USA > Massachusetts > Middlesex County > Chelmsford > History of Chelmsford, Massachusetts > Part 52
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In 1822, the Proprietors voted to choose an agent to oppose, in the Legislature, the petition of Edward St. Loe Livermore, for a bridge over Merrimack river, at Hunt's falls.
From time to time, they encouraged the laying out of roads which would increase travel over the bridge.
It is recorded that one of the early meetings of the Proprietors took place at 5 o'clock in the morning. Col. Loammi Baldwin was appointed to procure one ton of iron and two barrels of New England rum. Each workman was allowed half a pint of rum per day. When the bridge was opened for travel, Nov. 5, 1792, all persons who came to see it were treated with flip or toddy, at the expense of the Proprietors. In 1803, stone abutments were built.
The original cost of the structure was about £1,600, or $8,000. It was cheaply built, and had to be rebuilt in twelve years, and different parts of it were again rebuilt at various times, and in 1848, the whole was rebuilt. In 1861, it was sold for $12,000, and became a free bridge with great rejoicing by the public. McFarlin's horses drew the toll-gate across the bridge, preceded by a band of music. A gathering at Huntington Hall, in which the neighboring towns took part, celebrated the event.
CENTRAL BRIDGE.
The Central Bridge Corporation was incorporated Feb. 24, 1825, and the bridge was in use by December of the next year, when two stage coaches crossed it daily, one to Haverhill and Dover, and one to Londonderry. It was 540 feet long, and cost $22,128.25. It was a toll bridge, of the old covered wooden type. It was rebuilt in 1862. It was burned August 4, 1882, and was replaced by an iron structure.
This bridge took the place of Bradley's Ferry, earlier known as Hunt's Ferry, between Chelmsford and Dracut, at Bridge street, Lowell. The ferry was kept on the Dracut side at the foot of Ferry lane, as it was then called, and those who wished to cross from the Chelmsford side of the river were obliged to blow a horn or shout across to the ferryman. The ferry was attached to a rope or chain stretched across the river. Clark's Ferry was at Middlesex Village. In 1737, a road was laid out between the two ferries on the Chelmsford side of the river. [See Vol. II, Old Residents' Contributions.]
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The tolls on Central Bridge were the same as on Pawtucket Bridge. The corporators were Joseph Bradley, Ezekiel Cheever, Abijah Fox, Ezekiel Fox, and Peter Heaselton.
THE PAWTUCKET CANAL.
It was inevitable that manufacturing enterprises should sometime be attracted to the locality provided with water power by Pawtucket falls. On August 8, 1792, there was formed a corporation entitled "The Proprietors of the Locks and Canals on the Merrimack River." The incorporators were Dudley Atkins Tyng-the reporter of the decisions of the Supreme Judicial Court-William Coombs, and others. To avoid the falls and rapids, the logs and lumber which came down the Merrimack had to be removed from the river at a point above Pawtucket falls, and transported nearer the mouth of the Concord, which flows into the Merrimack at a level thirty-two feet below that of the latter above the falls. The primary object was to connect the two levels by a canal, and thus provide continuous navigation to the sea, making the river passable to boats, rafts and masts. On March 11, 1793, a contract was made with Joseph Tyler for a canal not to exceed thirty feet in width, and one and a half mile in length. The cost was to be £4344, lawful currency. Tyler failing to fulfill the contract, Thomas M. Clark, of Newburyport, was employed. The canal was to begin at Pawtucket falls "near the great landing place, thence running to Lily pond, from thence by Speen's brook to Concord River." [See Map No. 5.] The canal followed Speen's brook along the swamp to the river. It was opened, October 18, 1796, and cost $50,000. The first boat passed through it in 1797. There were four locks-the Guard, Mink, Swamp and Lower. It was nearly thirty years before large manufacturing interests availed themselves of this water power.
With the exception of the canal built, in 1793, around the falls of the Connecticut, at South Hadley, and, possibly, that at Turner's falls, (and some claim it without these exceptions), this was the first canal opened in this country, and when the first boat passed through it, several hundred people assembled to view the unusual event. They stood upon the walls of the first lock and the banks of the canal. The directors and other gentlemen invited by them to take the trip were on board the boat. "Scarcely had they entered the first lock," says Allen, 'when the sides suddenly gave way. The water, bursting upon the spectators with great violence, carried many down the stream. Infants were separated from their parents, wives from their husbands, young ladies from their gallants, and men, women, timber, and broken boards and planks were seen promiscuously floating in the water. ('Nantes-rari apparent in gurgite vasto.') Some had their clothes partially, others almost entirely torn off from
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them. Mothers were shrieking for their lost children, husbands swimming in search of their wives and daughters; paleness sat on the countenance and anxiety filled the hearts of those on shore for the safety of their friends in the water. All, at length, came safely to land without any material injury. Thus ended the amusement of that memorable day."
