History of the Connecticut Valley in Massachusetts, with illustrations and biographical sketches of some of its prominent men and pioneers, Vol. I, Part 26

Author: L.H. Everts & Co
Publication date: 1879
Publisher: Philadelphia : Louis H. Everts
Number of Pages: 700

USA > Massachusetts > History of the Connecticut Valley in Massachusetts, with illustrations and biographical sketches of some of its prominent men and pioneers, Vol. I > Part 26

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* This chapter, and to the end of the General History of the Connecticut Val- ley, edited by Samuel W. Durant.

HISTORY OF THE CONNECTICUT VALLEY.

and the track not less than eighteen feet in the narrowest place.

The Eighth Massachusetts Turnpike Corporation was char- tered on the 24th of February, 1800, the principal names being those of Joseph Stebbins, James S. Dwight, and George Bliss. Their road commenced on the line between the towns of West- field and Russell, near the Agawam River, and followed the river through portions of Blandford and Russell to a point known as Falley's Store; thence by the west branch of the river, through portions of Blandford and Chester, to the Gov- ernment road, which it followed to Becket, and thence by the usual road to the Pittsfield line.

The Tenth Turnpike Corporation was chartered on the 16th of June, 1800, for the construction of a road from a point where the Farmington River crosses the line between Massachusetts and Connecticut ; thence, by the side of the river, through San- disfield, Bethlehem (now part of Otis), Becket, and Lee, to Lenox Court-Ilouse ; thence over the mountain, through Rich- mond and Hancock, to the New York State line.

The Eleventh Turnpike Company was chartered on the 19th of June, 1801, with Ezra Marvin, Elihu Stow, and one hun- dred others, as incorporators, to build a road from the Con- necticut line through the east parish of Granville to Blandford meeting-house, and thence, through the town street in Bland- ford, to Becket, in Berkshire County.

The Thirteenth corporation was chartered, June 19, 1801, to construct a road from Connecticut State line, in Granville, through that town to the northwestern part of Loudon, now included in the town of Otis.

" The Fourteenth corporation was chartered on the 11th of March, 1802, to construct a road from the west end of the Fifth turnpike, in Greenfield, through that town, Shelburne, Buekland, and Charlemont, to the eastern terminus of the Second turnpike, leading over Hoosae Mountain."

The Sixteenth corporation was chartered, Feb. 14, 1803, to construct a road from the west line of West Springfield (the portion now forming the town of Agawam), through South- wick, Granville, Tolland, and Sandisfield, to the turnpike pass- ing through Sheffield from Hartford, Conn., to Hudson, N. Y.

The Petersham and Monson Company was chartered on the 29th of February, 1804, to build a turnpike from the Fifth turnpike, in Athol, through that town, Petersham, Dana, Greenwich, Ware, Palmer, and Monson, to connect in the latter with the road leading to Stafford, Conn.

The Springfield and Longmeadow Company was established March 7, 1804, to construct a road from the south end of Main Street, in Springfield, through Longmeadow, by a direct route, to the State line of Connecticut.

The Williamsburg and Windsor Corporation was chartered on the 16th of March, 1805, to build a road from Williams- hurg, through the towns of Goshen, Cummington, and Wind- sor, to the east line of Cheshire, in Berkshire County.

In addition to those mentioned in the foregoing list, there were the Belchertown and Greenwich, the Blandford and Rus- sell, the Chester, and perhaps a few other minor corporations within old Hampshire County.

These toll-roads were as great favorites as were plank-roads in the West at a later date, though they continued much longer.

They were deservedly popular, for they afforded the best system of intercommunication and transportation then in use in the country.

They were most of them continued by their several corpora- tions until about the year 1850, when they were transferred to the custody of the public, and have since been kept in re- pair by a tax.

III. BRIDGES.

Bridges were constructed by various means,-among others by a lottery system, which was quite popular for many pur-

poses during the latter part of the last and the beginning of the present century. On the 6th of March, 1782, a lottery was granted by the General Court to aid in building a bridge over the " Chikabee" River, on the road leading from Spring- field to Hadley; and on the Ist of November of the same year another was granted, for the purpose of repairing and supporting one over the Agawam River, in West Springfield ; and still another, for the benefit of a bridge over the same stream, near a place called Weller's Mills, in Westfield.

Many of the bridges over the smaller streams were built by' incorporated companies and supported by a system of tolls. Occasionally small sums were granted by the county authori- ties to aid in their construction. In 1816 the towns of Palmer and. Westfield petitioned the Court of Common Pleas (then the official county body) for assistance to construct bridges over the larger streams in those towns, and three hundred and fifty dollars was granted for a bridge over the Agawam in Westfield.

