USA > Massachusetts > Berkshire County > History of Berkshire County, Massachusetts, with biographical sketches of its prominent men, Volume I pt 2 > Part 18
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HISTORY OF BERKSHIRE COUNTY.
The first board of directors having charge of the construction of the Pittsfield & North Adams Railroad consisted of George Bliss, Josiah Quincy, jr .. Ellis Gray Loring, James Arnold, and William E. Brayton. It is no more than justice to say that the town is indebted to Josiah Quincy, jr., in a larger degree than to any other individual abroad for securing the construction of the road. Mr. Brayton was the authorized agent of the company for collecting and paying over the $31,000 guarantee fund ; and he also arranged many details pertaining to the early management of the road. It was generally anticipated that the $31,000 would never pay any dividend, but prove to be a sinking fund or bonus, and so the event turned out. However, it was better to lose the entire amount than not to have the road built, and sagacious inen regarded the matter in this light. Since then the road has done a thriving business, and been a very valuable auxiliary to the main line.
Mr. Harlack was the superintendent and engineer of the road during its construction. A. S. Patten was the first conductor. Daniel Buell, of Pittsfield, was the first agent of the road in North Adams. Upon his resignation in 1849 William Burton was appointed. Charles W. Marsh succeeded Mr. Patten as conductor in May, 1854.
In 1849 some of the citizens of Adams formed an organization which was known as the Berkshire and California Mining Company, for the purpose of teaming and mining in the California mining district. The company was composed of about twenty individuals who associated them- selves together as a joint stock company. Each member put into the company three hundred dollars. They chartered a vessel in New York to take them to Matamoras, which they were to load with lumber and other articles likely to command a ready sale at that port. From there they proposed to take such route to California, with mules or otherwise, as, after careful inquiry and examination, should under all circumstances appear the shortest and most feasible. The following is a list of the members, seventeen in number, who went from North Adams : George W. Hamilton, machinist and blacksmith; J. E. Field, surgeon ; Seth Temple, jr., carpenter ; William Ferguson, hatter ; Samuel B. Kingsley. farmer; George Spellman, painter and glazier ; David M. Cole, shoe- maker ; William B. French, shoemaker ; Albin G. Ward, clerk : Perry G. Gardner, carpenter ; Elson Blakeslee, jr., carpenter; Charles H. Rice, farmer ; Stephen Card, farmer; Samuel J. Whilton, cotton manufactur- er ; Thomas Gaffney, painter ; B. F. Saunders, tailor. A largely attended meeting was held at the North Adams House before the departure of the emigrants, and the prominent men of North Adams were present to say good-bye and wish the venturesome a safe voyage and success in their new home. Of the number who went west on the 21st of January, 1849, some sought other fields and others came home and still others never lived to see the success of their enterprise.
Although the completion of the Boston & Albany Railroad gave the city of Boston a through line to the West, her capitalists were not satis-
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fied, and from time to time the subject of building a more direct route was agitated. In 1843 the Fitchburg Railroad, running through the northern part of the State, was completed, and the Vermont and Massa- chusetts, which is a continuation of the Fitchburgh Railroad to Grenfield, was completed about three years later. In 1848, a railroad company, known as the Troy & Greenfield Railroad Company, was incorporated for the purpose of constructing a railroad from Greenfield through the mountain to Williamstown, there to connect with a railroad leading to Troy, N. Y., thus forming another through line to the West. It was a difficult road to build, aside from the task of piercing the great moun- tain barrier that separated the valleys of the Deerfield and the Hoosac. In 1851 a trial was made on the rock with a costly boring machine, which was soon abandoned. The ground for the Troy & Greenfield Railroad was first broken in the winter of 1852 at a point in North Adams just at the west end of the little tunnel. It was not in the side of the mountain that the first spade was struck, but on a gentle declivity, the snow having been removed previously for the occasion.
