The forts which guarded this historic route have been mentioned, and it is possible here only to hint of the remarkable story of the ebb and flow of the war tides which have made the "Grand Pass" perhaps the most alluring field of study in America. Under the specific title "Saratoga and the Northern War-path" an entertaining writer has sketched the place in history occupied by this water thoroughfare and its vital land connections.[54] The story beginning far back in the seventeenth century includes De Tracy's expedition to the Mohawk country in 1666; between 1686 and 1695 "numerous war parties passed through _Kay-ad-ros-se-ra_ and Saratoga on their way to and from the hostile settlements on the St. Lawrence and the Mohawk and lower Hudson." A list of the important expeditions only would include those of 1689; 1690, under Le Moyne upon Schenectady; 1690, under General Winthrop; 1691, under Major Schuyler; and 1693-95. From this time peace reigned until Queen Anne's War in 1709. This year witnessed Winthrop's and Nicholson's campaigns; in 1711 Nicholson again swept up the Hudson on his way toward Quebec, but was compelled to abandon his plan. From 1713 until 1744 there were thirty-one years of peace--during which time the French built Forts Crown Point and Ticonderoga on Lake Champlain. In 1744 the war was again resumed; "during this short war no less than twenty-seven marauding parties swept down from Fort Frederick at Crown Point upon the settlers of what are now Saratoga and Rensselaer counties." On June 17, 1747, in the night, the new English Fort Clinton at Saratoga was attacked by La Corne. In the following year it was destroyed by the English because of its exposed situation, and Albany once more became the most northern outpost. The peace signed in 1748 lasted until the outbreak of the final struggle in 1755. Then followed Johnson's, Winslow's, and Abercrombie's campaigns up the Hudson against Ticonderoga, and Montcalm's swoop upon Fort William Henry. In 1777 the "Northern War Path" became again the route of armies--and here the decisive battle of Saratoga was fought and won. Of this campaign mention will be made again. The western war-route to the Lakes was up the Mohawk and down the Onondaga (Oswego) Rivers. Albany and Oswego were its termini; and the Oneida carrying-place of one mile (in favorable seasons) between the Mohawk River and Wood Creek, at Rome, New York, was its key. This famous route is interestingly described by Mr. Sylvester as follows:[55]