USA > Connecticut > Litchfield County > Norfolk > History of Norfolk, Litchfield County, Connecticut, 1744-1900 > Part 29
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The ownership of the highway was vested in the com- pany, as appears by an act passed October, 1801, when it was enacted "That the property of all trees now growing, or which shall hereafter be set out for shade or ornament within the limits of the highway, purchased by the Turn- pike Company, and of all the stones and other material left on said road when the same was opened, is hereby vested in said company. Each and every person who shall, with- out the permission of said company, take up or destroy any such tree or trees, or shall remove from off said road any stone or other material, shall forfeit to and for the use of said company three times the value of such trees or stones; and for each tree so cut down, taken up or destroyed, a further sum of two dollars, besides the three-fold value thereof as aforesaid." There was a toll-gate toward West Norfolk. Persons using the turnpike could, if they desired, pay a certain sum for the year. The rates of toll were: For each head of neat cattle, etc., 1c. A single horse and wagon, 'four pence ha-penny' (6 1-4 cents.) A double team and wagon, nine pence (12 1-2 cents.) For a loaded two- horse team, 'one and tuppence' (18 3-4 cts.), etc.
THE OLD TOLL GATE.
(FROM THE CONNECTICUT WESTERN NEWS, OCTOBER, 1872).
"The collecting of tolls from the old Turnpike Gate, be- tween Norfolk and West Norfolk, was discontinued the first of the present month. The first gate on the Green-
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woods turnpike, running from Hartford to Albany, was located near the present residence of Mr. James Humphrey, in West Norfolk, and was one of the most primitive style, being one of the old-fashioned swing gates. In the progress of events this gate was discontinued and a new one built and located on the site of the present one, and after years of service an improvement was thought necessary on this building, and it was purchased by Mr. Levi Shepard, then in the height of his business career. The present building was at that time built, and toll has been received there at the rate of from $800 to $1200 a year up to the 1st of October, 1872. Mr. Levi Shepard is still living, still quick and more sprightly than many of his age, and to him we are indebted for the above information."
Many alterations and changes in the location of the original highways were made, some roads or portions of roads were discontinued and new ones laid, others were made 'pent roads,' that is, closed to general travel, and liability for damages from the town in case of accident withdrawn. It has been said often that the plan adopted in laying the first roads was to go on the highest land pos- sible from the top of one hill to the next, avoiding all low or wet ground.
Roys says: "The manner then pursued and approved of for making roads was to dig a pass or trench through knolls and on the declivities of hills sufficiently wide for carts to pass forward, but in general not to pass each other but with difficulty. The wet and marshy places which crossed their route were filled with round timber laid across the road. In some places they were left naked; in others the interstices were filled with earth, which formed a level for a time above the water and mud. When coming to a rock of considerable size they very prudently sheered off, and took a circular turn, avoiding it as an un- conquerable obstruction. The course of the highways gen- erally was over high ground, in order to escape the swamps and dense forests which in many places lay directly in their way. Later, when the surface was cleared and dry, many
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alterations were made in their direction, which better ac- commodated the inhabitants in every part of the town."
Some changes and improvements were made from time to time in the old turnpike. When it was first opened, the hill just east of the Green in this town was very steep, but in a few years the grade was made easy by walling up the sides and filling in. Since the turnpike was given up to the town, this fill has been widened and much improved.
A short distance west from Pond Hill pond the road originally ran straight over the hill, but when after a few years it was discovered that "the bail of a pail is no longer when it lies down flat than when it stands up," the road was changed, running around the hill as at present, avoid- ing the grade. Going around this hill was by Moses Pierce, a shrewd old resident of the town, who lived just at that point, called "doubling the cape," and that point is still known as "the cape."
At a town meeting November, 1836, the warning mentioned among other business to be done, "To discontinue the road leading from John Heady's west from his house to its intersection with the road near Daniel Spaulding's house; also to discontinue the road called the Balcom road, mentioned above, from its intersection with the road between Edmund Brown's and Joshua N. Moses' dwelling houses to its intersection with the Meekertown road near Asa Burr's house. Also to discontinue the road from the forks of the road be- yond Benjamin W. Crissey's house to Canaan line. Also to dis- continue the cross road leading from the Goshen road to James and Hiram Roys' from its intersection with the Goshen road near the school-house to its intersection with the new laid road.
