History of the Connecticut Valley in Massachusetts, with illustrations and biographical sketches of some of its prominent men and pioneers, Vol. I, Part 29

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 29

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"One of the three or four men assigned to each division acts as pilot,-that is, he runs the division. His position is forward,-one of great responsibility ; and such was the scope of the pride of the majority of these pilots that they would as soon forfeit their hard-earned suminer's wages as to run a raft upon a rock or a flat. The rafts were often loaded with boards, shingles, and clap-boards. This was called 'top- loading.' Then we had ' board-rafts,' the boards being rafted into the water, and of the same length and width, and with as many courses as the nature of the water and locks would permit, drawing from one to two feet of water. When a sale was made of a box of boards, the next and most disagreeable task was to ' draw' them. One man would stand with a broom and swash them off, while the rest would carry them ashore,- about the hardest work a mortal man was ever called upon to do ; and, I must add, it requires very nearly as much new rum to draw a box of boards handsomely as would float the box ! On reaching the vicinity of the locks the second divisions are ' snubbed,'-i.e., made fast ashore. The process of snubbing a raft is laborious, difficult, and dangerous. The rigging, which is heavy, must be handled in a hurry, and just right. The strength and velocity of movement of the ponderous body of lumber admits of no false motions. If it is brought up too suddenly, the rigging parts or the raft is torn to pieces; if not soon enough, the rigging runs out, and away goes the raft ; another trial is to be made at the next available tree. A man who can snub a raft handsomely in high water must have a head exactly level, and a body made up mainly of steel springs and india-rubber. Now, to operate through the locks, east off the ties and shove in one box at a time, stationing one man below to re-arrange and tie the boxes together as they come through. This is the process over and over at White River, Queechec, Bellows Falls, Miller's River, Turner's Falls, South Hadley, and at Enfield Falls and Swift Water, although

HISTORY OF THE CONNECTICUT VALLEY.

at the two last named a whole division could go over in high water. Generally, however, at Enfield only one or two boxes could be run at a time, and this, with the freight-boats, gave the Allens and the Burbanks, the pilots, all they could do during the rafting season.

" I call to mind a few of the laughable, and peradventure startling, incidents which served in those days to give human- ity a jog and beguile some of the tedious hours. There was a little man, by the name of Jarve Adams, who had risen to the dignity of ferryman at Thompsonville,-that is, the head of Enfield Falls. One pleasant day Jarve found the rafts encroaching upon his ferry-rights,-that is to say, as they lay along-shore waiting the action of the pilots, they had been allowed to drop down a little too far, in the estimation of the doughty ferryman ; and he, being a man of immense conse- quence according to his own reckoning, uttered many large words, accompanied with a number of quite respectable physi- cal demonstrations. One of the big Vermonters,-I think it was Steve Ames,-having listened to his fulminations till he was tired of it, told him that he ran something of a risk in coming on board the rafts ; that he (Ames) 'sometimes had fits,' and when he did he clutched hold of anything within his reach, and would as likely as not walk right into the river, so he must look out. This squelched him for a day or so, but he soon got his 'dander up' again, and, forgetting about the fits, came aboard and began to call down vengeance on all the raftsmen between there and ' Fifteen-Mile Falls.' Whereupon Ames, a six-foot-and-four-incher, telling Jarve his fit was coming on, grabbed him and walked straight into the river, wading out beyond his struggling victim's depth, and sousing him vigorously, only letting him up to breathe, and telling him all the while he couldn't help it, and ' I told you so,' till poor Jarve was nearly exhausted and begged piteously to be let off. After punishing him as much as he thought was right he allowed him to go ashore, cautioning him next time to look out for ' them fits.' The roars of laughter raised at Jarve's expense could be heard above the roar of the falls. Ad Allen was there and saw the fun, and from him and Mr. Elwell, our artist, I got the story.

" One day Capron and Alexander had a lot of boxes lying at the head. Capron and 'Old Country' took a couple of them and started over the falls. Just as they entered on the upper falls the forward tie broke, and away they went, spread- ing and swinging around, taking off the other tie in less time than 1 am writing it ; and the two were thenceforth separate, each man going over the surging waters on his own hook.

" Old Country .- ' Point her ashore, Capron !'

" Capron .- ' Go to thunder ! I can run her over.'

" Country .- 'Can ye? Well, you've got to go about right or you'll fetch up on Leonard.'

