Rochester, New York History - Page 1
Bounty, beauty long drew settlers
By Matthew Daneman(Aug. 29, 1999) -- Iroquois legend has it that the Finger Lakes are fingerprints left by the Great Spirit. The Great God Manitou wanted to reward the Iroquois people with a piece of the happy hunting ground.
But as he pushed the paradise down from the heavens, his hand slipped, causing six indentations that later became the six major lakes -- Canandaigua, Keuka, Seneca, Cayuga, Owasco and Skaneateles.
Geologists tell a different tale to account for the 11 Finger Lakes, which stretch from Conesus Lake on the west to Otisco Lake on the east, with Hemlock, Canadice and Honeoye also in between.
Vast glaciers first advanced into upstate New York from the Hudson Bay area about 1.2 million years ago. As ice ages came and went, waves of glaciers bulldozed across our region, gouging and widening creekbeds and river valleys into deep channels. As the glaciers melted, they filled the channels with water and sealed them off with huge deposits of stone and soil.
Map of Early Glacial Lakes in New York
When the last glacier melted about 13,000 years ago, the Finger Lakes were complete.
Glaciers are what make a lake a Finger Lake. Although Syracuse-area lakes, such as Onondaga, are oblong and run north-south like the Finger Lakes, they weren't carved out by glaciers. So they don't make the cut.
Map of Late Glacial Lakes in New York
Map of Late Glacial Lakes in New York
After the glaciers receded, plants sprouted in the newly uncovered land, followed quickly by animals and then aboriginal hunter-gatherers.
''This region was rich in plant and animal life,'' said Dan Barber, Rochester Museum & Science Center curator of regional history. ''It was a lush area. (Tribes people) could make a good living.''
The first signs of farming and permanent Native American settlements date between 3,000 and 3,500 years ago.