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 3
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" And the bounds of the county, by this Act created, on the east shall be the line heretofore established between the counties of Hampshire and Worcester, and on the west by the line between the counties of Hampshire and Berkshire, and on the north by the north line of the Commonwealth.
"SEC. 2. Be it further enacted, That all and every part and parcel of the late connty of Hampshiro included within the lines before described shall be and the same is hereby formed and created into an entire and distinct county by tho name of Franklin, of which Greenfield shall be the shire or county town. And the inhabitants of the said county of Franklin shall hold, possess, use, exercise, and enjoy all the powers, rights, and immunities which by the constitution and laws of this Commonwealth the inhabitants of any county withio the same do hold, possess, use, exercise, enjoy, and are entitled to."*
Franklin County is bounded north by the States of Vermont and New Hampshire, on the east by the county of Worcester, on the south by the county of Hampshire, and on the west by the county of Berkshire. When first erected Franklin County contained but twenty-four towns. Two towns have since been added, and the county of Franklin now contains twenty-six towns as named below, with the respective dates of their incor- poration.
ASHFIELD, incorporated June 21, 1765.
BERNARDSTOWN, March 6, 1762.
BUCKLAND, April 14, 1779.
CHARLEMONT, = June 21, 1765.
COLERAINE, June 30, 1761.
CONWAY, = June 16, 1767.
DEERFIELD, May 24, 1682.
ERVING,
April 17, 1838.
GILL,
= Sept. 28, 1793.
* Laws of Massachusetts.
GREENFIELD, incorporated June 9, 1753.
HAWLEY, Feb. 7, 1792.
HEATH,
= Feb. 14, 1785.
LEVERETT,
May, 1774.
LEYDEN,
Feb. 22, 1809.
MONROE,
Feb. 21, 1822.
MONTAQUE,
Dec. 22, 1753.
NEW SALEM, June 15, 1753.
NORTIIFIELD, = Feb. 22, 1713.
ORANGE,
Feb. 24, 1810.
ROWE, Feb. 9, 1785.
SHELBURNE, June 21, 1768.
SHUTESBURY,
= June 30, 1761.
SUNDERLAND,
Nov. 12, 1714-
WARWICK, Feb. 17, 1763.
WENDELL,
=
May 8, 1781.
WHATELY,
April 24, 1771.
IV.
HIAMPDEN COUNTY.
A few months after the county of Franklin was set off from Hampshire County the last-named county was again divided for the fourth and last time, and the county of Hampden erected on its southern border. Hampden County was ereeted and organized on the 20th day of February, A.D. 1812, by an act passed by the General Court, the first section of which is given below, showing the territorial changes made therein :
" An Act for dividing the county of Hampshire, and crecting and forming the southerly part thereof into a separate county, by the name of Hampden.
"SEC. 1. Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives in general court assembled, and by authority of the same, That the county of Hampshire be and is bereby diviled; and the following towns, in the southerly part thereof, be and hereby are erected and formed into a county by the name of Hampden, that is to say, Springfield, Longmeadow, Wilbraham, Monson, Holland, Brim- field, South Brimfield, Palmer, Ludlow, West Springfield, Westfield, Montgom- ery, Russell, Blandford, Granville, Southwick, Tulland, and Chester, of which Springfield shall be the shire town; and that all that part of said county of Hampshire included within the boundaries of the towos before mentioned shall be deemed and taken to compose the said county of Hampdeo. And the inbab- itants of the said county of Hampden shall have, use, exercise, and enjoy all such powers, rights, privileges, and immunities as by the constitution and laws of this Commonwealth other counties within the same have, use, exercise, and enjoy."
Hampden County is bounded north by the county of Hamp- shire, east by the county of Worcester, south by the State of Connecticut, and west by the county of Berkshire. At the date of its organization Ilampden County contained but eighteen towns. Four towns have since been erected, and it now contains twenty-two towns as named below, with the dates of incorporation respectively :
AGAWAM, incorporated May 17, 1855.
BLANFORD, April 10, 1741.
BRIMFIELD, July 14, 1731.
CHESTER,
Oct. 31, 1765.
CHICOPEE, April 29, 1848.
GRANVILLE, Jan. 25, 1754.
HAMPDEN,
March 28, 1878. -
HOLLAND,
July 5, 1785.
Holyoke,t
March 14, 1850.
LONGMEADOW, Oct. 17, 1783.
LUDLOW, Feb. 28, 1774.
MONSON,
April 25, 1760.
