A history of the town of Sullivan, New Hampshire, 1777-1917, Volume I, Part 9

Author: Seward, Josiah Lafayette, 1845-1917
Publication date: 1921
Publisher: [Keene, N.H., Sentinel printing Co.]
Number of Pages: 888

USA > New Hampshire > Cheshire County > Sullivan > A history of the town of Sullivan, New Hampshire, 1777-1917, Volume I > Part 9

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PHYSICAL AND ASTRONOMICAL FEATURES.

as Granite Lake. It also receives the waters which come from the Centre Pond of Nelson. Near the east line of the town, not far from the residence of Mr. Burpee, this brook receives the Black Brook, which flows down the hill, north-westerly, from the old Black farm in Nelson, a part of the way in Sullivan. The bridge, east of Mr. Burpee's, where the Concord Road crosses the Nelson Brook, is regarded as the marker for the eastern line of the town. This road crosses the same brook in another place. It also crosses the Otter River at East Sullivan upon a good iron bridge. Otter River receives no other tributary of im- portance in Sullivan. At East Sullivan, two little brooks from the west flow into it, also two which come down the hill from the east. The river here turns to the south-west and flows near the Concord Road into Roxbury, where it receives the Hubbard Brook, and on into Keene, where it receives the Ferry Brook. At South Keene, it is joined by a large brook from Marlborough and the united river empties into the Ashuelot a little west of Main Street in the city of Keene, and nearly west of Taft's pottery on that street.

Sullivan is composed principally of two mountain masses divided by a north and south valley (or ravine in the upper por- tion ) formed by the continuous stream made up of the Great Brook, Spaulding Brook, and Otter River. Beginning in a bog near the northern line of the town, this continuous watercourse wends its way at first through a narrow ravine, which broadens into something like a valley towards East Sullivan, then narrows as the Roxbury line is approached. Each of these two mountain masses is cut by other water-ways into minor sections, each cul- minating in prominent peaks.

The western mass is by far the larger of the two, and con- tains all the districts of the town excepting No. 3 and a part of No. I. On the north, it is abruptly terminated by the Ashuelot basin. On the south, it terminates, at places almost precipi- tously, at the Otter River basin. On the east it slopes gradually to the basin of the watercourse described in the preceding paragraph. Its western side reaches into Gilsum and Keene, where it slopes to the Beaver Brook. This great mountain mass is divided by brook basins into five prominent sections. The north-eastern section is nearly enclosed by the basins of the

HISTORY OF SULLIVAN.

Ashuelot River, Hemenway Brook, Chapman Pond and Brook, and the Great Brook. Narrow necks of hill land connect it on the north-east with the eastern mountain mass of the town and on the south-west with the lower sections of this western moun- tain mass. This section rises from all sides, gradually at first, then more steeply, to its greatest elevation at the summit of the Boynton Mountain, the highest peak of the town, not far from 1700 feet above the sea. The south-eastern section is determined by the ravines formed by. Chapman Pond and Brook, Spaulding Brook, Otter River, and the Hubbard Brook. A narrow neck of hill land connects it, on the north-west, with the preceding section. The slope towards the Chapman Pond, on the north, is very steep, and that towards the Otter River, on the south, is very abrupt in most places. It attains its greatest elevation in the northern part, on Rowe Hill (sometimes called Winch Hill), just north of the site of the old first meetinghouse of the town. A few rods to the north-west of this summit is the Morse Hill, so named from Thomas Morse, the first settler of the farm on which it is situated, which was later owned by the Frosts and Seth Nims, whose names are attached to other hills of the town. These hills are not far from 1600 feet above the sea, Rowe Hill being apparently a few feet the higher. Below these peaks is a sort of table-land including the parsonage grounds and the farms of Mr. Jewett, of the late Mrs. Farrar, and of M. A. Nims. At the southern end of the section is the Frost Hill, which attains an altitude of 1339 feet.

