History of Coos County, New Hampshire, Part 8

Author: Merrill, Georgia Drew
Publication date: 1888
Publisher: Syracuse [N.Y.] : W. A. Fergusson
Number of Pages: 1194

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HISTORY OF COOS COUNTY.

the people of Manchester turned out en masse to welcome the gentlemen back after so hazardous an enterprise I never learned. What became of the other two deer I do not know, but they never returned to that neigh- borhood. It will be inferred from what I have written that if the deer could be protected from being chased by dogs in summer, and from brutal men killing them on the crust in the winter, hundreds of these beautiful and useful animals might inhabit every township of northern New Hamp- shire.

The deer, as mentioned before, made its appearance in Coös about 1818 or 1820, and its increase was very rapid. About 1830, when there were the greatest number here, the wolves came among us, and were terribly destructive both to sheep and deer, and the farmers soon came to the con- clusion that the deer were the cause of the wolves' appearance, and they gradually withdrew their protection, and many persons killed twenty or more in the spring, wantonly as ever dogs or wolves killed sheep. Their numbers of course diminished, but in some localities they were numerous till after 1850. About that time, in the fall, after the snow was on the ground, I saw thirteen paraded on the porch of the old Cushman tavern in Dalton, taken with hounds by a party from Massachusetts, with Tom Jerrold, of Littleton, as guide. The deer, however, remained in consider- able numbers long after the wolves left.

I am thoroughly acquainted with the deer in all its habits and pecul- iarities of life. Of the fawn I would say it is the most beautiful little ani- nal that can be imagined. It is a little larger than the common lamb, with a pale red coat, like that of the doe in summer, ornamented with two rows of white spots on each side, the whole length of its body. Its grace- ful motion. its perfect limbs and its innocent and inquiring face, make it a most interesting creature. I never saw a fawn abroad with the doe while wearing its first or summer coat; they are hid by the mother while young and do not follow her till August. While the deer were plenty it was not an uncommon thing to find the fawns where the mother had left them when they could be easily captured. I have killed a large number of deer, but never was so mean or so unfortunate as to kill a doe while she was rearing her fawns in summer, but I saw one that was killed in the latter part of June, the udder of which indicated that she gave more milk in pro- portion to her size than a cow. The quantity a doe usually gives must be very great, as the fawns, when they begin to go out with her, are about half her size. The doe and her fawns remain together the first winter, but not after. Old bucks are seldom seen with the does or smaller deer. They remain exceedingly quiet while their horns are growing, and often become very fat, but after their horns harden, they feed little and range almost continually. soon becoming thin, and their venison is not good.

Of the caribou I know little, having never seen a live one, and never to.

GAME OF COOS COUNTY.

my recollection heard them spoken of by the early settlers, but it appears that, some sixty or seventy years ago, a herd came down from the north- east, and spread over the northern Androscoggin country, but did not come as far west as the Connecticut. I have never seen any of their natural feeding grounds, on any of the Connecticut waters southwest of Second and Third lakes. I have seen some very fine specimens of heads and horns taken in the extreme northeastern part of New Hampshire and Maine.

Horns .- The horns of the moose, deer, and caribou are strongly related to each other. I have noticed the horn of the deer, in all its stages, from the time it commences rising from the head till it dies and falls off in early winter. I will describe one taken from a buck of very large size. It was about eight inches long and an inch and a half in diameter at the base, where it was hard, and had taken its normal shape. About two and a half inches from the head the first prong was sent out, and was perfectly shaped and hard. From this point to the end the horn varied in density, until, at the extremity, it was a mere pulp, with a very small amount of bony substance. The second or largest prong had just begun to be formed. Across the end it was somewhat flattened, more than two and a half inches wide, and as thick as the horn would be when matured. When dried, the end shrunk and shriveled like some soft vegetable, and, when cut after drying, was nearly as porous as a sponge.

The horns of all these animals are, doubtless, extremely sensitive, for the bucks that wear them are seldom seen while they are growing, nor until well hardened. We seldom see horns that are damaged during growth, still I have noticed them broken down and healed. I have also seen where a knot had been broken off in a horn, and afterwards covered by a new growth. The skin, or velvet, on the horn of the live animal seems as tough as the skin on the other parts. I have seen large horns with the ends of all the main prongs pulpy. On the final hardening of the bony substance the skin dies and is rubbed off.

