History of Carroll County, New Hampshire, Part 2

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


USA > New Hampshire > Carroll County > History of Carroll County, New Hampshire > Part 2


Note: The text from this book was generated using artificial intelligence so there may be some errors. The full pages can be found on Archive.org (link on the Part 1 page).


Part 1 | Part 2 | Part 3 | Part 4 | Part 5 | Part 6 | Part 7 | Part 8 | Part 9 | Part 10 | Part 11 | Part 12 | Part 13 | Part 14 | Part 15 | Part 16 | Part 17 | Part 18 | Part 19 | Part 20 | Part 21 | Part 22 | Part 23 | Part 24 | Part 25 | Part 26 | Part 27 | Part 28 | Part 29 | Part 30 | Part 31 | Part 32 | Part 33 | Part 34 | Part 35 | Part 36 | Part 37 | Part 38 | Part 39 | Part 40 | Part 41 | Part 42 | Part 43 | Part 44 | Part 45 | Part 46 | Part 47 | Part 48 | Part 49 | Part 50 | Part 51 | Part 52 | Part 53 | Part 54 | Part 55 | Part 56 | Part 57 | Part 58 | Part 59 | Part 60 | Part 61 | Part 62 | Part 63 | Part 64 | Part 65 | Part 66 | Part 67 | Part 68 | Part 69 | Part 70 | Part 71 | Part 72 | Part 73 | Part 74 | Part 75 | Part 76 | Part 77 | Part 78 | Part 79 | Part 80 | Part 81 | Part 82 | Part 83 | Part 84 | Part 85 | Part 86 | Part 87 | Part 88 | Part 89 | Part 90 | Part 91 | Part 92 | Part 93 | Part 94 | Part 95 | Part 96 | Part 97 | Part 98 | Part 99 | Part 100 | Part 101 | Part 102 | Part 103 | Part 104 | Part 105 | Part 106 | Part 107 | Part 108 | Part 109 | Part 110 | Part 111 | Part 112 | Part 113 | Part 114 | Part 115 | Part 116 | Part 117 | Part 118 | Part 119


LXXIII. CONWAY. - (Continued) . . 843 Brief Sketches of some of the Early Set- tlers, their Families and Descendants - Physicians -Schools.


LXXIV. CONWAY. - (Continued) . . . . 859 Ecclesiastical - First Preaching - What Rev. Timothy Walker wrote - Mr Moses Adams - Rev. Mr Porter's Letter - Church Organization - Covenant - Sign- ors - First Minister - Other Pastors - Second Church - Meeting-houses - Bap- tist Church - Protests - Organization - Petition for Incorporation - Pastors - Reorganization - Other Pastors - Con- way Freewill Baptist Church - Methodism in Conway - Episcopal Church.


LXXV. CONWAY. - (Concluded) . 873


Industrial Development - Mills, Tanneries, and Stores in 1832 - Largest Tax-payers in 1832-Chaises in 1832-Conway in 1858 and 1872 -- Farms, etc .- Couway Village in 1879- Conway Savings Bank - Sturte-


xi


INDEX TO TOWNS.


CHAPTER


l'AGE


vant's Peg-wood Mill- Kennett's Spool Factory - Conway House - Peqnawket House -Other Business Interests - North Conway- Scenery-Libraries-North Con- way Water-works, etc. - Railroad Stations - Hotels-Kearsarge House -North Con- way House- Sunset Pavilion - Bellevne House - Eastman House -. Artists' Falls House - McMillan House - Randall House - Moat Mountain House - Past and Present Business Men and Interests - The Intervale - Intervale House, etc. - Kear- sarge Village- Merrill House - The Orient - The Ridge - Redstone - Centre Conway - Cotton's Manufactory - Centre House, etc. - South Conway - Green Hills - Conway Street - East Conway - Bio- graphical Sketches.


LXXVI. BARTLETT . 909


Description-Scenery-Mountains-Rivers - The Saco - Incorporation - Grant - Lientenant Vere Royse - Pioneers - Rela- tive to a Bridge over East Branch - Roads and Bridges- Signers to a Petition - An- drew McMillan's Petition - Mills - Some- thing Coucerning Early Settlers - Names on the Tax-list of 1811.


