area of the Genesee country, for the purpose of superintending a
manufactory for a company incorporated by the State Legislature. After
visiting Sodus Bay, on Lake Ontario, it was finally resolved to locate
this company's works near Geneva, on the banks of Seneca Lake.

During my residence here, the War of 1812 broke out; the events of which
fell with severity on this frontier, particularly on the lines included
between the Niagara and Lake Champlain, where contending armies and
navies operated. While these scenes of alarm and turmoil were enacting,
and our trade with Great Britain was cut off, an intense interest arose
for manufactures of first necessity, needed by the country, particularly
for that indispensable article of new settlements, window glass. In
directing the foreign artisans employed in the making of this product of
skill, my father, Col. Lawrence Schoolcraft, had, from an early period
after the American Revolution, acquired celebrity, by the general
superintendency of the noted works of this kind near Albany, and
afterwards in Oneida County.

Under his auspices, I directed the erection of similar works in Western
New York and in the States of Vermont and New Hampshire.

While in Vermont, I received a salary of eighteen hundred dollars per
annum, which enabled me to pursue my studies, _ex academia_, at
Middlebury College. In conversation with President Davis, I learned that
this was the highest salary paid in the State, he himself receiving
eleven hundred, and the Governor of the State but eight hundred.

The extensive and interesting journeys connected with the manufacturing
impulse of these engagements, reaching over a varied surface of several
hundred miles, opened up scenes of life and adventure which gave me a