" Capron .- ' Tell 'em I'm a-coming.'.

" It was said by a boatman who was coming up through the canal that he saw some one running a box of lumber through all manner of channels, and he was not sure but he made the attempt once, at least, to seull it over the falls, but that was not generally believed. It might have been, how- ever, that he ran around the island once or twice; and it was said he was last seen pointing her diagonally with the stream, with a view of giving her sufficient headway to put over into the canal, but I never believed it. At any rate, he landed his box safe and sound at the foot of the falls, which was consid- ered in those days ' right smart.' Whether it was with him as with many others we read about, that the - (old gentle- man) 'always keeps his own,' I shall not venture to say.

" It is impossible for me to recall the names of those ancient lumbermen, nor is it necessary for the purposes of this paper. But I desire to note here and now those I do remember, in honor of the days of Aukl Lang Syne, all of whom were owners or captains.

"Up Country .- Ebenezer L. Carlton, James Hutchins, Sul-

livan Hutchins, Deacon Gilchrist, Samuel Hutchins, Josiah Wilson, Nahum Wilson, Jonathan Wilson, Abiel Deming, Daniel Itolt, Moses Chase, Timothy Morse, Wyram Morse, Stephen Morse, Jacob Morse, Charles Scott, Cyrus Scott, Jared Wells, Horace Wells, Hiram Wells, Windsor Cobleigh, and William Abbott.

" Down Country .- Stratton, Solomon Spencer, Silas Burn- ham and sons, S. F. Dudley, William Dudley, George W. Potter, B. F. Savage, and Daniel Burnham.

"Stephen Morse,-or rather ' Steve,' as he was better known, -was one of those queer compounds of music, mirth, and meta- physics, of logic, labor, language, and loquacity, intermixed with a goodly proportion of the social as well as the vocal element, which is sure to fix itself permanently in one's memory. Those who have heard him ring out the old song of ' The Sea, the Sea, the Open Sea,' on the soft evening air, as they floated by, while every man sat upon his oar, and not a ripple on the stream, while gentle Luna looked down with approval, will never forget how it echoed and re-echoed among the grand old mountains and through the groves and vales. And now I think of it, and apropos to this rush of logs down the river, Morse had a number of divisions of logs lying in the pond above Montague Canal. On inquiry he found it would cost him eight hundred dollars to run them through the eanal. This he thought was a gouge game, and gave out word that within the next twenty-four hours every stick of that lumber would be turned loose over Turner's Falls. Hearing of this, and knowing the sort of a man he had to deal with, the agent went to see him, and, fearing he should lose the toll on that lumber, softened down to five hundred dollars. Morse said, "Mr. Thayer, I'll give you just two hundred dollars to put that lumber through. Not one cent more.' The lumber went through the canal on the eve of the Sabbath-day. While this lot of lumber lay in the canal, near the lower locks, the men of these and other rafts lying around loose and idle and enjoying a quiet time, Morse, ae- cording to a notice which had been given out, took the family Bible from the hotel upon his shoulder and, followed by all these men and also by the citizens of the place, wended his way to the school-house, and after the usual preliminaries took his text and delivered an acceptable Baptist sermon, every way proper and appropriate, and none the worse for coming from inside of a blue frock. A generous contribu- tion was taken up on the spot, which the preacher declined, but requested that it be given to the poor. Mr. Henry, the hotel-keeper at that place, not to be outdone by 'Steve,' opened his book and squared the account against him and his men. The next night was ' flip night.'

" It will never do in these reminiscences to omit the name of 'Uncle Bill Russell,' the long-time toll-gatherer of the Montague Locks and Canal Company ; yet I will not attempt to describe him, save by these four adjectives,-rough, honest, eccentric, faithful. One incident will show. Capt. Spencer had gone through the loeks with a lot of lumber, and went back to settle his toll. ' Uncle Bill' handed him his duplicate receipt, as was usual. Now, the captain, although a good man, had a habit of using one profane term, to wit: ' by h-1.' This was the extent of his swearing, but this came in pretty often. On looking at the duplicate he thought Uncle Bill had rated him too high. 'By h-1! Uncle Bill,' said he, ' that's too bad ; that's altogether too high.' Russell paid but little attention to him, until after Spencer had followed him all over the canal grounds and had teased him most persist- ently to change it, when he, taking the paper, went in and added about one hundred dollars more to the toll, and, hand- ing him back the paper, said, in Spencer's own language, ' There, by h-H! see if you're satisfied now.' One of the Wells River raftmen was a little too many for Unele Bill at one time, when he sold him a couple of young owls, at a very tall price, for parrots. Dictionaries were no account when he

