USA > Massachusetts > From the Hub to the Hudson : with sketches of nature, history and industry in north-western Massachusetts > Part 5
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" It is a conical peak of red sandstone, five hundred feet above the plain. It stands on the west bank of the Connecticut, within two hundred yards of the river, and rises almost perpendicularly from the meadows- below. Sugar Loaf stands as it were at the head of the valley, and the southern view is remarkable for its beauty. On the left, east of the river, and almost un- derneath the mountain, is the village of Sunderland, accessible from the west side by a covered bridge. South, and on the same side of the river, are the vil- lages of North Amherst, Amherst, Belchertown, North Hadley and Hadley. On the west side are South Deer- field, Whately, Hatfield, Northampton and Easthampton. Skirting the southern horizon are the lofty peaks of Mounts Holyoke and Tom, and between them, through the gateway to the ocean, glimmering in the sunlight, are the church spires in Holyoke and Chicopee."*
* Burt's Connecticut Valley Guide.
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FROM THE HUB TO THE HUDSON.
From Greenfield to Sugar Loaf it is only eight miles, -an easy and delightful afternoon excursion ; and the ascent of the mountain is not difficult. At the hotel on the summit we may find rest and refreshment.
TURNER'S FALLS.
Up Main street to High street, then northward, along a level and pleasant road. The mills and tene- ments of the Greenfield Woolen Company stand in Factory Hollow, through which Fall River runs to the Connecticut. A certain eminent actor and elocution- ist visiting once at Greenfield rode out this way one fine morning to visit Turner's Falls. On the left hand of the road he saw this mill-dam which he took for the famous cataract,-on the right the frames for dry- *ing cloth which he supposed were seats erected for the convenience of visitors to the Falls. Back he galloped to the village and gave free expression to his contempt for people who could make so much fuss about so small a thing. Afterward he went farther and changed his mind. Not far from the mill we catch a glimpse of the Falls through the gorge which Fall River has cloven through the rocks. It is only a glimpse, but it quickens our pulses, and we hurry on to the sum- mit of the hill. And now that this little book may not be charged with too much enthusiasm in its descrip- tion, let us copy a sketch of the Falls from a work as solid as Hitchcock's Report on the Geology of Mass- achusetts.
"They are by far the most interesting water-falls in the
KILBURN SC
TURNER'S FALLS IN THE CONNECTICUT.
7I
THE NIAGARA OF NEW ENGLAND.
State, and I think I may safely say in New England. Above Turner's Falls the Connecticut for about three miles pursues a course nearly north-west, through a region scarcely yet disturbed by cultivation ; and all this distance is as placid as a mountain lake even to the very verge of the cataract. There an artificial dam has been erected, more than a thousand feet long, resting near the center upon two small islands. Over this dam the water leaps more than thirty feet perpen- dicularly ; and for half a mile continues descending rapidly and foaming along its course. One hundred rods below the falls the stream strikes directly against a lofty greenstone ridge, by which it it compelled to change its course towards the south at least a quarter of a mile. The proper point for viewing Turner's Falls is from the road leading to Greenfield on the north shore, perhaps fifty rods below the cataract- [just where we are standing now.] Here from ele- vated ground you have directly before you the princi- pal fall intersected near the center by two small rocky islands which are crowned by trees and brush-wood. The observer perceives at once that Niagara is before him in miniature. These islands may be reached by a canoe from above the falls with perfect safety. Fifty rods below the cataract a third most romantic little island lifts its evergreen head,-an image of peace and security in the midst of the agitated and foaming waters swiftly gliding by. The placid aspect of the waters above the fall, calmly emerging from the mod- erately elevated and wooded hills at a distance is
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FROM THE HUB TO THE HUDSON.
finely contrasted with the foam and tumult below the cataract. During high water, the roar of Turner's Falls may be heard from six to ten miles. The mag- nificence of the cataract is greatly heightened at such a season."
