Sawen Morse, Pecksport & Hooks Wiltsie

The story starts in the Town of Eaton and a small dot on a NYS map today called Pecksport, near Lower Leland Pond.  The pond was named for one of Eaton's first settlers Joshua Leland... and the area named for Josiah Peck who came from Rhode Island... the spot is now a fishing paradise that was once the busiest port on the Chenango Canal. His son Alonzo and Josiah built a large warehouse on the Chenango and the Lower Leland Pond.  Alonzo was also a very important person in Hamilton and ran a canalboat line.

Alonzo Peck

Located at the actual summit of the canal... which, started a quarter mile to the north at a stake in Johnson’s Swamp in Eaton... Josiah and his son Alonzo  dug out an area that would allow boats to unload and board their cargo headed or coming from the then industrial and business giant of Eaton Village located just over the hill. This port was needed for the delivery of coal and iron ore for the early Eaton foundries, and grain for the famous Morse Distillery.

The Georgetown Plank Road also started there in the early days and maning the first tollgate on this road was Sawen Morse, first child born in Eaton and keeper of that gate. His father Benjamin was a Revolutionary War soldier who came with Joshua Leland.

Pecksport was also the home of one of baseball’s early greats, George “Hooks” Wiltse.  The Wilste family lived near Burchard farms and the numerous Wiltse children attended the one-room schoolhouse located in Pecksport. Living just a stone’s throw from Bouckville, in the Town of Madison, “Hooks” and his brother Lewis “Snake” Wiltse grew up playing with the Bouckville boys and this progressed to playing with the famous Bouckville Summits (so called because Bouckville was at the Summit level of the canal along with Pecksport).  

Wiltse later went on to play for the Giants as a pitcher of note and a player under the infamous John J. McGraw. Wiltse also played on the team that was immortalized in the film Field of Dreams...playing with the famous Shoeless Joe Jackson. 

In those early days... as the movie pointed out, boys dreamed of become professional players and would play anywhere USA in any of the small leagues to get a leg up and also to be paid.  As a matter of fact Wiltse, like the others, would jump a bus or train to get somewhere to play in a small local game for MONEY!  Yes money, many times a team paid a player or two to beef up their lineup...

The story of the local rivalries and the times when baseball was a truly American pass-time and was the local entertainment of pride, is well documented in a book by local historian and author Jim Ford. Titled “The Pride of Cidertown”, Ford tells the story of local lore in one of central New York’s baseball hot spots.  

The Great Chenango Canal, the Reservoirs and Eaton History

This week I finally have been able to start back on a project I started before becoming injured and ill, a film on the Chenango Canal that we have been working on for a few years.  

The Canal is really an interesting and important part of Eaton’s history.  In reality though...only a small part of it is in Eaton…but that small part was probably the most important part of it, as it is through Eaton that all the water for the main section of the canal flowed to fill it.  

The waters of the Leland Ponds, Woodman Pond, Lebanon Reservoir (once know as Kingsley Brook Reservoir), Hatch’s Lake, Bradley Brook and Eatonbrook Reservoir met there.  Yes even Lebanon Reservoir's runoff makes a turn and runs north to join the canal at that spot near Pecksport.  

If you stop at the bridge on 46 going to Hamilton and look back over the fishing section of the canal just off Wendover Road and glance east you can see where all the waters enter.

When originally surveyed by James Geddes it was decided that near this spot all the manmade reservoirs could be built above it and their waters could flow toward the Erie Canal on one side and south toward Pennsylvania on the other.  Today all the remains to mark the spot is a sign for NYS fishing.

The other interesting thing about the area was the ingenuity of Josiah Peck and his son Alonzo who dug out an area that would allow more than one canal boat to unload at the same time.  Alonzo who also ran the Chenango Canal Boat Lines, erected a large warehouse at what would become known as Pecksport... to allowed an overflow of goods to be stored from either the northern or southern routes.

Today there is nothing to mark the spot historically as the signs and historic markers one by one have disappeared.  This is a sad actually, as the vanished history was an important part of the canal which bought a number of new towns and new families to our area.. not to forget the coal to heat the homes with in this cold part of New York State..

The canal also served as the supply route to take goods out of the area.  Some of the regions largest businesses laid to the west in Eaton... the famous Morse distillery of Eaton, the factory of Wood, Taber & Morse Steam Engine Works, as well as the mills of West Eaton.

Too much history of our area has been lost to time... but the ponds of Col. Leland still provide a gathering spot for fisherman and vacationers who enjoy the waters charm much like the Native Americans did... since this area was summer quarters for many of them.