In December, 1843, the 'Meadow road,' as it was called, was by vote of the town laid out, 'Beginning near the meadow bridge, so called, thence running northerly through Thomas and Solomon Curtiss's land to intersect the road running from the Grist-mill of Augustus Pettibone, Esq., via Solomon Curtiss's dwelling house.' The above vote was at a later date rescinded, and in 1845 Auren Tibbals and Daniel White brought suit to compel the town to open a road, 'running from near the old Treat place, and terminating near the Grist-mill.' Not long after the last date mentioned that road was opened and built, but not without considerable opposi- tion.
At the annual town-meeting, October, 1854, the selectmen were
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instructed "to proceed forthwith to survey the most feasible route for a road commencing near the Grist-mill of Messrs. Ryans, and running thence parallel with the Blackberry river, on the south side, to connect with the turnpike at a point near the works of the Dewell Scythe Co., and report." At an adjourned meeting it was "resolved that the proposed road on Blackberry River be located so as to intersect with the turnpike near Stevens' Hoe Shop, and that we accept of Mr. Dewell's road as already laid out as a public highway." The project of building this road on the south side of the stream was pushed for considerable time, but the matter was finally dropped. At that time there was a good deal of manu- facturing being carried on along the stream, and building-lots were in demand.
In 1856 quite an effort was made by a few persons living in the northeast part of the town to have one of the original roads re- opened and made passable for travel, but that project failed. This road intersected with the Beech Flats, or Old Colony road, at the old Humphrey place, later the Lemuel Bigelow and Sullivan But- ler place, now the C. J. Cole summer residence, and ran about two and three quarter miles in a north easterly direction, with va- rious turns and angles "to the old school-house corner," as it was called in the Loon meadow district. This old road in different parts was sometimes called the "Flurida Road," "Hart's Road," and more recently the eastern portion of it, the "Tucker Road."
Brief mention will be made of some action of the town respecting highways, at various times. In April, 1818, "an alteration in the highway passing by Barzel Treat's was accepted by the town." This was a short section of the Canaan mountain road, which ran from the Curtiss place nearly in a straight line east to Treat's corner, instead of circling around to the north as at present, to avoid the hill.
January, 1820. "Voted to accept the doings of the Selectmen, discontinuing the old road from Oliver Hotchkiss's to Canaan line and laying out a new one from Israel Crissey's to Canaan line." At that time Oliver Hotchkiss lived about half a mile west of Israel Crissey's, on the old road, at a place which was known afterward as "Snyderville." The new road then laid is the road as at pres- ent, leading to Canaan mountain.
In the records of June, 1824, is an entry that Michael F. Mills brought suit against the town concerning a new contemplated road from the meeting-house to the North Middle School-house. This is the road running from the Hillhurst, which was Esq. Mills' old home, to the old school-house on the "North green," as it was called, which is mentioned elsewhere. This shows approximately the date of the opening of that road. It was called 'the new road' until
THE RAILROAD STATION.
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about 1840 .. Earlier than that date several families named Holt lived in the neighbohood north-east from the 'north green,' and it has been said that a son of one of the Holts had been jilted by a young lady living on the road to town, and could not bear to pass her house any more, hence the project of the new road to soothe the lacerated feelings of the young man.
January 13, 1823, the town voted, 'to accept the doings of the selectmen, in laying out a highway commencing near Ebenezer and Silas Burr's, as appears on the records of this town.' The Burr home of that day, and for nearly half a century later, was the farm now owned and occupied by Mr. Amos R. Collar, and the highway then laid out was that running from near the Burr house northeast to 'Treat corner,' near 'the sandbank,' where it joined the Canaan mountain road, passing the Daniel White farm, now the summer residence of Mr. C. M. Howard, and the Elmore B. Canfield farm, now the summer residence of Professor M. I. Pupin.
November, 1833, 'Voted to discontinue the Chestnut Hill road, and also the road which formerly passed by Capt. Timothy Gay- lord's, to the north corner of land formerly owned by D. W. Roys.'
