The Hudson, from the wilderness to the sea . f the fort remains. The river hererushes over a rough rocky bed, and falls fifteen or twenty feet in thecourse of eighty rods. Here was the scene of another of Putnams adven-tures during the old war. He was out with a scouting party, and waslying alone in a batteau on the east side of the river, when he was sur-prised by some Indians; he could not cross the river swiftly enough toescape the balls of their rifles, and there was no alternative but to godown the foaming rapids. He did not hesitate a moment. To theastonishment of the savages, he steered
The Hudson, from the wilderness to the sea . f the fort remains. The river hererushes over a rough rocky bed, and falls fifteen or twenty feet in thecourse of eighty rods. Here was the scene of another of Putnams adven-tures during the old war. He was out with a scouting party, and waslying alone in a batteau on the east side of the river, when he was sur-prised by some Indians; he could not cross the river swiftly enough toescape the balls of their rifles, and there was no alternative but to godown the foaming rapids. He did not hesitate a moment. To theastonishment of the savages, he steered directly down the current, amidwhirling eddies and over ragged and shelving rocks, and in a few momentshis vessel had cleared the rushing waters, and was gliding upon thetranquil river below, fiir out of reach of their weapons. The Indiansdared not make the perilous voyage: they regarded Putnam as God-protected, and believed that it would be an affront to the Great Spirit tomake further attempts to kill him with powder and ball. CHAPTER } I )Il tlie twofold purpose of affording water-powerfor mills, and providing still water for the boatsof the Champlain Canal to cross, the SaratogaDam is constructed at Fort Miller, three milesbelow the rapids. The dam forms an elbowin the middle of the stream, and is about 1,400feet in length. Below it are considerablerapids; just above it is a bridge, which has acarriage-way for the public use, and a narrowerpassage for the horses that draw the canal vessels float safely on the usually stillwater of the river, but sometimes, when thestream is very full, the passage is attended with some difficulty, if notdanger, on account of the strong though sluggish current. When wevisited the spot, a large-class boat lay wrecked in the rapids below,having gone over the dam the day before. •The country in this vicinity is beautiful: the valley is narrow, and thehills, on the eastern side especially, rise one above the other in the land-s
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