Cattaraugus County, New York

Cattaraugus County is a located in the  of. As of the, the population was 83,955. The county name comes from a  word meaning "bad smelling banks," referring to the odor of  which leaked from seams in rock formations. The is.

History
When counties were established in New York State in, the present Cattaraugus County was part of. This was an enormous county, including the northern part of New York State as well as all of the present State of and, in theory, extending westward to the. This county was reduced in size on, by the creation of , and further on ,  by the creation of , both containing territory now in Vermont.

On, , what was left of Albany County was split into three parts, one remaining under the name Albany County. One of the other pieces,, contained the western portion (and thus, since no western boundary was specified, theoretically still extended west to the Pacific). The eastern boundary of Tryon County was approximately five miles west of the present city of, and the county included the western part of the and the area west of the West Branch of the. The area then designated as Tryon County now includes 37 counties of New York State. The county was named for, colonial governor of New York.

In the years prior to, most of the Loyalists in Tryon County fled to. In, following the peace treaty that ended the , the name of Tryon County was changed to in honor of the general, , who had captured several places in Canada and died attempting to capture the city of , replacing the name of the hated British governor.

was split from Montgomery County in. In turn, was split from Ontario County in. Shortly afterwards, Genesee County was made smaller in, by the creation of.

Cattaraugus County was formed in, split off from Genesee County. However, at first there was no county government due to the sparse population. From to, Cattaraugus County was incorporated in Allegany County; from  to , records of the county were divided between  (Allegany County) and  (then in ). Finally, in, a county government was established for Cattaraugus County.

The first settlement in the county was in and the original county seat was. After 1860, the county seat was moved to Little Valley.

Geography
Cattaraugus County is in the southwestern part of the state, immediately north of the border. The southern part of Cattaraugus County is the only area of western New York that was not covered by the last glaciation and is noticeably more rugged than neighboring areas that had peaks rounded and valleys filled by the glacier. The entire area is actually a of  and  age, but appears mountainous to the casual observer. The plateau is an extension of the from nearby Pennsylvania. Southern Cattaraugus County is part of the same, and was formerly a resource of the area. It is now mostly played out, but continues to be extracted.

According to the, the county has a total area of 3,425 (1,322 ). 3,392 km² (1,310 sq mi) of it is land and 32 km² (12 sq mi) of it (0.94%) is water.

The northern border of the county is formed by.

Adjacent Counties

 * - north
 * - northeast
 * - east
 * - southeast
 * - southwest
 * - west

Major Highways

 * [[Image:I-86.svg|20px]] [[Image:NY-17.svg|20px]] / (Southern Tier Expressway)
 * [[Image:US 62.svg|20px]]
 * [[Image:US 219.svg|22px]]
 * [[Image:NY-16.svg|20px]]
 * [[Image:NY-98.svg|20px]]
 * [[Image:NY-240.svg|22px]]
 * [[Image:NY-242.svg|22px]]
 * [[Image:NY-353.svg|22px]]

Demographics
As of the of 2000, there were 83,955 people, 32,023 households, and 21,647 families residing in the county. The was 25/km² (64/sq mi). There were 39,839 housing units at an average density of 12/km² (30/sq mi). The racial makeup of the county was 94.63%, 1.06% or , 2.60% , 0.46% , 0.02% , 0.23% from , and 1.01% from two or more races. 0.94% of the population were or  of any race. 26.8% were of, 13.2% , 11.3% , 9.1% , 8.2% and 7.4%  ancestry according to.

There were 32,023 households out of which 32.10% had children under the age of 18 living with them, 52.30% were living together, 10.80% had a female householder with no husband present, and 32.40% were non-families. 26.80% of all households were made up of individuals and 11.60% had someone living alone who was 65 years of age or older. The average household size was 2.52 and the average family size was 3.05.

In the county the population was spread out with 26.20% under the age of 18, 9.30% from 18 to 24, 26.50% from 25 to 44, 23.50% from 45 to 64, and 14.60% who were 65 years of age or older. The median age was 37 years. For every 100 females there were 95.90 males. For every 100 females age 18 and over, there were 92.50 males.

The median income for a household in the county was $33,404, and the median income for a family was $39,318. Males had a median income of $30,901 versus $22,122 for females. The for the county was $15,959. About 10.00% of families and 13.70% of the population were below the, including 18.60% of those under age 18 and 9.90% of those age 65 or over.

Politics
Cattaraugus County is run by a with an appointed county "administrator," who serves many executive duties of a county executive but has no legislative veto power and is not elected. The legislators themselves are independently elected (while some also serve as mayors of the villages they represent, their status as mayors does not affect in any way their seats on the legislature). The votes of each legislator are counted in proportion to the number of people that said legislator represents (for example, if a legislator from Olean has 10,000 people in his district, and the legislator serving Lyndon only has 5,000, the Lyndon legislator's vote has only half the worth of the Olean legislator's). There are currently 21 members of the legislature; the county is in the process of reducing that number to 17. Each legislator serves a four year term, with a limit of three terms.

The legislature is a majority Republican, with Crystal Abers serving as chairwoman. There are three represented parties in the legislature: Republicans, Democrats, and the, which (as of May 2007) has two members in the legislature.

Cattaraugus County is entirely within the boundaries of the 149th District (served currently by ), the 57th  District (served currently by ), and the  29th district (served currently by ).

The county is generally considered a "red county," with Republicans usually outvoting Democrats in most statewide and national offices (for instance, in 2004 defeated  in Cattaraugus County by a 60-40 margin). However, in 2006, the county narrowly chose over  by a margin of about 1% in the governor's race, and  surprisingly defeated  in the county by a 10 percentage point margin. (That being said, in all other positions up for office that year, Republicans-- including all congressional and state legislature representatives-- still won.)

Additional facts about Cattaraugus County
There are two separate geological formations, both called "Rock City," in the county that have the appearance of a town laid out with streets. One is in and the other is in.

is the largest city in the county and is the major center for business.

Cattaraugus County's current promotional nickname is the Enchanted Mountains, despite the fact that the county is mostly hills and that only two comparatively small "mountains" (Mount Seneca and Mount Tuscarora, both in ) exist in the county. During the 1980s, the county used the slogan Naturally Yours to Enjoy.

Cattaraugus County is considered part of, as well as , the , and occasionally the. As a result of this geographic crossroads, the people of Cattaraugus County speak a variety of accents, ranging from mild variants of to, with a handful of people speaking in the more loud and nasal .

The sales tax in Cattaraugus County is 8% (4% from, 4% from the county).

Famous Cattaraugus County natives

 * of Ellicottville, co-host of the first season of 
 * (1942-2006) of Olean, host of 
 * (1915-2007) of Salamanca, member of famous songwriting duo alongside
 * (1924-2003) of Salamanca, professional baseball player, manager, and executive
 * of Salamanca, professional football player
 * of Randolph, professional football player
 * , professional football player
 * of Salamanca and Little Valley, weatherman at
 * of Franklinville, Miss USA 1999
 * of Portville, celebrated song writer and musician
 * of Olean, first female Department Head at the West Point Military Academy

Educational institutions
A branch of, in provides higher education for residents. provides specialized education and is also in Olean. is also in this county.