Corning, New York - The Crystal City

Every pioneer farmer had to clear his land of trees before he could grow crops, so thousands and thousands of fine trees were cut and burned to clear the fields.

But timber was a valuable cash crop if it could be delivered to market. The insatiable needs of Europe and the more settled areas along the American coast for firewood, building materials, fine wood for furniture making and shipbuilding, and somewhat later for industrial uses, guaranteed a market.

It was costly and slow, if not impossible, to move heavy lumber from the frontiers by land transportation methods. The streams and rivers, with their currents leading always to the seacoast, provided a cheap, efficient way of moving heavy cargoes such as timber.

Trees were cut and skidded out of the woods in the wintertime and when the snow and frozen ground made it easier to drag them. The logs, or sometimes, finished timber from a sawmill, were lashed into platforms or rafts. The platforms were attached to one another to make "fleets". Even small creeks and feeder streams when swollen by a spring or fall flood, a freshet, could float the rafts downstream.

Rafting was a serious business and the task of piloting a fleet down the river was one, which required good judgment, steady nerves, and a memory for obstacles of the river-bed, as well as an eye for unexpected dangers. It was part-time work, for the season depended upon the rivers rising. The crew of four or five, who poled the raft under the direction of the pilot, was made up of any willing, strong men who could spare a couple of weeks for manual labor away from home.

Almost every able-bodied young man from the Chemung Valley tried his hand at rafting at one time or another. For many of them it was the only travel-adventure of their lives.

On one of the platforms of the fleet a shanty was constructed with crude bunks and a fire-pit to provide shelter and warmth when the raft was tied up along the river-bank for the night. The raft made a one way trip to the sea where it was broken up for its timber, so the crew traveled with minimal baggage since everything on it must be carried back home or given away.

They depended upon fire to keep them warm at night and dry out their clothing, but often the cool, rainy weather of early spring or fall made the journey uncomfortable. Occasionally the crew purchased fresh eggs, milk, or other perishables to cook from a river-side farm, but usually the depended upon baked beans which could be prepared before the trip, eaten cold, and kept well.

Folklore records that hard cider and other strong drink sometimes supplemented the diet, but responsibility for navigating the river required a sober pilot, for carelessness could mean a smashed raft and forfeited wages.

The trip down-river was hard work, but not without its fun. First-time rafters were the butt of practical jokes and pranks in a sort of crude initiation. The hike home was sometimes turned into an endurance race as crews vied with one another to see who could make the best time.

In later time, canal boats and trains made the return journey more comfortable. Some young men lingered in Pennsylvania or even made a detour to visit coastal cities, Philadelphia or New York.

Eventually, the depletion of timber and improved transportation by railroads put and end to the rafting in the Chemung valley. Lumbering itself was one of the first industries of the frontiers. In this area, Eleazer Lindsley brought saws with him and had a sawmill in operation by 1790.

There were also early mills on Post Creek and along the river where Denison Park now stands. Most communities had sawmills, which provided the lumber for building local barns houses and even plank roads.

Most important to the area were the large mills which grew up at the place now named for them, Gang Mills. At one time these mills were reputed to be the largest in the world. After the Civil War, when the countryside had been limbered off, the mills moved farther west to new forests areas.

Many of the residents of Painted Post migrated to upper Michigan with the company, but the name Gang Mills continues to remind us that Painted Post was once lumbering country.