USA > Connecticut > Hartford County > Granby > History of Simsbury, Granby, and Canton : from 1642 to 1845 > Part 10
USA > Connecticut > Hartford County > Simsbury > History of Simsbury, Granby, and Canton : from 1642 to 1845 > Part 10
USA > Connecticut > Hartford County > Canton > History of Simsbury, Granby, and Canton : from 1642 to 1845 > Part 10
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The report of the committee does not appear on record, but is presumed to have been favorable to the discovery, for in 1707 an association, comprising all such proprietors of the town as had subscribed, or who within a limited time should subscribe the articles of agreement, was formed to work the mines. Copper-hill at this time was a wilder- ness ;- and as none of the lands in that vicinity had been sold or granted, the right of soil remained in the " proprie- tors of the town," nearly all of whom came into this agree- ment. The association, after deducting the expenses of the works, was to allow the town ten shillings on each ton of copper produced, and to divide the residue among the part- ners of the concern in proportion to the amounts of their respective lists. The mining operations commenced about this time, and under this partnership concern.
* The mines then, and for eighty years afterwards, were within the town of Simsbury.
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HISTORY OF GRANBY.
This company dug the ore only-they did not undertake to smelt it. But, in the same year, they entered into a con- tract with Messrs. John Woodbridge of Springfield, Dudley Woodbridge of Simsbury, and Timothy Woodbridge Jr. then of Hartford, all clergymen, by which these gentlemen agreed to run and refine the ore, and cast the metal into bars fit for transportation or a market ;- and after deducting the tenth part belonging to the town, of which two-thirds thereof was to be given for the maintenance " of an able schoolmaster in Simsbury," and the other third to the " Collegiate school," Yale College,-the residue was to be equally divided between them and the proprietors or work- ers of the mine.
The business was carried on in this manner but a few years-probably because the smelting process was not understood, and could not be proceeded with to the advan- tage of either party. In 1712, the proprietors, or " asso- ciation," appointed a committee to call the contractors " to account, and, if necessary, to sne them for the ore that had' been brought to them at divers times."
The legislature, in consideration that " a public benefit" might result from these mines, and to aid the proprietors in the management thereof, passed an act in 1709, vesting the right to control all matters relating to the mines "in the major part of the proprietors according to the interest of each proprietor,"' and providing for organizing and holding meet- ings of the proprietors, and appointing a committee to man- age their concerns. The act also provided for the adjudi- cation of all matters in controversy between any and all persons connected with the mines, by a board of three com- missioners, with power to summon a jury in cases where the sum in controversy exceeded a certain amount. This comt held its sessions generally at the mines, though sometimes at other places. It had a clerk, and its jurisdiction, in amount of damages claimed, was co-extensive with that of County courts. A vast deal of business was disposed of by this tribunal, by the agency of which, both time and expense was saved by the litigating parties.
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HISTORY OF GRANBY.
Th business on the part of the proprietors was managed under the provisions of this act, and other similar acts, by a committee appointed annually during the whole time that the mines were worked, (before the Phoenix company com- menced operations,) a period of over sixty years. This committee, at various times, made leases to several individ- uals or companies, of certain portions or specified rights in the common lands where copper ore had been or might be discovered, during a term of years ;- the lessees on their part agreeing to pay to the committee a percentage on the ore procured ; or a certain portion, generally one-thirtieth part, of the copper extracted from the ore and manufactured fit for market. In no case did any of these leases extend beyond thirty years.
Some of the wealthiest capitalists in Boston and New York, took leases and embarked in the enterprise. A com- pany too, belonging to Holland, and another company belonging to London, were for many years interested in the concern, and furnished large sums of money to carry on the works. The Woodbridge family, and at least one member of the Wyllys family, were many years largely engaged in the business. These mining operations were very exten- sively pursued from 1713 to about 1737, and to some extent until the war of 1775. The amount of money expended cannot be ascertained, but must have been very large. During a period of two years from August, 1716, one com- pany, under the superintendence of Elias Boudinot,* cx- pended about three thousand dollars. A petition, dated in 1723, states that " the copper works had brought into this plantation from foreign countries, about ten thousand pounds." Governor Belcher, of Boston, in a letter dated 1735, states that during about twenty-three years, he had disbursed upwards of fifteen thousand pounds.t The expen-
* This Mr. Boudinot resided for some time in Simsbury. He was ancestor of the late Elias Boudinot, of New Jersey, who was a distinguished states- man, and the first superintendent of the United States Mint at Philadelphia.
t This letter is addressed to John Humphry, Joseph Pettibone, and Samuel Pettibone, a committee of the proprietors, who had called upon him to settle
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HISTORY OF GRANBY.
ditures of the other companies are not known, but in the aggregate must have amounted to a large sum.
