History of Carroll County, New Hampshire, Part 13

Author: Merrill, Georgia Drew
Publication date: 1889
Publisher: Boston : W.A. Fergusson & Co.
Number of Pages: 1124

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and hoary with a moss which seemed the product of ages, recalling to the mind the 'Surum vetustum' of Virgil, speedily rose to a mountainous height. Before us the view widened fast to the southeast. Behind us it closed almost instan- taneously, and presented nothing to the eye but an impassable barrier of mountains. About half a mile from the entrance of the chasm we saw in full view the most beautiful cascade, perhaps, in the world. It issued from a mountain on the right, about eight hundred feet above the subjacent valley, and at the distance of about two miles from us. The stream, which I shall denominate the 'Silver cascade,' ran over a series of rocks, almost perpen- dicular, with a course so little broken as to preserve the appearance of an uniform current, and yet so far disturbed as to be perfectly white. At the distance of three quarters of a mile from the entrance, we passed a brook known as the ' Flume." The stream fell from a height of 240 or 250 feet over three precipices ; down the first and second it fell in a single current, and down the third in three, which united their streams at the bottom in a fine basin immediately below us. It is impossible for a brook of this size to be modeled into more diversified or more delightful forms, or for a cascade to descend over precipices more happily fitted to finish its beauty. The sunbeams, penetrating through the trees, painted a great variety of fine images of light, and edged an equally numerous and diversified collection of shadows, both dancing on the waters, and alternately silvering and obscuring their course. Purer water never was seen. Exclusive of its murmurs, the world around us was solemn and silent. Everything assumed the character of enchantment; and, had I been educated in the Grecian mythology, I should have been scarcely surprised to find an assemblage of Dryads, Naiads, and Oreades sporting on the little plain beneath our feet. As we passed onward through this singular valley occasional torrents, formed by the rains and dissolving snows at the close of winter, had left behind them, in many places, perpetual monuments of their progress in perpendicular, narrow, and irregular paths of immense length, where they had washed the precipices naked and white from the summit of the mountain to the base. Wide and deep chasms also at times met the eye, both on the summits and the sides, and strongly impressed the imagination with the thought that a hand of immeasurable power had rent asunder the solid rocks, and tumbled them into the subjacent valley. Over all, hoary cliffs, rising with proud supremacy, frowned awfully on the world below, and finished the landscape."

This incident connected with the rediscovery of the Notch is interesting. On the report of its rediscovery to Governor Wentworth, he warily agreed to grant Nash and Sawyer a tract of land if they would bring him down a horse from Lancaster through this Notch. By means of ropes they succeeded in getting the horse over the projecting cliff, and down the ragged pathway of the mountain torrent, and brought him to the governor. When they saw the horse

HISTORY OF CARROLL COUNTY.

safely lowered on the south side of the last projection, it is said that Sawyer, draining the last drop of rum from his junk-bottle, broke the empty flask on the rock, and named it "Sawyer's Rock," by which name it has ever since been known. The earliest articles of commerce taken through the Notch appear to have been a barrel of tobacco raised at Lancaster, which was carried to Ports- mouth, and a barrel of rum, which a company in Portland offered to any one who should succeed in taking it through the pass. This was done by Captain Rosebrook, with some assistance, though it became nearly empty "through the politeness of those who helped to manage the affair."

The first person passing through the Notch to settle in the lands northwest was Colonel Joseph Whipple, who came from Portsmouth in 1772. He brought tackles and ropes by which his cattle were brought over the precipices along the way. In 1803 the legislature authorized a lottery for the building of a turnpike through the Notch of the White Mountains twenty miles in extent at an expense of forty thousand dollars. (It was customary in the early history of the country to raise money by lottery for the general welfare. Roads were built, literary institutions founded, and religious societies aided by this ques- tionable means.) Tickets were issued exceeding the prizes by the sum of thirty-two thousand one hundred dollars, but through the failure of agents, the loss of tickets, and the expense of management, only fifteen hundred dollars came into the state treasury. This road, winding down to the west line of Bartlett through this gigantic cleft in the mountains, presents to the traveler "some of the most sublime and beautiful scenery which the sun, in his entire circuit, reveals to the curious eye." In July of this year, Dr Cutler visited the mountains a second time, in company with Dr W. D. Peck, afterwards Professor of Natural History at Cambridge, Mass. In 1816 Dr Bigelow, Dr Francis Boott, Francis C. Gray, and Chief-Justice Shaw visited the mountains. In 1819 Abel Crawford opened the footway to Mt Washington, which follows the southwestern ridge from Mt Clinton. July 31, 1820, Mts Pleasant, Frank- lin, Monroe, Jefferson, Madison, and Adams were named by Messrs A. N. Brackett, J. W. Weeks, Charles J. Stuart, Esq., General John Willson, Noyes S. Dennison, and S. A. Pearson, Esq., of Lancaster, with Philip Carrigain and Ethan Crawford as guide, who ascended the southwestern ridge by the new path, from the head of the Notch, and explored the summits of the whole range as far as Mt Washington. In August, 1820, an exploring company took the height of the mountains with a spirit-level, and were seven days in this slow, fatiguing labor. This must have been the first party that passed the night upon the summit.

