USA > New Hampshire > Sullivan County > Goshen > History of Goshen, New Hampshire : settled, 1769, incorporated, 1791 > Part 29
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Friends described the teen-age flyer as an expert pilot who had traveled more than 13,000 air-miles the previous summer in Alaska. The body was brought out by a large searching-party that responded to call by state trooper Leslie Menzies. No evi- dence of engine-failure, or failure of the controls or structure, was found by the chief of the state Aeronautics Commission. Ironically, the silver-colored plane in which the young flier met his death had been given to him as a Christmas present by his parents the preceeding year.
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Escapade of a Lumberjack
A Sunday night "binge" by a lumberjack from Washington had an exciting sequel in Goshen during the early-morning hours of April 5, 1920.
Bert Stone was working for the Shepard and Morse Lumber Co., at Cherry Valley, under a foreman by the name of Parsons. Borrowing one of the camp's horses and the foreman's revolver - unknown to the foreman - Stone, a drinking man but otherwise harmless enough, drove over the mountain to New- port. By midnight Sunday his liquor had induced such a state of bravado that he held up the Newport Restaurant and the Coniston Lunch at gun-point, taking small sums from each of the night-clerks. He then disappeared.
The Newport police-chief Hastings was immediately notified and telephone alerts were sent out to the neighboring towns in an effort to apprehend the man.
At the Goshen telephone-central Will E. Howe took the message, with the warning that the robber was armed. Accom- panied by his two boys, Harry and Chester, Mr. Howe went toward the square, rousing a neighbor, Walter Nelson, in pass- ing. His plan was to stop the man, if he came Goshen-way, at the main street bridge. Here Harold Hewson and John Gocha were added to the little posse.
For an anxious half-hour they waited, shivering in the cold night-air of early spring, when a shadowy object emerged from the gloom and came slowly toward them. It was a heavy work- horse, plodding at a walk toward his home-stable, with Stone asleep in the wagon. Abreast of the group of men, the horse willingly halted at command. Stone, suddenly awaking, rose unsteadily to his feet and drew his revolver, pointing it at Mr. Howe who was reaching into the wagon for him. This action brought the man in dim silhouette against the sky-line and Nelson, the only one of the group armed, took a quick shot from the hip. By good-fortune the bullet creased the heel of Stone's gun-hand, numbing it so that Howe snatched the man's revolver before it could be discharged. Stone made no further
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resistance and was taken under guard to Howe's kitchen, where his hand was bandaged. Here Chief Hastings, arriving shortly, made his arrest and conveyed him on Tuesday to the Merri- mack County Jail at Concord, to await trial.
Disastrous Fires of Three Decades
A heavy toll of property value has been taken by fires in Goshen, one of the most destructive being that of April 29, 1930, when a garden bonfire at the Ella Adams homestead in Goshen Center was swept out of control by a sudden wind-flurry. The house, then owned by William and Elizabeth (Adams) Royce, was one of the oldest in town and filled with treasured heir- looms. Together with barn and outbuildings it was totally de- stroyed. The fire then raced eastward over dry fields to consume the Clifton Purington buildings, then unoccupied but in past years one of the most prosperous and carefully-kept places in town. A third set of substantial buildings on the Winham-Smith farm was also leveled before the fire could be brought under con- trol. Both these last-named farms were owned by the Draper Corporation, for lumbering purposes, and the buildings were not rebuilt.
Jan. 3, 1921, the old Dr. McIntire house, two-storied, at the Corners, was burned while occupied by John Page. This stood where a new house has been built by Geo. E. Ayotte.
Ten years later, also in January, the old McCrillis house, just above the first, was burned and not rebuilt.
In March, 1933, a small house known as the Pooler place, caught fire from an overheated stovepipe and was destroyed; not rebuilt.
Of about the same date was the burning of the Frank Weeks place on the Province Road, while occupied by Thomas South- wick.
Sept. 13, 1933, the Newport Fire Dept. was enlisted into service to fight a fire which razed the "Pleasant View," formerly "The Earl." The building had been unoccupied for several months and was owned by E. M. Clark of North Haverhill. Re- cently dances had been held there by the Civilian Conservation
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Corps, from their camp but a short distance away on the Mum- mery Brook.
While known as "The Earl," this hotel was the mecca for many gay parties and dances in "the Nineties." Built in 1897 by Joseph C. Winter, it was described in its advertising-leaflets as "a first-class summer hotel delightfully situated on high land commanding a view of the mountains and valleys for which New Hampshire is famous ... The grounds afford a grand opportunity for children; cool, shady and romantic walks, ten- nis and croquet grounds and the grandest Scotland golf-links in New England. Accommodations for fifty guests. Elegantly and tastefully furnished throughout." A portable saw-mill was afterwards operated on the abandoned site by A. Caron.