MONTGOMERY, Nov. 28, 1780.
PALMER,
Jan. 30, 1752.
RUSSELL, Feb. 25, 1792.
SOUTHWICK,
Nov. 17, 1770.
Springfield,¿ organized May 14, 1636.
TOLLAND, incorporated June 14, 1810. WALES,
Sept. 18, 1762.
WESTFIELD,
May 16, 1669.
WEST SPRINGFIELD, incorporated Feb. 23, 1774.
WILBRAHAM,
Jan. 15, 1763.
+ City.
# City.
14
HISTORY OF THE CONNECTICUT VALLEY.
V.
OTHER COUNTIES OF THE STATE.
For convenient reference in connection with the above, a list of the remaining counties of the State, as now divided, is given below, with the date of the organization of each :
BARNSTABLE, organized June 2, 1685.
BRISTOL,
66
June 2, 1685.
DUKES,*
66
Nov. 1, 1683.
EsSEX,
May 10, 1643.
MIDDLESEX, =
May 10, 1643.
NANTUCKET,
June 20, 1695.
NORFOLK,
March 26, 1793.
PLYMOUTH, = June 2, 1685.
SUFFOLK,
May 10, 1643.
CHAPTER III. TOPOGRAPHY. I.
MOUNTAINS.
THE distinguishing topographical characteristics of the re- markably interesting region of which this work treats are a wide valley stretching entirely across the State from north to south, through the centre of which winds a broad and beauti- ful stream which has been aptly called the "Nile of New England," the valley terminating on either side at the foot of mountain ranges, while a third mountain range uplifts its rug- ged and deeply-serrated cliffs along the central parts of the valley. Such are the main features, the grand outlines of the valley of the Connecticut in Massachusetts. As seen from the top of one of its central peaks or from the towering hills on either side, or even from the arsenal tower at Springfield, no fairer scene anywhere greets the human vision than this valley, -rock-ribbed on either hand and centrally mountain-crowned.
The valley of the Connecticut River in New England seems to be a deep downward fold of the ranges of the great Appa- lachian mountain system of the Atlantic slope of the conti- nent. This mountain system extends the whole length of the Atlantic slope of the continent from Nova Scotia on the north to Florida on the south.
Through New England and Eastern New York the separate ranges of this great mountain system seem to all trend nearly due north and south obliquely to the general direction of the whole system. Thus we have in Eastern New York and ex- treme Western Massachusetts the Taconic range bordering the valley of the Hudson and blending its peaks with the Green Mountains on the east. In New England are the Green Moun- tain range, continued by the Berkshire hills bordering the Con- necticut Valley on the west, and the White Mountain range, extending far southward through the States of New Hamp- shire, Massachusetts, and Connecticut, toward Long Island Sound, bordering the valley of the Connecticut River on the east.
The Connecticut Valley, however, differs from its sister val- ley of the HIudson in its greater width, although resembling it in length and in its general direction north and south.
The average width of the Connectient Valley through the State of Massachusetts is about twenty miles. Towards the south it widens into broad plains, but grows narrow towards the north. It terminates abruptly on either hand in some- what precipitous mountain sides, while through its centre rises
another mountain range singular in its formation and greatly diversifying the scenery of the charming valley. This other range is the Mount Holyoke, Mount Tom, Mount Toby, and Sugar-Loaf ranges of Red Sandstone and Trapean rocks.
This last-named range extends northerly from the south line of the State along the west side of the river, about equidistant between Springfield and Westfield, into the high precipitous sides of Mount Tom, crosses the Connecticut below Northamp- ton, bends easterly, and ends in the rugged, jagged peaks of Mount Holyoke. Farther to the north this central range ap- pears again in the knobs of two Sugar-Loaf Mountains and the conical summit of Mount Toby, and extends into the high, pre- cipitous ridges near Greenfield.
MOUNTAIN BORDERS OF THE VALLEY.
The two ranges of highlands which border the valley of the Connecticut in Massachusetts are in reality vast swells of land stretching across the State, each with a width of forty or fifty miles, and of an average elevation of a thousand feet above tide-water. These broad swells of highlands form a base from which rise many mountains, sometimes in chains, and at others in isolated groups of peaks rising to an altitude several thousand feet higher than their base, and which fill up both the eastern and western towns of the three valley counties with the wild and rugged grandeur of their mountain masses. These two mountain belts, however, differ somewhat in their structure and form of outline.
THE WESTERN BELT.