A remonstrance was presented against the petition from Palmer, but the court, after a careful hearing, granted the sum of one hundred dollars for a bridge over the Chicopee River in that town.

The task of bridging the Connecticut, or " Great River," was long considered an impossible one. The earliest bridges were built by chartered companies, and maintained by tolls fixed by law.

The carliest legislation which we find touching bridges over the larger rivers was on July 7, 1786, when Jonathan Hoit and John Williams were associated together, and authorized to construct a bridge over the Deerfield River at a place known as " Rocky Mountain."

On the 6th of March, 1792, a company, consisting of David Sexton, David Smead, Lyman Taft, Elisha Mack, and associ- ates, was incorporated for the purpose of building a bridge over the Connecticut River between Greenfield and Montague, at Great Falls.

On the 18th of June, 1795, another company, consisting of Jonathan Leavett, Eliel Gilbert, and their associates, was chartered for the purpose of building a bridge between Mon- tague and Greenfield.

On the 22d of June, 1797, Jonathan Hoit and David Smead were incorporated as the proprietors of the Deerfield River bridge, in the town of Deerfield, at the point known as Wil- liams' Ferry.

On the 17th of June, 1800, the town of Westfield was authorized to build a toll-bridge over " Westfield Great River," near Park's Mills.

On the 10th of February, 1803, David Morley was author- ized to erect a toll-bridge over the Agawam River, " near the late dwelling-house of Stephen Noble, deceased."

On the 22d of February in the same year a company, con- sisting of John Hooker, George Bliss, Joseph Williams, Samuel Fowler, Jonathan Dwight, Thomas Dwight, Justin Ely, and associates, was incorporated as proprietors of the bridge over the Connecticut between Springfield and West Springfield. The rates of toll to be charged, upon the com- pletion of this bridge, which was the first one erected at this point, were fixed as follows :

For each foot-passenger .. 3 cents.

= horse and rider ... 7

horse and chaise, chair, or sulky ...

chariot, pharton, or other four-wheeled carriage for passengers.

curricle .. horse and sleigh

head neat-cattle

¥ sheep and swine 1

This bridge was twelve hundred and thirty-four feet long, forty feet above low water, and cost thirty-six thousand two hundred and seventy dollars. It consisted of six arches, sup- ported by two abutments and five piers, each twenty-one feet wide and sixty-two feet long. Thirty rods above the bridge two guard-piers, to break the ice, were built. The curve of

HISTORY OF THE CONNECTICUT VALLEY.

each arch was one hundred and eighty-seven feet, and the chord one hundred and eighty feet .*

It was erected in the two following years, and opened to the public on the 30th day of October, 1805, upon which occasion Rev. Joseph Lathrop preached a famous sermon from Isaiah 45: 18. A procession was formed, and a salute of seventeen guns was thrice repeated from each end of the bridge.

The following paragraph is from the Federal Spy, a news- paper of the time :

" The bridge is so constructed, with frames upon piers con- nected by long timbers with the arches, that the traveler passes over nearly the whole extent of it on an elevated plane, affording a view of extensive landscapes, in which are blended well-cultivated fields, plains and villages, river and meadows, lofty (?) mountains, and, indeed, a variety in the beauties of nature which is highly gratifying to the eye."

It would appear that this bridge was painted red and was a famous structure for a time ; but the old men who said that a bridge " could not be built that would stand" were right, for it is recorded that the old red bridge " gave way, and fell into the water," July 19, 1814, after standing less than nine years. The fall is said to have been brought about by the passage of heavy United States army-wagons, probably loaded with am- munition.

A new bridge was constructed in the same place, and opened Oct. 1, 1816.+

This second structure was carried away by the flood of March, 1818. Five of the seven piers and abutments were demolished with the bridge, two on the west end being left.

The present covered bridge succeeded the one destroyed in 1818, but whether built the same season or at a later period we are not informed, though most probably it was finished as soon as possible .; It is said that the last two bridges were constructed in part by the aid of a lottery, which a prominent divine characterized as "aid from the evil one." It would not be very strange, surely, if the company, in the face of such a rapid destruction of their bridges, had resorted to all legiti- inate means of obtaining the necessary funds wherewith to rebuild. The present sidewalk on the south side of the bridge was added in 1878.

In 1872 commissioners were appointed by the Supreme Court to appraise the value of this bridge and fix the amount of damages which should be paid to the bridge company. The value fixed was $30,000, which sum was paid by the county, and the towns of Springfield, West Springfield, and Agawam, in the following proportions :

County of Hampden ...

Springfield. 10,000

West Springfieldl ...