Another section of the western mountain mass lies imme- diately west of the preceding. The southern end of it is in Keene. It is limited on the south by the valley of Otter River, on the west by the Ferry Brook basin, on the east by the Hub- bard Brook ravine, and on the north by the depression along which the West Road passes from the old cemetery to the road leading to M. J. Barrett's. In the northern part it forms Hub- bard Hill, which is about 1500 feet high, and the Nims Hill, which attains the height of 1324 feet at the house of Mr. Brooks, forms the southern portion. The Houghton Ledge, 1360 feet high, is the south-eastern corner, near Frost Hill. The south-western section of the western mass is really a spur of Beech Hill, wedged between Ferry Brook and Beaver Brook,

PHYSICAL AND ASTRONOMICAL FEATURES.

and forms a connecting link between the mountainous mass of western Sullivan and that hill. The north-western section of the western mountain mass is limited upon the north by the Ashuelot valley, on the east by the ravine of Hemenway Brook, on the west by the Beaver Brook valley in part and partly by the Ashuelot valley, being connected by the Bingham Hill of Gilsum with the highlands of that town. The highest point it reaches is on the summit of Bearden Mountain, 1500 feet or more above the sea.

The eastern mountain mass of Sullivan is much smaller than the western. It practically coincides with District No. 3 and the eastern side of District No. I. It is divided into three principal sections. The northern, extending over Stoddard line, has the Otter River basin for its limit upon the east and south, and Great Brook and Spaulding Brook ravines upon the west. On the north it stretches considerably into Stoddard. Its cul- minating peak is Seward Hill, to the west of the house of the late F. A. Wilson. This mountain is about 1700 feet above the sea and is, next to Boynton Mountain, the highest of the town. A little to the north-east, above Mr. Fifield's, is the Bowlder Hill, which has a height of 1550 feet. The middle section is the south-western end of a mountainous tract, limited in Sullivan by the Otter River and Nelson Brook valleys. It extends from Sullivan, north-easterly, through Nelson and Stod- dard to the valley of the Contoocook River. The slope towards Otter River, for the whole distance, is very steep. The highest point in Sullivan is Warren Hill, about 1400 feet high. The southern section is the south-east corner of the town, bounded north by Nelson Brook and west by Otter River. The highest point of this section is the Lovejoy Hill in Nelson, 1655 feet high. At the Sullivan and Nelson line it attains the altitude of I 360 feet.

From the summits of these hills and mountains may be obtained views of the finest kind. It, of course, goes for saying that the peaks of the Alps or of the Rocky Mountains or of the Himalayas afford examples of immense mountain heaps, whose gigantic proportions startle the beholder and almost strike terror ; but for the simple beauty, variety, and extent of land- scape discerned at a glance, nothing can surpass the scenery

HISTORY OF SULLIVAN.

which one beholds from certain selected points in Sullivan, such as the Nims Hill, Hubbard Hill, and especially the Bowlder Hill above Mr. Fifield's, not to speak of the higher summits more difficult to climb.

These hills and mountains are charged with an abundance of fine springs of the purest water, which form the sources of the various water-courses, which irrigate the land so well that there has never been any great amount of suffering from droughts. These springs afford the best of drinking water. They contain many salts in solution of a healthful and medicinal nature. If some of them were to be advertised and exploited by wealthy proprietors, taking those on the old Hastings or Capt. Nims farms, for example, they would be as beneficial to the public as many which have become celebrated.

On the Gilsum side of the Bearden Mountain, which pre- sents a face of perpendicular, in some places overhanging, ledges, some mighty convulsion of nature has thrown huge rocks, some weighing thousands of tons, into a complicated variety of positions, forming dens or holes, rather improperly called caves. This, however, belongs to Gilsum, and a more complete account of this wonder may be found on the tenth and eleventh pages of Hayward's History of Gilsum. It is fre- quently visited by those in search of nature's curiosities.