LXXVII. BARTLETT. - (Continued) . . . 917 Town Annals and Civil List - Action of Town in the Rebellion.


LXXVIII. BARTLETT. - (Concluded) . . . 927 Early Hotels and Staging - Physicians - Bartlett Village - Bartlett Land and Lum-


CHAPTER PAGE


ber Company -- Kearsarge Peg Company - Description - Business Interests - Glen Station - Later Hotels-Resources - Free- will Baptist Church - Methodist Episcopal Church -Chapel of the Hills - Biographi- cal Sketches.


LXXIX. HART'S LOCATION . 942


LXXX. JACKSON 945


Introduction-Scenery - Situation-Monn- tains - Incorporation-Grants - First Set- ilers - Petitions - First Town-meeting - First Road - Inventory of 1801 - Some Early Settlers and their Descendants - Personal Sketches.


LXXXI. JACKSON. - (Concluded) . .. . 956


The First Schoolhouse - Early Teachers - School Surroundings, etc. - Freewill Baptist Church -Rev. Daniel Elkins and Other Pastors - The Protestant Chapel Association - Temperance - Libraries Manufacturing and Merchants - Hotels - Centennial Celebration - Civil List - Action of Town in the Rebellion - Character of the People - Glen Ellis Falls - Biographical Sketches.


LXXXII. CHATHAM . . 977


Description - Population - Families -Ac- tion of the Proprietors - Early Settlers - Extracts from Town Records -Chatham in the Rebellion-Reminiscences of Samuel Phipps, Jr-Church History - Education - Civil List - Biographical Sketches.


INDEX TO TOWNS.


PAGE


PAGE


ALBANY


782


JACKSON


945


BARTLETT


909


MADISON


802


BROOKFIELD


450


MOULTONBOROUGII


392


CHATHAM


977


OSSIPEE


579


CONWAY .


815


SANDWICHI


644


EATON


788


TAMWORTH 731


EFFINGHAM


531


TUFTONBOROUGHI


422


FREEDOM


560


WAKEFIELD


462


HART'S LOCATION


942


WOLFEBOROUGHI


279


BIOGRAPHIES AND ILLUSTRATIONS.


PAGE


CARROLL COUNTY MAP


. Facing 1


MOUNT AND LAKE CHOCORUA


engraving


106


PARKER, CHARLES II.


224


WEED, COL WILLIAM M.


engraving


245


IHILL, JUDGE DAVID H.1


engraving


249


EASTMAN, HON. JOEL


engraving


266


PITMAN, HON. G. W. M.


engraving


270


AVERY, SAMUEL


engraving


373


PICKERING, DANIEL


engraving


380


BROWN. ADAM


engraving


383


HUGGINS, SAMUEL


. engraving


386


HUGGINS, JOHN P.


. engraving


388


WHITTON, HON. THOMAS L.


· engraving


389


PEAVEY, JOHN L.


engraving


447


SANBORN, HON. JOHN W.


engraving


521


GARVIN, CAPTAIN EBENEZER


· engraving


524


CANNEY, MOSES B.


engraving


527


DORR, GEORGE S.


engraving


557


TOWLE, ELIAS


engraving


574


THURSTON, JOSIAH


engraving


576


THE QUARLES FAMILY


engraving


638


GRANT, NATHANIEL, M.D.


engraving


640


WHITE, CHARLES, M.D.


engraving


706


WENTWORTH, COL JJOSEPH


engraving


714


HOYT, AARON BEEDE


engraving


715


WIGGIN, MEHITABLE BEEDE


MARSTON, HON. MOULTON II.


engraving


719


HEARD. HON. WILLIAM A.


engraving


720


FELLOWS, COL ENOCH Q.


engraving


728


FELLOWS, CHRISTOPHER C.


726


SKINNER, DANIEL M.


engraving


727


STEVENSON, JOHN M.


engraving


779


PERKINS, EDWIN R.


engraving


. 780


SNOW, EDWIN


. engraving


799


MASON, NATHANIEL R.


engraving


895


ABBOTT. HIRAM C.


