USA > Massachusetts > Franklin County > Greenfield > History of Greenfield : shire town of Franklin county, Massachusetts, Vol. I > Part 41
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Dutch merchants in Amsterdam had been induced to sub- scribe for one fourth of the stock of the canals, but after pay- ing fifteen assessments, amounting to $153 per share, they re- fused farther advances and their stock was sold out at public auc- tion at $80 per share, they never having received a dividend. The next year a dividend was paid. The canal around the Enfield Falls was opened in 1829.
Before the advent of the steamboats upon the river, the flat bottomed boats were pushed with poles, or when the wind was from the south they were aided by sails. Good boats were equipped with main and top sails, running boards, cabin, rud- der and helm. The river was divided into "reaches," these being the smooth water lying between the several falls.
In 1826 a steamer was built in New York, for the Connecti- cut River Company, called the Barnet, which reached Hart- ford on the 14th of November, and started on its way for Bar- net, Vt. It was found necessary to aid her by setting poles in order to get her over the Enfield rapids. Her progress up
519
STEAM NAVIGATION
1828]
the river was a perfect ovation. She drew but twenty-two inches of water, and towed a barge loaded with people, who returned with vigor the cheers of the inhabitants along the shores of the river. She arrived at Cheapside the 2d of De- cember, and was greeted by the cheers of hundreds of people and fifteen guns from the old Deerfield cannon. The Barnet responded with twenty-six guns, as she steamed under the bridge to the upper landing at Cheapside. Collins G. Burnham, in a well written and beautifully illustrated article in the New England Magazine, October, 1900 (from which I have heavily drawn), says the Barnet reached Bellows Falls on the 12th of December. Sheldon says she wintered in Montague canal. If both statements are true the winter of 1826-7 must have been an open one. It was the expectation of the Connecticut River Company to run the Barnet to the town whose name she bore, but no steamer from tide water ever reached that place.
The next steamer upon the river was the Blanchard, built in 1828, at Springfield. She was sixty feet on the keel, her hull twelve feet in width, with guards projecting, making her deck nineteen and a half feet in width; she had a cabin ten by twenty-four feet, divided into two parts and a promenade deck over all. The Blanchard had sufficient power to easily mount the Enfield rapids, and was so much of a success that the Vermont and the Massachusetts were built at Springfield, and several firms went into the transportation business. The New Haven and Northampton canal had been built, and Hart- ford, jealous of her business interests, was active in the promo- tion of the growing river transportation schemes of the day. Great rivalry existed between the river and the canal interests, and surveys for a canal had been made as far north as Barnet, with suggested connection still farther north with the St. Law- rence. Several canal meetings were held at Greenfield at one of which, May 17, 1827, Governor De-Witt Clinton of New York was present, and the extension of the New Haven
520
CONNECTICUT RIVER STEAMBOAT COMPANY
[1828-1837
and Northampton canal to Brattleboro was determined on. A convention of river people was also held at Greenfield ; Al- fred Smith, president of the Connecticut River Company was present and Judge Leavitt and Daniel Wells spoke in favor of the improvement of the river, and General Shephard in favor of the canal. The canal never was built above Northampton.
In 1830 the Vermont and the Blanchard made daily trips between Hartford and Springfield.
The Vermont was built to run upon the upper portion of the river, and she succeeded in reaching Windsor, Vt., and in 1831 the John Ledyard got as far as Wells river. About the same time Captain Blanchard built a boat to run from Bel- lows Falls to McIndoes Falls. She was eighty feet in length, fourteen feet wide and drew from twelve to fifteen inches of water. She was of one hundred and twenty horse power and could tow three boats.
The same year the Connecticut River Steam boat Company commenced business and established a through line of flat boats or "luggers " from Wells river to Hartford. They owned six steamers, placed upon the different reaches of the river. The Adam Duncan built at White river ; the David Porter, built at Hartland, Vt .; William Holmes, built at Bellows Falls; the William Hall built at Hartford, and the John Led- yard, before mentioned, built at Springfield. These boats cost about $4,800 each, and were able to tow from four to six " luggers " each.
By July, 1831, there was "regular and certain " steam- boat service between Hartford and Greenfield. The com- pany made no money and failed.