Here occurred the famous Falls Fight. On the evening of the 17th of May, 1676, about eight months after the terrible massacre at Sugar Loaf, Captain Turner marched with one hundred and sixty mounted men from Hatfield, twenty miles below, to attack the Indians who had gathered here to fish in large num- bers. Just before daybreak they reached an elevated hill not far from where the woolen mill now stands, where they dismounted, fastened their horses, and crossing Fall River, climbed to the spot where we are standing now, and looked down upon an Indian camp which was pitched near the head of the falls. The Indians were all in a profound sleep without even a watch. "Roused from their slumbers by the sudden roar of musketry they fled, toward the river, vocifera- ting 'Mohawks! Mohawks!' believing this furious enemy was upon them. Many leaped into their ca- noes, some in the hurry forgetting their paddles and attempting to swim were shot by the English or pre- cipitated down the dreadful cataract and drowned ; while others were killed in their cabins or took shel- ter under the shelving rocks of the river bank, where they were cut down by their assailants without much resistance. The loss of the Indians was severe, one hundred were left dead on the ground, and one hun-
THE NEW CITY. 73
dred and forty were seen to pass down the cataract, but one of whom escaped drowning. A few gained the opposite shore and joined their companions on that side. The whole loss, as was afterwards acknowl- edged, amounted to above three hundred of all de- scriptions, among whom were many of their principal sachems."*
Only one Englishman was killed. On his return, however, the Indians, whose force greatly outnumbered Turner's, rallied, and pursued him ; dividing and scat- tering his little army, and killing Turner himself, with thirty-eight of his men.
A short distance above the falls we cross by a ferry from the town of Gill to the town of Montague, and drive down the stream to the new city, whose founda- tions are now being laid. The dam which Dr. Hitch- cock describes is not the one now standing. In 1792 a company was incorporated under the title of the " Proprietors of the Upper Locks and Canals in the County of Hampshire," that built a dam and a canal three miles long at this point, for the purpose of facili- tating the navigation of the river. In 1866, the name of this corporation was changed to The Turner's Falls Company, seven hundred acres of land were purchased by them ; a new dam was built,-the streets and ave- nues of a new city were laid out, and one of the largest water powers in New England was developed. This dam is one thousand feet long, in two curved sections ; and it has an average fall of thirty-six feet. It is built
* Hoyt's Indian Wars, p. 139.
4
de -
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FROM THE HUB TO THE HUDSON.
of timber and entirely filled with stone, making it prac- tically a stone dam. While the dam was building, in the winter of 1866-7, a portion of it about one hun- dred feet in length was carried away. The whole Con- necticut River poured with tremendous force through this opening a hundred feet in width, and the hydraulic engineers declared that the section could not be re- stored. But a plain man in Greenfield, whose name is George W. Potter, and who is not an engineer, said it could be done, and did it. It was probably one of the most difficult feats of hydraulic engineering ever attempted. Standing on the bulk-head, the view of the fall and the rapids below is magnificent.
Below this dam two canals are being constructed, the one twenty-five feet above the other; and upon these two canals, provision is made for thirty-one mill sites, averaging three hundred horse power each. This does not utilize more than half of the power. The property is rapidly being taken up. The Russell Manufacturing Company are erecting one building six hundred and ten feet long by fifty feet wide ; and this is only about one-third of the area of the buildings to be erected by them. Their new shops will give em- ployment to twelve hundred men. Other mills will soon be built, and within twenty years we may expect to see a city of fifteen thousand inhabitants upon this ground.
In the new red sandstone, which constitutes the banks of the river at the Falls, were found the fossil foot-prints which were such a prize to the geologists.
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FOSSILS PAST AND FUTURE.
Somewhere from fifty to a hundred thousand years ago, a large number of birds of both sexes and all sizes (some of them standing not less than ten feet without their stockings) were in the habit of walking out at low water on the beach of a lake or estuary, then occupying these parts. Their foot-prints, hardened by the sun, were afterward filled by the rising water with sand and mud ; and then the whole mass was petrified. How do we know all this? Look here madam ! You must not come round us geologists saying you want to know, you know. We have made some pretty shrewd guesses, and we intend to stand by them.
We drive homeward, along the serene and somewhat slimy banks of the old canal, musing on these foot- marks with the unpronounceable Greek names, all so neatly classified and labeled. Cuvier said that if you would give him a single bone he could construct the skeleton of the animal. But these geologists make pictures of the ancient birds by studying the tracks they left in the primitive mud. Imagine the pictures which will be drawn by geologists fifty or a hundred thousand years hence, when the tracks that were made last summer in the sand at Newport or Long Branch are quarried out of the rock! Imagine a geologist studying the fossil track of a Grecian bender and try- ing to frame a figure to correspond !
The moral is, ladies, that you should never walk in the mud.