April, 1854, 'Approved the doings of the selectmen, discontinuing the highway from near the farm house of B. W. Crissey to Snyder- ville, so called.'
November, 1846, 'Voted to discontinue the Ducher road, northerly of Benjamin Bigelow's, and that it be made a pent road, without expense to the town.'
The writer has been informed by one of the patriarchs of the town that this old Ducher road branched off from the old Winchester road, on the north side of Gaylord Hill, east of the Capt. Benjamin Bigelow place, and by a circuitous route joined the present Winchester road not far from the former residence of Stephen Harlow Brown.
A RAILROAD OVER NORFOLK HILLS.
When the project of building a railroad through Norfolk was first agitated, in the 60's, a wealthy business man of New York, a native of the town, upon being told of the project, replied: "Build a railroad through Norfolk! Why, when I was a boy and lived there it was with difficulty that even the crows could fly over the Norfolk hills."
To Mr. Egbert T. Butler, now living, quite hale and
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hearty, nearing his 87th birthday, is due the credit of originating the idea of a railroad through the town; and to his perseverance, to a large measure, the successful com- pleting of the road. Mr. Butler says: "About the year 1864 I became impressed with the idea that a railroad through Norfolk was the only thing that could prevent its becoming practically an abandoned town, like many of the New England hill towns. I first conceived the idea of con- necting the Canal Railroad with the Housatonic by a line from Collinsville through New Hartford, Winsted and Nor- folk, striking the Housatonic at Canaan.
I wrote some articles which were published in the Winsted Herald, stating some of the advantages that would be derived from such a railroad. Nearly every one scouted at the idea; some thought me crazy, and said if I had anybody to care for me they should place me in the insane asylum. My ideas expanded until I conceived the plan of having a road from Springfield and Hartford to Millerton, where it would join the Harlem road, and give an outlet west by both the Housatonic and the Harlem roads, and bring the terminal at Millerton, so near three important points on the Hudson river, viz .: Kingston, where the Delaware and Hudson Canal Co. deliver their coal for New England; Poughkeepsie, that by a short rail- road could reach New England; and Fishkill and Newberg, where the Erie railroad enters. These points were in fact all connected with this New England road by short roads, built within two years after its completion. When I ap- plied to some of the wealthy citizens of Winsted and Hart- ford for four or five hundred dollars to pay for the pre- liminary survey and map that were necessary, not an in- dividual would give a dollar for so ridiculous and impos- sible an undertaking.
"But by persistent effort the money was raised, a survey was made, a charter was drawn which by its provisions allowed the towns through which the road should pass to take five per cent. of their grand list in stock to help build the road, this being the first charter ever drawn in Con- necticut asking such a privilege.
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The incorporators named were E. Grove Lawrence, Na- thaniel B. Stevens, William W. Welch and Egbert T. Butler of Norfolk, Alexander H. Holley, William H. Barnum of Salisbury, William G. Coe, William L. Gilbert, John T. Rockwell, Theron Bronson of Winsted, and others.
The charter was approved June 25, 1868. Soon after, the company was formed, directors chosen and engineers set to work to survey the line through the towns named in the charter. I christened it The Connecticut Western Railroad.
A subscription of Seven Hundred and Fifty Thousand Dollars was subsequently made in Hartford for the stock, which with other subscriptions aided in building the road. Contracts for building the road were let, and I had the great satisfaction of breaking ground in Winsted and shovelling the first dirt for the construction of the road, October 20th, 1869, and the greater satisfaction of spiking the last rail, December 7th, 1871. On the 21st of December, 1871, which was my fifty-eighth birthday, the first train of cars was run over the road on schedule time."
Norfolk has the distinction of being the highest point in the state reached by a railroad, the station being 1250 feet above tide water. The summit of the road is a mile or more south of the centre station. Just where the best line was for the road through the town proved a somewhat difficult question, the great problem being to get over the Norfolk hills. Coming east from Canaan, a very low point was reached in the east part of that town, at the crossing of Whiting River, and after various routes had been ex- amined and surveyed the one adopted seemed the most feasible, requiring a massive arched bridge at Whiting River, and a second massive arch for a passageway for teams under the fill at that point, which fill was 140 feet high.
