Guardian of the Carry Fort Stanwix 1758-1774

In colonial America there were only two major water routes through the seemingly endless Appalachian mountain chain that stretched from Georgia to Maine. The French controlled the St. Lawrence River; the other was the Hudson-Mohawk River route that linked New York Harbor with the Great Lakes. The Great Carrying Place was the high ground between the Mohawk River that coursed eastward to the Hudson and the waters of Wood Creek which meandered westward into Oneida Lake, then exited through the Onondaga River and flowed to the Great Lake Ontario; in effect giving access to the interior of the continent.