The Village took its turn at fiery disaster in the early morning of Jan. 19, 1943, when Martin Tatro, in driving past the John S. Smart house on his way to work saw flames through the kitchen-window. By the time the Newport Fire Department made the five-mile run over sleet-glazed roads the fire had spread from the kitchen to a shed connected with an unusually large and well-equipped barn, both of which were destroyed. Failure of the portable pump, first to arrive on the scene, aided the flames to spread to the upper part of the main house, al- though this portion was saved and was immediately re-roofed and repaired.
Town records, kept in a safe in the barn, although badly soaked before the safe could be opened, were in the main pre- served through the care of Mrs. Helen Brigham, acting town clerk in the absence of Mr. Smart who was a patient at Hanover Hospital. No one was known to have been in the house for some weeks prior to the fire. Over the sink, where the fire started, was an electrical connection, leading to the belief that a short- circuit may have started the blaze.
The Volunteer Fire Company
To alleviate this near-defenseless plight common to rural communities, the Goshen Volunteer Fire Company was formed in 1939, with Amos Trudeau, Sr., active organizer and Chief. World War II so reduced the number of men resident in town
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that the fire company became inactive. At war's close the volun- teer firemen resumed their activities, with Ivan Scranton, Chief. Eventually Walter Stevens, popular garage-proprietor, succeeded to the position of Chief. Upon Mr. Stevens' removal from town, Charles S. Abbott was elected Fire Chief, a position still held by him. A re-organization was effected in 1947, immediately follow- ing a bad fire on Sunapee Mountain. A small appropriation is voted annually at town-meeting for maintenance of equipment. In 1954 the old pumper was replaced by a much larger and more powerful machine, a "Champion" pump of 500 gals. per minute capacity mounted upon a four-wheel-drive Chevrolet chassis. This, combined with a booster-tank, ladders, 2,000 feet of 11/2 and 21/2 inch hose, two portable pumps, Indian back-pumps and hand fire-fighting tools has proven its value in many alarms. Not every fire has been reported in time, it is true, as shown by the loss of the Martin Tatro place, April 10, 1952; but enough of them have been extinguished by the Volunteer Fire Company to well prove its worth.
Nor are the energies of the firemen entirely confined to fires; they obligingly pump out flooded cellars and contaminated wells, clear obstructed water-pipes, maintain oversight of the town-dump which is rather precariously situated at the foot of the mountain. In short, many deeds of neighborly kindness are performed that go unrecorded. In 1948 the walls and ceiling of the town hall were cleaned and re-painted by the firemen, at a saving to the town of many hundreds of dollars.
The freshly decorated interior invited use for entertainments. The Fire Company staged an exceptionally clever minstrel show on a Saturday evening, March 31, 1951, and found they pos- sessed much talent. Some of the more original gags sprung dur- ing the program still elicit reminiscent chuckles. This was followed by a repeat performance and the following season a new program was put on with equal success.
Storage of the pumper in the town-garage, which had formerly been the "new" creamery building, so crowded other equip- ment that an addition was built on at the west side to house
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the fire-fighting apparatus. Oil-heat keeps the pumper ready for instant service.
Present officers are:
Chief, Charles S. Abbott; Ass't Chief, Harold I. Hodgman; Captain, Fred L. Morse; Ist Lieut., Frank W. Lund; 2nd Lieut., Wilbur Campbell; Treas., Howard E. Pratt; Sec'y, Gerald Dick- erman.
Grange Fairs
In August, 1955, the local grange sponsored a revival of Old Home Day observance, combined with an old-time country fair. Under the direction of John H. Newman, Mrs. C. S. Newton and others, invitations to former residents were sent out, a display of farm-machinery arranged and townspeople encour- aged to prepare floats for a parade. The day of the fair was perfect and the events well carried out. A wood-chopping con- test and similar activities provided added interest.
This project was repeated in the following summer of 1956, with the entertainment limited to afternoon and evening. "The Goshen Band," a local group of musicians riding in a truck decorated to resemble a hay-wagon, and the children's section of the parade furnished much amusement with their displays of ingenuity and preparation. A supper at the grange hall was served.