East from Whiting fill the railroad by a steep grade skirts along the precipitous side of 'Ragged Mountain,' on and up through 'Stoney Lonesome,' where ordinary laymen would say a railroad can never be built; then winding around upon the steep hillsides between Bald Mountain
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and Haystack, all the way rising at a pretty sharp grade, the center of the town and the old meeting-house green was reached. Just where to locate the road for the next eighth of a mile caused a sharp controversy among Norfolk people, but fortunately the matter was settled right, thanks to the wisdom, foresight and determination of one noble man.
This struggle for a time was a pretty severe one. I will quote what one writer, who appears to state the question fairly and briefly, said in 1876:
"The surveyors insisted that the railroad must run di- rectly through the beautiful little public green, in the heart of the town. As the people wanted the road on any terms, all assented except the village pastor, Rev. Joseph El- dridge, who for forty years and more occupied the pulpit, and won the love, admiration and respect of his people by the beauty of his life and character and his sterling in- tellectual ability. Dr. Bushnell pronounced him the ablest of his compeers in the state. Single-handed and alone Dr. Eldridge fought against the proposed lay-out, on the ground that it was useless and would wantonly ruin a beautiful park that had always been dear to every true- born Norfolkite. After many hearings Dr. Eldridge won the fight, and the railroad speedily demonstrated that he was in the right by taking another route more convenient to all concerned.
Now it is impossible to find any one who ever favored any other location."
The above writer was not wholly correct in saying that "all assented except the village pastor." There were a few who felt just as Dr. Eldridge felt, among them being Rob- bins Battell and a few still living who rendered him every possible assistance, but without Dr. Eldridge their efforts would doubtless have been of no avail.
The first lay-out took a width of six rods through the center of the park and was rejected by the R. R. Commis- sioners. Then the second and third, on the same line nearly, narrowed down to a width of three rods, was vig-
STONY LONESOME.
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orously pushed. These lay-outs would have taken down the Soldiers' Monument, many of the finest of the trees, and made a cut 18 to 20 feet deep through the park, coming about to the surface in Dr. Eldridge's garden, as it was then.
And yet a most zealous advocate of this line for the rail- road through the park, in an article published at the time in a local paper, said:
"But two out of 256 voters of this town appear to oppose the line through the Green. A petition signed by 204 of 256 voters of this town reads as follows: 'We the undersigned, voters and tax-payers of the town of Norfolk, being desirous of promoting the best in- terests of the town in the location of the Railroad through said town, and fully believing that the business interests, the protec- tion to private property, the safety to public travel, and proper depot facilities, require that the road be laid out and located on the line through the public Green in said town, do earnestly desire and respectfully request the Hon. General Railroad Commissioners of the State of Connecticut to adopt the line asked for by the Officers of the Connecticut Western Railroad.' This petition was presented to the Railroad Commissioners, and a large number of citizens who did not sign this petition were present at the hearing, and advocated the location through the Green, and but two indi- viduals in town appeared to oppose it."
At this hearing before the Railroad Commissioners in January, 1870, Dr. Eldridge in part said:
"In opposing this lay-out across the Green, if I know my own heart, I am not prompted by any desire to carry a point simply for the sake of carrying it. I deeply regret the necessity of opposing the views of so many of my fellow citizens, with all of whom I have the most friendly relations. I do it because, in my judgment, I am required to, in order to promote their real and permanent in- terests.
