Knickerbocker's History of New York Vol. 1 Book III Chapter V

In which the distant outpost of Fort Aurania near the headwaters of the Hudson is depicted as a remote and mysterious frontier, visited only at great peril by the hardy few who dared the voyage. Into this wild region arrives the proud and imperious patroon Killian Van Rensellaer, intent on founding a vast colony with claims of authority that soon raise uneasy questions among the established governors and their councils.