. engraving


. 898


637


QUARLES, LIEUT-COL SAMUEL D.


engraving


708


COOK. JOHN


engraving


709


COOK, ASA S.


engraving


711


713


THE WENTWORTH FAMILY


717


PERKINS, TRUE


. engraving


' As an appreciation of many kindnesses and valuable assistance rendered in preparing this History, the engraving of Judge Hill Is contributed by the publishers.


391


PEAVEY, COL JOIIN


529


DEMERITT, JOIN


WHITE. CHARLES HENRY, SURGEON U. S. N.


xiii


BIOGRAPHIES AND ILLUSTRATIONS.


PAGE


MORTON, LEANDER S.


engraving


901


MORRILL, JOEL E.


903


PITMAN, IION. LYCURGUS


engraving


903


MURPHY, LADY BLANCHE


905


THIE PENDEXTER FAMILY


935


PENDEXTER, SAMUEL. .


engraving


937


PENDEXTER, CHARLES C.


engraving


938


PENDEXTER, SOLOMON D.


engraving


939


PITMAN, IION. JOSEPII


. engraving


040


TRICKEY, CAPTAIN JOSHUA


· engraving


967


WENTWORTH, GEN. MARSHALL C.


· engraving


969


STILLINGS, NICIIOLAS T.


engraving


972


THE MESERVE FAMILY


973


EASTMAN, ASA


984


CLAY, ITIHIEL E.


engraving


985


HISTORY


OF


CARROLL COUNTY.


CHAPTER I.


THE COUNTY OF CARROLL.


Organization -Towns Included - Additions - Boundaries -Name -Strafford County - Area, Location, and Boundaries - Population, Agriculture, Manufactures, and Wealth - Sta- tistics from Census of 1880 - Financial Condition - Altitudes.


C ARROLL COUNTY was created by an act of the state legislature approved December 23, 1840, which also formed Belknap county. The language of the act concerning the towns embraced in Carroll county is " the said county of .Carroll shall contain all the lands and waters included within the following towns and places, which now constitute a part of the county of Strafford, to wit: Albany, Brookfield, Chatham, Conway, Eaton, Effingham, Freedom, Moultonborough, Sandwich, Tamworth, Tuftonborough, Ossipee, Wakefield, and Wolfborough, and the said towns be, and the same are hereby, severed and disannexed from the county of Strafford."


By an act of the legislature approved January 5, 1853, Bartlett, Jackson, and Hart's Location were disannexed from the county of Coos and annexed to Carroll county.


Boundaries between Belknap and Carroll counties were established in 1841 thus : "Beginning at the easterly termination of the line dividing the towns of Meredith and Moultonborough ; thence running easterly to the southerly point of Long Island in Winnipisseogee lake; thence easterly to the westerly termi- nation of the line dividing the towns of Wolfborough and Alton ; and all the lands and waters lying northerly of said line and between that and said towns


2


HISTORY OF CARROLL COUNTY.


of Moultonborough, Tuftonborough, and Wolfborough shall constitute a part of said county of Carroll."


The town of Madison was incorporated from the western part of Eaton in 1852.


Carroll county received its name in commemoration of Charles Carroll of Carrollton, one of the most distinguished of the signers of the Declaration of Independence, and by the diversified and lovely character of its bewitching scenery is keeping the name a household word in the cultured minds of both the old and new worlds. No other county in the state presents more attrac- tions to the traveler, and none other has received such a wealth of tribute from pen of poet or gifted littérateur.


Strafford county, from which Carroll was formed, was one of the five origi- nal counties of New Hampshire, being made by the same act which created Rockingham, Hillsborough, Cheshire, and Grafton, March 19, 1771. Many of the towns in Carroll have a much older corporate existence than the county, and some of them are as old as the five first counties. The early or pioneer stage belongs here rather to the towns than to the county, and will receive attention in their history.


Carroll county contains an area of nearly six hundred square miles, is sur- rounded on the north by Coos and Grafton counties, east by York and Oxford counties in Maine, southeast by Strafford county, southwest and west by Belk- nap and Grafton counties, and lies between 43º 28' and 44° 35' north latitude, and 3º 20' and 6° 10' longitude east from Washington.