Down through the single street of what was to have
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FROM THE HUB TO THE HUDSON.
been and still is called a City, whose other name is Montague; across the old bridge which is to give place for a new one for both wagons and cars, where the railroad is to cross now building to Turner's Falls; over the hill, looking backward to take our last leave of the beautiful Connecticut, and down into the village again, by a road that has grown familiar.
OTHER DRIVES.
The Stillwater Drive is deservedly popular about Greenfield. The road to Conway is followed, which leads across the railroad track, then turns to the right, crosses Pettis' Plain, where De Rouville's French and Indians halted on the morning when they made their assault upon Old Deerfield ; then turns to the left along the margin of the old lake which is now the meadow, having in sight continually a most beautiful landscape ; · passes over Stillwater Bridge, into that part of the meadow called "The Bars," where the last fight oc- curred, and returns by way of Old Deerfield.
Leyden Glen or Gorge is a place much visited by tourists. A large brook has worn a passage from ten to twenty feet wide, and from thirty to fifty feet deep in the strata of argillo-micaceous slate. The length of the gorge is about forty rods. Above the gorge is a deep glen, and below it the stream passes through a ravine. Two beautiful water-falls near the mouth of the gorge greatly add to the picturesqueness of the spot. It compares not unfavorably with the famous Flume at the White Mountains. Not far from the entrance to
77
FOREST AND BROOKSIDE ROADS.
the glen, the place is pointed out where Mrs. Eunice Williams was murdered on the march to Canada.
Romantic and delightful roads pass through The Shelburne and Coleraine Gorges; you can go by the one and return by the other.
One of the roads to Shelburne takes you for a long distance through cool and pleasant woods, and for three or four miles a brook is your constant companion. Beyond the woods you look back upon another charm- ing. view of Greenfield and the Deerfield Valley.
These are only part of the pleasant excursions you can make in the neighborhood of Greenfield. For the rest, consult Stevens of the Mansion House. There are two of them and either of them is a host in more senses than one. What they cannot tell you about things worth seeing in this region is not worth knowing.
CHAPTER III.
FROM GREENFIELD TO NORTH ADAMS. .
T HE Troy and Greenfield Railroad, from Green- field to the Hoosac Tunnel, is owned by the Commonwealth of Massachusetts, but is leased and operated by the Vermont and Massachusetts Railroad Company. The airy and pleasant cars of this com- pany take us on board at the Greenfield station, and we are soon passing over the high bridge across Green River, and steaming swiftly along the table-land that overlooks the Deerfield Valley. West Deerfield is the name of the station at Stillwater; and just before reaching it we look far away across the meadows upon two peaks in the southern horizon which must be Tom and Holyoke. The gorge from which the Deerfield River emerges, and into which we enter at this point, is the wildest and most beautiful spot we have yet found in our railroading. " As to the defile," says Dr. Hitch- cock in his Geological Report, "through which Deer- field River runs between Shelburne and Conway, it is so narrow that it is difficult even on foot to find a pass-
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·
SHELBURNE FALLS.
age; though full of romantic and sublime objects to the man who has the strength and courage to pass through it." But what the turnpike did not dare to do the railroad has done; it has hugged the river closely all the way, and thus has given us a constant succession of magnificent scenes, of which the high- way altogether defrauded the traveler. Any elaborate description of these scenes is superfluous. The traveler must not be looking in his book; he must be looking out of the window.
Shelburne Falls is a thriving town twelve miles from Greenfield. The cataract in the Deerfield at this point is a beautiful one, though the glimpse of it that we get from the cars is hardly satisfactory. Here is another mammoth cutlery establishment, next to the Russell Works at Greenfield in size and importance. Messrs. Lamson and Goodnow are the proprietors. The ex- cellent water-power afforded by these falls is turned to good account in manufacturing. Here resided, until his death within the past year, Mr. Linus Yale, Jr., whose father picked the locks of Hobbes, the English- man, so cleverly, and who himself made a lock that the Englishman could not pick. The Yale locks, known everywhere, are made here. The village of Shelburne Falls puts in a fine appearance, scattered along the narrow valley, and upon the adjacent hill-sides. Two churches confronting each other on one of the streets made us think of Dr. Holmes, who, you know, was always reminded, when he saw two churches situated in this manner, of a pair of belligerent roosters, with
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FROM THE HUB TO THE HUDSON.
tails erect and crests ruffled, eyeing each other at close quarters. These two churches, it is pleasant to know, -are not in a state of war, nor even in a condition of armed neutrality, though their edifices may be in a threatening attitude.