From the manuscript account of this exploration we are privileged to extract. The account was written by Adino N. Brackett, Esq., of Lancaster, a gentleman of great intelligence, a practical surveyor, and elerk of the Superior Court for ten years. Major John W. Weeks was at that time county

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treasurer of Coos county, and afterwards a member of Congress. Richard Eastman, Esq., was a leading citizen of Lancaster, and represented that town in the General Court for many years. Charles J. Stuart, Esq., was a brilliant lawyer. Edward B. Moore became a prominent physician. Turner Stephen- son was afterward judge of probate of Coos county. So it will be seen that these observers were well calculated for their mission of investigation, and were not ignorant and heedless spectators, but true scientific explorers.

" The White Mountains are situated in the northern part of the state of New Hampshire. The latitude of the highest peak is 44° 30' north, or very near it, the variation amounting to a few minutes only, if any. Every geographical writer in this country, and some beyond the Atlantic, have noticed these mountains, and all agree in assigning to them a greater altitude than any in New England, if not in the United States. Notwithstanding this acknowledged fact, no two writers agree in assigning to the White Mountains the same height. Had the variation between them been trifling, the public might have rested satisfied, or, at least, have taken the accounts they have given as correct.

" But when they differ in the single circumstance of their altitude more than three thousand feet, the public curiosity, instead of being gratified, is perplexed, and seeks for something approaching to certainty. As to the cause of this difference it is unnecessary to inquire. But it is believed to be out of the power of any person to take the heights of mountains correctly, especially such as the White Hills, without using a spirit or water level. This mode is so long, and generally so laborious, that few have courage to undertake it. Notwithstanding all this, the heights of the White Mountains were taken in August, 1820, by John W. Weeks, Richard Eastman, Charles J. Stuart, and Adino N. Brackett. To accomplish this undertaking they spent seven days, and during five of them were attended by Amos Legro, Joseph W. Brackett, and Edward B. Moore as assistants. For the first two days they had the company of Turner Stephenson, then a member of college, and Charles Going. The whole party was from Lancaster. The altitude of the mountains, above low water-mark in Connecticut river near the court house in Lancaster, with the names of the principal peaks, will first be given.

" Mt Washington rises above the river at the place before mentioned 5,850 feet, and is known by its being the southern of the three highest peaks ; above Austin's, in Jefferson, 5,450 feet; above Crawford's, 4,781 feet ; above the turnpike where the path crosses it, 4,436 feet. Mount Adams, known by the sharpness of its termination, and being the second to the northward of Mt Washington, 5,383 feet above the river. Mt Jefferson, known by being situated between the two first, 5,281 feet. Mt Madison, known by being the eastern of the range, 5,039. Mt Munroe, known by being the first to the south of Mt Washington, 4,932 feet. Mt Franklin, known by its level surface,

HISTORY OF CARROLL COUNTY.

and being the second to the south of Mt Washington, 4,470 feet. Mt Pleasant, or Dome Mount, known by its dome-like appearance, and being the third to the southward of Mt Washington, 4,339 feet. Seven of the party before mentioned continued on and about the mountains five days, and eneamped on them four nights, two of which were passed without any other covering than the blankets which were borne along by their attendants, and the jutting rocks with which the mountains abound. The rocks and damp moss also furnished their resting-place, and the heavens their canopy. The night following the 31st of August, 1820, was passed within ten feet of the summit of Mt Washington. No human being, it is believed, ever passed a night there before. Nor should we, had two of our party, who left the others to explore the northern peaks of the range, returned in season to enable us, before the commencement of darkness, to descend the mountain."

