The survivors of these Indians have not sunk to as low a level as many other tribes have done.  It is not generally known in the West that there are on the New York reservations, at the present time, more than 5,000 Indians, including about 2,700 survivors of the once great Seneca tribe.

The State of New York is about the same size as the Kingdom of England.  It is the nineteenth State in the Union in point of size, possessing area of more than 49,000 square miles, of which 1,500 square miles is covered by water, forming portions of the lakes.  Its lake coast line extends 200 miles on Lake Ontario and 75 miles on Lake Erie.  Lake Champlain flows along the eastern frontier for more than 100 miles, receiving the waters of Lake George, which has been described as the Como of America.  The lake has a singular history.  It was originally called by the French Canadians who discovered it, the “Lake of the Holy Sacrament,” and it was the scene of battles and conflicts for over a hundred years.

The capital of the Empire State, with its population of such magnitude that it exceeds that of more than twenty important foreign nations, is Albany, which was founded by the Dutch in 1623, and which has since earned for itself the title of the “Edinburgh of America.”  Compared with New York City it is dwarfed in point of population and commercial importance.

Of the actual metropolis of the great Empire State it is impossible to speak at any length in the limited space at one’s command.  Of New York itself, Mr. Chauncey Depew said recently, in his forcible manner, “To-day, in the sisterhood of States, she is an empire in all that constitutes a great commonwealth.  An industrious, intelligent, and prosperous population of 5,000,000 of people live within her borders.  In the value of her farms and farm products, and in her manufacturing industries, she is the first State in the Union.  She sustains over 1,000 newspapers and periodicals, has $80,000,000 invested in church property, and spends $12,000,000 a year on popular education.  Upward of 300 academies and colleges fit her youth for special professions, and furnish opportunities for liberal learning and the highest culture, and stately edifices all over the State, dedicated to humane and benevolent objects, exhibit the permanence and extent of her organized charities.  There are $600,000,000 in her savings banks, $300,000,000 in her insurance companies, and $700,000,000 in the capital and loans of her State and National banks.  Six thousand miles of railroads, costing $600,000,000, have penetrated and developed every accessible corner of the State, and maintain, against all rivalry and competition, her commercial prestige.”

CHAPTER IV.

IN THE CENTER OF THE COUNTRY.

The Geographical Center of the United States and its Location West of the Mississippi River—­The Center of Population—­History of Fort Riley—­The Gallant “Seventh”—­Early Troubles of Kansas—­Extermination of the Buffalo—­But a Few Survivors out of Many Millions.