 The group reached Albany , New York two days later , where Joseph Darrow was hired . Hudson also bought $ 46 @.@ 50 worth of goods in Albany and nearby Schenectady . A few members of the group , including Ira Hudson , left to drive cattle to the settlement . The others then traveled across New York along the Mohawk River valley , passing through Fort Schuyler in Utica ( where Jonah Meechum was hired on April 29 ) . The group then arrived at Onondaga ( near present @-@ day Syracuse ) on May 2 , where Richard Blin was hired . They reached East Bloomfield , where Birdsey Norton lived , on May 5 . The party replenished its supplies and Hudson met with Benjamin Tappan , who was on his way to a settlement near Hudson 's . They agreed to travel together by boat , while another small group herded livestock overland , to their respective settlements . On May 16 , 1799 , the group , consisting of Hudson , Darrow , Blin , McKinley and Tappan , traveled north to Lake Ontario . Departing in several boats from Oswego , they traveled west towards Lake Erie . 
