USA > Massachusetts > Berkshire County > Pittsfield > The history of Pittsfield (Berkshire County), Massachusetts, from the year 1800 to the year 1876 > Part 50
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The new proprietors remodeled and enlarged the building, and converted it into a flouring and meal mill, giving it the name of Wahconah. In 1861, Asahiel A. Powell purchased Mr. Bulkley's interest, and in 1864, Doctor Clark sold to his partners, Cole and Powell, who, in 1875, own and conduct the mill.
In 1848-9, Caleb Goodrich built-on the side of Wahconah street opposite the mill just described, and next south of the entrance to the Pittsfield cemetery-a stone-mill, sixty feet by forty in area, and three stories high. It is on the same privilege with the Wahconah flouring-mill ; but, standing lower, has nine- teen feet head of water. It was first occupied, for a couple of years, by George A. Burnell and Ebenezer Goodrich. The Rus- sell Brothers then hired it, as has been stated, for ten years. Jonathan M. Jones & Sons then run it for one year, on balmoral skirts. In 1866, T. G. Atwood and Lyman Abbee bought it of Cole & Powell, who had purchased it with their upper mill, in 1859, and for several years manufactured flannels, tweeds, and balmoral skirts. In 1871, Messrs. Cole & Powell re-purchased the mill, and removed to it the meal-portion of their business ; and it is now the Wahconah meal-mill. The flouring-mill has
1Dr. George H. Clark, who had acquired a fortune as partner in the leading drug-firm of Rushton, Clark & Co., New York, retired in 1856 to Pittsfield, where he erected a fine residence, upon the site of the old fort on the south- west shore of Lake Onota, and took a lively interest in the affairs of the town. He died in 1869.
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three run of stones, and makes six thousand barrels of flour yearly. The meal-mill has two run of stones, and grinds, yearly, about two hundred and fifty car-loads of corn and oats.
SHAKER FLOURING-MILL.
On the water-privilege next below the factory built by Daniel Stearns in 1810, there was, in 1823, an old oil-mill; but in that year, the privilege was bought by the Pittsfield and Hancock Shakers, who erected a dam, and in the following year a wooden grist-mill, forty feet by thirty, two stories high, and containing two run of stones. The Shakers intended it for their own special convenience, but the excellence of their work soon gained it favor, which continued to increase until, in 1867, it was necessary to almost entirely rebuild it.
The mill then erected is sixty-three by forty-two feet in area, with three stories of wood, and a stone-basement fifteen feet high. It has three run of stones, one of which is devoted entirely to the grinding of wheat.
OSCEOLA RIVER FLOURING-MILL.
In 1865, Charles Morgan built on the south-west branch of the Housatonie, a quarter of a mile below the Barkers' Railroad-mill, a wooden factory fifty feet by thirty in size, in which he made satinets for about a year. It was then sold to George W. Adams, who converted it into a grist-mill, with four run of stones. In 1869, it was bought by George W. Sprague. One run of stone is devoted to wheat; the others to different grains. About four hundred bushels of grain are ground daily.
CHAPTER XXII.
TURNPIKES AND RAILROADS.
[1797-1875.]
The turnpike-system-Third Massachusetts, or Worthington, turnpike-Pou- toosuc turnpike-Favorable pass through the mountains-Obstacles to the plans of the company-Final success, and opening excursion to Springfield -Proposed canals-Railroad from Boston to the Hudson river-Explora- tions for a route made-Theodore Sedgwick-Discussion of the railway- system in the newspapers-Public meetings-Patent railroad from New York to Pittsfield proposed-Further prosecution of the project for a rail- road from Boston to Albany-Hudson and Berkshire railroad constructed- Peculiar charter of the Western railroad-Books of subscription opened- Contest and decision concerning the route through Berkshire-The road completed and opened-Depots in Pittsfield-North Adams railroad- Stockbridge and Pittsfield railroad.