Our Winter Carnivals
Big towns were promoting widely-touted Winter Carnivals, why not the small towns? The answer to this question was given in no uncertain terms on Jan. 20, 1951, with a Winter Carnival sponsored by the Goshen 4-H Club. Mrs. Josie Richardson, 4-H leader, patterned the program after the tested formula for such affairs and seemed assured of success. That is, until a midwinter- thaw of three days' duration continued into the very day of the event. The reporter for the Newport Guardian summarized the results thus:
"Those Goshen folks deserve a world of credit for carrying through with their First Annual Winter Carnival on schedule, without snow and under the worst possible conditions, ... rearranging their program to suit the weather. Instead of ski races they staged bicycle races for the kids; instead
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of trotting races on the snow, they held 'plow horse' races in the mud. It was like that all down the line. People with sticktoitiveness like that are bound to get the payoff in the long run ... "
A baked-bean supper, priced at an unforgettable 50c, was served at the Grange Hall. A bonfire on the meadow was lighted at 6:00 and the evening was given over to dancing and the crown- ing of a Carnival Queen, Miss Gwendolyn Caron, by no less a personage than Miss New Hampshire of 1950, Miss Betty Laurie, who graciously came from Concord for the occasion.
A homily on "Mistakes," printed in the program, ran thus:
"All men, no matter how big, do make mistakes. But biography teaches us that big men refuse to falter because of mistakes. It is true that there are lots of men who make no mistakes, but only because they attempt few things. Henry Ford forgot to put a reverse gear in his first automobile. Edison once spent over two million dollars on an invention which proved of little value. .. . Don't spend your time regretting your mistakes but get up and hit the line twice as hard. You'll never succeed beyond the mistake to which you are willing to surrender."
Under Mrs. Richardson's able leadership the Winter Carnivals were repeated for the ensuing three years - 1952, '53 and '54, with vexatious thaws too often occurring. Ultimate abandonment of the yearly project was undoubtedly the greatest "mistake" of all.
CHAPTER XXVIII Farming and Allied Activities
Our Farms
A BANDONMENT of the old regime wherein farming was the basis of life, has caused much readjustment in all rural New England communities. There was a beautiful corre- lation in farming that made good use of every edible fragment- it was, in short, the perfect circle exemplified, allowing no waste.
Today the farmer whose dependence rests solely upon his farm is in the minority. More and more he has come to rely upon an outside income to finance his operations and, indeed, such an investment is now required that it has literally become neces- sary to secure additional sources of capital. Far gone is the day when the farmer could gather the major portion of his farm- implements, scythe, rake, hoe, shovel, axe, etc., in his arms and walk away with them. The advent of the self-contained gas- engine has changed all that in a marvelous way and farm-work is now being accomplished with great expedition and the saving of hand-labor. Much has truly been gained, could the tremendous overhead be forgotten.
It is apparent that this excessive capital-investment is keeping many young men out of agriculture, although this is far from being the only factor involved. The outcome has been to sharply reduce the number of our less-arable farms, the better farms having been generally maintained. Some exceptions may be noted; e.g. the O. E. Farr, Harvey Messer, E. S. Robinson, F. E. Teague and the old Lowell and Maxham farms at the Corners.
Offsetting the decadence of these places of long-established renown there have been other farms of less repute that have been developed amazingly by new owners. First honors in this field would be accorded Arthur B. Lewis, market gardener ex- traordinary by every test.
Coming from Boxford, Mass., in 1925, with a thorough train- ing in commercial gardening, Mr. Lewis at once gained the repu-
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tation of growing and packing the best vegetables to be found. Sales have been made in all surrounding markets and even in Concord. His is far from being the easiest vocation in the world, but he has not only enjoyed long life and good health - he is now eighty-five and still active - but has been able to impart a love for growing things to the youngsters whom he has hired through the seasons. A daughter Edith (Mrs. Louis Gladue) has been of the greatest assistance to him. A disastrous fire, April 16, 1953, dealt the family a heavy blow, destroying house, barn and contents, with $1,000 worth of aluminum irrigation-pipe and a considerable sum of money. The Gladues have rebuilt, now having a very modern home.
Apple orchards, which were one the rule on every farm, are now little regarded. Those on the Deacon Abell place, the Farr farm of two and three hundred barrels per season, the Lakeman lot and the more recent setting of Baldwin and McIntosh on the farm owned by Nelson Bros., in 1912-13, have become al- most legendary in a day when practically all our fruit is shipped in from outside sources.