4,(KH0)

Agawam ..

1,000

$30,000

The property was then transferred to the custody of the county commissioners, and made a free bridge.

A bridge was built at Chicopee, over the Connecticut, in 1848-49, forty-three years after the erection of the Springfield bridge, and this was transferred to the county commissioners after appraisal, in 1870, at a valuation of $36,000, divided as below: County of Hampden, $18,000; Chicopee, $12,000; West Springfield, $6000 .¿ All the bridges in the county are now free.

A wooden trestle-bridge was built at Sunderland about the year 1815. It was an open bridge, and was soon superseded by a covered bridge resting on stone piers and abutments, which seems not to have been very strong, for it was replaced in 1832 by a covered bridge built after what was then called the X-work style. In 1840 a portion of this was carried away,

and immediately rebuilt. In 1857 two spans were again car- ried away, together with one of the piers, and it was rebuilt somewhat narrower than before.

In 1868 a great flood took off all but one span, and it was again rebuilt in 1870. On the 9th of December, 1876, a strong wind completely demolished it.

In 1877 the present elegant and substantial iron structure was erected by the Iron Bridge Company, of Massillon, Ohio. This bridge is eight hundred and thirty-eight feet in length, thirty-eight feet above low water-mark, with a roadway of eighteen feet, and a total height of twenty-five feet above the floor. The completion of this structure was celebrated on the 23d of November, 1877. The river is spanned at Turner's Falls by two suspension-bridges, recently erected. Altogether there are five railway-bridges over the Connecticut within the State,-one in Northfield, two between Deerfield and Mon- tague, one at Holyoke, and one at Springfield,-mostly wooden structures.

IV. NEW BRIDGES.

The act establishing the south end bridge, in Springfield, was passed April 15, 1873. The contracts for its construction were awarded Nov. 8, 1877. The contract for the substructure was made with John Beattie, of Leet's Island, Conn., at an aggre- gate cost of 848,950. The rip-rapping was done by O. S. Doug- lass, of Suffield, Conn., at $2.25 per yard. The contract price for the iron superstructure was $45, 700, which was subsequently increased on account of additional work. This bridge is twelve hundred feet in length, having eight spans, and is twenty feet wide in the clear, and twenty-four feet high. It is of the wrought-iron truss style, with vertical ends. The total cost will not be far from $100,000, to be paid for largely by the towns of Springfield, Agawam, and Longmeadow.

The north end bridge is a noble structure, of the "open Warren girder" or riveted lattice style. It is eleven hundred and thirty-four feet long, twenty-five feet three inches high, and thirty feet wide, not including a substantial sidewalk on the south side. It has seven spans, and is twenty-two feet above the mean water-level. Work was commenced upon it in July, 1876, and it was completed Sept. 1, 1877. The filling of the east side approach cost $10,500, the substructure $68,000, and the superstructure 871,500, making the total expense $150,000. The builders consider it one of their best structures, and the finest highway-bridge in the United States.

The first bridge of the Boston and Albany Railway Company over the Connecticut was a wooden structure with a single track, erected in 1835.|| The present fine iron structure was erected in 1872, at a total cost of $262,000. It is twelve hundred and sixty feet in length, and carries a double track. The iron- work of these three last-mentioned bridges was constructed by the Leighton Bridge and Iron Company, of Rochester, N. Y.

There is some talk of demolishing the old covered structure on Bridge Street, and erecting another iron one in its stead ; but the heavy expense entailed by those already built will probably postpone this project for some time, unless some un- foreseen calamity shall make it necessary. The old bridge is good for ten years, if not destroyed by fire or flood.

On the 2d of March, 1803, a company, consisting of Eben- ezer Hunt, Levi Shepard, Joseph Lyman, Jr., Asahel Pome- roy, John Taylor, and others, was incorporated for the purpose of construeting a bridge over the Connecticut between North- ampton and Hadley. 1

On the 8th of March, 1803, Lemuel Dickinson and seventy- four others were incorporated for the purpose of constructing a bridge over the Connecticut between Hatfield and Hadley. This bridge has not been maintained for many years.

* From the Springfield Republienn of Feh, 2, 1879.

t The second bridge cost about $22,000, and the third, built in 1820, $25,000.

# This bridge is 1287 feet long, 28 feet above low water, and 18 feet wide.

¿ This bridge has a length of 1237 feet between the abutments.

[ The cost of this bridge was $131,612.12.

" See History of Northampton.

HISTORY OF THE CONNECTICUT VALLEY.

FERRIES.

