USA > Massachusetts > Hampshire County > Middlefield > History of the town of Middlefield, Massachusetts > Part 18
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Factory Brook, as the Blush Hollow mill owners at an early date found out, is one of the "quickest" streams in the western
. GEORGE HOLMES . . MR. PLACE
HERBERT PRENTICE
GEORGE SMITH
. SH
SMITH HOLLOW
MRS. CHAS. SMITH
JACOB ROBBINS
SH
FRED ·
OSGOOD
HENRY ISTERNA GLE
METCALF . J. SMITH
GEORGE W. COTTRELL
. HOWARD SMITH
SHO
RESERVOIR
HENRY . HOLMES
LESTER ·ROOT
E.JAMES . INGHAM
ORRIN · PEASE
J NO. MCELWAIN
· FRANK CHIPMAN
MRS.C. WRIGHT
·
ES MEELYVAIN
HENRY FERRIS
GE.COOK NELSON T. MARTIN. PELKEY REV. HA. YOUTZ OLIVER
JOSEPH a
BENNETT
MAS J.T. CHURCH CHURCH
HENRY BARDIN . JOHN RYAN
BLUSH HOLLOW
FREO MERCHANT MISS MARY J. CODY E: CHURCH MAS J. .
· WALTER CHURCH
CONG CH.
WILLIAMS THESH
· FRANK CURTISS SPA
CHAPEL
JOHN T BRYAN
ELBERT PEASE
OLIN OLDS
CLANENCE JOHNSON
E. LYMAN CHURCHILLO
CEORCE W. HOWE GLENDALE
BARTON . B. GRAVES
HENRY SAWYER
ARTHUR ·O. PEASE MRS. LEVI · CARROLL
J. SAVERY .
ASHER PEASE
MR LANG HARLOW LOVELAND
GEORGE S. BELL
E.C. SMITH
MICHAEL · SMART.
MR. JAMES. GRANGER
N ·
DANIEL ALDERMAN
STATION
-SPENCER KNOX
w-tE
BANCROFT
THOMAS H. FLEMMING!
STORE
S
BULKLEY DUNTON & CO. PAPER MILL
DENNIS GALLIVANA
FRANK OLDS
.MRS.RGEEA .D.C.BRYAN O STORE
. MAS. HOUCK
RICHARD SWEENEY
CLARK B WRIGHT
JOHN DOLMAN
SAMUEL GORDON S.H.
COOLEY . W. GRAVES
ORRIN WHEELER / MISS . MARY LEACH
BOSTON & ALBANY
R.R.
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MIDDLEFIELD - 18.97
MR. TINKER!
. Mr. WANZER
PARSONS. G. WILLEY
. GEORGE CHIPMAN
. MOSH. TAYLOR MRS. A. NEWTON . MAS.O.BOTTOM
CHAPTER XII
THE FLOODS AND THE INDUSTRIAL DECLINE
T HE beginning of the period extending from 1870 to the end of the nineteenth century found Middlefield a busy hive of industry, with manufactories humming, with many farms in a high state of cultivation, and the mountain pastures supporting large herds of high grade stock. The two church societies were in a flourishing condition and large numbers of school children were being educated in the district and select schools. But as a result of economic changes, only gradually realized, combined with a series of misfortunes, this prosperity began to decline. The settlement of the far West had progressed so rapidly that the increasing production of cattle and sheep on the vast ranges began to compete seriously with that of the eastern stock raisers. The development of the factory system caused industrial enterprises to concentrate in the cities and larger towns where a more adequate and contented labor supply was to be obtained. It was not strange, therefore, that many of the younger generation throughout western Massachusetts should look to the West and to the cities for their livelihood.
In Factory Village a succession of untoward events gradually reduced the activity of the woolen manufacturing business. In December, 1871, the Upper Mill of the Church Brothers plant at Factory Village caught fire from sparks in the picker. The structure, which was dry as tinder and soaked with oil from top to bottom. made a brilliant and striking spectacle as it burned, but the destruction was complete. This mill was, however, re- built within the next two or three years. Then came some loss due to the destruction of a large amount of goods in the Boston fire of 1872, and this was followed by a season of poor business resulting from the panic of 1873. On top of these discourage- ments came as a climax the flood of 1874.