W HEN the business of the country began to revive during the last quarter of the eighteenth century, greater facili- ties for intercommunication between different sections were imper- atively required; while the poverty of the towns, especially in rocky and mountainous districts, where the building and main- taining of roads were most difficult and costly, rendered it impos- sible for them properly to meet the constant demands for new and improved routes. And it seemed the more unjust to impose this burden upon them, since the straight highways which facili- tated the through-travel between rich and populous centers, were really not so convenient for local intercourse as the old winding roads, which turned aside to every farmer's door. In this dilem- ma the first resort was to a multiplication of turnpike-corporations, authorized to collect tolls upon certain lines of road, which they were required to improve and keep in good condition.
Investments in turnpikes did not finally prove very remunera- tive; but they were, for a time, great favorites with public-spirited men. And in a few years, there was a continuous line, interrupted
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only at Pittsfield from the Connecticut river to the Hudson ; and thence four hundred miles into western New York. In Massa- chusetts, at least after the year 1795, it was not the practice to grant charters for turnpikes, except in sparsely populated, moun- tainous, rocky, or otherwise difficult, districts. It thus happened that, while some of the great highways in the eastern part of the commonwealth were turnpiked under old charters, the turnpikes in western Massachusetts, where the system began later, were interrupted in populous towns where the surface was not difficult. The turnpikes west from the Connecticut valley began at the western boundaries of Northampton and Westfield ; and there were none in Pittsfield, except where the Pontoosuc turnpike entered the east part of the town for a very short distance.
Still, the great lines which terminated at her western and east- ern borders, and were connected by her main streets, were of great interest to the town, whose citizens were large stockholders in them, and whose intercourse with the outer world was, to a great extent, dependent upon them. They were, indeed, essen- tially Pittsfield institutions.
The first of these lines was the Third Massachusetts turnpike,1 for building which, a company was chartered, in 1797, the follow- ing citizens of Pittsfield being among the corporators : Timothy Childs, Joshua Danforth, Josiah Dickinson, Thomas Gold, Simon Larned, Henry Van Schaack and John Chandler Williams. The route extended from the west line of Northampton, through Westhampton, Williamsburg, Chesterfield, Worthington, Par- tridgefield (now Peru and Hinsdale) and Dalton, to the east line of Pittsfield, where it connected with Unkamet street. By an act of 1798, the line was extended from the west boundary of Pittsfield, across the town of Hancock-a distance of two and a half miles-to the New York border.
In the year 1800, Simon Larned and J. C. Williams of Pitts- field, and Ezra Starkweather of Worthington, a committee of this corporation, represented to the legislature that it had expended thirty thousand dollars upon its turnpike, and had been able to declare no dividend; the cost of care and repairs swallowing up all the receipts. They therefore asked that the towns through which it passed might be required to expend more
1The name was changed, in 1814, to " The Worthington Turnpike."
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upon bridges than they had done, and that they should turn out in deep snows to break out the roads. They also asked that the toll upon wagons and pleasure-carriages might be slightly increased. It does not appear that their prayer was granted.
The Eighth Massachusetts Turnpike Corporation, incorporated in 1800, was authorized to turnpike a road from Russell in Hampden county, through Blandford, Norwich (now Hunting- ton), Chester, Becket, Washington and Dalton, to the east line of Pittsfield, at Honasada street. This road, which essentially covered the route afterwards occupied by the Pontoosuc turnpike, was built only as far as Chester, and the charter for the remain- ing portion was repealed in 1818.
A large portion of both the third and eighth turnpikes was of the most forbidding character ; difficult of construction, and to be kept in repair only by constant and costly care. But, soon after 1818, it became known that a very easy grade existed, along the banks of the Westfield river, to Becket; and thence, over Washington mountain, to Pittsfield.
For more than twenty years before there was any continuous road through the Pass of the Westfield, it excited the deep inter- est of all who became aware of its wonderful facilities, and espe- cially, " of frequent exploring parties of careful and judicious men from Pittsfield, Springfield, Westfield, Middlefield, and Chester." But when even such witnesses reported that a road might be built through these rugged and frowning gorges, that would be more level and more easily traveled than that from Chester to Spring- field, their testimony was received by the general public with incredulity.
Eight, however, of these "judicious and cautious citizens " of Pittsfield, Southwick and Springfield, were so well convinced of the grand advantages of the route that, in 1825-although, with few exceptions, turnpike-stocks were then notoriously worthless -they obtained a charter authorizing them to avail themselves of it, as the Pontoosuc Turnpike Company. Their names were, Jonathan Allen, Lemuel Pomeroy, Joseph Shearer, Joseph Mer- rick and Thomas Gold of Pittsfield; Henry Stearns of Spring- field, and Enos Foot of Southwick.
