Unadilla Region

Unadilla Region. Historic New York. Indians living in the valleys of the Unadilla and Susquehanna Rivers played an important role in the region's early history. Fur traders from Albany and the Mohawk Valley reached out to Oquaga (now Windsor), and a mission to the Indians was established there. The Treaty of Fort Stanwix in 1768 drew a line along the Unadilla River and southward marking the westward limit of white settlement, but failed to bring peace to the frontier. During the Revolution the Mohawk leader Joseph Brant organized the Indians of the area, and these joined Tories in terrifying raids upon the settlements. In retaliation, the Sullivan-Clinton campaign of 1779 destroyed the villages of the Indians and burned their corn, thus forcing them to leave the region.

After the Revolution came land speculators, like Robert Harpur who in 1795 founded Harpursville, with a grant of 30,000 acres, and brought in settlers from the Mohawk Valley and New England. Lumber and agricultural products were rafted down the Susquehanna to market. In 1869 the Albany and Susquehanna Railroad, which became part of the Delaware and Hudson line, was completed, and industry developed along it's route. Farms were principally devoted to dairying;and creameries and factories for milk products were established. Travel and transport once so heavy on the river and railroad have been largely replaced by motor traffic on modern highways.