The citizens of Adams, as might have been expected, were very much interested in the new railroad, and on the 25th of May, 1850, in answer to an article in the warrant for the town meeting " to see what measures the town will take towards aiding the Troy & Greenfield Railroad in building their road," it was resolved "that whereas doubts are enter- tained of the legality of such an undertaking, therefore voted that it is inexpedient to take any measures to carry out the project contemplated, but that they have the utmost confidence in the enterprise as one worthy of the encouragement of every capitalist, owner of real estate, and busi- ness man in the community." . In the winter of 1855 an act was passed by the Legislature allowing certain towns in Franklin and Berkshire coun- ties to subscribe for stock in the Troy & Greenfield Railroad, and on the 13th of June, 1855, the town of Adams voted to subscribe and hold 200 shares of $100 each of the stock, and Henry L. Dawes, William E. Bray- ton, and Henry J. Bliss were appointed a committee to subscribe for the town upon condition that there should have been subscribed since the date of the contract entered into by Edward W. Sewell with the company, shares of new stock amounting to at least $640,000, and the town of Adams was not to be liable to pay any assessment upon said stock taken, beyond fifty per cent. of each share until the company should have com. pleted so much of their railroad as is located between the line of Vermont and the Pittsfield & North Adams Railroad depot in North Adams. For payment of this subscription the company were authorized to issue bonds countersigned by the town clerk, and running with interest for not less than twenty nor more than thirty years. This vote was taken by yeas and nays with the following result : yeas, 572; nays, 128.
Again at an adjourned meeting held on the 5th of April, 1858, the town of Adams voted to subscribe to the capital stock of the Troy & Greenfield Railroad to the extent of 400 shares in addition to the 200
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shares previously subscribed, on condition that no cash payment should be required for the former subscription or the increase, but that the pay- ment for the whole should be in town scrip, payable in thirty years from the date of issue, with interest at six per cent. No serip was to be issued until the Troy & Greenfield Railway Company made a contract with the town to pay one half the interest on this serip until after the completion of the tunnel through the Hoosac Mountain, and the company were to deposit their first mortgage bonds to the amount of $60,000, as collat- eral security for their performance of their part of the contract, with the Adams National Bank until the town should be satisfied that such security was no longer necessary. No scrip was to be issued until substantial heavy rails should have been laid, and the road constructed in a suitable manner from Troy to North Adams, and then the certificates of stock were to be delivered, without delay, to H. Haupt & Co. This vote was passed by a yea vote of 502 to a nay vote of 187. George Millard, James Hunter, and Levi L. Brown were elected a committee to issue the stock, and Ezra D. Whitaker was elected as a substitute to fill any vacancy which might afterward exist in the committee. It was also voted that when the subscription should be made that the conditions annexed to the issue of the former 200 shares of stock should be canceled. and that the committee should have no further responsibility thereafter. No work was done by the Troy & Greenfield Railroad Company until 1854, when the State voted a loan of $200,000, and took a mortgage on the company's property. The work went on slowly until 1861, when the funds gave out, and in 1862 the State foreclosed its mortgage at the desire of the company. Commis- sioners were then appointed by the State to prosecute the work, and new appropriations were made. After six years' management by commis- sioners, the Legislature, weary of making constant appropriations and seeing small results, after a long struggle owing in a great degree to the efforts of Hon. Shepherd Thayer of North Adams, then a member of the "House," authorized the governor and council to make a contract with some one for the entire work of completing the tunnel. Soon after, a contract was made with Francis and Walter Shanly, of Montreal. Up to this time, January, 1869, the amount of work done by various contractors and State commissioners was as follows : East end advanced 5,283 feet ; west end, 4,055 feet ; west shaft sunk to grade, 318 feet ; central shaft sunk to a depth of 583 feet. But little more than a third of the work had been done, and the actual amount of money expended by the State and contractors was more than $7,000,000. Under the contract with the Messrs. Shanly the work was successfully and vigorously prosecuted. Up to 1865 the drilling had been done by hand power, and ordinary black powder used in blasting, by which means the tunnel advanced but slowly. In that year experiments were made with machine drills driven by compressed air, which were adopted in 1866. About this time George M. Mowbray experimented with nitro-glycerine as an explosive instead