The western belt, bearing the general name of the Green Mountains, is made up of two mountain chains, more or less continuous, between which the valley of the Housatonic runs through the central and southern part, while between the northern part runs the valley of the Hoosac. The western range of this belt is the Taconic range. The eastern range of this belt, extending between the Housatonic Valley and the valley of the Connectient, which is properly the extension of the Green Mountain range into Massachusetts, and which is commonly called the " Berkshire Hills," is an extremely rugged elevation, averaging in height from one thousand to fifteen hundred feet. This range is deeply furrowed by the transverse valleys of the Agawam or Westfield River on the south, and the Deerfield River on the north. Stretching over these rugged hills lie the western hill towns of Hampshire, Franklin, and Hampden Counties. Between Westfield and Pittsfield the Boston and Albany Railroad bed attains an ele- vation of fourteen hundred and seventy-five feet in crossing this range. On the northern border of the State, the Hoosac Tunnel road-bed runs under this range at a depth of eighteen hundred feet below the surface of the mountain.
EASTERN BELT.
The broad belt of highland bordering the Connecticut Val- ley in Massachusetts on the east seems to have no continuous mountain range, like the great western belt, but is a broad, undulating swell of highlands, rising on an average abont a thousand feet. Over this belt stretch the eastern mountain or hill towns of the river counties.
Of the central range, in the valley, Mount Tom is twelve hundred and fourteen and Mount Holyoke eleven hundred and twenty feet above the level of the sea.
Of the western belt, Mount Graylock, in the northwestern part of the State, in Berkshire County, rises to the height of three thousand five hundred and five feet above tide.
Of the eastern belt Wa-tat-ick is eighteen hundred, and Wa- chu-sett over two thousand feet above tide-water.
The two great belts run near to each other in the northern part of the State, until above Greenfield their masses almost interlock, while to the south they separate into a broad valley.
* Dukes County was organized by the Duke of York as one of the counties of the province of New York, but was finally allotted to Massachusetts.
t The original county of Norfolk, organized May 10, 1643, contained some of the northern towns of what is now Essex County aml a part of what is now tho State of New Hampshire adjoining. It is known as Old Norfolk to historians.
15
HISTORY OF THE CONNECTICUT VALLEY.
WATERS.
The principal running waters of the Connecticut Valley in Massachusetts are the Connecticut River, the Agawam or Westfield River, the Chicopee River, Miller's River, the Mill River of Springfield, the Mill River of Northampton, the Green River, the Deerfield River, and numerous smaller streams.
The CONNECTICUT River, the great river of New England, -the old Indian Quon-eh-ti-cut, meaning in their tongue the "long tidal river," *- rises on one of the high ridges of the great Appalachian mountain chain, which serves as the division line-the water-shed-between the United States and Canada, at the extreme northern limit of the State of New Hampshire, and running southerly down the mountain slope, between the States of Vermont and New Hampshire, enters the State of Massachusetts in the charming valley above described, and winding through it then crosses the State of Connecticut and empties into Long Island Sound.
Its length is four hundred miles. Through its whole course it separates two broad belts of highland, while a series of terraces breaks the level of its bed. In the first quarter of its course down the mountain slope, between its source and the mouth of the Pa-sam-sic River, opposite the White Mountains, its descent is twelve hundred feet. At this point its bed is four hundred feet above the sea. In eighty miles farther to Bel- low's Falls, Vermont, it descends one hundred feet. From thenee to Deerfield it sinks one hundred and sixty feet ; from Deerfield to Springfield it falls one hundred feet more, leaving its bed at Springfield but forty feet above the level of the sea. Its average width between Mount Tom and the north line of the State is about eight hundred feet.
Its average breadth between Mount Tom and the Connecti- cut line is not far from twelve hundred feet, and with a depth of water below Holyoke sufficient to float vessels of considera- ble tonnage. At Holyoke costly and extensive hydraulie works have been constructed, producing, it is claimed, the greatest artificial water-power in the world. Its channel is remarka- bly clear of islands in its course through the State, and presents a broad and majestic appearance, sweeping in mag- nificent curves between its lofty banks, greatly resembling in this respect the lower Mississippi.
In certain localities, as at llolyoke, its waters flow directly over the red sandstone of the valley, but for the greater part of the distance through the county the bed of the river is com- posed of alluvial deposits,-sand, gravel, and bowlders.
In seasons of annual floods it overspreads its banks, and covers the lowest bottom lands sometimes for miles. This annual overflow produces the same result as in the case of the Nile in Egypt, acting as a thorough fertilizer by reason of the rich silt which it holds in solution. In some places the meadow lands are protected from floods by dykes or levees, similar in construction to those of the lower Mississippi, though gener- ally of smaller dimensions.