Springfield men had several boats beside those already named ; they were the Phenix, Hampden, Agawam, and the Greenfield, which was the Ariel Cooley built over. The Ariel Cooley was built in 1837 and was owned by the Greenfield Boating Company, afterwards Stockbridge, Allen, Root & Co. and after that, Allen & Root. She ran from the head of
521
1
ALLEN & ROOT
1837-1846] >
South Hadley canal to the foot of the Montague canal, and in good stages of water to Cheapside. She was a stern wheeler, ninety feet in length, eighteen in width and had two high pressure engines of twenty horse power each. In 1839 she was built over and rigged with two patent boilers, and named the Green- field. On the 18th of May, 1840, when just above Smith's Ferry, she burst both her boilers, instantly killing Mr. Wood, the engineer, and blowing Captain John D. Crawford high in the air ; he came down upon one of the four luggers she had in tow, and survived but a few hours. The fireman was blown into the river and escaped death. Mr. Lancy of Spring- field, the builder of her machinery and boilers, who was on the boat making some repairs, was also killed.
One of the boats in tow was sunk by the explosion, and several of the men on the other boats were injured. A new steamer called the Greenfield was built, and was run by Captain John Baker and by Captain John Martin, and was in use until the opening of the railroad in 1846. She was sold to go south and Captain Martin took her to a southern port.
The following account appeared in the Hampden Whig in June, 1833 :
" Ground and lofty Tumbling-Mr. Rufus Robinson of this town on the 23d instant, run the Steamboat Ariel Cooley over South Hadley falls, with two men on board beside him- self, without injury. This dangerous feat was performed, we understand, on a wager of $40, which we suppose was fairly won."
Captain Crawford was from Northumberland, N. H., and was a nephew of Ethan A. Crawford of the old Crawford House. He was married a few months before his death to a Mrs. Julia Day, whose maiden name was Moody, and his home was in South Hadley, just below the place of disaster.
In 1844 our Captain Lester L. Luey (still living hale and
522
RUNNING A " LUGGER "
[1792-1846
hearty in 1902) married Mary Moody, sister of Mrs. Craw- ford. Mr. Luey was also from Northumberland, and ran on the same boats with Captain Crawford for two seasons.
These river boatmen were generally of great strength and stature, for poling a boat loaded with forty to sixty tons of freight, up swift places in the river is no boy's play. In hard water or over bars, some times three or four extra men would be required on each side of the boat, and men living near these places were employed for that service. The poles were stout staddles two or three inches in diameter, from ten to fourteen feet in length, smoothly shaved, having a sharp spike in the bottom and fitted for the shoulder at the top. The spiked end being firmly placed upon the bed of the river at the bow of the boat, the boatman walked down the side of the boat as it moved forward in the water, his shoulder being placed against the top of the pole .* It was man's work, and Cap- tain T. M. Dewey says, " the hardest work a man ever did." A steamboat or a good stiff south wind was always welcome. Captain Dewey reminiscentially says,"Leaving Hartford with a good south wind after getting the flatboat or 'lugger ' above the bridge, sail was set, and the boat plunged along until it came to the mouth of the canal at Windsor Locks. Here the horse hauled them through the six miles of canal, and they passed the head lock and turned into the river above Enfield falls. Sails now take the boat up past Springfield to the foot of the swift canal on the west shore, just above the railroad bridge at Willimansett (yet to be seen). Here came a big team of three yoke of heavy oxen with a span of horses for leaders, and a chain one hundred feet long was used as the 'connec- tion link' between the team and the boat, and they were hauled up to the old ferry place at South Hadley Falls. Here they worked across the river and entered the South Hadley canal." When the canal was first built, boats were drawn
" Trask at Whitmore's ferry made white ash poles at fifty cents each and Brain- ard at South Hadley made steel pointed spikes at the same price.
523
THE " FANDANGO "
1800]
up an inclined plane, by means of power obtained by water wheels on each side of the canal. This not proving satisfac- tory, locks were soon substituted. On account of the high and rocky bank of the river above the falls the canal was be- gun a considerable distance below the head of the rapids, and getting out of these rapids was, in river parlance, "getting out of the head." At first many men were kept here to pull the boats " out of the head " by scrambling along the rocks with tow lines ; but one Henry Robinson, an old pilot and an inven- tive genius, rigged a boat with two large water wheels, one on each side of the boat, with the wheels so arranged that they could be lowered into the stream or lifted out, and, anchor- ing his boat above the head of the rapids, with a one and a quarter inch rope two thousand feet long, and so arranged as to wind up on the shaft of the water wheels, stretching across the boat, he lowered his boat down to the head of the canal, and attaching it to the waiting boat, letting his water wheels into the rapid stream the cable winding upon the revolving drum hauled both boats to the head of the rapids. This ar- rangement the river men called the " Fandango."