Ferries were the primitive means of crossing the Connecti- cut and all the larger streams from the first settlement down to the close of the eighteenth century, when the first important bridges were erected. There may possibly have been a few points between New Hampshire and Connecticut where the " Great River" was fordable at low water.

The smaller streams were crossed by means of fords at the shallow places, and it was many years before they were all substantially bridged.

The earliest legislation which we find touching the matter of ferries on the Connecticut at Springfield was in February, 1683, when the following appears of record :

" At the General Town-Meeting, Febry. 5, 1683, it was further voted and concluded that the Selectmen should dis- course with any person for the keeping a ferry over the Great River, and, having found such a one, to make a report there- of to the Town ; as also, they are to consider the most meet place where it shall be kept, and signify accordingly."

" At a town-meeting, March 14, 1683-84, The Honorable Corte having appointed this Town to consider and state a place for a country Ferry and to procure a person to attend it, and make report thereof to the Honored Corte, The Town did vote and conclude that the place should be at John Dor- chester's ; and he declaring himself willing to attend the Ferry, provided he may have liberty to sell drink and be freed from military training; and, to encourage him, the Town did vote and conclude him to have liberty to take nine pence per horse and man of our own Inhabitants a time; and the said John Dorchester declaring himself contented that any of the Inhabitants use any other way or man or means to transport on the river."

The following items are also from the early town records :

" May 7, 1718 .- It was also Voted, that their be levied on the Inhabitants of the Town Nine pounds for the Procuering of a free ferry for this present year, & twenty-five pounds for the year ensuing, & that the Nine pounds be raised this year. And it was also voted, that if their be notification for so much as the whole sum, that the Remainder be paid into the Town Treasury. And it is also voted, that John Worthington, & Joseph Williston, & Jos, Merrick be a Com- mittee to see ye affair Respecting the ferry effected; & it is voted, also, that the ferry he kept at the upper wharfe.

" Jan. 31, 1727 .- Voted, that the Ferry at the upper wharfe be let out for five years on the Desire of Mr. John Iluggins, Dated Jan'y 31, 1727, viz., that the Town would grant him the Ferry and the whole Privilege thereof at the place called the upper Wharfe, at the great River, being the common place for the Ferry in Springfield, for the space of five years, and he will give them Sixty shillings for the same yearly, every year, for the whole time, and give sufficient Bond for keeping said Ferry well the whole Time, and to begio within Twenty Dayes from this date or Time, and to give Bond within Twenty Days to the Town Treasurer and his Sucksessor, the which Bond is to be of the sum of one hundred pounds. At this meeting the said Desire of the said John Huggins was granted.

"March 12, 1728,-Also to consider and settle the Ferry at Agawam, & with reference to the said ferry, The following vote was voted, viz., that there be a Ferry settled at the mouth of Agawam River, to cross bothe the great Itiver and suid Agawam River, and that the present Selectmen be appointed to agree and settle a ferryman for that purpose.

" A Town Ferry was established at the middle wharfe by Vote, May 15, 1749. Voted, that Josiah Dwight, Daniel Parsons, George Pynchon, Jacob White may have the liberty to set up a Vessell at the michile wharfe in said town."*

At the August term of 1814, Amasa Parsons was licensed to keep the " upper ferry," which was probably located at the point where the upper bridge now erosses. The following were the rates of toll fixed by the court for all the ferries on the Connecticut River within the county of Hampden :

Foot-passenger. 3 cents.

Man and horse.

Horse and chaise or sulky. 1:216

One-horse wagon and passengers.

Coachee, coach, or phaeton. 25

Four-horse carriage with passengers. 30

One-horse wagon or curt. 10

Two-horse wagon or cart. 16

The same with more than two beasts, 20

The same with more than five beasts. 30

Six-horse carringe .. 35

Neat cattle, each. 3

cents.

Horse or mule withont rider. Sheep and swine, each 1

In the same year Ruel Warriner was licensed to keep the lower ferry. In 1831, Hiram Jones was licensed to keep a ferry over the Connecticut River at Chicopee for two years.

Benjamin Ashley is said to have been the first to put a steam ferry in operation on the Connecticut River. When the bridge was erected at Cabotville (now Chicopee), he sold to the com- pany boat and franchise for thirteen hundred and fifty dollars. The ferry between Springfield and Agawam was run by steam.

CHAPTER XXI.

INTERNAL NAVIGATION - IMPROVEMENT

OF CONNECTICUT RIVER.

I. CANALS.

FROM the first settlement of the valley down to the close of the Shays rebellion the means of transportation in Western Massachusetts had been very limited, and the necessity of better facilities began to be apparent as the country, which had been exhausted by the long period of war and disturbance, slowly emerged from its lethargic condition and took a new departure on the road to prosperity.