The AGAWAM, or Westfield River, as it is often called, rises in the eastern part of Berkshire County, among the Green Mountains, and flows in a southeastern course a distance of about fifty miles, to the Connecticut. Its eastern and largest branch unites with the middle and western branches in the town of Huntingdon. The two last-named branches enter the town of Chester from the northwest, and flow diagonally through it to the junction in Huntingdon. From thence the main stream flows through or between the towns of Mont- gomery, Russell, Westfield, West Springfield, and Agawam, and unites with the Connecticut by several mouths nearly opposite the city of Springfield. The Little River, which heads in Blandford, Granville, and Tolland, unites with it a short distance below the village of Westfield. Its other principal
affluents are Mill Brook, in Westfield, and Great Brook, which heads in Southwick, and discharges into the main stream near the east line of Westfield.
The Agawam is a rapid stream, and affords with its numer- ous branches an abundant supply of water-power, which is extensively utilized in numerous localities. It has a number of islands in its channel.
The CHICOPEE; River is formed by the union of three con- siderable streams, the Swift, Ware, and Quaboay Rivers, in the western part of the town of Palmyra. The curious meander- ings of these streams in the vicinity of their junction gave rise in early times to a local name-" The Elbows"-which is still to some extent in use.}
SWIFT River rises for the most part in Petersham, Worcester County, and New Salem and Shutesbury, in Franklin County, and flows in a direction a little west of south through the east- ern part of Hampshire County to its junction with Ware River on the town line of Palmer.
WARE River takes its rise in the northern-central portions of Worcester County, and flows in a direction nearly southwest to its junction with the Quaboag River.
The QUABOAQ River is formed by the union of numerous branches in the southwest part of Worcester County, and flows in a general direction a little south of west to the village of Three Rivers, where it unites with Ware River. It forms the southern and eastern boundary of the town of Palmer for a distance of about eight miles. From Three Rivers to its union with the Connecticut the stream bears the name of Chickopee River. It forms the boundary between the towns of Ludlow, Wilbraham, and Springfield, and for a short distance between the last-named town and Chicopee. It pursues a tortuous course through the latter town, and there are several import- ant islands in its channel. Its principal affluents below Three Rivers are Broad Brook in Ludlow, Twelve-Mile Brook in Wilbraham, and Iligher and Field Brooks in Chicopee. The Quaboag River receives the waters of a considerable stream (Elbow Brook) in Brimfield, and the Chicopee Brook unites with it from Monson. The Chicopee River and its numerous branches affords extensive power, which is employed in nu- merous places in driving machinery. The best water-power on the stream is in the town of Chicopee, where two thriving villages have grown up in recent years.
The QUINNEBAUG River drains a small region in the ex- treme eastern end of the county, and the Scantic Brook, which discharges into the Connecticut in East Windsor, Conn., drains the southern portion of Wilbraham and the eastern part of Longmeadow.
In the western part of the county, FARMINGTON River drains the greater part of the towns of Tolland and Granville.
MILL River, of Springfield, rises in the central parts of the old town of Wilbraham, and flowing west through Spring- field, discharges into the Connecticut in the southern suburbs of the city. It furnishes considerable power, which is utilized for various purposes in the city. The two branches unite in what is called Water Shops Pund .¿ LONGMEADOW and PE- cowSIC Brooks, in the town of Longmeadow, flow into the Connecticut, the former in the southwest part of the town, and the latter a little north of the Springfield line. THREE-MILE Brook and STILL and PHILO Brooks are in Agawam.
The DEERFIELD River takes its rise among the Green Mountains of Southern Vermont, entering Massachusetts in the extreme northwest corner of Franklin County, between the towns of Monroe and Rowe. After skirting for a while the easterly line of Berkshire County, where it touches the east
* Trumbull's History of Connecticut.
+ Michel Sabattis, an Indian of the Adirondacks, says Che-cau-pee means the place of many springs.
# The land in this vicinity was long known as the "Elbow Tract."
¿ This pond, which extends for nearly three miles, is produced by the dam erected by the United States Government to furnish power for what are known as the "Water Shops," which are a portion of the armory works.