Population, agricultural and manufacturing statistics from census of 1880. - The entire population of Carroll is 18,291, an improvement over 1870, which showed 17,332, and a falling off from 1860, which gave 20,465, and from 1850, which was 20,157. Albany had in 1880, 361; in 1870, 339; Bartlett and Hailes Location. 1,044 in 1880; Brookfield 1880, 428: 1870, 416; Chatham 1880, 421; 1870, 445; Conway 1880, 2,094; 1870, 1,607; Eaton 1880, 629; 1870, 657; Effingham 1880, 865; 1870, 904; Freedom 1880, 714; 1870, 737; Ilart's Location 1880. 70; 1870, 26; Jackson 1880, 464; 1870, 474; Madison 1880, 586; 1870, 646: Moultonborough 1880, 1,254; 1870, 1,299; Ossipee 1880, 1,782; 1870, 1,822; Sandwich 1880, 1,701: 1870, 1,854; Tamworth 1880, 1,274; 1870, 1,344; Tuftonborough 1880, 923; 1870, 949: Wakefield 1880, 1,392; 1870, 1,185; Wolfeborough 1880, 2,222; 1870, 1,995.


In 1880 Carroll county had 2,753 farms, with a total of 168,232 acres of improved land, while 158,019 acres were mountain, woodland, and forest, and 10,213 acres additional were unimproved. The aggregate value of these farms was 81,131,572, including land, fences, and buildings; of farming imple- ments and machinery, $164,626; livestock, $703,680; estimated value of farm products, 8814,849.


There were raised 733 bushels of barley, 1,046 bushels of buckwheat,


3


THE COUNTY OF CARROLL.


86,455 bushels of Indian corn, 35,227 bushels of oats, 1,337 bushels of rye, 14,713 bushels of wheat, 310,937 pounds of maple sugar, 9,874 gallons of maple syrup, 40,869 tons of hay, 229,610 dozens of eggs, 7,970 pounds of honey, 241,050 bushels potatoes, 6,974 fleeces of wool, weighing 32,100 pounds, an annual value of orchard products of $82,032, and 7,778 bushels of beans.


There were 3,402 horses on the farms, June 1, 1880, 4,035 working oxen, 6,082 milch cows, and 8,294 other cattle, 6,974 sheep (excluding spring lambs), 3,476 swine, 32,100 pounds of wool clipped in the spring, 33,238 gallons of milk sold and sent to factories, 465,476 pounds of butter made, and 19,684 pounds of cheese.


The assessed valuation of real estate was $4,374,291, of personal property, $1,439,936. There were 96 manufacturing concerns, with $2,056,245 capital ; employing 780 operatives, who were paid $251,300 annually, and producing $1,707,626 in goods. The financial condition of the county at the end of the last fiscal year is thus given by the county commissioners : -


The County debt May 1, 1889, was :


$9,100.00


Bonds at 6 per cent. 4


40,000.00


Interest on Bonds,


557.86


Call Notes at 4 per cent.


16,029.97


Interest on Notes to May 1, 1889,


660.16


Bills and orders outstanding,


200.00


$66,547.99


The County has assets : -


County Farm and Buildings,


$20,000.00


Personal Property at the Farm,


5,626.43


Cash in hands of Treasurer,


5,804.98


Costs and Fines due County,


200.00


Cash due from the towns of Albany and Chatham,


202.69


The debt, less fines, cash in treasury, and cash due from Albany and Chatham, is $60,340.32, and the reduction of the debt for the year is $11,067.22.


In 1880 the county had a bonded debt of $198,370, and a floating debt of $269,019, making a total indebtedness of $467,389.