These gentlemen declared that, although they did not doubt that the stock of the proposed turnpike would prove remunerative, they much preferred that a free road should be built. But, when
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the charter was granted, the law required that all public roads should be built at the sole expense of the towns through which they passed. The portion of the proposed route which lay along the rivers, was remote from the villages, or centers of population, and some hundred feet below them; and it would have been grossly unjust to tax their inhabitants for a free road which would benefit only the large towns at its termini, and the through travel between Boston and Albany. Before the company organ- ized, however, the road-laws were modified so that the commis- sioners of highways1 might, at the expense of the counties, lay and make such roads as the general convenience required.
It seemed very clear to the corporators of the Pontoosuc turn- pike, that the road proposed by them was of this class ; and they postponed action under their charter, in the hope that the com- missioners of the three counties, through which it would run, would build it. Every effort was made to induce them to do so ; but embittered parties arose upon the question, and other elements than ease of grade entered into the consideration of the route. The Worthington turnpike, although the grade was somewhat more difficult than that of the Pontoosuc, was fifteen miles shorter. It also terminated at Northampton, while the practical terminus of the new road would be Springfield. The effect of the Pontoosuc route, if it should prove as successful as its friends anticipated, would be to carry the great current of eastern and western travel through the latter town instead of the former. This was one of the earliest of those struggles, which have made the city of Springfield the great center of travel which it now is. In it, of course, Springfield and Westfield on the one hand, and Northampton on the other, were governed by local interests. Pittsfield was divided into violently antagonistic parties ; Jason Clapp with his associate, Mr. Rice of Albany, had a well-estab- lished and successful line of stages, which they had long run upon the Worthington turnpike, and they opposed the proposed rival route with all the influence, and all the strategy, which they could bring to bear upon it. The Pontoosuc corporators were quite as active and strenuous on their part. Lemuel Pomeroy, in particular, made himself their leader, and entering into the pro-
1Boards appointed by the governor for each county, and having powers as to highways and bridges similar to those now vested in the county-commis- sioners.
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jeet with his whole soul, he prosecuted it with his accustomed determination and energy; being in close league with Henry Stearns and other friends of the proposed line in Springfield.
This statement will explain why, when the commissioners were asked to build a free road, those of Berkshire and Hampden were favorable to the project, while those of Hampshire positively refused to make the portion which came within their jurisdiction ; rendering it useless for the others to proceed. It was supposed, however, that, if the connecting link in Hampshire was built by private enterprise as a turnpike, the exterior counties would extend it to their respective termini; and the corporators of the Pontoosuc turnpike asked the legislature, in February, 1828, for an amendment to their charter, so that they might be permitted to build in Hampshire county only. The amendment actually made, allowed them to extend their road over the whole, or a part, of the towns originally named, viz. : Chester, Middlefield, Becket, Washington, Dalton, and Pittsfield. This modification was prob- ably made on the suggestion of the petitioners. At least, it was happily introduced, as the opposition succeeded in defeating the expectation that free connecting roads would be laid by the com- missioners in Hampden and Berkshire; and the company were compelled to build the whole line.
The new charter also changed the western terminus from the south-eastern to the eastern part of Pittsfield; so that the turn- pike, instead of entering Pittsfield, as was first intended, by way of Honasada street, entered by Elm street, which, through the efforts of its friends, was opened a few years afterwards.
In the meantime, while the petitions for the free roads in Berkshire and Hampden were still pending, Messrs. Allen, Shearer, Merrick, and Pomeroy of Pittsfield, Stearns of Spring- field, and Fowler of Westfield, published in the Sun of November 13, 1828, a long and well-argued appeal to the citizens of the towns most interested, urging liberal subscriptions to the stock. In this address, they entered quite elaborately into the statistics and philosophy of transportation as affected by the grades of roads ; and dwelt particularly upon the facilities of the new route as developed by the first surveys for the Western railroad, which had positively demonstrated "that the route of the Pontoosue turnpike presented, of all others, the most level passage from the Hudson to the Connecticut, and that a railroad might be wrought
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on this route, which would be but eight feet a mile steeper, in its hardest places, than the Quincy railway in its steepest sections.