Benjamin D. Greene, Esq., collected the plants of the southwestern ridge in 1823, and the same year, Henry Little, a medical student, explored this part of the mountains. In 1825 William Oakes, Esq., and Dr Charles Pickering, made, together, extensive researches of much interest. Dr J. W. Robbins explored carefully the whole range in 1829, descending into and crossing the Great Gulf, and traversing for the first time, so far as scientific interests were concerned, all the eastern summits. Mrs M. M. Hills, of Dover, traveled to the top of Mt Washington in the summer of 1835, in company with her husband and two or three other clergymen. They went up on horseback from the Crawford House and traveled along the top of the other mountains to within three miles of the summit of Mt Washington, but the last three miles they had to travel on foot. There was no house on the summit then, but the day was clear and beautiful, and highly enjoyed by all. One of the party, Rev. Mr Thurston, felt inspired to preach a short sermon from the text, " The devil taketh him up into an exceedingly high mountain, and sheweth him all the kingdoms of the world and the glory of them." This was probably the first sermon ever preached on the summit of Mt Washington. Mrs Hills was one of the first women who went to the summit. The party were twelve hours in going and returning, and Mrs Hills stood the journey as well as the men ; in fact, was less fatigued than most of them. Rev. T. Starr King, whose artistie appreciation and eloquent writings did so much to bring this region into notice, came here in 1837. In 1840 a party, including Dr Charles T. Jackson, reached Mt Washington on horseback by the way of the Noteh.

First Settlers. - In 1792 Captain Rosebrook established himself and home on the site of Fabyan's, and opened the first house for summer visitors there in 1808. Abel Crawford settled at Bemis in 1793. Ethan A. Crawford succeeded to the Rosebrook place in 1817. But thirty years before any of these thought of making a home in this wild region, so runs the story, Thomas Crager sought among the solitudes of the mountain rocks relief for

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a grief so intense as almost to craze him. His wife had been executed as a witch ; his little daughter Mary, his only child, had been carried into captivity, and after a long and unavailing search for her among various tribes, he went up to the mountains, and lived for a long time in a cave, where the pure water and air of the region brought health and strength, protected from the evil intent of the Indians by their belief in his being the adopted son of the Great Spirit. After long years he found his daughter among the Indians of eastern Maine, married, and living as a squaw. Many wild legends are told of Crager and the Indian captor of his daughter, but the fact of his existence and residence here is all we need record.

The First House in the Notch was the historic Willey House. It was kept as a public house for some years, then abandoned, and again occupied in 1825 by Samuel Willey, Jr, who, with his wife, five children, and two hired men perished in the great slide of August 28, 1826.

As there would be a dozen people desirous of visiting the mountains coming to Ethan A. Crawford's hostelry, in 1821 he most effectively advertised it by cutting a path, which shortened the distance, and made it easy to go up the mountain. Soon after this, increased travel brought a demand for some place on the summit where visitors could pass the night, and Ethan constructed a stone cabin, near the large spring of water, and furnished it, first with a large supply of blankets and soft moss for beds, and afterwards with a small stove, an iron chest to hold the blankets, and a long roll of sheet lead, as a register of names of visitors.

The first hotel on Mt Washington was the old Summit House, built in 1852 by L. M. Rosebrook, N. R. Perkins, and J. S. Hall. The Tip-Top House was built in 1853, by John H. Spaulding and others. He was part owner of that and the Summit House, and conducted them for several years. The present Summit House was built in 1872. The old Summit House was torn down in the spring of 1884, to give place to a new building, used as lodging-rooms for the employés of the hotel.

The first winter ascent of Mt Washington was made by Lucius Hartshorne, a deputy sheriff of Coos county, and B. F. Osgood, of Gorham, December 7, 1858. John H. Spaulding, Franklin White, and C. C. Brooks, of Lancaster, made the ascent February 19, 1862, and were the first to spend the night on the mountain in winter.

The carriage road from the Glen House to the summit of Mt Washington was begun in 1855, under the management of D. O. Macomber, C. H. V. Cavis being surveyor. The first four miles were finished the next year. Financial troubles stopped the work for a time, but the road was finally opened August 8, 1861. It is eight miles long, and has an average grade of twelve feet in 100. The ascent is made by stages in four hours, and the descent in an hour and a half.