Altitudes. - Mt Washington, 6,293 ft; Mt Adams, 5,794 ft ; Mt Jefferson, 5,714 ft; Mt Clay, 5,553 ft; Mt Monroe, 5,384 ft; Mt Little Monroe, 5,204 ft ; Mt Madison, 5,365 ft ; Mt Franklin, 4,904 ft ; Mt Pleasant, 4,764 ft : Mt Clin- ton, 4,320 ft; Mt Jackson, 4,100 ft ; Mt Webster, 4,000 ft; Mt Crawford, 3,134 ft; Mt Willey, 4,300 ft; Mt Nancy, 3,800 ft; Giant's Stairs, 3,500 ft; Boott Spur, 5,524 ft ; Boott Deception, 2,448 ft; Mt Carter, north peak, 4,830 ft; Mt Carter, south peak, 4,702 ft; Mt Moriah, 4,653 ft; Mt Royce, 2,600 ft ; Mt Wildcat, 4,350 ft; Mt Whiteface, 4,007 ft (the northern elevation 175 higher) ; Mt Passaconaway, 4,200 ft; Mt Osceola, 4,397 ft: Sandwich Dome (Black Mountain), 3,999 ft; Mt Resolution, 3,400 ft; Trimountain, 3,393 ft;


4


HISTORY OF CARROLL COUNTY.


Silver Spring Mountain (est.), 3,000 ft; Green's Cliff, 2,958 ft; Table Moun- tain, 3,305 ft; Mt Israel, 2,880 ft; Mt Chocorua, 3,540 ft; Mt Kearsarge (Pequawket), 3,251 ft ; Red Hill, south peak, 1,769 ft ; Red Hill, north peak, 2,038 ft ; Ossipee Mountain, 2,361 ft; Mt Shaw, 2,956 ft; Green Hills, 2,390 ft ; Copple Crown, 2,100 ft; Great Moose Mountain, 1,404 ft ; Tin Mountain, 1,650 ft ; Mt Baldface, 3,600 ft; Double Head, 3,120 ft; Iron Mountain, 2,000 ft; Mote Mountain, 3,200 ft; Mote Mountain, south peak, 2,700 ft; Lake of the Clouds (Blue Pond), 5,009 ft; White Mountain Notch, 1,914 ft; Saco Pond (head of Saco River), 1,880 ft; Saco River (at Willey House), 1,300 ft ; Fabyan's, 1,571 ft; Base of Mt Washington, 2,668 ft; Ossipee Lake, 408 ft; Mountain Pond, 1,300 ft; Six-mile Pond, 456 ft; Chocorua Lake, 550 ft; Bear Camp Pond, 600 ft; Dan Hole Pond, 775 ft; Pine River Pond, 550 ft; Prov- ince Pond, 525 ft ; East Pond (Lake Newichawannock), 499 ft ; Horn Pond, 479 ft ; Lovell's Pond, 550 ft; Smith's Pond, 525 ft; Red Hill Pond, 590 ft ; Long Pond, 505 ft; Squam Lake, 510 ft; Lake Winnipiseogee, 496-502 ft ; Wakefield Summit, 690 ft; Wolfeborough Junction, 574 ft; West Ossipee, 428 ft; Conway, 466 ft; North Conway, 521 ft; Upper Bartlett, 660 ft; Jackson, 759 ft; Drakesville (Effingham), 381 ft; Freedom, 396 ft; South Tamworth, 630 ft; Sandwich, 648 ft ; Tuftonborough, 889 ft ; Moultonborough Centre, 581 ft ; Water Village (Ossipee), 745 ft.


CHAPTER II.


GEOLOGY.


Rock Formations - Rock Systems - The Age of Ice - Glacial Drift - Lower Till - Upper Till - Champlain Period - Kames - Recent or Terrace Period, etc. etc.


R OCK FORMATIONS. - These are the fundamental characters of the geological book, and, before we dilate on the later periods, due attention must be given to the backbone of the edifice.


The rocks of Carroll county, beginning with the lowest, are the Acidic and Basic groups of the unstratified, and the Azoic, Eozoic, and Paleozoic groups of the stratified rocks. Of these, the oldest, or bed-rock, is a very coarse granite, or gneiss, conceded now to be of eruptive (volcanic) origin, that, with different arrangements of the same constituents, is given different names. Ledges of these rocks show large quadrangular patches of feldspar of a light color,


5


GEOLOGY.