16
HISTORY OF THE CONNECTICUT VALLEY.
end of the Hoosac Tunnel, it bends easterly, and running centrally throughout Franklin County, reaches the Connecti- cut River in the north end of the town of Deerfield. Along its course are many important water-powers, and its deep valley, winding among the mountains, leaves the Troy and Greenfield Railroad by easy grades from the Connectieut Valley to the mouth of the Hoosae Tunnel, through which the road-bed runs under the mountain for the distance of four and a half miles, and nearly two thousand feet beneath its summit, being one of the modern wonders of the world.
The MILL River of Northampton rises, one branch of it, in Goshen, Hampshire County ; another in Southern Franklin County, and runs southeasterly through Williamsburgh and Northampton to the Connecticut. This stream is famous for recent disasters by flood, occasioned by the breaking away of reservoirs situated among the hills near its souree, an account of which is given in succeeding chapters.
MILLER's River is one of the larger streams which run into the Connecticut from the east. It rises in the northeastern part of Woreester County, enters Franklin in the town of Orange, runs westerly between Wendell and Erving, and then westerly and northerly between Erving and Montague to the Conneetieut.
GREEN River rises near the Vermont line, and runs south- erly between Leyden and Colerain and through Greenfield and a part of Deerfield to the Deerfield River.
OTHER STREAMS .- There are are many ponds and numer- ous other streams of more or less importanee watering the territory of the three counties of which this history treats, all of which are deseribed in the histories of the several towns .*
Paucatock Brook rises in the northwestern part of Holyoke, and draining Wright's and Ashley's Ponds in the same town, flows south through West Springfield, and unites with the Agawam River in the southwest part of that town. A branch of the Monhan River takes its rise on the eastern flank of Mount Tom, runs several miles south, to near the centre of Holyoke in the western part, and then, making a détour, leaves the town near its northwest eorner, and flowing along the base of the mountain, unites with another branch and flows into the Connectieut at the base of the mountain on the north.
CHAPTER IV. GEOLOGICAL OUTLINES. I.
ERAS-AGES-PERIODS.
THE roeky groundwork of the Conneetient Valley in Mas- sachusetts, while it does not present as many fossils as some regions, yet so riel and varied is its structure that it possesses many eurious features of surpassing interest to the geological student .; But it is not within the province or seope of this
* The following account of the fisheries in the valley is from the diary of the late Sewell White, of West Springfield :
"THE SALMON AND SHAD FISHERY IN THE CONNECTICUT RIVER FIFTY YEARS AGO.
" Not a salmon has been caught in the Connecticut River for a good many years, and the shad-fishery has gradually declined ever since the canal dam was built at South Hadley.
"They collected in great schools at the foot of the rapids, and would not ven- ture to go up the river until the water was settled so that they could see their way through the rumble-jumble of the boiling waters.
" Two thousand shad were once taken at one haul at the foot of the falls, at the place called Old Sluggard, and in one case twenty-five shad were taken at one dip by a scoop net. It is said that the shad took fright and went down over Willimanset in such a school as to cause the river to rise two inches."
+ Acknowledgments are due to Prof. Win. N. Rice, of Wesleyan University, Middletown, Conn., for valuable suggestions upon the geology of the Connecticut Valley.
work to enter minutely into the details of this interesting sub- jeet, and no more will be attempted here than to give its general outlines so far as the subjeet relates to the economic interests and historieal associations of the valley.
And this outline will relate principally to the departments of Historical and Physiographic geology, leaving to the inter- ested student the inviting fields of Lithological and Dynamical geology, of which the region is so rieh in specimens and natu- ral illustrations, to be studied in the field itself here spread out before him in superabundant richness or in the special works devoted to the science.
Geology has been defined as the seience of the structure of the earth. It aims to show not only what the roeky strueture of the earth is, but it also treats of the origin of its structure. It is therefore an historical seienee, and unfolds to us to some extent the mysteries of the world's creation. The earth itself, like the plant or animal it sustains on its surface, is a thing of growth, of development from the original chaos when "it was without form and void" into its present wonderfully compli- cated and varied structure. The different periods of this growth and development are more or less distinetly marked upon the earth's rocky structure by the various fossil forms of vegetable and animal life found therein. These fossil forms of organic nature seem to rise successively from the lowest forms of dawning life found in the oldest roeks up through all the wondrous seale of being to the present age of man, the crowning life of all. So every rock marks a period in the earth's growth, every group of roeks an age, and still larger groups, ealled geologie systems, mark great eras of geologie time.
The extremely interesting geologie features of the Conneeti- eut Valley and its surroundings ean be best explained by refer- ring to the geologie eras and ages of the world based upon the progress of life and living things, as shown by snecessive rocky formations.
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