,
a sterile Equisetum, with long, slender branches, far more delicate &
graceful that those of E. arvense. Supposed at the time, it was E.
syulvaticum, & preserved no specimens. Regret it now."] Got back to
the village at 2 P.M. & found my dear wife comfortably settled at R. W.
Tunncliff's on Lake St. Took a row on Schuyler Lake
with George.
[Ligusticum Levisticum, the genus "Named
from the country Liguria,
where the official Lovage of the gardens, L. Levisticum, abounds." p,
155 of Gray, 1862.]
[1866.] July 7. [Richfield Springs] After
breakfast, in buggy, rode to Little Lake, got the landlord to drive me to
Mud, or rather Summit Lake (said to shed water to the Mohawk in high
water, its outlet runs into Otsego Lake) where I took a punt & circumnavigated the Lake & explored swamp woods at the head & on
the easterly side. The Lake is very shallow.
The Nymphaea is very small & fragrant & probably distinct from our
big fellow, Nymphaea odorata v. minor. In the wood, west of the road, took a
Carex or two, & a grass which may be, Anthoxanthum (!) also the moss of
the swamp, Myrica gale common in this region. Walked back to Little Lake,
explored the swamp of the lake west of the village. Platanthera dilatata
abundant, Oenothera pumila. Henry arrived this afternoon.
[Little Lakes ("Warren
p. o.)" of Warren township in Herkimer County,
is in the southern part of the
township with one church and 117 inhabitants (French 1860 p. 349].
[1866.] July 8. Sunday. Walked to top of wooded hill
which overlooks the mill pond, Chelidonium majus abundant in the wood.
[1866.] July 9. By 7 1/2 A.M. stage to Herkimer.
On the r. road track one specimen of Vaccaria vulgaris. Reached Buffalo by 8 (7*40'
P.M.
[1866.] July 10. P.M. On edge of Day's Sphagnum,
collected Spiranthes latifolia. Picked
it in morning, & 11th, mailed it to Gray & sent him 2 or 3 plants for
determination.
[1866.] July 11. P.M. with Day, went out on
Plains, & collected Anemone cylindrica. Frasera (will be better a week
hence) and, in the northerly edge of the grove by the stone quarries, what he
supposes is Geranium ch...ense [? not in Gray] in seed (determined, by Gray, to be a form
of Carolinianum). In a rubbishy, old
garden‑looking place, on the Scajaquada, south bank, a little above the old
saw mill, the Rocket (Hesperis matronalis), Delphinium Ajacis & Apium
petroselinum.
In the wood on the plains,
where Day discovered the Geranium he found a few fronds of Asplenium ebeneum.
[Apium petioselinum is Parsley. The Geranium
ch…ense may be Geranium chinense, also known as G. platyanthum, and currently
as G. eriostemon. Other possibilities include G. chilense, G. chimborazense,
G. chinchense, G. chamaense and G. chaparense, all names to be presently
found on the internet.]
[1866.] July 12. The Lampsana begins to blossom.
The seeds I scattered, last Fall, about St.
Paul's Church have taken, & the plants are vigorous.
[1866.] July 15. Sunday. Spent the day about Niagara Falls with D.
F. Day. In the Whirlpool Wood, going up the bank, soon after crossing the
first fence, found 3 plants of Cynoglossum virginianum, in seed.
[1866.] July 16. By 2 1/2* P.M. train to Utica, got there at
10*, supped & slept at Baggs'.
[1866.] July 17. [Utica] Before 6*30', spuked [?] about,
found, on the bank of the Mohawk, opposite the depot & below the ridge,
Phalaris Canariensis common. On the street, parallel with the railroad,
running by Baggs' Tavern, about 1 (street) block & part of another west
of the Main St., northerly side, growing freely among the cobblestones edging
the pavement, what I at first supposed might be Scleranthus, but there are 4
sepals & 4 petals, &, very likely, is a Sagina (Engelman, Lit. 141,
says S. procumbens). By 6*30' train to
Herkimer, & after breakfast, at about 7*30' A. M. started on foot for
Richfield Springs. Walking through Mohawk, found Blitum bon‑ Henricus growing
along the sidewalks. The Stage from the Springs reached Denniston's a few
minutes after me. I walked on, stopped a few minutes at the Smith Columbia
Hotel. By the roadside, shortly after leaving it, found Campanula
rapunculoides, 3 growing freely by the roadside. Reached Mr. Tunnicliff's at about 12 1/2. The day had
been excessively hot.
