"Slab City" in Cortland County

 Syracuse Post-Standard

September 24, 1933

 

  Forgotten Villages

Dutch Made Slab City

Thriving Little Hamlet

                      _____

First Grist Mill Now Used as Garage,

        Another Still Being Operated

                     ____

               By T. Elmer Bogardus

   One hundred and thirty-six years ago a pioneer struggled through the forest and undergrowth of southern Onondaga county sleeping by day and traveling by night to avoid hostile Indians.

   It wasn’t a long journey. It started at mopey Hill and ended on the top of a steep hill forming Tully valley and overlooking the swampy Tioughnioga river a few miles below the present Tully village.

   But although short, it was a difficult passage, and the man blazed a trail as he progressed so he could find his way back and not become lost in the maze of trees. The pioneer was named James Cravath, according to legend, and he was seeking the mile-square of land given him by the government.

   When he reached the hill he looked down and saw below him more woods and the swamp and, disheartened, turned back to Pompey Hill. The prospect of hewing those trees and conquering that swamp was too much, for the man already had grubbed some land in Pompey. But he returned the following year and built the town’s first home, a log cabin, on East Hill.

               Dutch Settled in Valley

   A year later came the hardy Dutch from Coxsackie, who heard  who heard Cravath had had not accepted is land grant. More fearless perhaps and more eager for homesteads, the Dutch went down into the valley and settled. 

   There was started Slab City, now a forgotten village on Route 11 in the town of Preble, Cortland County.  Slab City is a hamlet in the town of Preble, Cortland County, on US Route 11 southeast of Preble village.The Dutch came in 1798, and it wasn’t long before a thriving little hamlet was in the making.

   A school, the first in the town of Preble, was built in 1801 and the first teacher was Miss Ruth Thorp. The original building with few changes still stands, since it has been abandoned for six tears biome the children going to Homer for classes.

   Slab City received its name from the sawmills which sprung up on the Tioughnioga river. But those mills have mostly faded into history with the exception of the old Slab City cider, saw and grist mill owned and operated by Clayton Smith.

                           Grist Mill Built

   The first grist mill was built in 1805 by Samuel Woolson and rebuilt in 1827. The building is still intact and used as a garage and storehouse on the farm of Frank Fox.

   Directly behind the old mill are stone ruins of of a sawmill and the site of the dam which furnished water power many years ago. A cheese factory was built in 1863-64 by Moses and William Tallman , one of whom lived on the present  Fox farm, and the other on Earl Clark’s farm, directly across the road. It was Moses Tallman too, who started the Slab City mills now owned by Clayton Smith about 70 years ago. Following the first Dutch immigrants came Ryer Van Patten, another Dutchman, from Schenectady, in 1809. He was the great-grandfather of Mrs. Frank Fox. Mr. Fox’s came from the town of Homer in 1850.

  After Slab City was first founded it was in Onondaga county, but on April8, 1808, it became part of the town of Preble when Cortland county was founded. Not far from Slab City is another forgotten village, Baltimore, the history of which was related last week.

                       Not Much Lumber Turned Out

   Slab City once hummed with the activity of its saw, cider and grist mills. Thousands of fee of lumber were turned out every year from trees hewn from the steep hills of Tully Valley. The plank road on which was situated rang with the hoofs of fast horses, but these have been supplanted  by speeding motor cars on a fine cement pavement.

   In the distance is Mount Toppin, 1,700 feet above sea level, looking down on the ruins and memories of Slab City.

*Note: The area around the town of Preble was first settled in 1796, and the town itself was organized in 1808 during the same year Cortland County was created. Preble named after Commodore Edward Preble, a naval war hero. Slab City refers to a hamlet, a small settlement that exists in a larger town, where people first began to settle. This marker originally stated “Slab City: Site of Saw Mill 1800, Grist Mill 1806, School District No. 4 organized 1813, Present School built 1843” These were all important structures vital to the success of the town in its earliest stages.