HISTORY OF THE CONNECTICUT VALLEY.

discovered the cheat. Capt. Silas Burnham had just finished rafting a lot of down-country lumber, and was ready to start down the river, but he had one man he wanted to discharge. So he bethought him that his man, 'Uncle Ira,' could not read ; he therefore took a shingle and wrote upon it, 'Mr. Cheney, dismiss Unele Ira and pay him off.' Ile then sent him down with the shingle, telling him it was ' money-busi- ness.' Unele Ira marched into the store, well filled with customers, and, with quite an air of authority, said, " Mr. Ginery, bore buddy watted' (more money wanted), at the same time producing the shingle. Mr. Cheney looked at the shingle and saw the joke. 'Why, Uncle Ira,' said he, ' this is for your discharge!' Uncle Ira looked all sorts of surprise, and at last, turning to leave the store, said, ' Dab that Silas Burdab "' Capt. Burnham was well known on the river, and I could note a great variety of anecdotes, but they 'll tell better than they can be written. It was always an insult to a raftman to ask him which way he was going, 'up or down ?' One kind old lady, who had just served breakfast for the captain and his men, innocently asked him this tabooed question just as he was leaving for his raft. Hearing it from her, he turned and soberly answered, ' Yes, ma'am !'

" In 1849 I bought for Kimball & Clark, the contractors, eight hundred thousand feet of hemlock timber, near the head of navigation, for the present Holyoke dam. This was rafted and run to the South Hadley Canal that season, and was one of the most unwieldy jobs that a raftman ever knew. It was manufactured mainly at the head of the canal, and passed through to the dam. The contractors sunk money in propor- tion as the soggy hemlocks sank in the water, but the dam stands.

" How the valley rang with the songs of these boatmen and raftmen of thirty or forty years ago! Good singers they were, too, some of them; and even after these long years have intervened, with their ever-increasing rush of business, at- tended by the scream of the whistle and the thundering of the car, it requires but a slight effort of the imagination to recall the mellow songs of Cutler, of Guildhall, Vt., Chamberlain, of Newbury, Morse, of Haverhill, N. Il., Humes, of Mon- tague, and many more whose names have not in my memory survived their voices. Capt. Jonathan Smith, of South Had- ley, the pilot for many years over Willimansett, and the father of the superintendent of our street-railway, was one of the jolly singers of that day, and always ready to contribute his share for the gratification of the company. But farewell to the river-men of old and the incidents of their time until we ' gather at the river' !"

IV. STEAM NAVIGATION.

The first attempt to navigate the Connecticut above llart- ford by steam was in 1826, when a company was formed in that city for the purpose. An agent was sent West to ex- amine boats on the Western rivers and make a report. On his return the " Barnet," of the wheelbarrow pattern, was built in New York, and made her first trip to Springfield in November, 1826, arriving on the 28th of the month. She ascended the river at the rate of five miles an hour, under the pilotage of Roderick Palmer, of West Springfield, and went as far as Bellows Falls, Vt., and passed Springfield on her way down on the 18th of December.

It was apparent that she could not be depended upon to as- cend the rapids at Enfield, Conn., and the project of building a canal was agitated, and work was finally commenced on it in 1827, but it was not completed for about two years.

In the mean time an ingenious mechanic, long an employé at the United States armory,-Mr. Thomas Blanchard,-built a side-wheel boat at Hartford, put in the machinery, and named it the " Blanchard." ITe made a trial trip to South Hadley on the 30th of July, 1828. On the Ith of September

he made an excursion to Hartford and return with about sixty passengers, making the downward trip in a little over two hours, but taking much longer to return over the rapids at Enfield. On the 30th of the same month she made an eight- mile trip with a large number of school-children on board.

But the " Blanchard" was found to be but little better adapted to overcome the Enfield obstructions than the " Bar- net," and Blanchard constructed a new boat upon an improved plan, which was named the " Vermont." She was a stern- wheeler, seventy-five feet in length and fifteen feet wide, and only drew one foot of water.