varying from a fraction of an inch to three or more inches in length. Quartz and feldspar, with white and black mica, and sometimes hornblende, are the constituent elements of those primitive or acidic rocks, sienite, granite, and porphyry. These unstratified fundamental rocks are the oldest rocks in New Hampshire, and form the vast volume of the White Mountains, and nowhere in New England can be found a better opportunity to read in the earliest pages of the " Book of Nature " than is presented in the scarred rocks, wild gorges, and precipitous chasms of these eternally enduring and ever magnificent creations of a God of Power. A brief mention of the rocks is sufficient for our purpose in this volume, but the aspiring student who would pursue their study in the interest of science or for personal gratification will find that Professor Hitchcock and his co-laborers have thoroughly and exhaustively covered the ground in that excellent monument to their scientific attainments, " The Geology of New Hampshire."


Rock Systems .- Prof. C. H. Hitchcock gives as the rock systems of the White Mountain district : 1. Laurentian, represented by the porphyritic gneiss, and Bethlehem group. 2. Atlantic, consisting of the Lake or Berlin and Montalban or White Mountain gneisses, and Franconia breccia. 3. Lab- rador. 4. Huronian. 5. Merrimack schists. 6. Andalusite schist group. 7. Eruptions of porphyry. 8. Eruptions of the Conway, Albany, and Chocorua granites and sienites. 9. Formation of the Mt Pequawket (Kearsarge) or Mt Mote porphyritic breccia.


THE AGE OF ICE. - It is perhaps desirable to devote some space in this volume to the Age of Ice, as in this period and those immediately following, when the colossal ice-sheet, which was so thick that the top of Mount Washington was deeply covered, was removed, and the surface, soil, and water- courses of the county were formed, the lakes established in their boundaries, and the conditions necessary to civilized occupancy were arranged and prepared.


The indications of a glacial period are probably as well shown in this section of New England as anywhere in the world. Underlying the modified drift are often found masses of earth and rocks mingled confusedly together, having neither stratification nor any appearance of having been deposited in water. These are the glacial drift, or till. This drift frequently covers the slopes, and even the summits, of the highest mountains, as well as the lesser elevations. It contains bowlders of all sizes, up to thirty feet in diameter, which have nearly all been carried southward from their native ledges, and can be traced, in some instances, for a hundred miles, southward or southeastward. Wherever till occurs, the ledges have mostly been worn to a rounded form, and, if the rock be hard, it is covered with long scratches, or strice, in the direction of the course taken by the bowlders. Geology now refers these to a moving ice-sheet which spread over this continent from the north, and, as before stated, was of


6


HISTORY OF CARROLL COUNTY.


sufficient thickness to cover even Mount Washington. This ice-sheet was so much thicker at the north than in this latitude that its great weight pressed the ice steadily onward and outward to the south-southeast. The termination of this iee-sheet in the Atlantic, southeast of New England, was probably like the great ice-wall of the Antarctic continent, along which Sir J. C. Ross sailed 450 miles, finding only one point low enough to allow the smooth white plain of the upper surface to be seen from the mast-head. This extended, apparently boundless, and was of dazzling whiteness.


There was a long, continuous period of glacial action, with times of retreat and advance, but never a complete departure and return of a continental ice- sheet. The motion of this iee, being caused by its own weight, must have been slow indeed. Over the highlands between the St Lawrence river and Hudson bay the ice-sheet was three or four miles in thickness; over Greenland much thicker, and over the White Mountains it reached nearly or quite to the line of perpetual snow. The till, or coarse glacial drift, was made by the long- continued wearing and grinding of the ice-sheet. As this slowly advanced, fragments were torn from the ledges, held in the bottom of the ice, and worn by friction upon the surface over which it moved. This material, crushed beneath the ice into minute fragments or fine powder, is called the Lower Till. While the lower till was being made under the ice, large quantities of coarse and fine matter were swept away from hill-slopes and mountain-sides, and carried forward in the iec. As this melted, much of this matter fell loosely on the surface, forming an unstratified deposit of gravel, earth, and bowlders. This deposit geologists eall the Upper Till. Usually this is found above the lower till, the line of separation being at a distance of from two to twenty feet. The departure of the ice-sheet was attended by a rapid deposition of the abundant materials therein contained. The retreat of the ice-sheet was toward the northwest and north, and it is probable that its final melting took place mostly on the surface, so that, at the last, great amounts of its deposits were exposed to the washing of many streams. The finer particles were generally carried away, and the strong current of the glacial rivers transported coarse gravel and bowlders of considerable size.