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of powder. The experiments showed that double the progress could be made with glycerine over that with powder, and at a less cost. A con- tract was made with Mr. Mowbray to supply glycerine for the work, and in December, 1867, a factory was erected for its manufacture, in North Adams near the west shaft. From 1858 to the completion of the tunnel more than half a million pounds of this explosive were used. On Satur- (lay, the 19th of October, 1867. the large building erected over the central shaft caught fire and was entirely consumed, together with the machinery and apparatus used in pumping the water and raising the miners from the bottom. At the time the building took fire thirteen miners were working at the bottom of the shaft, a distance of 580 feet, and by the dis- aster were cut off from help until aid was unavailing. When the fire burst out the bucket had just ascended filled with stone. The man in charge dumped the bucket and attempted to lower it for the miners, but was prevented by the flames. The fire soon melted the connections of the bucket and it plunged down the shaft. The first landing above the opening was arranged for tools of all kinds, drills, hammers, chisels, etc. Some three hundred iron drills were upon this landing, and when it gave way these plunged down the shaft, a perfect shower of sharp in- struments. Then fell the timbers and roof which with the ashes completely closed the mouth of the shaft, shutting in the helpless miners from all chance of escape, and sealing them up as in a bottle. This was the condition of things when the news of the disaster came to North Adams. Of course the excitement was very great. At once there was a great rush of people to the scene of the accident. A hundred firemen went, taking an engine with them. The timbers were still burning and prevented all efforts to reach the miners. At last the fire was extinguished, the timbers removed, and an opening made ready for any man bold enough to make the de- scent. The emergency found a man, Thomas G. Mallory, one of the workmen, who volunteered to go. Sitting upon a cross bar, he was let down by means of spliced ropes. The descent was made on Sunday morning at four o'clock. Hundreds of people surrounded the scene, among whom were the trembling families of three of the miners. Forty minutes elapsed when the signal came from below. Mallory was drawn up and had only time to say that there was no hope, when he fainted. He had gone to the bottom only to see the shaft covered with water to the depth of ten to fifteen feet, and the burned timbers and brands floating, but found no trace of the unfortunate men. The construction of the tunnel gave a decided impetus to the growth of North Adams from the large number of men employed, necessitating the paying of large sums of money weekly, and making North Adams the terminus of a stage route much frequented by tourists. The ride over the Hoosac Mountain is thus described by Rev. Washington Gladden.
" When the heats of noon are past, and the sun begins to sink behind the Hoosac mountain we will prepare for our stage ride of eight miles to North Adams. There is a vulgar prejudice against that excellent and time-honored institution called the
,
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stage-coach, but this prejudice is rarely able to survive the journey over the Hoosac mountain. Persons who have been this overland trip have discovered that the true luxury and glory of travel are only to be found in the stage coaches. The change from the cars to the stages is always restful. The grand scenery and the bracing air of the mountains are full of delicious intoxication.
" Under the lengthening shadows our train of elegant six-horse coaches begins to climb the mountain. Barnes & Co., are the names written over the coach doors. The ' Co.' includes ' Jim Stevens' one of our drivers who with 'Al Richardson,' an- other of the drivers, manages the business here. 'Jim ' was once somebody's baby, but that must have been some time ago. It wouldn't be much of a pastime to dandle him now. He might, perhaps, be bigger than he is, but he could not possibly be a better driver. 'Jim ' learned his trade in a long apprenticeship among the White Hills, and he is fond of talking about that region; and yet he maintains that the scenery of this stage ride over the Hoosac is hardly surpassed in that famous resort of travelers. It ought to be conceded that the opinions of 'Jim ' and 'Al,' whose avoirdupois balances are respectively 320 and 230 pounds, are entitled to some weight."