Some naturalists try to classify animals of the deer kind by their horns, and determine their ages by the number of prongs on each: but the excep- tions to this rule are many and marked. Edward Spaulding, who lived in Lancaster when the moose were in their glory, told of one with horns a foot wide and seventeen prongs on each. In the fall of 1848, on the head waters of Hall's stream, I saw the bones of a moose of the largest size, that had died when the horns were in the velvet. The carcass had been torn and the horns much eaten by the bears. These horns were about two and a half feet long, shaped like a palm almost from the head, and ten or eleven inches wide in the widest place. The next February (1849) John H. Spaulding went into that immediate vicinity and killed a bull moose. one of the horns of which I have examined. The shaft was twenty-one inches long and rounded almost as perfectly as that of the deer. It was broken

HISTORY OF COOS COUNTY.

off and rounded. About nine inches from the head was a well-rounded and sharp prong eight inches long. At thirteen inches was another prong, broken off when soft, leaving about four inches, and still another nearer the end three inches long and very sharp. Judge Caton concludes that the American moose is a separate animal from the Scandinavian elk. because his horns are more palmated; this moose had horns precisely like the animal represented in Judge Caton's work. The time of moulting, or shedding the horns, by the deer, moose, and caribou, depends much on circumstances. I have known a buck to shed his horns in November, and I have heard of one that wore a large pair of white horns in the spring. The moose seldom carries his antlers so late as the one killed by Mr. Spaulding.

I have horns of the deer of the normal shape: Shaft seventeen inches long, spread at points eleven inches, three prongs on each, aside from main shaft, rounded, and very sharp. I think I have seen four prongs on a single horn, but no more. I have another pair of horns, with the head, taken from one of the largest bucks I ever saw. These are about an inch and a half in diameter at the base. and nineteen inches in length. About four inches from the head is a very sharp prong on each, one about three, the other about two inches long. On the left horn is a small prong about one inch long, five inches from the end of the main shaft, very sharp. These horns are flattened to an edge on the upper side, and about two inches wide in the widest place. The shaft is otherwise of the usnal shape and handsomely turned. I once killed a buck not one-third the size of the one above mentioned, having well developed horns with three or four sharp prongs on each. I have seen a deer above the common size with only spike horns, six inches long, nearly as sharp as the tines of a pitchfork.

The Bear .- The bear was one of the original proprietors of the soil of this northern country, and still holds his own against all odds. The vaga- bond hunters had much rather expend their superfluous courage on deer and kindred animals than on such "rough things " as bears. I would say of "bruin " that I have known him from the little, crawling, blind cub, not larger than a large rat, brought forth in February or the first of March, to the old " sheep-killer" weighing four or five hundred pounds. Each she bear produces two and sometimes three cubs, which in their earliest stages are the most insignificant little things imaginable. They fasten at once upon the mother, and for about two months draw their sus- tenance from her without her partaking of any food; consequently she comes out of her den the last of April, or the first of May, extremely thin, while the cubs are as large as woodchucks. These cubs follow the mother the first season until it is time to den up in the fall, when they are driven off and den together, and, if they survive, remain near each other the fol- lowing season. If all the cubs and young bears lived, bears would be so numerous that the country would be overrun with them, but I think many

GAME OF COOS COUNTY.