When these streams entered the valley from which the ice had retreated, or their currents were slackened by less rapid descent, a deposition took place, where the channel was still walled by ice, in succession of coarse gravel, fine gravel, sand, and fine silt or clay. These deposits filled the valleys, and increased in depth in the same way that additions are now made to the bottom-lands or intervals of our large rivers by the floods of spring. They are called Modified Drift, and geology gives this name to the period from the departure of the ice-sheet to the present. This modified drift occurs in almost every valley of New Hampshire, and comprises the intervals which are annually overflowed, and the successive terraces which rise in steps upon the sides of the


7


GEOLOGY.


valley, the highest often forming extensive plains. Dr Dana has given the name of Champlain Period to the time of the deposition of the modified drift during the melting of the ice-sheet. During the Champlain period, the ice became molded upon the surface, by the process of destruction, into great basins or valleys ; at the last, the passages through which the melting waters passed off came gradually to coincide with the depressions of the present surface.


These lowest and warmest portions of the land were first freed from the ice ; and, as the melted area slowly extended into the continental glacier, its vast floods found their outlet at the head of the existing valley. In these channels were deposited materials gathered by the streams from the melting glacier. By the low water of winter, layers of sand were formed, and by the strong currents of summer, layers of gravel, often very coarse. These layers are irregularly bedded, here sand, and there gravel, accumulating, and inter- stratified without much order with each other.


These, the oldest of our deposits of modified drift, are long ridges, or intermixed short ridges and mounds, composed of very coarse water-worn gravel, or of alternate gravel and sand irregularly bedded. Wherever the ordinary fine alluvium occurs, it overlies or partly covers these deposits. The geological name for these is Kames.


The extensive level plains and high terraces bordering the New Hampshire rivers were also deposited in the Champlain period, as the open valleys became gradually filled with great depths of gravel, sand, and clay (alluvium), which were brought down by the glacier rivers from the melting ice-sheet, or washed from the till after the ice had retreated, and which were deposited in the same way as those made by high floods at the present day. During the recent or terrace period, the rivers have cut deep and wide channels in this alluvium, and the terraces mark heights at which, in their work of erosion, they have left portions of their successive flood-plains.


The lenticular accumulations of till which have been observed cast of Lake Winnipiscogee lie most frequently on the northwest side of hills, which was struck by the full force of the ice-current.


The hill upon which Sandwich Lower Corner is built may serve as an example. The north side of this hill is a smooth lenticular slope of till, but ledge appears at its top and on its south side. Fernald's hill in Tuftonborough, a mile east of Melvin village, also has a very regular north and northwest slope of till.


A bed of stratified gravel and sand occurs in the lower till of this deposit. The highest point of this hill is ledge, which forms all its southeast side, being in many places precipitous. A similar mass of lower till, with modified drift beneath or enclosed in it, lies on the northwest side of a hill two miles northeast of Wolfeborough village. Pray hill, north of Pine River pond in


8


HISTORY OF CARROLL COUNTY.


Wakefield, has a fine northwest slope of till, while its southeast slope is ledge. Fogg's Ridge, one mile south of Pocket hill in Ossipee, is the only true lenticular hill seen in Carroll county. This is a typical example, showing no ledges for 100 feet below its highest point. Its whole northwest and north slopes appear to be composed of till; on the south and southeast, ledges form the base of the hill, extending halfway to its top.


CHAPTER III.


GEOLOGY CONTINUED. MODIFIED DRIFT, ETC.


Saco River - Pine River - Ossipee Lake - Altitudes Around Winnipiseogee Lake - Departure of the Iec-sheet - Lake Basins - Terraces - Kames - Clay - Dunes - Lake Dis- triet Elevations - Conway Bowlders - The Washington Bowlder - Ordination Roek - Madi- son Bowlder - White Mountain Granites.




Need help finding more records? Try our genealogical records directory which has more than 1 million sources to help you more easily locate the available records.