Although the climate of Sullivan shows many degrees of difference between the extremes of temperatures, yet the approaches to the coldest and warmest days are anticipated and preparations are made to meet them. Thus prepared for changes, the climate of the town is upon the whole delightful in summer and not uncomfortable in the winter. Climatologists prepare maps of the country, drawing easterly and westerly lines from ocean to ocean, neither straight nor parallel, each of which is designed to pass through a succession of localities hav- ing the same average temperature. Those giving the average for the year are called isothermal lines, those for the summer are isotheral lines, and those for the winter are isochimenal lines. Sullivan is on the isothermal line of 42°, on the isotheral line of 64°, and on the isochimenal line of 21°. The weather, like all other natural phenomena, has its freaks. In 1816, frost and snow appeared in every month except. August. On June

PHYSICAL AND ASTRONOMICAL FEATURES.

12, 1842, there was a frost, and the mountains and high hills were covered with snow on the previous day. There was also frost in low places on the fourth of August, 1835. In 1843, snow covered the fences on the first day of May.

The annual rainfall, or precipitation, including the melted snow, amounts to about 43 inches in Sullivan. From five to nine feet of snow have fallen in different winters, according to the season. The past winter (1903-4), there were about seven feet of snow. The cutting of forests, which has affected the rainfall and water supply of many places appreciably, has not damaged Sullivan so seriously as it has other localities.

Although the homesteads of Sullivan are, in many cases, upon high hills, the damage by high winds has never been very serious. The winds are often brisk, blowing at the rate of many miles an hour, but only temporary inconveniences result. A few instances are remembered, however, in which the breezes became veritable hurricanes. Such an event occurred about 1781, when a violent tornado passed over this vicinity, uprooting large trees and doing much damage. Late in the afternoon of Sunday, the first day of July, 1877, a terrific hurricane swept across the town. It came from Surry Mountain, across Gilsum, where it destroyed several buildings, then across Sullivan, where it blew down trees, tore limbs from others, and swept all light objects before it. From Sullivan, it passed on through Nelson and towns to the east. On Sept. 12, 1900, a whirlwind, thought to be the "tail-end" of a hurricane that damaged Galves- ton, Texas, sweeping north-easterly up the Atlantic seaboard, reached far enough inland to include Sullivan in its grasp. Limbs were torn from trees and the highways were filled with debris, although no noteworthy harm resulted.

In the latitude of Sullivan, the longest days, in the latter part of June, are fifteen and a quarter hours in length, between sunrise and sunset. The shortest days, in the last part of December, are nine hours and four or five minutes long, between the same limits. The sun-risings and sunsets, as seen from any of the many elevated points in Sullivan, are often gorgeous in the extreme, flooding the clouded heavens with rosy and purple and golden tints of the greatest variety, and in the most beauti- ful combinations. The air is always clear and pure, not only

HISTORY OF SULLIVAN.

healthful to breathe, but transmitting the sun's rays so perfectly that the hills and pond surfaces are resplendent and reflect their manifold shades of green and sparkling silver respectively. In autumn, the clear atmosphere brings out in fullest splendor the gorgeous tints of the forest foliage, when the landscapes have an indescribable charm. The same clear air gives to an un- clouded evening a corresponding charm, when the bright gleams of the aurora borealis happen to be visible, or the milky way makes still brighter the wonderful constellations of the heavens.