perish during their first winter, and many more in the spring. when they first come out. I have known of several instances where they have been found in a famished condition and almost helpless. They are, when a year old, not much larger than a collie dog, but they grow very rapidly after vegetation starts. No animal fights for her young with more good will than the bear, and woe to the man, boy, or dog, that interferes with her cubs. I do not know of any wild animals of the same species where there is such a diversity of size and appearance as in the black bear : those of the largest size being truly formidable animals, and often a terror to neighbor- hoods. The ordinary bear lives mostly on roots, green herbs and berries, seldom killing sheep or doing other mischief, and if let alone is as harmless as fawns. In the early settlement of Lancaster there was one who con- cluded to live on the inhabitants, and if he could not find what he liked in the pastures or fields would tear off boards from the barns and walk in and help himself to sheep or calves as best suited him. He continued his depredations for a long time and was shot at often but to no effect. At last, Isaac Darby trapped and killed him. He was of monstrous size. I have had a strong passion for hunting the bear, and of some fifteen, that I have killed in the last twenty or thirty years, only one has been of the largest size of those old "sheep killers." This animal (I think in 1854) killed not less than fifty sheep and many young cattle during the summer and fall. The spring following he returned to the scene of his former depre- dations before the stock was out to pasture, and I was requested to try my skill on him, as all others had failed. He made it his home in the swamp east of where Capt. Beattie now lives. On our way up to set some traps, we met a noted hunter, and he told us in great excitement that he had seen him, and "he didn't care a thing about me. He was as big as a cow. I cracked a cap on him, but my gun wouldn't go." He did not seem inclined to go back with us, and " crack another cap," or to made the distance one foot less between him and " bruin." We trapped the bear one Saturday night, about the 1st of May. The next day, the churches were thinly attended, and, after a chase of several miles, " bruin " was killed. He was as fat as a well fatted hog. I had no means of ascertaining his weight, but a friend of mine took these measurements: From his tail to his nose, six feet two inches: lying upon his back, his fore legs by his side, and his hind legs stretched out like those of a man, he measured eight feet from the end of his toes to his nose: he was twenty-two inches across his breast; his "arms" were twenty-one inches round near the body, and apparently as hard as a piece of beech-wood; across the ball of his fore foot was five and three fourths inches; his longest nail was three inches outside the bend. His skin made a good sized sleigh robe without tanning.

The bear is stealthy, and never approaches his victim in a direct line, but in zigzag courses, as if he would pass by his prey. till sufficiently near. when

HISTORY OF COOS COUNTY.

he darts upon it with lightning speed, and at once proceeds to eat his game alive. He will eat decayed flesh only when reduced to great extremity by hunger. Bears are seldom seen in the forest, as they lie close to the ground and allow persons to pass very near them without moving. There is no doubt but that the large male bears kill the smaller ones, and each other, when they can. I caught a large one whose skin had been torn in two places across the back the width of a man's hand, and length- wise, two or three inches; it appeared as if the animal had attempted to escape from his antagonist, which struck both paws upon his back and tore his hide as he escaped.

Wolverine .- Among the game animals of Coos first to disappear was the wolverine. This was the natural enemy of the beaver, and the beavers, in order to protect themselves from its depredations, would, after freezing weather commenced, cover their houses with a coat of soft muck that became a crust that the wolverine could not break through. I have heard hunters complain of wolverines following their lines of sable traps and robbing them of the bait and game caught in them. It was a rare animal after the disappearance of the beaver, and could not exist after the destruc- tion of the moose and deer.

Lyne. - The "bob-cat," or Siberian lynx, was common while the deer remained, but he, with his shaggy coat, and the ugliest face that ever stared at a human being, is gone, I trust, never to return.

Otter .- Among the first and most valuable of furred animals was the otter, but as it was a wandering, solitary animal, living on fish, the num- ber was never great. There are some still remaining, but, being nocturnal in their habits, they are seldom seen. They might live for years in our streams and ponds and their presence only be detected by persons familiar with their habits.

The Fisher is another of the furred animals of former days. He flour- ished while the deer remained, but disappeared when he could no longer eke out a cold winter upon the carcasses of the superannuated old buck, doe, or fawns killed by hunters or the "bob-cat." This animal is of the weasel family. of much value, and about two-thirds the size of the fox.

Sable .- Next to the beaver in importance as a furred animal was that beautiful little creature, the sable. It was near the size of a half-grown house-cat, but much longer in proportion, of the weasel kind, head and ear like the fox. It lived upon what would satisfy a small carnivorous animal of the forest. Nocturnal in its habits, it was seldom seen, except when caught in a trap. The sable was secured by the hunters setting lines of traps. The trappers would start from a given point and go into the woods often several miles, and, at intervals of forty or fifty rods, make a wooden trap which they would bait with a piece of flesh or fish, then make a cir- cuit, and finally return to their starting point. They would pass over this

GAME OF COOS COUNTY.

line once in three or four days to secure their game and keep their traps in order. For a long period within my remembrance sable skins have been a very considerable source of income to the inhabitants of Coös. They were much used to make muffs and capes for the women, in my day. The muff of Mrs. Major Weeks was large enough to let her arms in to the elbows, and contained more than thirty prime sable skins, and with her cape seventy or eighty. My mother's muff contained thirty skins of choice quality. They always bore a good price in cash. A month spent in the fall by an experienced trapper would often secure a hundred or more. The sable, like the fisher, was dependent on the larger game, like the moose and deer. to carry them through our northern winters. So what was left by the hunters ceased to thrive, and only a few remain.