On Thanksgiving day, November 27th, 1873, at a distance of 10,134 feet from the western portal, and of 2,050 feet from the central shaft, the Hoosac Tunnel headings met. On the previous Tuesday night the first drill pierced through the thirteen feet of rock which separated the headings. Around this holes were drilled from each heading, twelve holes to the depth of about six feet; the single hole being drilled com- pletely through the rocky barrier which separated the headings, for the purpose of running wires through from the battery in the central shaft section and making a connection with the holes on the other side ; so that by firing the holes in both sides simultaneously an effectual blast could be made. The drilling being finished, it was officially announced, Wednesday, that the final blast would be fired about two o'clock Thurs- day afternoon, and notwithstanding the allurements of Thanksgiving day, hundreds of people left North Adams to attend the opening. At two o'clock Thursday the ponderous cages at the central shaft began the work of lowering the crowd to the interesting scene about to be enacted 1,500 feet under the crest of Hoosac Mountain, and at three o'clock about 600 people, officials, reporters, engineers, and visitors, were scramb- ling over rocks and wading through water, indulging in free shower baths, and standing, an expectant and motley crowd, in the space between the central shaft and the heading, waiting and listening for the hoarse and hearty invitation of the blast which should assure them that all was ready for their walk through the tunnel. Some delay was occasioned by waiting for the arrival of distinguished guests, including members of the State Senate and Legislatures, and other visitors, who were on their way through the tunnel from the eastern portal to meet Mr. Shanly at the central shaft. At a quarter of three the expected party arrived and word was given to the blasters to make the final preparation for the blast. The work was soon done, but during the interval the most in- tense excitement prevailed. The loud shout of " Fire !" from the blast-
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ers was followed by the thundering explosion of the blast, and amid th rumble and roar which reverberated through the tunnel, a loud shout went up which told that the spell was broken. A line was formed with Mr. Shanly at the head, and with orders to move slowly it advanced toward the broken heading, distant about 2,000 feet. The line was stopped for a short time while a blaster went ahead to examine his work and to make sure that all was safe. As the words " All over !" were sent back from the blaster, the line moved on, and at twenty minutes past three the result of the blast was known. A hole, five feet by five and a half, had been blown through the thirteen feet of rock, in doing which 160 pounds of nitro-glycerine had been used. It was expected of course that Mr. Shanly would be the first person to pass through the opening, but as the opening was reached Mr. Shanly, who stood at the head of the line, quietly stepped aside and with his marked courtesy waived his priv- ilege in favor of Senator Johnson, the chairman of the Hoosac Tunnel committee, who passed through first. There were no formal exercises after the opening had been made, although there was a great deal of hearty handshaking and congratulations unlimited. The first passenger train of cars passed through the tunnel on the sixth of February, 1875.
The whole period during which the tunnel was built was one of growth, and many improvements were carried out. The first police court of Adams was established April 12th, 1854, and Joel Bacon was appointed justice. Afterward E. H. Foster and others petitioned to the Legislature for its abolition, but nothing was done until the year 1870, when the District Court of Northern Berkshire, including the towns of Adams, Clarksburg, Savoy, Florida, and Cheshire, was established. Jarvis Rock . well was appointed justice, which position he held until his death, May 14th, 1885.
Water and gas were introduced into Adams as follows : on the 13th of July, 1844, William C. Plunkett, Evenal Estes, and R. H. Wells formed a company for the purpose of taking water from a spring in South Adams, situated on land owned by Thomas Jenks. Afterward John W. Buffington, J. D. Burton, Resolved Wood, David Richmond, Samuel Miller, jr., H. J. Bliss, Joseph Edmunds, and J. A. Burton were admitted as partners. The expense of digging the ditches and laying the pipes, which consisted of hollow logs, was borne equally between the members. Each member was to share equally in the water, and to share equally in the expense of keeping the pipes in repair.
Prior to the building of the reservoirs and laying of the pipes, the residents of North Adams were dependent for their supply of water upon springs and wells, and were illy protected against the dangers of fire. The village was rapidly increasing in size, and the insufficiency of the water supply and the consequent inconvenience and danger were matters of frequent and earnest consideration. At length it was decided to have a system of water works, and in 1864, through the efforts of Sylvan. der Johnson, a bill was passed by the Legislature providing for the
