On Tue, 17 Feb 1998, Phil Lord wrote:

> Secondary source sindicate that in Spetember of 1797, a stage line
> began opperating between Utica dn Geneva along what was then the
> Genesee Road, later to become the Seneca Turnpike, and now State
> Route 5.
>
> Does anyone know of any accounts, close to the 1797-99 period, that
> would record the itinerary of a person using that stage coach? I am
> trying to confirm the precise route and schedule.

Some Almanacs of that period included tables of roads and distances from
one place to another. While I don't have a almanac of the proper date at
hand, I do happen to have a "Webster's Calendar: or, the Albany Almanac"
for 1822 that has a fairly elaborate "Table of Roads from Albany" that
gives two routes west: To Utica, Canandaigua, and Buffalo, and To Buffalo
via Cherry Valley. The table is  laid out with the names of stops, with
mileage between each, and the Utica-Geneva section goes:

New-Hartford 4 [miles from Utica, if I'm reading this correctly]
Westoreland 7
Vernon 6
Sullivan 9
Manlius 12
Derne 3
Ononondaga 7
Marcelius 12
Skaneateles L. 6
Auburn 12,173  [the "173" seems to be the total miles from the beginning
                of the table, e.g. Albany]
Cayuga 4
Junuis 8
Geneva 6, 191

While you wouldn't want to count on this for figuring a route twenty-five
years earlier, you might want to check to see if there is a  similar table
in a 1797-99 period almanac.

Christopher Densmore
University Archives
University at Buffalo
420 Capen Hall
Box 602200
Buffalo, New York  14260-2200

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