After 1721, when a division of the mining lands took place among the lessees, each company worked at separate mines, all situated upon Copper-hill, and (excepting Hig- ley's) within the compass of less than one mile. The works most improved, and where the greatest excavations were made, were subsequently purchased for a state prison. At this place, two perpendicular shafts were dug, chiefly through rocks, one extending to the depth of over seventy feet, and the other about thirty-five feet. From the bottom of these shafts caverns excavated for ore extend in various direc- tions, some four or five hundred feet, including " levels" or drains for discharging the water. Some parts of these excavations are now entirely filled with water. At Higley's mine, which lies about a mile and a half south of this, extensive old workings exist, though commenced at a later period than the others. Mr. Edmund Quincy, of Boston, had a company of miners working at this place at the break- ing out of the war of the revolution ; soon after which the works were abandoned.
In 1731, a new company was formed, consisting of Adam Winthrop, George Cradock, James Bowdoin, Job Lewis, Joshua Winslow, Benjamin Pemberton and North Ingham, all of Boston, who took a lease by which a sixth part of the mines was conveyed to them for the term of thirty years. This lease was signed by Samuel Humphry, Joseph Case, and Joseph Phelps, a committee in behalf of the town pro- prietors. It is not known to what extent, or how long, this company pursued the business.
In addition to the persons already named as lessees, or otherwise interested in the mines, Jared Elliot of Killing- worth, * Jalileel Brenton of Rhode Island, Charles Cromme-
for back rents. The original letter is in the possession of Dositheus Humphry Esq. a descendant of John Humphry Esq.
* A clergyman and physician of great celebrity, who resided at Killing- worth.
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HISTORY OF GRANBY.
lin of New York, William Patridge of Boston, and sundry other persons, were concerned at various times, and in differ- ent companies.
Engineers and superintendents from Europe, some of them persons of distinction, and miners from Germany, were employed in these works. Among them were Major John Sydervelt, who remained in Simsbury until his death ; Caspar Hoofman, who died here March 21, 1732; and John Christian Müller, a principal refiner, who married and died here. *
Connected with these mines were works for smelting and refining. These were erected about the year 1721, upon Hop brook, in Simsbury, a few rods westerly of the upper or Tuller's mills, and consisted of sundry buildings, in addition to a mill for crashing or pounding the ore, and a furnace. The place was called Hanover, a name yet retained, which was given to it by the workmen who had emigrated from a place of the same name in Germany. A portion of the ore dug at the mines was smelted at these works,-but to what extent this business was prosecuted, or with what success, is not known. In 1725, when this property was attached, there was found and levied upon one thousand seven hun- dred pounds of black copper, so called, it is supposed, because it was not refined. This branch of the business, however, being prohibited by the laws of Great Britain, was carried on secretly, and consequently at great disadvantage ; and with the other embarrassments mentioned, relating to smelting, resulted in a probable loss. The Hanover works, of which but few indications now remain, were demolished many years since. The ore procured at the mines, which was not brought here for smelting, was shipped to England. One cargo was taken by the French, and another, accord- ing to report, was sunk in the English channel by ship- wreck. Other cargoes arrived in Europe, where the ore was smelted.
* His wife was Hannah Weston, by whom he had two children before 1731. It is believed that after his death the name was changed to Miller, and that some of his descendants now live in Granby.
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HISTORY OF GRANBY.
In these mining operations, but little comparatively was done after 1745, though at no time, it is believed, was the business wholly abandoned until 1778. In 1772, Captain James Holmes, an Englishman, then a resident of Salisbury, took a lease of the principal mine for twenty years, which he sold the next year to the state for a prison.