The Raccoon and Grey Squirrel are only visitors of Coos. In former times, when beech-nuts were plenty, they made their appearance in con- siderable numbers.

Wild Geese, Ducks, Etc .- Fifty years ago wild geese were plenty about the ponds and in Connecticut river near Lancaster. They often came in flocks of ten or a dozen, in September, and remained till freezing weather in the late fall. They were frequently killed by experienced sportsmen. Black and wood ducks were here in vast numbers, and some remained to within a few years. They made their nests and raised their young about the meadows, and in the fall were hunted by those who liked canvass backs but were willing to accept black or wood in place thereof. Perhaps the hunting was not according to the rules of sportsmen, but it filled the bag with game. The old Dutch gun, or Queen's arm, charged with two fin- gers of powder and an ounce of BB shot would sweep a space on a pond or river a yard and a half wide, and kill at a distance that would strike a modern sportsman with envy. The ducks are gone with the geese.

Grouse .- The ruffed grouse, or partridge, was found in great numbers in all our woods, but lately they are seldom seen, even in the deep forests where they are not hunted. The Canada grouse, or spruce partridge, was quite common. Although called a game bird, it would require a strange palate to call its flesh delicious. All naturalists in treating of the ruffed grouse describe his drumming, but make no mention of that of the Canada grouse which instead of sitting upon a log and beating regular strokes with his wings, making a sound like the beating an inflated ox bladder upon a log, reaches the top of a tree by hopping from branch to branch, then hops off and makes a drumming noise as he descends to the ground. I will describe one I saw that much interested me. Iheard what I supposed to be the drumming of a common partridge, and went to shoot it, but saw it was a Canada grouse, and sat down and watched him. He was on the ground, his feathers standing so many ways he hardly retained the shape of a bird. No dandy ever made a greater display. He began to

HISTORY OF COOS COUNTY.

ascend the bushes and limbs of the small trees about, by hopping and flying up a foot or two at a time, retaining his brustling and pompous mood. When he was up twenty or thirty feet, he hopped off a limb and came down almost perpendicularly making a fluttering, drumming noise as he descended. I watched him go through this performance several times. Thinking it a pity to spoil so much good feeling I left him to his enjoy- ment.

Pigeons .- In my boyhood I have seen flocks of hundreds of thousands, if not millions of wild pigeons. My father had a net and I have baited it and caught them till I was tired. They used to breed on the mountains in the vicinity. I once saw one of their "roosts." I was projecting a line through the forest on the highlands between this state and Canada, some- time in the " forties," and noticed egg shells on the ground. Looking up we saw that in the tops of the trees every place where sticks could be placed was occupied by a pigeon's nest. Some trees had as many as twenty or thirty. We camped in the midst of them, and the next morning went at least half a mile before we came to the end. Pigeons came in reduced numbers till within a few years, but they are now gone with the other game animals and birds; and Coös, from being the finest sporting ground in the world, is now 'about the poorest.

CHAPTER IX.

EARLY HISTORY.

Early Trappers and Hunters - Indian Threats -Capture of Stark and Eastman - Powers' Expedition - Extracts from Journal - Fort Wentworth -First Settlers - Townships, and Date of Grants - Early Population.

ARLY Trappers and Visitors .- After the exploration of Field and others (1632-42) it was more than a century before we again hear of white men within the limits of Coos county. The English were push- ing their settlements up the valleys of the Connecticut and the Merrimack, trappers penetrated the wilderness far above the settlements, and they often met the Indians on these hunting excursions and evidently were on friendly terms with them. John and Israel Glines came here very early, prior to 1750, several years before any expedition of discovery was sent to explore the wilds of Upper Cohos. These men came to get a part of their means of support, working on their land through "springtime and har-

EARLY HISTORY.

vest," and then repairing to this wilderness in the autumn to get the where- withal to supply their families with greater comforts than were then obtain- able from the meager soil of their rough farms.