One of the earliest and most important enterprises in the -country was the improvement of the navigation of the Con- necticut River. The first movement in this direction was the construction of a canal around the falls at South Hadley and at Turner's Falls, in the town of Montague.

Petitions were drawn up and presented to the Legislature, and on the 23d of February, 1792, that body passed " An Act incorporating the Hon. John Worthington, Esquire, and others therein named,-for the purpose of rendering Connecti- cut River passable for boats and other things from the mouth of Chicopee River north ward through this Commonwealth, -- by the name of the Proprietors of the Loeks and Canals on Connecticut River." The individuals named in this act were John Worthington, Samuel Lyman, Jonathan Dwight, John Hooker, and William Smith, of Springfield ; Caleb Strong, Robert Breck, Samuel Henshaw, Ebenezer Lane, Ebenezer Hunt, Benjamin Prescott, and Levi Shepard, of Northamp- ton ; Theodore Sedgwick, of Stockbridge; David Sexton and John Williams, of Deerfield; Samuel Fowler, of Westfield ; Justin Ely, of West Springfield; Dwight Foster, of Brook- field ; Simeon Strong, of Amherst ; and William Moore.

Work was commenced at South Hadley as soon as practica- ble after the act of incorporation, under the superintendence of Benjamin Prescott, of Northampton, as engineer. Mr. Prescott was subsequently superintendent of the United States armory at Springfield.

This is believed to have been the first work of the kind attempted in the United States, though the " Western Inland Lock Navigation Company" was incorporated on the 30th of March, 1792, for the improvement of the Mohawk River and Wood Creek, in the State of New York, and the Middlesex Canal Company, in Eastern Massachusetts, was incorporated in 1793. At all events, Mr. Prescott had no precedent in this country as a guide to his operations.

On the 25th of February, 1793, the company, by an act of the Legislature, was empowered to assess the proprietors in such amounts as were necessary for the work, and in case such assessments were not paid to sell the shares of delinquents. The shares were also made transferable, and established as personal estate.

The enterprise had not progressed very far before it was found that the cost had been greatly underestimated, and, money being very scarce, the aspect of the company's affairs wore anything but a pleasant look. The necessary funds

* See hi-tories of the river-towns for interesting items in this connection,

HISTORY OF THE CONNECTICUT VALLEY.

were not forthcoming, and, as a last resort, an agent was dis- patched to Holland-then, perhaps, the foremost money-power in Christendom-to enlist the capitalists in the enterprise. He succeeded in disposing of considerable stock, and returned with the means thus obtained.

The capacity of the locks, as required by the act of incorpo- ration, was to be equal to the passage of boats or rafts twenty feet wide and sixty feet long. This it was soon found would involve a heavier outlay than was deemed advisable, and ac- cordingly a supplementary act was obtained at the session of June, 1793, permitting the company to reduce their capacity to the accommodation of boats of forty feet in length and twenty in width.

Even with this modification of the work, it was soon found that the works at South Ihadley would be all that a single cor- poration could manage successfully, and accordingly, on the 27th of February, 1794, another act was passed for the purpose of dividing the interests in the upper and lower canals. It was enacted that the Proprietors of the latter should remain a cor- poration, and that Samuel Henshaw and Benjamin Prescott, of Northampton, and Jonathan Dwight, of Springfield, and their associates, should be a distinct corporation, by the name of "The Proprietors of the Upper Locks and Canals on Con- necticut River," vested with all the powers pertaining to cor- porations. The number of shares in this new enterprise was 504.

The lower canal and loeks were the first completed. The canal was two and a half miles in length, and was sunk for a good portion of the distance in the red-sand rock. When finished, its bed was not low enough to take the water from the river, and this circumstance rendered the construction of a dam necessary. It was pushed from the head of the canal in an oblique line up the river to a point in the stream, and thence, at right angles to the current, to the eastern shore. But the work was not permitted to remain. The overflow caused by it flooded a considerable extent of the meadows above, and the people of Northampton were wrought to a wonderful pitch of excitement ; and the difficulty finally culminated in the indictment of the company for the maintenance of a nuisance. The case was decided against the corporation, and all the dam, except its oblique portion near the right bank, was ordered removed by the court.

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History of the Connecticut Valley in Massachusetts, with illustrations and biographical sketches of some of its prominent men and pioneers, Vol. I, Part 26

Author: L.H. Everts & Co Publication date: 1879 Publisher: Philadelphia : Louis H. Everts Number of Pages: 700

Author: L.H. Everts & Co
Publication date: 1879
Publisher: Philadelphia : Louis H. Everts
Number of Pages: 700