Charles Hogan, right, with our member Jim Hale at last week's meeting. Hogan, former editor and publisher of The Ballston Journal, was our speaker about the Mohawk Indian presence in 18th-century Malta, which for a considerable period discouraged white settlement of the area.
The Mohawks, who were based most of the year along the Mohawk River, came north for a few weeks in spring to fish for herring, shad and bass, in what are now called the Kayaderosseras Creek, Saratoga Lake, Fish Creek and the Hudson River. They dried the fish on the lakeshore, took them home and smoked them.
The British colonial government valued the Mohawks as military allies who were willing to sell land and cooperated with the Albany fur trade. "So Malta remained Indian territory long after other parts of the area," said Hogan, who has a PhD in colonial history.
No comments:
Post a Comment