In response to the appeal of the corporators, citizens' commit- tees were appointed in the towns interested; and, sufficient stock having been taken to warrant an organization, Samuel M. MeKay was chosen president, and Matthias R. Lanckton clerk and treas- urer.
Eight thousand dollars of the stock was subscribed before the 22d of July, 1829; the whole amount estimated to be necessary to complete the work being ten thousand dollars.
The turnpike was completed in October, 1830, and a corre- spondent of the Pittsfield Argus (Hon. Julius Rockwell) gave an account of the opening, from which we extract the essential por- tions :
We have long been told that Springfield was one of the most beauti- ful towns in New England, and have long wished to visit it ; but could not bring our minds to the determination to undertake so long and per- ilous a journey. We knew, indeed, that nature had pointed out a pass- age through the mountains, and were confident that the enterprise and energy of New England character, would not suffer it to remain for- ever unimproved. We knew that, twenty-six years ago, a route for a turnpike had been surveyed ; but the project had slept so long, that we feared it would never again be wakened in our day. It was, therefore, with the greatest pleasure, that we learned, last week, that the " Pon- toosuc Turnpike Corporation " had actually constructed a road through the formidable range of mountains which had so long separated us from the beautiful and magnificent valley of the Connecticut. * * * Availing ourselves of the liberal proposals of Messrs. Clapp and Tuttle, stage- proprietors, we started, in company with twenty-five gentlemen from our village, upon an excursion to Springfield over the new turnpike. We entered upon the new road about three miles from this village, and soon accomplished the ascent of the only hill of any importance on the route. We soon found ourselves at the residence of Captain Deming, in Washington. The ascent was easy, as the elevation is in no place more than five degrees ; and the declivity upon the castern side is still more gradual. From this place to Colonel Henry's, in Chester, a dis- tance of about twelve miles, the road is as perfectly level as the most fastidious traveler can wish. The labor and expense of constructing the road, and the wildness and peculiar beauty of the scenery, can only be estimated by those who have passed over it. The ravine was previ- ously penetrated by a small and rapid rivulet, and the only way of pass- ing it on foot, was by resorting, in many places, to the bed of the
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stream. In several sections, where the road was laid out, the stream was walled in, upon both sides, by precipices almost perpendicular, and the foundations of the road were laid in the bed of the brook, and the passages cut through a roek almost solid.1
We were agrecably surprised, about midway in our passage, to find the log-hut of an old settler. He had occupied his almost inaccessible residence for thirty years. * * His only visible means of communica- tion with the world, was a narrow foot-bridge terminated by a flight of rude stairs, made of rock and stones, leading over the precipice. For miles beyond his house, the scenery is as wild and romantie as any which the great novelist of Scotland has described in that land of moun- tain and of song. The views are sufficient richly to repay the time and expense of the whole journey.
We reached the termination of the Pontoosue turnpike, at Colonel Henry's in Chester, about one o'clock, where we found an excellent dinner, to which we did ample justice. There were no complaints of dyspepsia or want of appetite. We here mingled our congratulations upon the completion of the road. We had no immediate interest or ageney in the enterprise ; but we rejoiced at the gratification of the proprietors present, and particularly of our respected fellow-citizen,2 to whose efficient direction the turnpike owes so much, and whose ani- mated sociality contributed greatly to the spirit and pleasure of our excursion. * * * * *
We were kindly welcomed on our arrival at Springfield, and, after a fine supper at Mr. Russell's, retired and slept well upon the recollec- tions of a pleasant and active day.
High as were our expectations, upon rising in the morning, we were surprised at finding ourselves in so large and pleasant a village ; pre- senting so many indications of wealth, enterprise, and elegant taste. We spent most of the day in visiting numerous points of interest in and about the town, to which we were politely directed, and accompanied by a large number of citizens. * *
We wished for a much longer time to enjoy several splendid views of the river, and the country adjacent. We paused, also, to admire the situation of several private residences. The taste displayed in their architecture, and the arrangement of their grounds, is worthy the nat- ural beauties with which they are surrounded.
