Great Genesee Road

United States Migration  Trails and Roads  New York  Great Genesee Road

The Great Genesee Road, a fork of the "Mohawk Trail," or "Iroquois Trail" was built by New York State to connect Fort Schuyler (now Utica, New York) on the Mohawk Trail and Mohawk River with Canawaugus (now Caledonia), Livingston County, New York on the Genesee River in 1794. In 1798 the legislature authorized a road extension to Buffalo, New York on Lake Erie. Another fork also went to Fort Niagara on the border with Canada. Each end of the Great Genesee Road connected to other important migration pathways. The length of the road from Utica to Buffalo was 205 miles (330 km).

Historical Background
As westward expansion began after the American Revolution, the only central New York pathways west of Fort Schuyler (Utica, New York) were rivers and a footpath called the Mohawk Trail or Iroquois Trail. The land companies which began developing large tracts of land for settlement started clamoring for the state to make better roads for their customers.

In 1794 the state legilature authorized a road from Fort Schuyler to Canawaugus to help settlers reach the New Military Tract. This area was set aside as 500 acres of bounty land to compensate each New York Revolutionary War veteran for his service. The new road followed the route of the old Mohawk Trail. An extension to Buffalo was authorized four years later.

However, the road construction was spotty and in places incomplete. In 1800 the legislature chartered the Seneca Road Company to charge tolls for improving the road. High quality toll roads were called turnpikes and this one was called the Seneca Turnpike, 157 miles (253 km) from Utica to Canandaigua, longest such road in New York. The road was macadamized to reduce pot holes. In 1805 the western extension to Buffalo was turned into the Ontario and Genesee Turnpike. In 1806 the Seneca Road Company began developing a more northerly alternate route from Seneca Falls across more level terrain in Elbridge, Geddes, and Fayetteville before rejoining the old turnpike at Chittenango. In time this became the more popular route.

The construction of the Erie Canal in 1825 reduced traffic on the turnpikes. Later railroads began to compete for traffic. Reduced revenue on the turnpikes made the road companies unprofitable. In 1852 the Seneca Road Company was dissolved and the turnpikes became public roads again.

Route
The counties along this migration route (east to west) were as follows:


 * Oneida County
 * Madison County
 * Onondaga County
 * Cayuga County
 * Seneca County
 * Ontario County
 * Livingston County
 * Genesee County
 * Erie County

Settlers and Records
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