[This the "Denniston's" of July 6.
Engelman's letter is 148 by Clinton's
catalogue and is reproduced below (see entry for September 19, 1866. W. Tunnicliff, among others, "settled
at or near Richfield Springs in 1789 ...William Tunnicliff erected the first
mill, at the same place." footnote number 4, p. 547 (French 1860).]
[1866.] July 18. [Richfield Springs.] Before
breakfast, walked to first wood going to the Lake
[=Schuyler]. In it, Brachyelytrum aristatum, Viola pubescens v. eriocarpa,
Clintonia borealis, in fruit, took a specimen with 3 leaves. Walking back,
met Mr. Boone, & turned back with him, a carriage picked us up & took
us to Lewis's. Looking off his boat
landing, noticed small fishes, very active & busy, with white‑tipped
fins. A fisherman tells me they are called Silver‑fins. Am pretty sure they are new to me, must get
some for the Society.
After breakfast, with Mr.
Tunnicliff, in a buggy, started for Mud
Lake (Sharp's Lake)
in the eastern part of Warren, Herkimer Co., 5 1/2 miles. Down on the road to
Little Falls (up Church St.) past Wetherby's mills, to Paiges' corners, &
on one side of the late Mr. C. Crain's place, say 1/4 mile, on the road side,
on the left, Blitum bonus‑Henricus abundant, & a little beyond the
Onopordon acanthium, a few rods off, on the right side of the road, a natural
sink in the limestone. Returned to Paige's corners & took the road to the
east, & so on to Mr. McDaniel's house, by Mud Lake, often usually called
Sharp's Lake, put up the horse & buggy, & went into the swamp at the
head, partly cedar & partly tamarack, & on the edge of the lake, open
bog, Salix candida. Found in the cedar & tamarack swamp only Pyrola
secunda v. pumila, no Calypso &c., & plenty of Pyrola uliginosa, and
in openings, Cypripedium spectabile, Calopogon, Calopogon. On the open bog,
in abundance, Andromeda polifolia, Scheuchzeria, cranberry, Vaccinium
macrocarpon, Pogonia ophioglossoides & on the edge of the Lake, Myrica gale. Platanthera dilatata everywhere.
About 12 1/2, weather threatening, went to the house & soon it commenced
raining & rained hourly until nearly 4 P.M. Mr. McD. gave us a good dinner. In returning, in a
dry meadow, grass field, on the left side of the road, a short way before
reaching Paige's corners, found Symphytum officinale growing profusely. (The
Blitum Bonus Henricus I found cultivated in the garden next north of Mr.
Tunnicliff's, & I was told they called it spinach, & hence my
mistake. Mr. Tunnicliff tells me the silver fin was imported from the Otsego Lake, about 40 years ago, as a bait
fish and also a small, long fish, called the Otsego shiner, or pin fish,
which lives in deep water, but runs up the creeks to spawn, in the spring,
& is pellucid.
[ Warren,
a township in Herkimer Co. "The principal stream is Fish Creek, which
flows S., and is bordered by steep banks 100 to 200 ft. high. Mud Lake,
in the E., and Weavers and Youngs
Lakes, in the S., are
small bodies of water. The soil is a sandy and clay loam. There are 2 small
sulphur springs in town. Jordanville (p.v.) contains 2 churches and 125
inhabitants; Pages [sic] Corners [postal village] a gristmill, sawmill, and
82 inhabitants; Little Lakes, (Warren
p. o.,) in the S. part, 1 church and 117 inhabitants. Crains Corners is a
hamlet." (French 1860, p. 349)."]