Leaving the " Fandango " with a good wind, only the oc- casional use of poles on some bar, or around some turn of the river, was required to bring the boat to the mouth of the Montague canal, or, if the stage of water permitted, up the Deerfield to Cheapside. Freight from Hartford to Green- field was seven dollars per ton.
A trip down the river was a different thing. A boat loaded with wood, brooms, chairs, wooden ware, hoop poles, or other bulky articles was a hard thing to manage in a high wind. Pilots had to be taken on at Willimansett and En- field, to take the boats over the falls, for the canals were not patronized on the down down-river When running these rapids every man had to be at his station with pole ready to keep the boat in her proper channel. The runs were quickly made and the pilot paid his fee of $1.50 and set on shore to
.
524
SILVER ROCK
[1800-1846
catch a ride home on some up-river boat, or foot the tow path as it might happen.
New hands were " broken in " by getting them to look for the " silver rock " at Mad Tom. In order to get a good view of it as the boat ran over it, it was necessary that the observer should lie flat upon the bow of the boat and keep close watch, and when, as the bow of the boat splashed down upon Mad Tom, the green hand was covered a foot in depth with water, he generally " allowed " he had seen enough, and it required many gin cocktails to dry him off when the boat reached Hartford.
Rafting lumber was entirely different from boating. That the rafts might be taken through the canals, the lumber was made up into "boxes " sixty-six feet long and thirteen feet wide. Six " boxes " made a " division " and was manned by a pilot and three men. The pilot's wages was $1.50 per day. In the long reaches of the river the pieces of the raft were all lashed together, and when they approached a canal, they were divided into the " boxes " again.
There is a certain glamour attached to the stories of those old boating days, and the tales told and retold of those old times would furnish Mark Twain with material for an inter- esting book.
Old " Sol " Caswell of Gill was a famous river man about whom many stories are told. He was born in Canada, never went to school but one day in his life, and was a first-class specimen of a backwoodsman. He was a natural engineer and was employed as foreman by Lieutenant Hale in building the second dam at Turners Falls. One day by the sudden turning of a stick of timber he was knocked off the works in- to the raging waters of the river and swept over the falls into the billows below. He said that he " clawed along " in the boiling water, well knowing that he must not come to the top until he could see clear water overhead. Mr. Hale and his men were commenting upon the sudden loss of their fellow,
525
SOL CASWELL AND OTHERS
1795-1849]
when Harlow Humes casting his eyes below the falls, shouted, " There's the cuss now ! " and sure enough, " Sol," much alive, was making his way toward the little pine island oppo- site the mouth of Fall river. After a good rest he swam to the shore and went back again to the works. According to J. D. Canning, Caswell was the " boss " in building the dam across the Connecticut just below the mouth of Millers river, about 1806. This dam was erected for the purpose of caus- ing slack water at the French King rapids.
In the winter of 1848-9, Captain T. M. Dewey, formerly of Greenfield, acting for his cousin, John D. Kimball of Nashua, N. H., made a contract to furnish 800,000 feet of logs for the building of the dam at South Hadley Falls. He completed his contract during the season, and on Octo- ber 22, 1849, the gates of the new dam were shut and it took until 10 a'clock, P. M. for the pond to fill so that the water poured over the dam.
Just before the advent of the Springfield and Northampton and the Northampton and Greenfield railroads, in the Con- necticut valley, Cheapside was a " port of entry " of no mean proportions. A large business was transacted, and her two stores were stocked with all kinds of goods from a cambric needle to a barrel of potash. But the coming of the cars killed Cheapside.
When the Montague canal was opened Uncle " Billy " ยท Russell took charge of it for several years and kept the hotel at its head. After him came Elihu P. Thayer, and he and Amos Adams had a large store upon the bank of the canal at Montague City, receiving goods direct from the boats into the rear door of their store. The writer can remember accom- panying his father to get goods for the Griswoldville Manu- facturing Company from off the boats lying at this store. After Mr. Thayer came Ptolemy P. Severance, of Greenfield, who was the agent until the canal was so badly injured by high water that the company refused, much to the disgust of
526
OLD RIVER MEN
[1800-1846
lumber men, to expend the money necessary to put it in re- pair.