A coin made fro i this ore, called " Higley's Coppers," was at one time in some circulation in the vicinity of the mines. It is said to have passed for two and sixpence, (forty-two cents,) in paper currency it is presumed, though composed chiefly, if not entirely, of copper.
One of these coins, dated 1737, is in the cabinet of the Connecticut Historical Society. Its inscription on one side is, " I am good coppe ; "-on the other, " Value me as you please." These coppers were much used for melting up with gold in the manufacture of jewelry, and for this purpose were considered vastly preferable to ordinary cop- per coin. They were not in circulation as a currency after the peace of 1783. 'The inventor and maker, is supposed to have been Doct. Samuel Higley who, a few years before this, had attempted to manufacture steel, and was somewhat distinguished for enterprises of this character.
The Phoenix Mining Company, incorporated in 1830, having purchased the state prison property, consisting of about five acres of land, with sundry buildings enclosed by a stone wall, and having secured, by long leases, the right of mining upon large tracts of other lands lying in the vicinity, commenced mining operations in 1831, under the superintendency of Richard Bacon Esq. of Simsbury. Owing however to some unforeseen difficulties in the process of smelting and refining the ore, and other obstructions occa- sioned by the pecuniary embarrassments of the times, the works after a short time were discontinued. That they will be resumed at some future time under more favorable aus- pices, and with a fairer prospect of success, is confidently believed by those who are conversant with the business, and have devoted to these mines a critical examination.
A gentleman who has been extensively engaged in this
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HISTORY OF GRANBY.
business in Europe, and who is said to be an experienced and scientific miner, speaking of these mines, says :-
" The principal vein is large, and one which, in mining phraseology, would be termed a flat lode, making with the horizon an angle of perhaps twenty-three degrees. Its matrix is a yellowish grey sandstone, nearly similar to the common sandstone of the neighborhood, but yet so percep- , tibly differing from it, as to allow of its being traced at sur- face, for at least a mile, north and south, by its characteristic color and general appearance. In this matrix, copper is pretty generally disseminated, principally in nodules of rich brittle grey sulphuret, interspersed here and there with minute strings of common yellow pyrites. The lode ap- pears to be favorably disposed for yielding mineral and copper ore in particular."
The ore, it is said, produces on an average, from ten to twelve per cent of copper, but some large specimens have been obtained, producing from thirty to forty per cent. It is of the kind technically called " refractory,"-a species that ordinarily resists the usual process of smelting. Other processes, however, have led to more successful results. By skill, enterprise and new experiments, all impediments of this nature wi.l, it is believed be easily removed.
CHAPTER X.
NEWGATE PRISON. Establishment. Destruction of Buildings by Fire. Escape of Con- victs. Confinement of Tories. Employment of Prisoners. Police Regulations. 1773-1827.
THE General Assembly, at the May session, 1773, in view of establishing a state prison, appointed William Pitkin, Erastus Wolcott, and Jonathan Humphrey Esq'rs, a com- mittee "to view and explore the copper mines at Sims- bury,-their situation, nature and circumstances, and to examine and consider whether they may be beneficially applied to the purpose of confining, securing and profitably employing such criminals and delinquents as may be com- mitted to them, by any future law or laws of this Colony, in lieu of the infamous punishments in divers cases now appointed ;- and at what probable expense the said mines may be obtained for the purpose aforesaid ;" and make report to the then session of the Assembly.
Upon their report that the mines were subject to an unex- pired lease of nineteen years, which could be purchased for about sixty pounds, and that by an expenditure of about thirty-seven pounds, the caverns could be so secured that it would be " next to impossible for any person to escape" from them ; the same gentlemen were invested "with full power to agree with the proprietors of said mines, or the lessees thereof, to receive, keep and employ in said mines such criminals as may by law be sentenced to such punishment, or to purchase in the remaining term in said leases, for such purposes, and according to their best discretion effectually to secure said mines suitably to employ such persons as may be there confined by order of law."
