He had even been allowed to
cross over to the west side, and look upon that generous _Mill Yard_,
twelve miles square, as his own. A very extensive gift it is true, but as
it was proposed to erect at the Genesee falls a saw mill, which was
claimed to be a vastly benevolent institution, and would be useful to the
Indians as well as whites, inasmuch as it would save the immense labor of
splitting and hewing logs for plank, as they were going to make the water
of the river split the logs and hew them at the same time; it was claimed
that this surrender on the part of the Indians, would be but a just offset
against the self-denial, great expense, and severe labor of the whites, in
establishing so benign an institution as a _saw mill_, in these western
wilds. This is one among many instances of the benevolence of the white
man toward the Indian.
If the Genesee country was prized by the Indian, it was regarded with a
wishful eye by the white man. And as he had obtained what was on the east
side of the Genesee river, he was not content without a larger portion on
the west. Already the tide of emigration had brought him to the utmost
limit of his possessions, and he could hardly refrain from looking, with a
wishful eye, upon the fertile fields lying beyond.
The Indian on the other hand, began to feel uneasy about having sold so
much of his land. He regretted very much the permission he had given the
white man to own one foot of ground, on the west side of the Genesee
river.
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