THE MIDDLESEX CANAL.
The value of the Pawtucket canal was greatly lessened by the building of the Middlesex canal, which provided a more direct route to Boston.
The surveys between Chelmsford and Charlestown were made by Samuel Thompson of Woburn, superseded by Samuel Weston, an English engineer, and were completed, August 2, 1794. The canal followed closely the ancient bed of the Merri- mack, from which it was shifted in the glacial period. Two routes were considered; the rejected route was, forty years later, selected for the B. & L. Railroad. The canal, thirty feet wide, four feet deep, with twenty locks, seven acqueducts, and crossed by fifty bridges, was, in 1802, sufficiently completed for the admission of water, and the following year was opened to public navigation from the Merrimack to the Charles. Its cost, about $500,000, of which one third was for land damages, was but little more than the estimate.
From an article by Lorin L. Dame, in Vol. 3, Old Residents' Contributions:
The curious traveller may still trace with little difficulty the line of the old Middlesex Canal, with here and there a break, from the basin at Charlestown to its junction with the Merrimack at Middlesex Villiage. Like an accusing ghost, it never strays far from the Boston and Lowell Railroad, to which it owes its untimely end.
At Medford, the Woburn sewer runs along one portion of its bed, the Spot Pond water-pipes another. The tow-path, at one point, marks the course of the defunct Mystic Valley Railroad; at others, it has been metamorphosed into sections of the highway; at others, it serves as a cow-path or woodland lane; at Wilmington, the stone sides of a lock have become the lateral walls of a dwelling- house cellar.
Judging the canal by the pecuniary recompense it brought its projectors, it must be admitted a dismal failure; yet, its inception was none the less a comprehensive, far-reaching scheme, which seemed to assure a future of ample profits and great public usefulness. Inconsiderable as this work may appear, compared with the modern achievements of engineering, it was, for the times, a gigantic undertaking, beset with difficulties scarcely conceivable today. Boston was a small town of about twenty thousand inhabitants; Medford, Woburn, and Chelmsford were
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insignificant villages; and Lowell was as yet unborn, while the valley of the Merrimack, northward into New Hampshire, supported a sparse agricultural population. But the outlook was encouraging. It was a period of rapid growth and marked improvements. The subject of closer communication with the interior early became a vital question. Turnpikes, controlled by corporations, were the principal avenues over which country produce, lumber, fire-wood, and building-stone found their way to the little metropolis. The cost of entertainment at the various country inns, the frequent tolls, and the inevitable wear and tear of teaming, enhanced very materially the price of all these articles.
The Middlesex Canal was the first step towards the solution of the problem of cheap transportation.
The plan originated with the Hon. James Sullivan, who was, for six years, a judge of the Supreme Court of Massachusetts, attorney-general, from 1790 to 1807, and governor, in 1807 and 1808, dying while holding the latter office.
A brief glance at the map of the New England States will bring out in bold relief the full significance of Sullivan's scheme. It will be seen that the Merrimack River, after pursuing a southerly course as far as Middlesex Village, turns abruptly to the northeast. A canal from Charlestown mill pond to this bend of the river, a distance of 2714 miles, would open a continuous water-route of eighty miles to Concord, N. H. From this point, taking advantage of Lake Sunapee, a canal could easily be run in a northwesterly direction to the Connecticut at Windsor, Vt .; and thence, making use of intermediate streams, communication could be opened with the St. Lawrence. The speculative mind of Sullivan dwelt upon the pregnant results that must follow the connection of Boston with New Hampshire, and, possibly, Vermont and Canada. He consulted his friend, Col. Baldwin, sheriff of Middlesex, who had a natural taste for engineering, and they came to the con- clusion that the plan was feasible. Should the undertaking succeed between Concord and Boston, the gradual increase in population and traffic would, in time, warrant the completion of the programme. Even should communication never be estab- lished beyond Concord, the commercial advantages of opening to the market the undeveloped resources of upper New Hampshire would be a sufficient justification. Accordingly, James Sullivan, Loammi Baldwin, Jonathan Porter, Samuel Swan, and five mem- bers of the Hall family at Medford, petitioned the General Court for an act of incorporation.