The committee reported at the next session, Oct. 1773,
HISTORY OF GRANBY.' 121
that they had purchased the remaining term of Holmes' lease, being about nineteen years, for £60-that by blasting rocks they had " prepared a well finished lodging room, about fifteen feet by twelve," in the caverns,-and had fixed over the west shaft a large iron door, which they "ap- prehend will be an effectual security for the confinement of persons that may be condemned there for employment." The whole expense, including the purchase money, amount- ed to three hundred and seventy dollars. The east shaft which extends perpendicularly about seventy feet, chiefly through a solid rock, was left open. There were no walls provided, nor were there any buildings upon the premises. At this session, an Act was passed "constituting the subter- raneous caverns and buildings in the copper mines in Sims- bury, a public gaol and workhouse for the use of the Colony ;" to which was given the name of Newgate Prison. The prisoners were to be employed in mining. The crimes, which by the Act subjected offenders to confinement and labor in the prison, were-burglary, horse stealing, and counterfeiting the public bills or coins, or making instru- ments or dies therefor.
The first overseers of Newgate appointed, were Major Erastus Wolcott, Josiah Bissell and Jonathan Humphrey Esq'rs. Mr. John Viets,* who lived near the place, was appointed master, or keeper of the prison. Food for the prisoners was supplied by him.
The first convict received into the prison was John Hin- son. He was committed Dec, 22, 1773, and escaped on the 9th of January following, by being drawn up through the eastern shaft by a rope, assisted, it is said, by a woman, to whom he was paying his addresses. On the 26th of Feb- ruary, 1774, three prisoners were received ;- one of whom escaped on the 9th, and the other two on the 23d of the next April. One committed on the 5th of April, escaped on the 9th of the same month, having been in confinement
* The ancestor of Mr. Viets was a German, and came to this country with a company of miners, to which he was attached as physician and surgeon.
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HISTORY OF GRANBY.
four days. It is not known how these escapes were effected. Besides the east shaft which was left open, there were other parts of the caverns which had not been properly secured. None of these prisoners, it is understood, were retaken. By this time, the overseers had probably changed their minds respecting the perfect security of the prison. A night watch was employed during part of this time.
Soon after the escape of Hinson, the General Assembly in January 1774, directed the overseers to cause the east shaft to be effectually secured with stone or iron, and to build a log block-house with two or three rooms, one of which was to be placed directly over the west shaft. These improvements were made during this year, but not until after the escape of the other prisoners mentioned above.
In the spring of 1775, three prisoners escaped, all of whom were retaken. At the May session of this year, the Assen- bly ordered the overseers to make sale of the ore dug at the prison. There were at this time nine convicts in confine- ment, all of whom were engaged in excavating copper ore under the charge of two persons employed as miners.
The block-house having been destroyed by fire in the spring of 1776, the Assembly, in May, ordered a new one to be constructed, and also a frame dwelling house, for the keeper of the prison, one story high, eighteen by thirty feet. This burning was by design, to favor the escape of the convicts, none of whom however escaped at this time.
In 1777, the block-house was again burnt, and another one ordered to be built. All the prisoners were removed to the jail in Hartford for confinement. It is supposed that the prison was not repaired, or used as such, until 1780. If it was repaired before that time, the buildings were again destroyed, for at the session of the Assembly in January 1779, the prison being represented " to be in a ruinous con- dition," and " altogether insufficient to answer the salutary purposes for which it was prepared," the overseers were directed to erect new buildings, with " a block-house on the surface of the ground over the mouth of the cavern, suitable and convenient to secure and employ the prisonors in labor
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HISTORY OF GRANBY.
in the day time ;" and when completed to appoint a keeper of the prison.
The prison was completed in November 1780, and was supplied with a military guard consisting of a lieutenant, one sergeant, one corporal and twenty-four privates. Up to this time, the prisoners had been employed in the mines, and been furnished with food by persons not connected with the prison. Now they were employed in mechanical ope- rations, and supplied with food prepared in the prison.
The prison had been left entirely unprotected by any wall until 1781. In February of this year, the overseers were directed by the Assembly to construct, at a convenient distance around the prison and buildings, a piquet fence with small bastions at the corners for defense. A work of this kind was much needed, and notwithstanding the com- bustible material with which it was constructed, it tended very much to strengthen the prison. In other respects too, the prison was in a much better condition than at any pre- vious time.