[1866.] July 19. Before breakfast, brought a line
& reel, towards fishing for silver fins, changed my plants, which I am
trying to dry, in Mr. Tunnicliff's
barn. About 12* George & I were at Lewis'. Tried, from his dock for silver
fins, but they would not bite (Mr. Tunnicliff told me because the water was
roiley). George rowed me down the east side of the Lake to & into the
outlet, as far down on the dam, which is not more than 1 ‑ 2 feet high, &
has no race from it, & is intended merely, for the benefit of mills
below, to increase the capacity of the Lake
as a reservoir. A man fishing then caught, while we were looking on, 2 or 3
bullheads. The water below the dam was black with small fish, which Mr. Lewis
& Mr. Tunnicliff told me was pin fish, or Otsego salmon [=Otsego shiner].
All the inhabitants who had come were off a berrying (red raspberry) so we
could get no milk. I walked round the swamp on west side of the outlet to
& across the creek which empties into the Lake at the foot of the Lake. George rowed up the outlet, collected upwards of
140 waterlilies, & took me in, & then completed the circuit of the Lake. We fished a little here & there, caught
shiners (golden ‑ same as those of the Hudson River),
bullheads, small perch. The waterlilies of this Lake
seem to be the large kind of Nymphaea odorata, roots not tuberiferous
(Error!).
[1866.] July 20. With the Boones, Tunnicliffs,
Bonheydts [?], Mr. Gould
& Mr. Goodwin, rowed from
Lewis's to the Island & pic‑niced there
[sic]. On the Island took 2 specimens of a
Salix.
[This is Richfield Springs; they are on Lake Schuyler.]
[1866.] July 21. Saturday. Walked to Weavers (the
nearer of the 2 Little Lakes) Lake, &
walked up the southerly & easterly side to the Tamarack (&c.) swamp
at the head. Found there Pyrola secunda v. pumila & Polemonium coeruleum,
both nearly out of flower. In a dryish swamp on the outer edge of the Lake, on the easterly or southerly side, Eriophorum
alpinum very abundant. In the wet
wood, at the head of the lake, a trailing Smilax, included, I suppose in
Gray's herbacea, but very different from our erect Smilax herbacea of the
Plains. Took a short, one ...ed fish
on the other little Lake, called Young's Lake, & collected water lilies,
larger than those of [L?S?....t] Lake, roots not tuberiferous (mistake!) (The
leaves of the Nymphaea collected, by George on Thursday, in the outlet of Schuyler Lake,
were as big as those of the N. tuberosa of Buffalo. Paine's remarks as to our
Nymphaeas, are fishy.) In this Lake are 2 or 3 water weeds requiring examination. One
seems to be a Ceratophyllum, but the leaves are pedunculate (?) &
fanlike, not in fruit nor flower, on looking at it again, think it is
Potamogeton pectinatus, the other are P. pusillus or pauciflorus & Naias
flexilis.
[Polemonium caeruleum [sic] L. is mentioned by
Gray in his Manual (5th Ed. 1867(68) as being found "Head of Little
Lakes, Warren, Herkimer Co., G. W. Clinton." It was considered a
European species but grew "Wild far northwestward." In Fernald's 1950
edition of Gray's Manual (ed. 8), P. caeruleum is "Spread from cult. to
roadsides and waste places, e. Can.
and N.E. to Minn.
and doubtless elsewhere. " It is presently considered to bePolemonium
coeruleum Gray, not L. = P. van-bruntiae Britt. This latter is fully native,
of "Wooded swamps, bottoms, sphagnous bogs andd mossy glades, Vt. and N.Y. to Md.
and W. Va., often at high alts."]
[1866.] July 22. [Richfield Springs.] Church
&c.
[1866.] July 23. Monday. [Richfield Springs.]
Between 4 & 5 A.M. walked out to the 2 big springs, n w'y of the South
Columbia Hotel, & piked there & in the stream issuing therefrom down
to the millpond, & caught 3 trout for my wife's dinner. Got home at 10*,
the day very light showery, wind not strong, but gusty. Spent the rest of the
day on Schuyler's Lake, catching &
dressing a mess of small fish.
[1866.] July 24. [Richfield Springs.] Wrote to
Gray, inclosing the Sagina? from Utica.
The Sonchus arvensis grows freely, by the side of the ditch just south of Mr.
Tunnicliff's house.
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