A charter was granted, bearing date of June 22, 1793, "incorporating James Sullivan, Esq., and others, by the name of the Proprietors of the Middlesex Canal," and on the same day was signed by His Excellency, John Hancock, Governor of the Commonwealth. By this charter the proprietors were authorized to lay such assessments from time to time as might be required for the construction of the canal.
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Commencing at Charlestown mill pond, it passed through Medford, crossing the Mystic by a wooden aqueduct of 100 feet, to Horn Pond in Woburn. Traversing Woburn and Wilmington, it crossed the Shawshine by an aqueduct of 137 feet, and struck the Concord, from which it received its water, at Billerica Mills. Entering the Concord by a stone guard-lock, it crossed, with a floating tow-path, and passed out on the northern side through another guard-lock; thence it descended 27 feet, in a course of 514 miles, through Chelmsford to the Merrimack, making its entire length 2714 miles.
In 1805, the Town sent a remonstrance to the General Court against the contemplated tow-path on the bank of the Merrimack river, and also against the proprietors of Middlesex Canal having certain privileges on the meadows.
From a Thanksgiving sermon, Nov. 29, 1810, by Rev. Wilkes Allen:
Note A. Middlesex Canal is supplied with water from Concord river at a fall in Billerica, four miles from its mouth. This river in the summer is about 107 feet higher than the waters in Boston Harbor at full tide, and 21 feet above the surface of Merrimack. You ascend from the Merrimack by three Locks to the level of the canal, and thence to Concord river; crossing its surface, you proceed 11 miles on the same level, passing over several small streams and rivers on aqueduct bridges, especially Shawsheen, which is 20 feet below the waters of the canal. From the Concord to Boston are thirteen locks.
From a Paper Read by Prof. Geo. L. Vose of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, before the Boston Society of Civil Engineers, 1885:
The pioneer work of actual internal improvement in Massa- chusetts, if not in America, was the Middlesex canal, the inception and execution of which was due mainly to one of the most dis- tinguished men of the last century, James Sullivan. He saw, upon the map, the Merrimack river reaching far up into the heart of the great state, which lacked only the means of sending its products to market to set in motion a thousand wheels of industry. "The connection of Boston," says Mr. Amory, in his excellent life of Sullivan, "by a line of navigable waters with New Hampshire and Vermont, and perhaps with Canada, became early for Sullivan a favorite project. The Merrimack, after issuing from Lake Winnipesaukee, 120 miles from Boston, ran southerly within 27 miles of that capital, and then, turning abruptly to the northeast, discharged itself, after an obstructed course of 50 miles, at New- buryport. Between Concord, in New Hampshire, and Windsor, Vermont, the Sunapee lake gave facility for connecting the Connecticut and Merrimack, and the latter could be made navigable by locks at low cost. Should the undertaking succeed between
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Concord and Boston, the gradual traffic would, in time, warrant its extension to the Connecticut, and perhaps to the St. Lawrence. The first step was a canal from Chelmsford to Boston."
The length of the canal was 27 miles; the rise from the Merrimack river at Chelmsford to the Concord river mill-pond at Billerica was 27 feet, and the fall from the mill-pond to Charles river 107 feet. There were in all, 20 locks, 48 bridges over the canal, and 7 aqueducts. The work was under construction from 1795 to 1803. The cost was about $500,000, of which about one-third was for land damages.
In the month of May, 1793, several gentlemen, prominent among whom were James Sullivan, Loammi Baldwin and Jonathan Porter, associated themselves for opening a canal from the waters of the Merrimack, by Concord river or some other way, through the waters of Mystic river to the town of Boston; and a committee proceeded at once to obtain a charter from the General Court, which was signed by Governor Hancock on the 22d of June, 1793. The company organized by the choice of James Sullivan as President, and Loammi Baldwin and John Brooks as vice presidents, and proceeded at once to make the necessary surveys to find the most eligible route between Medford river and the Merrimack.