This boat was built on wheels, east of Main Street, nearly opposite the present Wilcox Street. This was probably the first steamboat built in Massachusetts with engine complete .* It was launched on the 8th day of May, 1829, being drawn to the river by the men who had gathered to " see the sight." This boat made six miles an hour up-stream, and in July made several trips to Hartford with one hundred passengers, returning the same day, and ascending the falls, a distance of five miles, in an hour and twenty minutes. In August she went up to Brattleboro', and was at Windsor, Vt., in October. This first trip of a regular steamer was the occasion of great excitement along the river, where the people assembled from many miles, and celebrated the occasion by the ringing of bells and the firing of guns.

The secret of the success of the " Vermont" lay in the fact that her wheel was placed far enough astern to work in the dead water.

The " Enfield Canal" was finished Nov. II, 1829, and the " Vermont" took down a party from Springfield and returned, passing the canal both ways. The " Blanchard" also brought up a party from Hartford to the lower end of the canal.

In April, 1830, the schooner " Eagle," which had been running between New York and Warehouse Point, came around from Albany and up through the canal with a load of rye for Springfield. The steamers " Vermont" and " Blan- chard" also laid at the wharves at that time. The latter was advertised on the 15th of May, 1830, to make regular trips to Hartford.

Mr. Blanchard bad then recently returned from Pittsburgh, Pa., where be had built the " Allegheny," on the model of the "Vermont," which pattern was universally adopted on the Western rivers. On the first of June the " Vermont" com- menced running regularly between Springfield and Hartford, and there was a lively competition during the season between the boats and the stage-lines, which latter ran on each side of the river, under the management of Messrs. Sargent & Chapin.

A new steamer, called the " Massachusetts," was built by Mr. Blanchard in the winter of 1830-31, calculated for the better accommodation of passengers, but too long for the low stages of water in the river. It was much the largest and most complete boat which had yet been seen in Springfield, having a cabin upon deck and a double engine. It commenced run- ning in the spring of 1831, but could not go through the locks or run in low water.

It was said that Mr. Blanchard had invested eight thousand dollars in his boats. He had at first been greatly accommo- dated by the canal company, but now they threatened him with heavy tolls unless he would do towing, which would in- terfere with passenger travel.

The season of 1831 opened with the " Hampden" in March, which then commenced running for John Cooley & Co., as a freight-towing boat. In April the " Vermont" commenced the passenger business, under an arrangement between Mr. Blanchard and Messrs. Sargent & Chapin by which the stages running in competition with the boat were withdrawn.

The " Springfield" (probably the " Blanchard" under an-

* See article of Mr. T. M. Dewey, preceding this.

HISTORY OF THIE CONNECTICUT VALLEY.

other name) also commeneed towing in April for the Connecti- eut River Valley Company. This company had just launched the " Ledyard" at Springfield, for the use of the towing trade above the town. In July the " Wm. Hall" was put on as a tow-boat, to run between Hartford and South Hadley Falls, while the " Ledyard" was placed above, between the Falls and Greenfield.

The " Massachusetts" commenced her trips in June, and in the course of the following month Messrs. Sargent & Chapin purchased Mr. Blanchard's interest in the steamers " Ver- mont" and " Massachusetts ;" and his connection with the boating business ceased from that time, though he remained in Springfield a year or two afterward.

Another steamer, called the " James Dwight," was also put on the line between Hartford and Springfield for the accom- modation of passengers coming up in the morning and return- ing in the evening.

The " Massachusetts," immediately after her transfer, was thoroughly overhauled, and supplied with new and heavier boilers and furnaces. The superintendent of that work was afterward the engineer of the ill-fated ocean steamer " Arctic," lost off Cape Race ; and is said to have put off from the sinking ship, and was never afterward heard of.

The " Massachusetts" was in service some twelve years, and was finally burned at her wharf in Hartford.

Contemporary with the " Massachusetts," the " Agawam" was put on the line and run in connection with her; and two other boats, the "Phoenix" and " Franklin," were built and launched for the passenger traffic, but saw very little service, as the boats were all withdrawn upon the opening of the rail- way from Springfield to Hartford, in 1844. The "Franklin" was sold and taken to Philadelphia, and the other two were taken to Maine, where they were engaged in the trade of the Kennebeck River.

In 1842, Charles Dickens made his first visit to this country, and in the beginning of February went from Springfield to Hartford on the " Massachusetts." It was the first trip of the season, and the second, he says, "as early in February, within the memory of man." Though the boat was the largest and most capacious of all that had been built or used on the river in Massachusetts, yet he treated it as a small affair, and de- scribed it as of about one-half pony-power. The grand cabin he compared to the parlor of a Liliputian public-house which had got afloat in a flood and was drifting no one knew where, but it contained the inevitable rocking-chair, which it is im- possible to get away from in America.