Factory Brook, as the Blush Hollow mill owners at an early date found out, is one of the "quickest" streams in the western
MAIN RESERVOIR-LOOKING EAST MAIN RESERVOIR-LOOKING NORTH MAIN RESERVOIR AND DAM
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THE FLOODS AND THE INDUSTRIAL DECLINE
part of Massachusetts, and it was always a source of worry. Draining a large area of mountain country where the rains run off rapidly and a sudden thaw in the spring sends unmeasured volumes of water down the narrow valley, this stream has had to be watched with a careful eye. It was often necessary to open the floodgates wide to prevent the water from flowing over the top of the dam and washing the roadway. One early experience with a fall freshet has been preserved from oblivion in the fol- lowing brief notes made in a diary by Oliver Blush, the tavern keeper.
"1835 Oct. 9 Rainy day. Great freshet hurt Uriah's lower dam.
Oct. Rained hard all night. Greatest freshet known here. Uriah's dam gone.
Oct. 14 Sunday. Great Freshet. Some rain this day. Great dam- age done.
Oct. 15 Repaired fence in Mecdow that was washed off.
Oct. 31 Cold. Hept Uriah most of day on dam and other things."
About two miles above the dam of the main reservoir, the Churches, in 1866, had built two more dams. One of these, con- structed merely of earth, made a storage reservoir covering twenty-five acres on the main stream. The other, more strongly built of earth and stone, dammed a tributary at some distance up the mountain to the west of the Upper Reservoir, forming an- other body of water known as "The Goose Pond."
For over thirty years the main reservoir had been fully able to control all the sudden increases in the amount of flowage caused by spring or summer rains, but on Saturday, July, 11, 1874, a hard storm set in which continued in torrents all Satur- day night and a part of Sunday. Upon the high hills surround- ing the sources of Factory Brook and the "Goose Pond" there was a veritable cloudburst. That a disaster was impending was first realized by Deacon Harry Meacham, who, fearing for the safety of the two upper reservoirs near his farm, went to see what the conditions were about four o'clock Sunday afternoon. He soon discovered that the "Goose Pond had broken loose." While he stood looking at the dam of the upper reservoir he was horrified to see a heavy landslide on the lower slope of the em- bankment. Knowing at once what this meant, he hastened home, mounted his horse and dashed down the country road giving the alarm. As he approached the Center he enlisted the aid of
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Orrin Pease in spreading the news. Mr. Pease, knowing he could make better time on foot than upon horseback, set off at top speed across lots. As he neared the Hollow he attracted the at- tention of John Metcalf, son of Walter Metcalf, who seeing Mr. Pease coming in the distance, gesticulating wildly and shouting the deacon's message, "Reservoir burst," ran to Factory Vil- lage and warned the inhabitants of the impending flood.
Upon hearing the news William Blush immediately had a horse saddled and sent George Brown down the valley road and on to "The Switch" to spread the alarm. When Brown came to return after fulfilling his mission he found the water so high and the road so washed away that he was compelled to travel over the hills.
Deacon Meacham, upon reaching the Center, shouted the news of the coming deluge and continued on his way to the Hollow. Matthew Smith, who lived in the Center, upon hearing the news, started out to the southeast, drove over the mountain in an hour and a half and warned the dwellers in Huntington of the coming flood. At about the same time that Metcalf learned the news, James Talmadge Church, who lived a short distance up the hill east of the main reservoir, caught sight of a great wave of muddy water dashing into the pond where the brook entered, and realiz- ing that the upper dam had broken, ran down to the threatened village to announce the approaching danger. Happily the warn- ings were given in time and most of the residents took to the hills. Oliver Blush refused to leave his home, in spite of the prayers and entreaties of his friends and neighbors, declaring, "'If I'm bound for Hell I'll go there swimming."
Probably the narrowest escape from loss of life occurred on the farm situated at the head of the Reservoir on which the Chamberlain family had just settled. Mr. Chamberlain, who was outdoors with the children, drew attention to the fact that the water in the brook was rising rapidly without realizing the reason therefor. His wife, however, saw the impending danger from the house and screamed to her husband that a flood was coming, ordering the children to run to high land, which they did. Miss Sarah Chamberlain, who was one of these children, recalls vividly the great wall of water towering above them, rolling along like an immense ball of mud with trees and
FLOOD SCENES IN UPPER FACTORY VILLAGE THE DAM AS REBUILT AFTER FLOOD OF 1874
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branches moving up and down on its surface, and how it seemed to burst with a loud roar and swerve to the east, just missing the house, but carrying away all the fine soil and apple trees, leav- ing this once productive farm a desert of rocks and gravel.