IV. GEOLOGY AND MINERALOGY.

There is a considerable territory in Cheshire County, includ- ing the whole of Sullivan and Roxbury, the western ends of Stoddard, Nelson, Harrisville, and Dublin, together with large portions of Marlborough, Troy, Fitzwilliam and Richmond, with adjacent territory, south of the county, in Massachusetts, whose basic rock formation is a very ancient, silicious, pyritiferous schist. Along the Ashuelot, the outcrop is a coarse granite. The un- derlying rocks of Sullivan are of the montalban group, as they are known in geology. Montalban means white mountain, and these rocks (not the surface bowlders, but the bed rocks) are of the same age as the Presidential Range of the White Mountains. The oldest rock deposit on the earth's crust is called azoic, because formed before any form of life appeared. Hence there are no fossils in it. The next group are called eozoic rocks, because organic life appeared on the earth before the latest deposits of the group. The azoic rocks are called the lower laurentian. The lowest members of the eozoic group are the middle and upper laurentian series. The montalban is the same as the upper laurentian. Above this were formed the upper groups of the eozoic, the palaezoic, mesozoic, and cenozoic (or kainozoic) rock deposits. The last three formations indicate respectively those times when the oldest forms of life existed on the earth, when the species midway between the oldest and newest forms existed, and the time since the recent species appeared.

The Sullivan rocks contain feldspar and mica schist. They are properly gneiss of a granitic character. There is much quartz among them, charged with iron pyrites. On exposure to the atmosphere, the pyrites decomposes and the rock crumbles

GEOLOGY AND MINERALOGY.

away in a reddish yellow earth. Hitchcock, in his "Geology of New Hampshire ", observes : "In Sullivan, at Bearden . Moun- tain on the west, and from near D. Seward's at least as far as Moore's mill in Stoddard, the rocks resemble very closely the White Mountain gneiss. Between these points the rocks are generally highly silicious and pyritiferous. Where the rocks are not ferruginous, as east of D. Seward's, the strata are often twisted into nodular-like masses. South-east of the church, on the road to East Sullivan, near Weathron & Cordney's [the house of M. A. Nims now], there is a coarse granite vein con- taining beryl."

During the glacial period this region was buried under ice for an age. The ice currents had a southerly direction. The movement was very slow, lasting for centuries. Pieces of stone, with sharp angular corners, broken from ledges in other locali- ties, and wedged into this ice mass, furrowed the sides of ledges, as the current moved. These furrows, nearly parallel, are called striæ. In the north-western corner of the town, on the hill near Gilsum village, are striæ in the montalban rock, having a course S. 21° E. Lower down, on the western line of the town, about where the West Road and the road passing the old Osgood house cross the line, are striæ in the gneiss, having a general direction of S. 30° E. When the tail end of the glacier finally melted, the bowlders which it had lugged along from higher places were scattered over the land and a large amount of debris, consisting of smaller stones, cobbles, gravel, and sand, was left in oval lens-shaped mounds, called lenticular hills, or deposited against the sides of hills which the mass encountered. These latter accumulations are called slopes of till (till being the term for a deposit of sand, gravel, etc., left by a melting glacier). Hitchcock found lenticular hills between the houses of Allan M. and M. A. Nims, also north-east of the old F. Buck- minster house. He found slopes of till on the side of Warren Hill, also north-west of the Great Meadow Reservoir, and in the north-east part of the town, above the old William Hastings place. It sometimes happened that the melting glacier left behind a long trail of debris of sand and gravel on the bed of a swamp or valley. Such a deposit is called a kame or osar (from the Swedish os, meaning a heap). A notable instance of such

HISTORY OF SULLIVAN.

an osar (or kame) may be seen below the old Bridge place in Keene, in the valley of Beaver Brook, where the highway passes for a mile across the back of it, forming here an admirable cause- way. Observing persons, in going to Keene by what we call the West Road, cannot have failed to notice this wonderful relic of the ice age, although few have probably understood its nature and origin.