Beyond Shelburne Falls is Buckland, a small station where travelers will be amused to see a sort of tele- graphic contrivance for carrying. the mail across the river. It is a good illustration of Yankee ingenuity. Part of the territory of Buckland was formerly called "No Town." To this unpretending old town, the thoughts of many will make pilgrimages, though their eyes may never see the glory of its wooded hills. It was the birthplace of Mary Lyon. Here the valley of . the Deerfield, which for much of the distance since we left Stillwater has been only a gorge, grows a little wider, and there are good farms, with excellent or- chards, on both sides of the river. Without doubt, this valley, in which part of Buckland and nearly the whole of Charlemont lie, was once a lake. But though the hills recede from the river they do not lose their at- tractiveness. Their symmetrical outlines present to us a constant and charming variety of graceful and beautiful forms. This river, whose banks we follow,- now lying placidly in the midst of green meadows, or winding through willow thickets ; now rippling with a musical delight, which we can feel if we cannot hear it, over broad and shallow places; now reflecting in its smooth pure waters, long reaches of shingly shores or islands ; now plunging madly down tortuous rapids ;
8 1
A . WAYSIDE INN.
. this matchless Deerfield River is to every traveler who follows its course a ceaseless fascination, a perpetual delight. The quickest and most loving eye seizes but few of its many charms in one journey ; and with as " poor a pigment as printers' ink one could hardly paint them.
Charlemont is an old town, extending fourteen miles along the river; and from one to three miles wide. The principal village is across the river from the rail- road, and among other distinguishments boasts one of the best old fashioned country inns to be found any- where this side the water. "Deacon " Dalrymple, the inn-keeper, is a character in his way. The figure of speech by which his title is applied to him is not down in the historical books; but his inn, unlike his title, is not a figure of speech at all. If you want a good, square, country meal, with no nonsense about it, the Deacon is your man. And yet, so indifferent is he to patronage and so averse to praise, that he will be likely to resent this little notice as a mortal injury ; and the, writer will never dare to show himself on that side of the river. The only motive of this paragraph is the public good. There are so few good country taverns in the land that any man in such a place who can keep a hotel, and wont keep a hotel ought to be made to keep a hotel.
The old town has sent forth some celebrities. Ex- Governor Washburne was born here; Rev. Roswell Hawkes, and Rev. Theron M. Hawkes, both well known Orthodox ministers are natives of this town;
4*
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FROM THE HUB TO THE HUDSON.
Hon. Joseph White, Secretary of the Board of Educa- tion, hails from this valley.
In early days this town included a part of what is now Heath, the town adjoining it on the north. Dur- ing the Revolution, Rev. Jonathan Leavitt, father of Hon. Jonathan Leavitt, of the Court of Common Pleas, and of Dr. Joshua Leavitt of the New York Independent, was the Congregational pastor here, and made no small stir among his people in one way and another. He was not quite sound in his theology, many thought ; he was not so ardent a Whig as some of his townsmen, and his views on the subject of finance troubled them exceedingly. It seems that the town (the town and the parish were identical in those days) had voted before the war to give him so much salary; and when the Continental paper money had depreciated so that it wasn't worth a Continental, they wanted to pay the parson in that, to which he strenuously objected. When they cast him out of the church, he entered into the school- house and preached there; and after the war he sued the towns of Heath and Charlemont for the arrearages in his salary. The lower court decided against him, but the Supreme Court reversed the decision, and awarded to Mr. Leavitt £500 for preaching in the school-house, and £200 for loss suffered through the depreciation of paper currency. If all the dominies in the land should collect by law from their parishes the difference in their sala- ries between gold and greenbacks during the late
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AN "EX-PARTE" COUNCIL.
war, some of them would have money enough to take a trip to Europe.
In this quarrel between Mr. Leavitt and his parish, no doubt the parson had the law on his side; but the methods he took of enforcing his claims are open to severe criticism. As much might be said of some of his antagonists. It is the theory of the Congrega- tional order that one church may not interfere with the affairs of another except to give advice when it is called for ; but in this quarrel we find Rev. Mr. Jones, of Rowe, coming uninvited at the head of a posse of his parishioners, to give advice to Mr. Leavitt, and bearing in his hand not exactly an olive branch, or the emblematical balances, but a bayonet fastened to the end of a rake's-tail ! Advice, under most circum- stances is easier to prescribe than to swallow; but under such circumstances it would certainly be classed among those commodities which it is more blessed to give than to receive. It does not appear that Mr. Leavitt was persuaded by these urgent solicitations of his brethren.
