Picture Courtesy of Jim Kuntz

Picture Courtesy of Jim Kuntz

Picture Courtesy of Jim Kuntz

Where the Mohawk Valley narrows and pierces the ridge separating the Great Lakes from the Atlantic watershed were "The Little Falls,"the first portage in travel up the river. Here lived the Canajoharie Indians, the Mohawk Upper Castle. The intervale above the falls was settled in 1723 by Palatines coming from the Schoharie Valley and was named German Flats. As a key location in travel to the interior, it was fortified by the English, and was frequently attacked by the enemy in the French and Indian War and in the Revolution. From here General Nicholas Herkimer led the militia to relieve Fort Stanwix, and to oppose the British invasion at Oriskany in 1777. Tories and Indians from Canada again in 1778 made a destructive raid.

Influx of settlers from the east after the Revolution populated the towns of Herkimer and Little Falls. In 1796 the Great Western Navigation Company, headed by Philip Schuyler, built locks here for a pioneering canal. The completion of the Erie Canal in 1825 brought new industries and commerce. Herkimer cheese became famous: other manufacture included paper, boxes, furniture and knit goods.

Modern travel, on highway, railroad and barge canal, still converges at this ancient pass.

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