The surface of Sullivan is strown with bowlders left by the glaciers and the streams are full of them. Some of them are very interesting. One in the north-west corner of the old Capt. Seward farm, in a pasture owned later by the Masons, now by T. A. Hastings, is a large one, called the Giant's Table, sixteen or eighteen feet one way by six or eight the other, and weighing many tons, which is so nicely balanced that a person, with little effort can rock it. One of the famous Ascutney bowlders, which the glacier broke from the mountain of that name, a different kind of rock from any in this vicinity, has been found in Sulli- van. A curious rock of whitish mica schist is in the old Good- now pasture near East Sullivan. The bed of Otter River is strown with bowlders. In Leslie H. Goodnow's mill-yard may be seen one with a "pot-hole" entirely through it, six or eight inches in diameter, through a stone, fifteen or more inches in thickness, almost perfectly cylindrical in form, ground out by a sharp stone propelled by some whirling current of water. On the top of a hill in Gilsum, directly west of Bearden Mountain, are numerous pot-holes of a great size, two being between six and seven feet in diameter and of great depth. (Hayward's History of Gilsum, p. 431 ).

A few minerals of much beauty are found in Sullivan. Black tourmalines are found on the old Chas. Cummings farm. Hitchcock speaks of the quartz here as being "penetrated through and through with tourmaline needles." Beautiful crystals of iron pyrites have been found in the bed of the Great Brook. Magnetite occurs in the southern part of the town, to such an extent as to deflect the compass needle until it is use- less in running a line. There is much iron matter in the rocks. A rock, on the upper side of the new piece of road, just below the school-house in No. 3, is a fine specimen of plicated folds of a ferruginous material, which the atmosphere has turned to a

ARCH ÆOLOGY. PLANTS AND ANIMALS.

copperas-like color. Small garnets are not rare. Mica, which is found in perfection in Alstead, is abundant in the Sullivan rocks, but not serviceable. Feldspar and hornblende are com- mon. Crystals of beryl are found near the residence of M. A. Nims. Some of the largest and most beautiful crystals of this mineral yet found have been discovered in Acworth. Quartz crystals of the greatest beauty have been found in the old Mason pasture, north-west of the F. A. Wilson place. Geodes as large as egg-shells have been found there.

The soil of the town is of a granitic, rather gneissic, char- acter and consists of silicates, clay, and organic matter. An analysis of an average specimen yielded 84.4 per cent of insol- uble silicates, 8 per cent of alumina, 0.6 per cent of iron, and 7 per cent of lime, water, alkalies, and organic matter.

v. ARCHEOLOGY.

Sullivan has no prehistoric history. The aborigines, or Indians, probably never had any fixed abodes here. A few relics, such as arrow-heads, are occasionally found, showing that they occasionally hunted in this vicinity. We have an echo from them in the one word ASHUELOT, meaning, according to Hale ( Annals of Keene, p. 3), a collection of many waters.

Sullivan was not settled until the worst of the Indian troubles were a matter of the past in New England. No tradi- tion has reached us that any of the early inhabitants were dis- turbed by the red men.

VI. PLANTS AND ANIMALS.

Sullivan was originally covered with a heavy growth of the primeval forest which has now disappeared. There may still be seen more recent growths of beech, the several species of birch and maple, ash, poplar, bass-wood or linden, oak (though not common), white pine, hemlock, spruce, hackmatack or larch, balsam, butternut (probably transplanted), elm, and the intro- duced black poplar (or " balm of Gilead ") and Lombardy poplar. Among the small trees, we find the black, red, and choke cherry, ironwood, leverwood, striped maple or whistlewood, and the beautiful mountain ash. Among the shrubs are willows, hazel, alders, blueberries, huckleberries, several species of blackberries and raspberries, wild currants, thorn-apples, elderberries, the

HISTORY OF SULLIVAN.

creeping shrub which bears the beautiful trailing arbutus (not common in this town), the exquisite pink azalea (the swamp or June pink), moosewood, dogwood, sumach, kalmia (sheep laurel), shad bush (so beautiful in the spring with its abundant white blossoms), rhodora, and various species of the ericaceæ.