But, one of the most daring and successful attempts ever made at this prison to overcome the guard and throw open the prison doors, was made after this time, and when, as was supposed, a general escape of the convicts was imprac- ticable. On the 18th of May 1781, the prisoners, amount- ing to twenty-eight persons, most of whom were tories, rose upon the guard, seized their arms, and made good their escape-carrying their captured arms with them. Every prisoner left. The design was so well planned and execu- ted, that but a small number of them were re-captured ..
It was supposed that one or more of the guard had been bribed to favor the escape of the prisoners. About ten o'clock at night on the 18th of May 1781, when all the guard but two had retired to rest, a wife of one of the pris- oners appeared, to whom permission was given to visit her husband in the caverns. Upon the hatches being opened to admit her passing down, the prisoners, who were at the door and prepared for the encounter, rushed up, seized the guns of the sentry on duty, who made little or no resistance,
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HISTORY OF GRANBY.
and became masters of the guard room before those who were asleep could be aroused and prepared to make defense. One brave fellow, by name of Sheldon, who was an officer of the guard, fought valiantly, and was killed upon the spot, having been pierced by a bayonet through his body. A few others, belonging to the guard, received trifling injuries from clubs with which the assailants were armed. The guard was easily overcome. A few songht safety by flight,-but the greater number were disarmed by the prisoners and locked up in the caverns. The prisoners, having equipped themselves with the captured arms, escaped, and with few exceptions had the adroitness, or good luck, to avoid a re-capture.
The General Assembly, then in session, appointed a com- mittee to investigate this matter, and ascertain the causes of the disaster. The committee after a critical examina- tion, reported the testimony taken by them ;- from which it appears that the discipline of the guard was defective- that their conduct at the time of the revolt was, with few exceptions, cowardly-and that at least one person, by the name of Lilly, was bribed and favored the escape of the prisoners. Lilly was afterwards prosecuted and convicted of this offence ; and the guard was so remodeled as to give greater security to the prison thereafter.
On the 6th of November 1782, the prison buildings were once more destroyed by fire; but how, or by what means the fire was communicated, does not appear. No doubt, however, exists that the conflagration was by design, in order to facilitate the escape of the tories who were there in confinement. During the progress of the fire, one Abel Davis, who was a sergeant of the guard, opened the hatches and suffered as many of the prisoners, as were so disposed, to escape from the prison. A large number of them did escape, most of whom were re-captured in the neighbor- hood and secured. Davis, who seems to have been very illiterate, and altogether unfit for the station which he held, was convicted of the offence of aiding in the escape, and sentenced to a fine and imprisonment in the county jail.
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HISTORY OF GRANBY.
The prisoners remaining after this conflagration, with those subsequently re-taken, were removed to the jail in Hartford. The prison was not repaired, nor used again until 1790. Indeed, it would seem that, at this time, the project of keeping up a prison at this place was abandoned altogether. No measures were taken to repair it,-on the contrary, in May 1784, all the property remaining at the prison and saved from the fire, consisting of iron, timber, clo- thing, &c. was ordered by the legislature to be sold, and the avails paid into the treasury. Little else but disaster had attended the prison from its establishment. More than one half of all the prisoners committed to it had escaped, and during the nine years of its continuance, the buildings con- nected with it had been destroyed by fire three times. In no respect had the prison been properly constructed or secured. The buildings were of wood, and so exposed as to be easily fired from without. Prison building in those days, as well as prison discipline, was not so well under- stood as at the present time. All the jails in the state were then constructed of wood.
And yet this prison had a reputation abroad for great strength and security. Its fame had spread through the country far and wide. For a long time it was considered the strongest prison in the United States. In 1775, Gen. Washington sent to it some prisoners for safe custody, whom he deemed such " atrocious villains," as to require a stronger place for their confinement than could be found near his camp .* And, in 1781, Congress proposed to make these
* Letter from Gen. Washington, to the Committee of Safety, Simsbury.
Cambridge, December 11, 1775.
GENTLEMEN ;- The prisoners which will be delivered you with this, hav- ing been tried by a court-martial, and deemed to be such flagrant and atro- cious villains that they cannot by any means be set at large or confined in any place near this camp, were sentenced to be sent to Symsbury in Connecticut. You will therefore be pleased to have them secured in your jail, or in such other manner as to you shall seem necessary, so that they cannot possibly make their escape. The charges of their imprisonment will be at the Con- tinental expense.
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