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The Glen House, at the eastern base of Mt Washington, is fifteen miles north of Glen station, eight miles south of Gorham, and has a full and unobstructed view of the highest peaks of the Mt Washington range. Mt Washington is ascended from the Glen by the carriage road, eight miles long. Glen Ellis Falls, and Crystal Cascade, near the Glen, are two of the finest waterfalls in the mountain. Tuckerman's ravine is most easily reached from the Glen House.

The Mt Washington railway was projected by Sylvester Marsh. The building of the road was begun in 1866, and finished in 1869. The ascent is made by the railway from the west side, and the carriage road from the east. The railroad is three miles long, and has an average rise of one foot in four, the steepest being thirteen and one-half inches to the yard. The grade is overcome by means of cog-wheels working in a cog-rail in the centre of the track, and powerful brakes on engines and cars insure safety. No passenger has been injured since the road was opened. The running time is one and one-half hours, and only one car is run with each engine.

Mountain Tragedies. - The destruction of the Willey family by a landslide in the White Mountain Notch occurred August 28, 1826. Frederick Strick- land, an Englishman, perished in the Ammonoosuc ravine in October, 1851. Miss Lizzie Bourne, of Kennebunk, Maine, perished on the Glen bridle-path, near the summit, on the night of September 14, 1855. Dr B. L. Ball was lost on Mt Washington in October, 1855, in a snowstorm, but he was rescued after a two days' and nights' exposure without food or sleep. Benjamin Chandler, of Delaware, perished near Chandler's Peak, half a mile from the top of Mt Washington, August 7. 1856, in a storm, and his remains were not discovered for nearly a year. Harry W. Hunter, of Pittsburgh, Pa, perished on the Crawford bridle-path September 3, 1874, a mile from the summit. His remains were found nearly six years later, July 14, 1880. On the north side of Cherry mountain occurred the noted landslide of July 10, 1885. This was the largest slide ever known in the mountains. Donald Walker was the only one who lost his life. July 24, 1886, the great snow arch in Tuckerman's ravine fell, and instantly killed Sewall Faunce, of Boston.

The first number of Among the Clouds, the first daily newspaper published in the White Mountains, and the only one printed on any mountain in the world, was issued July 18, 1877, by Henry M. Burt, of Springfield, Mass. The paper records much that pertains to the exploration of the White Hills and the development of its unexplored resources. Almost every week some- thing worth preserving about the mountains is printed in its columns. It is indispensable to the enjoyment of those who reside for the season among the mountains. When the season is fairly open, Mr. Burt receives, by telegraph, the full list of the daily arrivals at the principal hotels in the mountains, and publishes it in the following issue. Two editions are published daily, one at

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1 P.M. and one at 5 A.M., each summer, from July to the close of the season. The afternoon edition contains the names of the arrivals on the morning train from Fabyan's, and on the stages from the Glen House. The publication office is the old Tip-Top House, nicely fitted up, and equipped with a steam-engine and Hoe cylinder press.

The signal station at the summit was established in 1870. Prof. J. H. Huntington, of the State Geological Survey, was at the head of the party that spent the first winter here. The building occupied by the observers was erected in 1873.

The Mt Washington Summit House, with nearly one hundred sleeping- rooms, is a commodious and comfortable hotel.

CHAPTER XIV.

SCENERY, ATTRACTIONS, TRADITIONS AND LEGENDS OF CARROLL.

Observation Points : - Copple Crown - Moose Mountain - " Tumble - Down Dick " - Mt Delight - Green Mountain - Mt Prospect -Pocket Hill - Batson Hill - Trask's Hill - Whiteface and Cotton Mountains - Ossipee Mountains - Mt Shaw - Ossipee Park - Whittier Peak - Uncle Tom's Hill - Red Hill - Mt Israel - Sandwich Dome - Mt Whiteface - Passaconaway - The Potash - Mt Paugus -Mt Wonalancet - Mt Chocorua - Apostrophe to Chocorua -Gow Hill - Bear Mountain -Table Mountain - Mote Mountain - Eagle and White-horse Ledges - Haystack Mountain - Cathedral Ledge - Devil's Den - Mt Attitash - Conway's Green Hills - Mt Kearsarge -Thorn Mountain - Iron Mountain - Double-head - Spruce, Black, and Sable Mountains - Baldface - Lyman, Glines, and Cragged Mountains.