An accurate survey in those days was almost unknown in this country, and a leveling instrument was an unheard-of thing. In January, 1793, Mr. Sullivan wrote to Gen. Knox: "We are under the necessity of procuring a man who is skilled in the business of canaling, who can point us to the place where, under all circumstances, the canal ought to be cut. We hear that such a person is in Philadelphia, who has come to America on the invitation of Mr. Morris. We beg the favor of your inquiring whether such an artist is there, and whether we can obtain his aid." The "artist" referred to was Mr. Samuel Weston, an engineer brought up in England under James Brindley.
A preliminary examination of the ground was made in the summer of 1793 by Mr. Samuel Thompson, of Woburn. He appears to have made a very careful study of the country, but was not provided with instruments of sufficient precision to obtain the elevations accurately. In March, 1794, the directors voted to send Loammi Baldwin to Philadelphia, that he might try to get Mr. Weston to make the survey for the canal, which he succeeded in doing. The surveys were commenced in July, and on the 2d of August, 1794, a full report was made upon the work. It was found that the route of the canal would be crossed in Billerica by the Concord river, which at that point was 107 feet above tide water at Boston, and 27 feet above the Merrimack at Chelms- ford, being at the summit of the canal, and able to supply water in both directions.
The work of building the canal was commenced in the spring of 1795, under the direction of Col. Loammi Baldwin, the elder,
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and continued, in the face of numerous difficulties, until 1803, at which time it was so far completed as to be navigable from the Merrimack to the Charles river. The canal was 18 feet wide on the bottom, 30 feet wide at the water line, and 4 feet deep. The locks were 11 feet wide and 76 feet long, with an average lift of about 7 feet. Some of these locks were made of wood, and others of stone. In the wooden locks, the side walls, which were of wood, were inclosed between rough walls of masonry placed a few feet back of the timber-work. The masonry was, thus, the retaining wall for the earth, while the timber formed a tight box for the water, the two walls being well braced apart by struts of wood. In this way, expensive masonry was avoided, but the cost of maintenance in after years was increased.
Although the Middlesex canal was completed in 1803, great expense was incurred for many years, owing to imperfections in the banks and other parts of the work, and nearly the whole income was expended in additions, alterations and repairs, so that no dividend was declared until Feb. 1st, 1819. One hundred assess- ments were put upon the shares, which, with interest added to the above date, amounted to $1,455.25 on each share, making the whole cost of the canal, $1,164,200. From 1819 to 1843, there were paid in dividends, $504 a share, averaging $20.16 per annum, being an interest on the cost of about 1.39 per cent. per annum. From the year 1819 to the time when the Lowell railroad went into operation, the receipts gradually increased, so that the dividends rose from $10 to $30 a share. The year the Boston & Lowell road was opened, the receipts of the canal were reduced one-third, and when the Nashua & Lowell was opened, they were reduced another third. The receipts of 1842-3 were not enough to cover the cost of repairs and current expenses.
After 1846 the traffic was small, though boats continued to run until 1852. In 1859 the charter was declared forfeited. The property was finally disposed of for about $130,000, and after the final dividend little more than the original assessments had been returned to the stock-holders.
When the Middlesex canal went into operation it was the greatest work of internal improvement in America. It had been twenty-two years in operation when in October, 1825, DeWitt Clinton made his triumphant passage from Lake Erie to the Hudson river. Like many more recent works, it produced a large indirect benefit. It was said by Daniel Webster to have added $5,000,000 to the value of the New Hampshire forests.
The Middlesex passage boat, Governor Sullivan, according to the advertisement, left the head of the canal in Chelmsford precisely at 8 o'clock, on Monday, Wednesday and Friday, and returned on the alternate days. Stages left Lowell and Boston an hour earlier to connect with the boat at Middlesex Village and Charlestown. Fare on the boat was 75 cents; on the stage,
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614 cents. Previously, in 1831, the fare from Lowell to Boston by stage was $1. This was the fare in the early days of the railroad. Five cents a mile was all that could be demanded [i. e., this was the legal limit].
Some interesting facts are contained in A Historical Sketch of the Canal by the Agent (Caleb Eddy) of the Corporation, printed in 1843 (53 pages). Samuel Thompson of Woburn was appointed engineer. By the original survey, the ascent from Medford river to Concord river was 6812 feet. Actually, it was 104 feet. By the original survey, the Merrimack was 1612 feet above the level at Billerica bridge over the Concord, whereas actually, the water in the Concord at said bridge was about 25 feet above the Merrimack at Chelmsford.