The petition addressed to you, gentlemen, and numerously signed by citizens of Norfolk, astonishes me. Had I been informed that a petition in reference to the lay-out across the Green had been drawn up and signed, and had I been ignorant of its character, and been left to conjecture what it entreated you to do, I should have concluded it would run somewhat in this strain: "We, the subscribers, citizens and tax-payers of Norfolk, strong friends of the Connecticut Western Railroad, having bonded the town in its
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support to the full extent allowed by the law, and expecting to derive much benefit from it, ask your honors, if possible, to spare our little Green. It was laid out and planted by our ancestors, and has become quite beautiful, and forms a pleasant center. It attracts the attention and excites the admiration of visitors, and we should deplore anything that should disfigure or mar it." Such is the petition that I should have naturally expected from the citi- zens of Norfolk, had I been left to conjecture its character. That actually presented is the very opposite. The question which you are here to decide, whether there is any imperative necessity to cross the Green in order to have a good, practicable road, this petition assumes as already settled, and you are besought to sanction the lay-out across the Green. I confess this amazes me. Do any of these petitioners desire the mutilation of our Green if there is no necessity for it? I will impute no such desire to any of the signers of this petition. On reflection I can account for its existence in consistency, only with the idea that its signers would in itself considered, regret the marring of the Green.
The impression was made after the first lay-out was rejected, that the Railroad must cross the Green if we were to have the road at all. It was a common remark in town. The actual working upon the railroad dissipated that impression. A railroad we should have at any rate. Then the alternative was, that it must cross the Green or the station would be three quarters of a mile from the Center. That alternative was urged upon persons to induce them to sign this petition, and many signed it under the belief that the lay-out across the Green must be adopted, or the depot would be so located as to be very inconvenient for many parts of the town.
Another consideration was urged. It has a very plausible look when first presented. The town of Norfolk is a stockholder to a large amount in the Railroad, and as such is interested to have as good a road as possible. Anything that increases the value of the road, enhances the value of the property possessed by the town in it. The line across the Green would increase the value of the railroad as a whole, and the town would share in this gain. The whole town is thus interested to have the line across the Green adopted, while the Green is comparatively a local interest, and as such, must yield to what the general good demands. This is the argument, fairly stated, and as I said just now, it has an air of plausibility. Let us examine it a little more closely and see how much there is of it.
The Connecticut Western Railroad when ready for business, will have cost it is estimated about Three Millions of Dollars. The town of Norfolk is a stockholder to between forty and fifty thou- sand dollars. We will for the sake of the argument put it at fifty
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thousand dollars; that is, the town of Norfolk will own one sixtieth of the Railroad, and will of course share in any benefit that the Railroad may derive from crossing the Green in that proportion. Suppose then the C. W. R. R. would be benefitted twenty thousand dollars by crossing the Green, what is the amount of the share of the town in that benefit? Why, three hundred and thirty-three dollars, thirty-three and a third cents. Suppose the advantage to the Railroad would be forty thousand, then the share of the town of Norfolk in advantage resulting from spoiling the Green would be six hundred and sixty-six dollars, sixty-six and two-thirds of a cent. We are very much in need of a new hearse; by sacri- ficing our Green the increased value of the Railroad might enable us to buy one. But alas! no man of sense imagines that the Rail- road would be increased in value forty, or twenty, or even ten thousand dollars by crossing our little Green. The town of Nor- folk, as a stockholder, has no motive to sacrifice the Green.
In the next place has the town or the public, looking to the C. W. R. R. as a carrying agent, any appreciable interest in having it cross the Green? I answer no; and ask your attention while I prove what I say. What does this town or the public want in a Railroad as an agent of transportation? These three things,- speed, cheapness, and safety. Now does anybody imagine that in arranging the time-tables over this Railroad, any difference will be made whether it crosses the Green or goes around it?
Then again, in fixing the fares for passengers, or the rates for freight, will those who operate the road make any difference in the prices, whether it crosses the Green or not? Mr. Barnum, President of the Railroad, in a conversation I had with him, ad- mitted that the idea that it would make any difference was non- sensical.
The only remaining point is the safety. The curve around is an eight degree curve. Now I have examined your Report, Gentlemen Commissioners, in which you question the Railroads of the State in regard to their curves, and I find that every Railroad in the State that has responded to the inquiry, has on its main track curves as sharp; many have curves sharper than that around our Green. Mr. Alfred Dennis, President of the New Jersey Rail- way, informed me that on that Railroad, a short distance from the station, there is a curve sharper by one-half than that required to avoid the Green. More than one hundred trains pass over that road every twenty-four hours. The road has been in operation over thirty years, and no accident has occurred near that curve. Now this notion of danger is a mere bug-bear. . .
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