" The boat," says he, "was so short and narrow we all kept the middle of the deck, Jest it should unexpectedly tip over ; the machinery, by some surprising process of condensa- tion, worked between it and the keel; the whole forming a warm sandwich about three feet thick."

It was raining hard the whole day, the river was full of floating ice, and the boat was obliged to work in the shallow water to avoid the huge blocks.

lle thought the Connecticut a fine stream, and the banks beautiful in summer.

" After two hours and a half of this odd traveling (includ- ing a stoppage at a small town, where we were saluted by a gun considerably bigger than our own chimney), we reached Hartford."

During the fifteen years in which boats were running on the river there was only one serious accident : the steamer " Green- field" exploded her boilers at South Hadley in May, 1840, by which three lives were lost and property to the value of ten thousand dollars was destroyed.

V. CANALS.

The first attempt to connect the western part of the State with Boston and tide-water was as early as 1791, when Gen.

Henry Knox took active measures to determine the physical feasibility of the work by causing a series of surveys to be made by an eminent engineer, John Hilfs, Esq., upon two routes,-a southern one via Worcester, and a more northern one.

Gen. Knox and his associates were finally incorporated by the Legislature on the 10th of March, 1792, with the title of " The Proprietors of the Massachusetts Canal," with authority to construet a canal from Boston to the Connecticut River. There is no evidence that anything of importance was at- tempted under this charter. Maps and estimates were made, which were preserved and subsequently placed in the hands of the State Commissioners for Canal Surveys in 1825.

On the 25th of February, 1825, upon the recommendation of Governor Eustis, three commissioners were appointed to ascertain the practicability of constructing a canal from Boston Harbor to the Connecticut River, and of extending the same to some point on the Hudson River in the vicinity of the june- tion of the Erie Canal with that river. Nathan Willis, of Pittsfield, Elihu Hoyt, of Deerfield, and Gen. Ilenry A. S. Dearborn, of Boston, were appointed commissioners, and Col. Laommi Baldwin engineer.

At the June session of the Legislature, in the same year, Governor Lincoln devoted a portion of his message to the subject, and urged the favorable consideration of the Legis- lature. He also made mention of the then new subject of railways.

A report of the above commission was made at the session of Jannary, 1826, recommending a route for a canal through the north part of Worcester County to the mouth of Deerfield River, and thence up that stream through the Hoosac Moun- tain, by means of a four-mile tunnel, and through to the Hudson River, near Troy.

The district west of the mountains was surveyed and mapped by George Tibbits, Esq., of Troy, N. Y., and on the east side, from the summit of the mountains to the mouth of Deerfield River, by General Epaphras Hoyt, of Deerfield. The length of the proposed canal was given at 178 miles, 100 of which was between the Connecticut River and Boston, and 78 between the river and the Hudson. The total lockage- rise and fall-was 3281,34 feet.

The estimated cost, exclusive of the tunnel, was .. 85,103,240 Tunnel, 20 by 131/2 feet, 4 miles, 211,200 cubic yards, at $4.36 .. 920,832

Total cost. $6,024,072

The Governor in his message spoke favorably of the work, and recommended the continuance of the commission, with enlarged powers, and a resolution was introduced in the Legis- lature for further surveys, which was not only laid on the table, but the former resolve, under which the survey had been made, was repealed. This virtually put an end to the canal project.

HIAMPSHIRE AND HAMPDEN CANAL.

By an aet passed Feb. 4, 1823, Samuel Hinckley and others were incorporated as " The Hampshire and Hampden Canal Company," to construct a canal from the Connecticut River, in Northampton, through Easthampton and Southampton, in Hampshire County, and Westfield and Southwick, in Hampden County, to connect with one to be constructed in Connecticut from New Haven to the Massachusetts line, in Southwick. The capital of the Massachusetts company was fixed at three hundred thousand dollars.

The work was completed from New Haven to Westfield in 1830, and finished to Northampton in 1834, at a total cost of two million dollars .*

In 1836 a new company, called " The New Haven and North- ampton Canal Company," was chartered by the Legislatures of Massachusetts and Connecticut, which purchased the whole

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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 29

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