Captain Lester L. Luey* was for many years a river man, and his recollections of the scenes of his younger days upon the Connecticut are very interesting, and much of this story is due to his good memory. He became the second station agent of the Connecticut River Railroad at Greenfield, and after years of faithful service resigned and went into trade, and meeting with deserved success retired several years since. He gives the following list of names of river men who made Greenfield their headquarters during the busy seasons, and the places where they originated : Willard Fairman and Abner Harris, from Columbia, N. H .; Jared and George Bailey, from Bloomfield, Vt .; J. D. Crawford, Bill Cummings, George Putnam and the three brothers Dexter, Lester L. and Orvis Luey, from Northumberland, N. H .; George Bolton, Seth Cutler and John and Charles Crawford, from Guildhall, Vt .; Frank Savage, Anson Wesson and Bill Perkins, from Lan- caster, N. H .; Seth Willey, John Laird and Harmon and John Martin, of Peacham, Vt .; Reuben and Robert Gregg, of Goshen, N. H .; T. M. Dewey, Rufus Ware, Jo. Day, Chauncey and Henry Loveland and George, James, Charles and Julius Martin, Sol, Almon and Bill Caswell, Harlow Humes, Chauncey Lincoln and William Hunter, of Monta- gue, Mass. ; and Harris Sawyer and Cephas Gilbert, of North- field, Mass.
LOGGING ON THE CONNECTICUT
Of late years, a new industry has arisen by which the river is made a highway for the cheap transportation of millions of feet of logs, which furnish supplies for the great sawmills es- tablished along the banks of the Connecticut. This is a re- vival of the ancient custom of running down the river the
* Captain Luey died at Greenfield, May 21, 1903, aged eighty-four years.
527
LOGGING ON THE CONNECTICUT
1846-1903]
great pines which had been selected by the agent of the gov- ernment, and marked with the broad arrow, as being reserved for the " King's Navy."
Many of the large lumber companies whose mills are located at favorable places along the Connecticut, own immense tracts of timber lands in the mountains and along the tribu- taries of the upper river, as far as the Connecticut lake, the very head of the stream. The cutting, hauling and running of the logs down the river gives employment to the men for the entire season. About the middle of July, the company's manager decides what tract or tracts he will clear for the coming season's supply, and the men begin to gather at the established headquarters, and build their log camps upon some little stream, far from the waters of the great river. Perhaps the stream is so small that a series of dams have to be con- structed to make slack water in sufficient quantity to insure the floating of the logs in the spring. Then too, the logs have to be cut in lengths comparing with the difficulty of run- ning them into the stronger waters below. So the manager must be a man of tact and full of resources. He divides his forces into gangs, and each man knows the part he is to per- form. Each camp has a cook and a helper to the cook who is called the "cookee." With experience he develops into a cook. The food furnished is good and wholesome, and generally well cooked : style does not count in the woods. The men get to their work about 6 or 6:30 o'clock in the morning, have a half hour for dinner, and quit about 4: 30 P. M. After supper they gather in groups and play cards, tell stories, sing, or listen to the man who plays the fiddle or the accordian, and at 9 o'clock the lights must be out and the grumblers must keep silence until 5 o'clock next morning. The team- sters have a separate camp, because they must be up at 3.30 o'clock and feed their teams, and such early rising would dis- turb those who are not required to do early work.
When the gang is ready for the woods, the boss chopper
.
528
THE DRIVE AND THE BOOMS
. [1846-1903
goes ahead and chips into the larger trees indicating in which direction the tree should fall, and is followed by the sawyers, who saw the tree down, and by the use of wedges driven into the sawcuts compel the tree to fall as indicated by the head chopper. The logs, if not too large, are hauled out by the teamsters in full lengths and taken to the "yard " where they are cut up into proper lengths to enable them to be taken on wheels or sleds to the landing upon the river. Here they are piled on the ice to await the breaking up in the spring when the logs move with the ice down the small tributary to the larger river.