Above Charlemont the scenery grows wilder. Now we are plunging into the heart of this beautiful region. The valley contracts to a narrow gorge; the hills, wooded from base to summit, rise abruptly from the river-bed a thousand feet into the air. How the river finds its passage among them we cannot always make out. Looking before us, we can discover no break in the solid chain of hills ; looking behind us the moun- tain wall is equally impenetrable. Still the river has
84 FROM THE HUB TO THE HUDSON.
leisure. Doubtless it can make its way. Rivers always do. But how are these thundering, screaming cars to thrid this Titan's Labyrinth ? Is there not danger that they will come to a sudden halt against that solid mountain at which they are driving so fu- riously? The danger always passes before we have had time to be alarmed. The cul-de-sac has always an opening. The train skips across the river, bends sharply round a curve, and darts with a yell of triumph into a new defile. It is a Titan's Labyrinth, but the strength and swiftness and cunning that are searching out and forcing open its hidden paths for us are more than Titanic.
Next above Charlemont the train halts at Zoar. " Is it not a little one?" said the patriarch Lot of the city of that name to which he fled. Certainly this is not a very big one. It might be large enough to hold a patriarch, but there certainly is not room for a lot in it,-for a level one at any rate. Somebody at your elbow who knows more than he ought to know sug- gests that Lot was not always exactly level !
Beyond Zoar the grandeur grows apace. We pass on the left a covered bridge under which a cataract tumbles ; the hills are closer, higher, and steeper ; the foliage on their sides more dense and richer in variety. Soon a little green valley laughs at us from across the river ; the train slackens its speed, the brakeman shouts " Hoosac Tunnel !" and we gather our bundles and disembark.
Dinner at Rice's, an old and excellent country tavern
£
KILBURN-50-
DEERFIELD RIVER AT THE EASTERN PORTAL.
85
LOAMI BALDWIN'S CANAL.
across the river ; and then, perhaps we will spend the afternoon in exploring this region, and in making our- selves familiar with what is here to be seen of
THE HOOSAC TUNNEL.
Up to this point the Deerfield River has given us an excellent route for a railroad. But just here we find it coming down from the north, out of the fastnesses of the Green Mountains. It would not be easy to follow its course any higher ; and it would lead us where we do not wish to go. Right across the westward path which we have followed nature has written, in the bold horizon lines of the Hoosac Mountain, " No Thorough- fare." But many of Nature's legends get rubbed out and this one soon will be.
The project of tunneling this mountain is not a new one. In 1825 a board of commissioners with Loami Baldwin as engineer, were appointed by the Legislature to ascertain the practicability of making a canal from Boston to the Hudson River. They examined the country by way of Worcester, Springfield, and the Westfield River ; and also by Fitchburg, and the Mil- ler and Deerfield Rivers, making the village of North Adams a point common to both routes ; and reported that " there was no hesitation in deciding in favor of the Deerfield and Hoosac River Route."
At the Hoosac their examinations were extended both to the north and south of the present line of tunnel with a view to discover some other route by which it might be avoided, but increased distance and
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FROM THE HUB TO THE HUDSON.
lackage and difficulty of procuring water led them to give preference to the tunnel. In their report they say : "There is no hesitation, therefore, in deciding in favor of a tunnel ; but even if its expense should ex- ceed the other mode of passing the mountain, a tunnel is preferable, for the reasons which have been assigned. And this formidable barrier once overcome, the re- mainder of the route, from the Connecticut to the Hudson presents no unusual difficulties in the con- struction of a canal, but in fact the reverse ; being re- markably feasible."
During this very year, the first railway was opened in America for the conveyance of freight and passen- gers, and the attention of the people being turned to this improved method of communication the project of building a canal from Boston to Troy was aban- doned. The Boston and Albany Railroad was com- pleted in 1842, but the advantages of this northern route were never lost sight of. The thriving towns along the line looked for an outlet east and west, and the vast undeveloped resources of the region through which the railroad would pass gave abundant encour- agement to the prosecution of the work. In 1845 the first section of the road was opened to Fitchburg ; shortly afterward the Vermont and Massachusetts Rail- road was begun; and as early as 1848 the Troy and Greenfield Railroad Company was incorporated by the Legislature, with a capital of three million five hun- dred thousand dollars, and was authorized to build a railroad "from the terminus of the Vermont and Massa-
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