As the rush of the flood from the upper ponds reached the lower reservoir in the Hollow the water rose rapidly and soon an immense volume was flowing smoothly over the dam. For a time it was thought that the dam would stand the pressure, but at last with a great crash and whirl of water the wall collapsed and through a gap sixty feet wide the mountain wave plunged roar- ing on. An eyewitness states that, as viewed from the sur- rounding hills, the catastrophe was wonderfully sublime and thrilling. As one building after another succumbed and was carried away by the torrent the excitement was intense. The first building to go was a tenement just north of Church Brothers boarding-house. Next the boarding-house was deprived of foundations and the lower story was torn out, and most of the household goods of Alfred Brown, a carpenter in the employ of the Churches, living there, were swept down stream. The Church Brothers Upper Mill, which was under construction at this time, replacing the old upper mill burned in December, 1871, escaped serious damage, the force of the waters being somewhat broken by contact with the boarding-house, but a valuable pile of lum- ber went with the waves. The old Church homestead opposite the mill, occupied by Jerome Blush, was greatly damaged. The ell was overturned and much furniture washed away. The resi- dence of Sumner U. Church was fortunately left unharmed but his carriage house with valuable contents was completely de- stroyed. Two other buildings belonging to the Churches, sit- uated on the west side of the street, one used for storage and one as a dyehouse, were demolished and all traces of their foun- dations washed away.
Directly south of these buildings stood the old fulling mill built by Amasa Blush and operated later by Oliver Blush, and Oliver Blush's woolen mill, operated at that time by Jerome Blush as a satinet factory and gristmill. The torrent made short work of both these structures. When the woolen mill went under a great cloud of dust went up like smoke from a fire. An amusing incident is told of Mrs. Oliver Blush, whose house stood
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across the street from the mill. When the waters rose and be- gan to cross her doorsill she tried to sweep them back with her broom. But the flood came so fast that she had to retreat to the upper story, coming down after the waters had subsided to find her carpets covered with mud, slime, and gravel. William Blush's carriage house containing several fine carriages was swept away. A short distance south of Blush's mill stood Wil- liam Blush's felloe, shaft and wire sieve factory. It withstood the assault of the flood for some time, but finally succumbed and was left split in two at the bottom. Beyond this factory some distance down the stream, Church's sawmill and dam were car- ried away. At Church's Lower Mill an ell at the east end, used as a gigging room and filled with cloth was partly destroyed while a one-story dyehouse was badly damaged.
Between Factory Village and "The Switch" the only building destroyed was the grist and sawmill first started by John Ford about 1780, at this time owned by Charles West of Pittsfield. The whole plant including dam and mills was torn away and swept down stream. All the dams on the stream except one new one just above the Upper Mill were torn out. Every bridge over the stream was washed away. Lawns and gardens and orchards were stripped of their rich earth to the bare rocks. The highway through the Hollow was completely wrecked from the dam to the lower village and was badly damaged at places between the Hol- low and "The Switch." Fortunate indeed it was that the flood happened on Sunday when the travel on the road was light. As it was everybody escaped and the only living thing known to have perished was a pig drowned in Chester.
The financial losses at Factory Village were at the time esti- mated as follows: S. U. Church and Brothers, $65,000 including over $30,000 on the reservoir, $6,000 on the dam, water connec- tions, etc., $5,000 on the Lower Mill. Oliver Blush's loss was estimated at $13,000; William Blush's $15,000; at West's saw- mill the damage amounted to about $5,000.
After wrecking the mills, houses and highways at the Hollow, the waters with their burden of wreckage swept down the nar- row valley toward Middlefield Station. Here the Boston and Albany Railroad crossed the stream on a double arch stone bridge, which also spanned the highway. As the flood reached
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this bridge the driftwood choked the arches damming the waters for a time only to insure more completely the destruction of the bridge at last. The arches at length gave way and about two hundred feet of railway embankment was washed out. The dam- age to the railroad at this point was at least $100,000.
South of the embankment two tenements owned by Bulkley, Dunton and Company, the New York paper mill firm, with a little office building, were swept away. The waters set back to the paper mill near by and did some damage raising the floor. It was estimated that $2,000 would cover the damage to this firm. Two barns in the neighborhood were also swept away.