About the Ist of April the advance guard of river men go down the great river and place the booms in readiness to re- ceive the drive and to see that everything is in shipshape to care for the logs when they arrive. Ten days later the drive starts, and when the main river is reached and the logs are in from all the tributaries, there are from fifty to seventy-five million feet of logs afloat, accompanied by six or seven hundred men. At McIndoes falls three or four hundred men are re- leased, and more at each principal point as the drive proceeds, until when the logs leave Turners Falls hardly more than twenty men are left to accompany it. The work is most en- ticingly dangerous and the pay is fixed in proportion, the better men getting $ 2.50 per day and their board. Some fifty horses are taken along with the drive, and used to haul the logs into the river from the sand bars, and in the rough waters of the upper rivers all the supplies have to be carried along the route in wagons, but when the deep river is reached the teams are taken on board the rafts. Now and then a house boat used for cooking accompanies the drive. A blacksmith has his forge along to make repairs and keep the tools sharp- ened. The house boat is built in sections and taken in pieces when passing very rough places, like the French King rapids, or the dams on the river.
The trick of balancing one's self upon the logs only comes
529
BREAKING A JAM
1846-1903]
by long practice, and the Maine boys begin to learn early, practicing upon the logs in the ponds in their vicinity.
When at some rapids a jam occurs, there is a lively and dangerous time. The men have to go upon the logs and turn them and roll them about until the jam is broken. Some times the jam is so firm that dynamite must be used to blow out the king log. At all times the men have to work lively, and when the logs start, break for the shore. Of late years the men employed on the river have been of a much better class than formerly. The " tender out" who is stationed at the bridges to watch out that the logs do not jam at its piers, is about the only man who gets an easy job. The choppers are mostly Canadian French, who are only in the camps dur- ing winter, and return to their little farms during the summer months.
34
CHAPTER XXXVII
BURNHAM'S ROCK
B EFORE the building of the Turners Falls dam, just below the upper suspension bridge, on the edge of the cataract, stood a great rock, forming a small island, known as " Burnham's Rock," once the most celebrated fish- ing place on the river. It was claimed by William Smalley and others as private property, but the people interfered in their quiet possessions, and in 1792 the claimants made a petition to the General Court praying that it might be granted to them.
The public was a good deal disturbed at this proceeding, and a special town meeting was held in Greenfield on the 2d day of April, 1792, to see if the town would not purchase "Burnham's Rock." Perhaps before the day of the meeting came, the public had learned that the Commonwealth had commissioned Samuel Henshaw to sell " Burnham's Rock " at private sale, as the meeting was adjourned to the first Mon- day of May at which time the town voted not to buy " Burn- ham's Rock." That there was a good deal of feeling aroused will appear by the following notice taken from the Impartial Intelligencer of June 13, 1792 :
" Advertisement Extraordinary.
" Found in Greenfield the 2d instant, a written paper of the following tenor; viz :
"' DEERFIELD, May 28, 1792.
" ' To all whom it may concern : We the subscribers select- men of the town of Deerfield, in the County of Hampshire,
530
531
THE GREAT FISHING PLACE
1792]
certify that it is our opinion that it would be advantageous to the public to grant to William Smalley Esq. and others, his as- sociates, the exclusive right of taking fish at " Burnham's Rock" (so-called) opposite the town of Montague in said County.
(Signed) "' JOSEPH BARNARD. " ' SETH NIMS. "'AMZI CHILDS.
1
Selectmen of Deerfield.' "
The editor adds :
" If the owner will appear and prove property, he may have the same at this office, and no questions asked."
Mr. Henshaw proceeded to the performance of the duty committed to his trust by the General Court, and made sale of the island as will appear by his deed recorded in Franklin Registry, book 6, page 44, which recites : " Whereas William Smalley & others have represented to the General Court that they have carried on the salmon & shad fishery on the Island or Rock in Connecticut river called ' Burnhams Rock,' that they have always claimed by virtue of their first discovery & experiment the exclusive right of fishing there, but lately having been informed that the said Island or Rock being in a navigable river, is the property of said Commonwealth, they prayed that the court would be pleased to grant to them the exclusive right of the said fishing at the rock aforesaid. So Mr. Henshaw sold to William Smalley, Esq., Moses Arms, Gentleman, Solomon Smead, Gentleman, Philip Ballard, Yoe- man, Jeremiah Ballard, Yoeman, all of Greenfield, in the County of Hampshire ; and Jonah Burnham, Henry Ewers, & Moses Burnham, Yeomen, all of Montague in the same County ; & Daniel Smalley of Guilford, in the County of Windham & State of Vermont, Yeoman ; & their heirs & as- signs forever, the aforesaid Rock Island called 'Burnham's Rock' lying in Connecticut river between the towns of Greenfield & Montague, beginning at the northeast corner of
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