Quantity of water lost by evaporation and
filtration of such a canal estimated at. . 7,560,000 galls. per day Loss by Lockage at Chelmsford filled and discharged 6,000 times a year 1,000,000 66 66
Loss by Lockage at Charlestown 1,400,000
66
do do at Medford 1,000,000
10,960,000
In addition to this, vast quantities pass over the waste wiers. It was estimated that the cost of conducting water from the canal at Woburn to supply the city of Boston would be $900,000.
Dr. John Farmer, born in Chelmsford, June 12, 1789, son of John, of Chelmsford, a tiller of the soil and a deacon of the church, furnished Allen with much of the material for his history of Chelmsford. In 1816, Farmer printed, in pamphlet form, a history of Billerica in thirty-six pages. His mother was Lydia Richardson, daughter of Josiah. Farmer died August 13, 1838, and was buried in the old cemetery at Concord, N. H. At Billerica, September 18, 1818, he wrote: There is considerable navigation on the canal this season. Boats loaded with wood, barrels, various kinds of timber, the Chelmsford granite, &c., are almost constantly passing. The Middlesex packet, a very pleasant and handsome boat, passes here every day, having ladies and gentlemen on board.
In 1816, the General Court granted to the proprietors of the Middlesex canal two townships of land on the east side of Moose- head lake. The location is indicated on the map of Maine in Johnson's Family Atlas, 1865. Until 1820, Maine belonged to Massachusetts.
The following is the preamble and part of the first section of the act of incorporation:
"An act for incorporating James Sullivan and others, by the name and style of the Proprietors of the Middlesex Canal.
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Whereas, James Sullivan, Esq., and others, have petitioned to be incorporated for the purpose of cutting a canal from the waters of the Merrimack river into the waters of the Medford river; and whereas, it is represented that sundry persons are ready to raise funds sufficient for the purpose of opening the same canal:
Sec. 1. Be it therefore enacted, by the Senate and House of Representatives in General Court assembled, that the said James Sullivan, Oliver Prescott, Jas. Winthrop, Loammi Baldwin, Benjamin Hall, Jonathan Porter, Andrew Hall, Ebenezer Hall, Samuel Tufts, Jr., Aaron Brown, Willis Hall, Samuel Swan, Jr., and Ebenezer Hall, Jr., their associates and successors, are hereby incorporated and shall be a corporation forever, under the name of The Proprietors of the Middlesex Canal," &c.
"Ascending the Merrimack through three stone locks, it extended through Chelmsford, and entered Concord river mill- pond by an excavated stone guard-lock, and crossed it with a floating tow-path. It left Concord river through another guard- lock, and passed through a difficult excavation a quarter of a mile in length over ground low and wet, where a canal could be easily made, but was liable to lose its water. Proceeding through swamps, deep cuttings, and over extensive embankments, it passed through another aqueduct at Woburn to Horn Pond. Here it descended through five locks, somewhat apart, to the head of Medford river; thence by Wilmington valley, across the Brooks estate at Medford, to Medford river; then to tide-water in Charlestown mill-pond, and thence by a tide-lock consummated its connection with Charles river, opposite Boston."
Benjamin Blood of Lowell, who was engaged in boating over the canal for twenty years, says that one year he helped take through the canal 43,000 feet of stone, used in building the state prison at Charlestown.
The stone was quarried at Westford and Chelmsford by Tuck & Reed. The stone used for the U. S. Bank on State street, and the pillars and pedestals of Quincy market, Boston, were got out by Charles Hollis of Tyngsborough and floated down the canal. Much of the first brick used by the Merrimack corporation in Lowell, was transported from Charlestown to Lowell by the canal, 843,000 coming through in one season. During the War of 1812, it supplied material to the navy yard at Charlestown, and in time of peace, it distributed through a wide extent of country many articles of foreign commerce.
The motive power consisted of two horses harnessed "tandem."
Slowly moved the laden boat through the still water, between smiling hedgerows, through patches of woodland, under low bridges, and past pleasant villages, with delicious glimpses all along of charming, romantic or pastoral scenery. Sometimes the canal widened into a miniature lake, mirroring the azure
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vault of heaven and the bending foliage of the surrounding trees. Ever and anon a "sail ahead" would appear in the shape of a vast flat-boat, laden with flour or lumber, or the product of some of the nascent factories, or it may be a huge raft of timber, came floating down with two or three mariners in charge, an old spavined horse dragging the establishment along.
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