Leaving "The Switch" the flood swept down the course of the Westfield River and at the foot of Mt. Gobble burst around the ends of the wooden dam belonging to the new shoddy mill of John C. West, Jr., of Pittsfield, tearing out a part of the raceway and doing so much damage that the plant was abandoned when two years later another freshet tore out the dam entirely. The house belonging to Leander Jeaneroux was swept away with its contents. The Boston and Albany Railroad suffered heavily all the way down the valley, the tracks crossing and recrossing the stream by no fewer than nine bridges between the one destroyed at Middlefield and Chester Station. The first two bridges east of Middlefield were unharmed but the third, a stone deck bridge, was badly broken and had to be replaced at an expense estimated at the time of $40,000. Another stone bridge was cracked though no visible break was seen. $10,000 was needed to repair a wooden deck bridge whose abutments were washed away, and similar damage was caused at various points farther east. The railway embankment at many points was torn out and traffic was tied up for fully three days.
The flood reached Chester at six P. M. where it did $10,000 damage tearing out four town highway bridges. Dr. Lucas's emery and ax works were damaged to the extent of $5,000, many houses and stores were flooded, and fences and small buildings were changed and intermingled. The river cut itself a new bed at one point causing $2,000 damage to the farm of Newton Cowles. The Highland Mills at Huntington sustained damage, their basement being flooded and machinery and flannel mixed with debris in great confusion.
FACTORY VILLAGE FROM WEST HILL
FACTORY VILLAGE FROM THE BRIDGE
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HISTORY OF MIDDLEFIELD
In spite of these discouragements and losses and in spite of the fact that they were advancing in years, the Church brothers, without outside encouragement or assistance, rebuilt the dam at the lower reservoir and continued business, and for a while things went on much as they had before the flood. Under the circumstances no neglect was attributed to the Churches and no restraint was placed upon their rebuilding the dam. The part not swept away remained and was considered strong enough not to require rebuilding. The broken part was rebuilt and when finished was accepted by the County Commissioners. The ma- sonry work was put in by the Churches to make the dam doubly safe.
The fact that there were nearly as many families in Factory Village in 1880 as there had been in 1870 indicates that business must have been fairly good after the resumption of manufactur- ing. Nevertheless, the supplanting of broadcloth by worsteds in the popular taste, the competition of factories situated nearer labor centers and equipped with steam power, and the with- drawal of James T. and Lyman Church from the partnership, brought about a gradual decrease in output.
When the year of 1883 arrived the Middlefield people realized that their town had been in existence for one hundred years, thus acquiring a certain historical interest. At this date many of the prominent sons and daughters of the town were still alive, living for the most part on the farms which had been handed down by their fathers and grandfathers. In the memories of the older residents the recollections of the pioneers were still fresh. It was therefore decided to hold a centennial celebration. As the actual date of incorporation fell on the twelfth of March,-a most un- favorable season of the year,-the festivities were postponed to August 15. The Committee of Arrangements consisted of M. J. Smith, Matthew Smith, Charles Wright, Hiram Taylor and George S. Bell. The same meeting also appointed as president of the day, Metcalf J. Smith, as chief marshal, Arnold Pease, and organized the town into one vast committee on supplies for the collation, while special committees attended to the other de- tails. Professor Edward P. Smith of Worcester was invited to deliver the historical discourse; several persons, mostly former residents of Middlefield and representatives from adjoining
METCALF JOHN SMITH PRESIDENT
OFFICERS OF THE MIDDLEFIELD CENTENNIAL-1883 EDWARD PAYSON SMITH HISTORIAN
ARNOLD PEASE CHIEF MARSHAL
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HISTORY OF MIDDLEFIELD
towns which originally contributed of their territory to help form the new town, were invited to speak on special topics and Myron L. Church was appointed to provide suitable music. A tent capable of holding twenty-five hundred persons was pro- cured and pitched on the summit of the Fair Grounds, a point from which nearly the whole of Middlefield can be seen, as well as all the surrounding towns.
The people of the town entered heartily and generously into the spirit of the occasion and, the day being perfect, the success of the celebration was complete. The attendance was large, and included very many, though too few, of the old residents and descendants of the town, and a multitude of friendly visitors from neighboring towns. The president had planned the program so well that everything was done at just the proper moment, and he opened the exercises with a gracious address of welcome. The historical discourse was so full, so interesting and so adequate to the occasion that it was listened to with eagerness. A centennial poem by Azariah Smith reviewed with kindly humor and deep feeling the impressions of a youth spent in Middlefield. So great was the interest aroused by these and other addresses that there was a general demand for their publication, which was gener- ously provided for by the town.