Among the most common flowering plants are the straw- berry, checkerberry, bunchberry, the spring beauty and various other species of anemone, blood-root, corydalis, Dutchman's breeches, several species of the violet, bishop's cap, star flower, bread and butter flower, bellflower, adder's tongue, jack-in-the- pulpit, two or three species of trillium, the purple lady's slipper, many species of ranunculus (buttercup) and many more of solidago (golden rod), linnæa, white daisy, several kinds of clover, several species of the orchid family, the purple gentian, several species of aster, soapwort, elecampane, milkweed, snake head, the beautiful white water lily, wild iris, smilacina, nodding lily, red field lily, columbine, uvularia, crane's bill, rudbeckia, pitcher plant, two species of spiræa (or hardhack), cardinal flower, May weed, yarrow, caraway, dandelion, dock, cowslip, clematis, meadow-rue, goldthread, cohosh, celandine, St. John's- wort, mallow, oxalis, polygala, lupine, tick-trefoil, wild indigo, cinque-foil, evening primrose, loosestrife, thoroughwort, helian- thus, tansy, wormwood, everlasting, thistle, burdock, lobelia, Indian pipe, cranberry, cassandra, pimpernel, mullein, mints of various kinds, catnip, sorrel, pickerel weed, and scores of others too numerous to mention, including many kinds of rushes, grasses, and sedges.

The flowerless plants include many ferns, horsetails, lycopo- diums (erect and creeping varieties), many species of mosses and liverworts, besides many lichens, fungi, fresh-water algæ, and desmids. It is impossible to give a complete list of the flora of the town, nor could space be afforded.

Of the animals found in Sullivan space affords an oppor- tunity of naming but a few of the most important. The canine family is represented by the mischievous fox, the wolf being rarely seen in later years. The feline family is represented by the wild cat and the lynx, both of which are still occasionally seen. Bears were once common, but have not appeared for many years. Deer, once a most useful animal, both for the

PLANTS AND ANIMALS.

flesh and the hide, became practically unknown, but, thanks to game laws, are now seen at times. Beavers were once common. The first dam built near the Ellis (now Harris) mill, was built by beavers. Evidences of their work are found in various places. Rats, mice of several species, jumping-mice, chipmunks and gray and red and flying squirrels, woodchucks, muskrats, hares, and rabbits complete the list of rodents. Weasels are not common, and the otter is rarely seen in town. Minks are caught occasionally. Skunks are quite as plentiful as could be wished. Raccoons are not uncommon. Bats, moles, shrews, and hedge- hogs, the latter now too common, finish our list of mammals.

The birds are so numerous that we cannot attempt a full catalogue. The blue-bird and the robin are welcome arrivals in the spring. The cuckoo foretells rain in his quaint notes. The cat-birds and thrashers in the brush give forth their harsh tones. Thrushes and various kinds of sparrows fill the air with melody. The restless and talkative chickadees, the nimble little nut- hatches, the fearless and quarrelsome little wren, the horned lark, various species of warblers, barn swallows, eave swallows, bank swallows, swifts (or chimney swallows), the lustrous blue- black martins, the vireos singing energetically, the pugnacious shrikes, linnets, the chewink, and the pewee have all been seen in Sullivan. The bobolink sings a short refrain readily recog- nized and much enjoyed. The meadow lark has a sweet song. Crows, blue jays, king birds which "destroy a thousand noxious insects for every bee they eat," according to Coues, the crested flycatcher which uses cast off snake skins in the construction of its nest, the whipporwill which speaks its name in such a " solemn and prophetic " tone, the night-hawk which plunges at even with such a startling sound, the brilliant kingfisher, wild pigeons (now scarce), partridges, an occasional plover, wood- cocks, snipes, and several other less common species have been observed in this vicinity by naturalists.

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A history of the town of Sullivan, New Hampshire, 1777-1917, Volume I, Part 9

Author: Seward, Josiah Lafayette, 1845-1917 Publication date: 1921 Publisher: [Keene, N.H., Sentinel printing Co.] Number of Pages: 888

Author: Seward, Josiah Lafayette, 1845-1917
Publication date: 1921
Publisher: [Keene, N.H., Sentinel printing Co.]
Number of Pages: 888