John Glines had his camp near the mouth of the river which bears his name, while Israel had his headquarters near the placid Connecticut, Israel's river, and Beaver brook, where the traces of two distinct beaver dams are still to be seen. Here he carried on his hunting and trapping operations successfully.

Benjamin Nash. Willard, Thomas Barker, Edwards Bucknam, and others, followed the Glineses, and the almost mythical Martin, who gave his name to Martin Meadows. The Glineses became involved in trouble with the Indians by shooting one of them, and left to return no more. The later ones came, no doubt, more than once, on their hunting expeditions, to the upper Connecticut. But the French as well as Indians were becom- ing jealous of the extension northward of English settlements. As the English contemplated laying out two towns in the spring of 1752. which should embrace the lower Coos meadows, the Indians remonstrated and threatened. It is probable, however, that their threats were not known to all the settlers, for four young men from Londonderry were hunting on Baker's river, in Rumney, and two of these, John Stark and Amos East- man, were surprised and captured by the Indians, April 28, 1752. They were taken to Lower Coös where two of the Indians had been left to kill game against their return. The next day they proceeded to the Upper Coös, from which place they sent Eastman with three of their number to St. Francis. "The remainder of the Indians employed themselves for some time in hunting upon a small stream called John's river." -- [ Stark's Memoirs.] They reached St. Francis June 9th, when Stark joined his companion, Eastman. They were soon after ransomed and returned to their homes.

Powers' Expedition .- The best known of all the expeditions to Coös, was that of the company under command of Capt. Peter Powers, of Hollis, N. H., Lt. James Stevens, and Ensign Ephraim Hale, of Townsend, Mass. They commenced their tour Saturday, June 15, 1754. Starting from Concord, they followed the Merrimack river to Franklin, the Pemigewas- set river to Plymouth, Baker's river to Wentworth, and then crossed over to the Connecticut, via Baker's pond. They were ten days in reaching " Moose Meadows," which were in Piermont.

We extract from their journal :-

" Thursday, June 27th .- This morning it was cloudy weather, and it began to rain, the sun about an hour high, and we marched, notwithstanding, up the river to [Lower] Amonoosuck River, and our course was about north, distance about five miles; and we camped here, for the River Amonoosuck was so high we could not go over it without a canoe; for it was swift water, and near twenty rods wide. This afternoon it cleared off fair, and we went about our canoe, and

HISTORY OF COOS COUNTY.

partly built it. Some of our men went up the River Amonoosuek, to see what discoveries they could make; and they discovered excellent land, and a considerable quantity of large white pines.

" Friday, June 28th .- This morning fair weather, and we went about the canoe, and completed the same by about twelve of the clock this day, and went over the river; and we concluded to let the men go down the river in the canoe, who were not likely to perform the remaining part of the journey, by reason of sprains in the ankles, and weakness of body. They were four in number; and we steered our course for the great interval about east, northeast; and we this day marched, after we left the river, about ten miles. And the land was exceedingly good upland, and some quantity of white pine, but not thick, but some of them fit for masts.

" Saturday, June 29th .- This morning was cloudy, but we swung our packs, and steered our course about northeast, ten miles, and came to Connecticut River. There it came on rainy, and we camped by the side of the river, and it rained all this afternoon, and we kept our camp all this night. [This was in the southern part of what is now Dalton.] The land was, this day's march, very good, and it may be said as good as ever was seen by any of us. The common growth of wood was beech and maple, and not thick at all. It hath a great quantity of small brooks. This day and the day past, there were about three brooks fit for corn mills; and these were the largest of the brooks that we saw.

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History of Coos County, New Hampshire, Part 8

Author: Merrill, Georgia Drew Publication date: 1888 Publisher: Syracuse [N.Y.] : W. A. Fergusson Number of Pages: 1194

Author: Merrill, Georgia Drew
Publication date: 1888
Publisher: Syracuse [N.Y.] : W. A. Fergusson
Number of Pages: 1194