The speakers in general seemed to sense the uncertain eco- nomic future for the town, and to feel that a distinctive service to its sons and daughters had been rendered by Middlefield in the past which had made its influence reach far beyond the limits of. the township. In this vein, the president of the day spoke as follows in his address of welcome :
"We, the dwellers in Middlefield now, acknowledge that we have 'a goodly heritage.' We remember to-day that this town is what it is because of the sterling worth and character of the generations that have gone before. We also desire to be impressed with the truth that the Middle- field of the future will be largely what we of the present generation are making it. And, fellow citizens, impressed with some just sense of our responsibilities to those who shall come after us, be it ours to transmit to our children this goodly heritage, not only unimpaired, but still further enriched by our own manly, Christian living."
In the Historical Discourse also after describing the periods of material achievement and prosperity, the speaker said :
"But in a most important sense the great of work of Middlefield has not been either agriculture or manufactures. Her best products, those by
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THE FLOODS AND THE INDUSTRIAL DECLINE
which she gains her fairest renown, for which there is an unfailing demand, are her sons and her daughters. Nowhere more than in Middlefield has there been a more profound apprehension of the immense difference between getting a living and living. This realization has laid a more constraining grasp upon the subtle springs of action than any questions of profit and loss. Middlefield's first effort has been to make, not money, but men."
He testified to the excellent equipment acquired through the training in the schools, in the capacity for self-government de- veloped in the small hill-town, and of farm life in general, em- phasizing Middlefield's particular service to the country at large in the following words :
"If in the future this town could be only a nursery from which should be transplanted at fitting times the best growths it could produce, it would still do a work of inestimable importance. In this age of steel and electricity, this era of vast opportunity, it is probable the interests of many of Middlefield's children would be promoted by going forth to other callings than those here pursued. But for success in these callings nothing can surpass the lessons in cheerful industry, the wise economy of a simple training, the muscle of energy and victory that may be gained here. The departure of such young men is a loss to the town, but a gain to the world, that perhaps needs them even more. In just this way Middlefield has given to the West and to our towns and cities some of the best blessings they have received,-men of industry, business talent, and order, men of education and piety, who, wherever they have gone, have laid the foundations or upheld the structure of all that is hopeful or good."
On the other hand, an objective view of the positive achieve- ments of Middlefield in the pursuits of agriculture was set forth in a letter from the renowned physician, Oscar C. DeWolf, of Chicago, formerly of Chester.
"Middlefield has always kept itself pre-eminent among the neighboring towns by the value of her agricultural interests; and the fact, taking into account her sparse population, that she has so long and so creditably sustained an agricultural society, with an annual exhibition, is sufficient testimony to the intelligence and enterprise of her people.
"Her young men should reflect long before they decide to exchange the independence and healthful occupation of a farmer's life for the uncer- tainties and wearing excitement of business in our cities."
The appreciation of the advantages of their early training in Middlefield felt by those who had gone forth to acquire a higher education was eloquently voiced by Dr. Judson Smith in the following words :
"It were vain to seek to tell a tithe of the debt that her educated sons and daughters owe to Middlefield, to the homes that gave them birth, to the
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HISTORY OF MIDDLEFIELD
social life that flowed around them, to the schools where the firm foundations of later attainments were laid, to the churches where honesty and purity and every manly virtue and Christian grace were reinforced, to the teachers and preachers, to the men and women who inspired them with noble aims and furnished them with true ideals . . . Gladly, reverently, as if dis- charging a sacred service and a personal debt, I weave this chaplet of honor for our native town, and speak for the fathers and mothers, immortal now, these words of love and heartfelt praise."
The movement of the younger people away from Middlefield on account of changed economic conditions, which was so strik- ingly emphasized in the Centennial addresses, began about this time visibly to affect the life of the community. Farms which for two or three generations had remained in one family began to pass into the possession of strangers. Scarcely a new building was built at the Center until toward the end of the century. No new roads were laid out and no new industries were established. In Factory Village, very little new building was done after the ravages of the flood of 1874 had been repaired.
The churches also felt the change. In 1878 the Baptist Church was able to raise only $500 for pastor's salary and during the next decade it sank to $400. But in the face of discouraging conditions, Mr. Rockwood never lost his serene optimism, never failed to maintain his high ideal, never allowed outer circum- stances to conquer his spirit. When finally in 1890 he resigned the church decided not to maintain preaching any longer.
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