We have given more space to the account of this excursion than we otherwise should, as, besides being exceedingly well written, it indicates the beginning of that intimate connection
1 The traveler over the Boston and Albany railroad will recognize the picture.
2 Lemuel Pomeroy.
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between Pittsfield and Springfield, which has ever since con tinued and increased ; although, as between the more prominent citizens, this connection had commenced before. So intimate has the intercourse between the two places become, that to speak of a ride to Springfield as " a wearisome and perilous journey," seems now, at first glance, a ludicrous exaggeration. But it must be remembered that, previous to the opening of the Pon- toosuc turnpike, the most direct and convenient routes were by the Worthington turnpike and Northampton, or through Lenox, Lee and Blandford, by the Housatonic turnpike ; on each of which hills were encountered which had become famed for stage- accidents. On either route the journey consumed the better part of two days. In short, one can now travel to Bangor, in Maine, on the east, or to Chicago on the west, with greater ease and safety, and in about the same time, which was required in 1829 for a trip to Springfield: the traveler at the later date, how- ever, riding night and day, and at the earlier, as the custom was, only by day.
And yet the advance from "the covered, or the open cart"- probably springless wagons-described by the Duc de la Roche- foucault Liancourt in 1796, and the rude mountain-roads of that period, to the smooth Pontoosuc turnpike and Jason Clapp's com- fortable stage-coaches, was hardly less agreeable-although less wonderful-than that from the stages to the steam-car.
The completion of the Pontoosuc turnpike was an occasion of pride and congratulation to its projectors and builders ; but it had already come to be considered by them as only a way-station in the progress of a far mightier enterprise. The whole state, or at least the more intelligent and spirited portions of it-especially Berkshire-was pervaded by a deep interest in the improvement of its internal communications.
This feeling was not, indeed, new, but was the result of healthy growth. We have spoken of turnpikes as its first fruits. Canals came not far behind; but various circumstances forbade their rapid extension. Gen. Henry Knox proposed a canal from Bos- ton to the Connecticut river, as early as 1791, and surveys were made the next year. Then the project slept.
The successful completion of the Erie canal in 1823, however, roused an earnest spirit of emulation. It was a too tantalizing sight for the spirit of New England trade, to witness the teeming
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products, and the lucrative commerce of the great west, which the canals brought almost to the borders of Massachusetts, suddenly turned aside by the easy highway of the Hudson river, to enrich the city of New York. This divergence from the more direct path to Europe, through Boston, was not to be endured, and, in their eagerness to do away with the mountain-barriers which turned from them the rich flood of commerce, the people of Mas- sachusetts would recognize no obstacle as insurmountable.
The most remarkable result of this feeling was the revival of the project for a canal from Boston to the Connecticut, with an extension to some point on the Hudson, near the terminus of the Erie canal. Governor Eustis mentioned the scheme with some favor, in his message of January, 1825, and, upon his suggestion, the legislature appointed three commissioners and an engineer, to ascertain if it were practicable. The commissioners were Nathan Willis of Pittsfield, Elihu Hoyt of Deerfield, and Henry A. S. Dearborn of Boston. The engineer was Col. Laomi C. Baldwin.
Their report, submitted to the legislature in January, 1826, gave the results of the exploration of several routes between the Connecticut and Hudson rivers. One of these routes had its summit level in Pittsfield. But water was to be supplied at this point for the canal as far east as Middlefield or Chester, and as far north as Cheshire or Adams. The commissioners thought that the lakes of Pittsfield and vicinity, together with the head- waters of the Housatonic, might possibly, by the building of res- ervoirs, be rendered sufficient for that purpose. But this could only be ascertained by actual survey, which there was no induce- ment to make, as the altitude was greater than that of a route through Vermont; and moreover, "the rugged features of the country, the whole distance from Blandford to the borders of Pittsfield, being a succession of rocky hills and interminable ledges, imposed most formidable and forbidding obstacles to the construction of a canal." Besides all this, the route finally rec- ommended was twenty-eight miles the shorter. So the danger was not very imminent that Pittsfield would find its water-power absorbed, its lakes robbed of their graceful outlines, and its rich valleys submerged, in order that transportation between Boston and the Hudson might be cheap.
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