C ULTURED taste has ever admired the scenery of Carroll county. Mountain sublimity of such magnificent character as to bring the name of "Switzerland of America ; " long reaches of water prospects rivaling in beauty and artistic effects the Bay of Naples and the Gulf of Venice ; dream-like bits of pastoral gentleness and softness stretching away like dreams of the future, - these have been admired and praised and rehearsed in story and in song, and have stimulated the pencils and brushes of true artists from the dawn of civilization on this section down to the present. Hither came Dr Jeremy Belknap and President Dwight, of Yale College, in the latter part of the eighteenth century, forerunners of the great caravans of summer travelers which have annually, for many years, and in steadily increasing numbers, made their pilgrimages to the mountains and the lakes, the intervals

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and the pine-woods of this most richly endowed of counties. The pure balsamic air, the crystal water, the gorgeous atmospheric effects and colorings, add their potent charms to the other beguiling influences, and "who comes once will come again," and again, and again. So it is that the scenery is a great economic factor in the material as well as immaterial wealth of the county, and a somewhat minute account of many things that go to make the sum total of the quite elastic expression scenery will be in order in a work of this character. First and most prominent are the mountains; not those superior ones of the Presidential range, but the many peaks of less elevation which add to the beauty of the prospect in various parts of the county, and also serve as desirable points of observation.

Copple Crown (Brookfield), seen from afar, is a moderate peak with long and gradual slopes on its sides. It is not difficult of ascent from Wolfe- borough, and furnishes a most lovely view of Lake Winnipiseogee and surroundings. Thirty other of the lovely lakes dotting the country here- abouts can be seen from its summit, 2,100 feet above the sea. From twenty to twenty-five miles of a most lovely landscape are here at the command of any one for very slight exertion.

Moose Mountain, in the south of Brookfield, is attractive in its way. " Tumble-Down Dick," one mile north of Copple Crown, is a high hill easily accessible, and takes its name from a picturesque cliff on one side, where a blind horse, "Diek," is said to have "tumbled down." An Indian legend is said to exist concerning the name and its origin.

Mt Delight, further north, well deserves its name.

Green Mountain (Effingham) is a prominent object, as it is higher than the Ossipee mountains (2,500 feet), and furnishes an extended and magnificent view. It was originally known as "Seven Mountain." The shape of the range has been compared to Red Hill, yet its dimensions are larger, with a base abont four miles in length. The ascent is made from Effingham Falls, and from Drakesville on the south side. A small hotel, burned about 1866, was erected on the top. On the east flank of the mountain is a deep, cavernous hole in which snow remains nearly all the year.

Mount Prospect has rocky sides and summit, and although of inferior elevation will well repay a visit. It is northeast of Green mountain.

Pocket Hill, 1,000 ft altitude, is in the southeast part of Ossipee. A finer view is given from it than from many higher elevations.

Butson Will, Trask's Hill, Whiteface, and Cotton mountains are minor elevations in Wolfeborough affording fine views.

THE OSSIPEE MOUNTAINS cover an area of about sixty square miles, and are a great addition to the scenery of the county. From every side they are beautiful as salient points in the view, while from their slopes and summits wonderful panoramas of beauty stretch out in various directions. Most of the

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peaks are, however, covered by a dense growth of birch, spruce, larch, etc. Seen from the White Mountains the Ossipees stretch out like a long blue wall. Although of primitive rock, the hills of this range are smooth and round, with sides capable of cultivation to the top. The main range runs north and south, terminating at the north in Black Snout (Mt Shaw ) at the corners of Tamworth, Sandwich, and Moultonborough. From this range long spurs run to the east, which are intersected by Lovewell's river and two branches of Bear Camp river.

Mount Shaw, in the southeast portion of the Ossipee mountains, was formerly called Melvin Peak, and earlier, Black Snout. At their annual town-meeting in 1882, the people of Moultonborough rechristened it in honor of B. F. Shaw, of Lowell, Mass, who had done much to improve, beautify, and make known the scenic attractions of this section. An observatory was erected on the top, the platform being located at exactly 3,000 feet above the sea. The view of lake, mountain, and rural scenery presented from this was one of much more than ordinary beauty. A well-made path affords easy access to the summit, but the observatory has been taken down.

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History of Carroll County, New Hampshire, Part 13

Author: Merrill, Georgia Drew Publication date: 1889 Publisher: Boston : W.A. Fergusson & Co. Number of Pages: 1124

Author: Merrill, Georgia Drew
Publication date: 1889
Publisher: Boston : W.A. Fergusson & Co.
Number of Pages: 1124