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incorporation of a water company in North Adams. This company was not organized at once, and in 1865 another bill was passed by the Legislature, empowering the fire district to raise for the pro- posed system 860,000, and give bonds for that amount, the bonds to be guaranteed by the town of Adams. By a provision in that bill it was to take effect only when ratified by the town ; but as the annual town meet- ing was that year held in South Adams, the voters in that village turned out in force and defeated the project. The Wilson House was then in process of erection, and as several prominent men had promised the pro- prietor that if he went on with the work his building should be supplied with water, and as the ire of the movers in the defeated project had been kindled by the action of the town meeting, it was decided to go to work under the bill of 1864. Accordingly the North Adams Water Company, consisting of S. Johnson, Harvey Arnold, Edwin Thayer, W. W. Free- man, and several others, was organized with Shepherd Thayer as treas- urer. This company began work in July, 1865, under the superintendence of Edwin Thayer, and the general direction of a committee composed of Harvey Arnold, Edwin Thayer, and S. Johnson. It was intended by the company to raise money by issuing bonds, but through a series of mis- takes and delays in printing, the bonds were not ready to be issued until late in the fall, when purchasers could not be found. Meanwhile the work had progressed, and an expenditure of nearly $30,000 been made, this money being advanced by members of the company. There was scarcely any work done upon the reservoir, there being a natural basin at that place, and the lower and distributing reservoir was made by ex- cavating a hole in the ground and throwing up embankments. Between the upper reservoir and the Notch whence the water was obtained there were long distances where the trenches were cut through the solid rock, and in the village the progress of the workmen, especially in Union street, was constantly impeded by large boulders. Pipe to the value of $40,000 was obtained upon the agreement of the water company to pay in instal- ments of thirty days, but no bonds were sold until the spring of 1866, when the company succeeded in selling its bonds for ninety cents on a dollar, and running twenty years. Up to the spring of 1866 the principal streets in the village were supplied with water, and additional appropria- tions were made from time to time for extending the water mains, until, in 1870, about $110,000 had been expended upon the work. The water company existed about two years, when its property and liabilities were assumed by the North Adams Fire District, under the authority of a special act of the Legislature. In the summer of 1877 a new storage res- ervoir was built, under the direction of W. W. Freeman, J. B. Jackson, S. W. Brayton, A. W. Hodge, and J. E. Hunter, and the immediate superintendence of John J. Marsh.
In the fall of 1884 the fire district sank two artesian wells, which discharge over a million of gallons of pure water every twenty-four hours. A building has been erected over the wells, and pumps have been put in
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WILSON HOUSE)
F. E. SWIFT, Propr
WILSON HOUSE, NORTH ADAMS.
ADAMS AND NORTH ADAMS. 501
for the purpose of filling the mains when the town supply should fall short.
The South Adams Fire District was first organized in the year 1872, and was authorized to take water, water rights, and land in Bassett's Brook, in Cheshire, to furnish water for public and domestic purposes. During the year 1873 the dam was built and pipes were laid to bring the water into the village. The dam was built under the superintendence of a committee of the fire district. The pipes were laid by John J. Marsh, of North Adams, the whole work costing about $100,000. Money was raised by the issue of Adams town bonds, which were loaned the fire dis- trict for that purpose. The bringing of water into the town was one of the most useful projects that was ever carried out as regards the growth and prosperity of South Adams. Before that event the only supply of water was from private sources, and was very limited in amount, as well as frequently impure and unfit for use. At that time people hesitated to build on account of the very limited supply of good water, but the com- pletion of the water works solved the problem of water supply.
In 1864 a charter was granted to Amasa W. Richardson, Sylvander Johnson, and John B. Tyler, as the North Adams Gas Light Company. The first meeting was held April 2d, 1864, the mains were laid, the works built, and gas made in that year.
The Adams Gas Light Company was organized on the 13th of Au- gust. 1860, at South Adams, with a capital stock of $7,500, divided into shares of $25 each. William C. Plunkett was elected president, A. H. La Mont, treasurer, and W. C. Plunkett, T. E. Dean, and B. F. Phillips were elected directors.
In 1864 the North Adams Hotel and the entire block in which it was situated were destroyed by fire.
The Wilson House, the finest hotel building in Western Massachu- setts west of the Connecticut River, occupies the same site. It was built in 1866 by A. B. Wilson, the inventor of the Wheeler & Wilson sewing machine, at a cost of $140,000, and was opened to the public by him in 1867. At the end of one year it was leased by the " Manufacturers' As- sociation," and re-leased by them to A. E. Richmond, of the old Berk- shire House, who soon afterward re-leased it to Edwin Rogers and H. M. Streeter, who kept it till the close of the association's five year lease. The property was then bought by John F. Arnold, for 890,000, and after many improvements had been made, was leased to Streeter, Smith & Co .. they keeping it about two and a half years, and during the time they were its proprietors the property passed into the hands of the Adams National Bank, of North Adams. In 1877 Hon. Foster E. Swift, at one time senator from the North Berkshire District, became the sole propri- etor, and afterward the sole owner. The size of the hotel and its fine ap- pointments and the excellent manner in which it is kept have made it a noted resort for excursionists from all quarters.
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