Dairying has generally become the mainstay of Goshen farm- ers; herds are larger than formerly and increasingly productive. Machine-milking is practised in all dairies. The First National Stores maintain a collecting service by truck out of Bellow's Falls, Vt., where their processing-plant is located, sale being made at retail under the name "Brookside Milk." A secondary outlet is provided by the Fairlea Dairy System, with the nearest plant at Newport. Active farms are as follows:
The Masons, Harry and his son Howard, a veteran of World War II, on the one-time John G. Pike farm. Their herd averages 60; extra hay is secured from several farms in the vicinity.
The Trudeau-Purmort Farm on the Rand's Pond road, operated by Amos Trudeau, Jr., Rita and Richard Purmort; specialize in Ayrshires, averag- ing 38. A new cement-block stable is completely equipped with hot-water for sterilizing and cleansing utensils.
"Twin Ridges Farm," an equally-successful family-partnership, consisting of Otho L. Nelson and his son-in-law, Maurice Tenney, with the added help of John Tenney, grandson; at the former Hiram Sholes farm. Here, too, a cement-block stable has recently been completed; herd averages 32. The Tenneys have built an attractive home within calling-distance of the parental door.
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Wilbur F. Campbell, a native of Connecticut, located on the former Henry Trow farm at the Corners; has a successful herd of 31.
Yvette Huot, plucky, hard-working young farmerette, with a paying herd numbering about 30.
Gerald H. Dickerman, part-time farmer.
Roscoe C. Scranton, whose program has included a fine, new barn.
Harry G. Bartlett, dairying and poultry-keeping.
John H. Newman, market gardening.
Imri G. Crane, dairying and lumbering.
Frank H. Hodgman, farming a side-line.
Roger E. Gay, industrialist, breeder of Black Angus (beef-type) cattle; on the former Ed. Putnam farm at North Goshen. Mr. Gay was recently ap- pointed by President Eisenhower to head the newly formed Department of Standards in Washington.
Frank I. Berquist, farm-slaughtering and processing of meats for deep freeze patrons.
Poultrymen
Around the turn of the century the poultry business became revolutionized by the introduction of the egg-incubator. Mass- production, that term the world was to hear so much about, be- came possible at the farm and the alert quickly seized upon it. John G. Pike, Mrs. H. F. Nelson, Miss Elise Pettis and O. F. Young were among the earliest to avail themselves of incubators and the accompanying long, new poultry-houses, or colony-houses on range, according to the authority studied. That possibiilties of success - or failure - were inherent in the enterprise was soon apparent; some made a profit while others were forced out. Yet the number of poultrymen increased to include Ed. Putnam, J. S. Smart, Geo. F. Crane and others.
The poultry business really reached its height, however, dur- ing World War II, with three extensive plants clustered closely about the Four Corners, C. J. Oliphant, Hiram N. Darling and Albert DeRobertis. The Oliphants and the Darlings specialized in hatching-eggs; all three did a large business in both poultry and eggs. Following the death of his wife in 1944, Mr. Darling sold to Henry Cox. Their big, red barn, once the Harvey Baker property, had been transformed into a capacious poultry-house, and after Mr. Cox's death as the result of a head-injury, the busi- ness was carried on by Adelard Ayotte, who had worked his ap- prenticeship with Mr. Oliphant. The plant is now owned by John C. Steele.
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The De Robertis plant has been continued, in somewhat de- creased volume, by Herschel Hill.
Paul L. Robbins, at North Goshen, is the latest entry in poultry-keeping.
Pike's Turkeytorium
In the years immediately following World War II Edith F. Pike achieved wide note for her fancy dressed turkeys. Chickens had been given a short trial previously. Range for the turkeys was alternated between the village homestead and the Smart meadow, across the river. With flood-lights placed about the roosting area, Miss Pike spent the nights there in a portable camp, a gun at her elbow and a private telephone wire connected with the house. At killing time all her able bodied neighbors gathered for picking and finishing the birds. An average of 750 to 900 turkeys annually was maintained. The installation of an oversize freezer-locker and machine-pickers followed in due course. Modern methods in packaging and selling made the trade-name, "Pike's Turkeytorium," known all over the county and beyond. The business necessitated too much manual labor, however, and Miss Pike, office-manager at the Dartmouth Motors in Newport, has reecntly turned her attention to chinchillas and sheep of the heavy Suffolk breed.
The "Bonny Acres Nutria Ranch" of Floyd C. Dubois is one of the newest enterprises in town. A trade publication, Food Marketing in New Hampshire, has stated that the DuBois nutria attracted great interest in the New Hampshire building at the 1946 Eastern States Exposition. Nutria is another name for the creature called coypu, a muskrat-like animal with webbed hind feet, native to South America, but quite as capable of survival in the marshes of Louisiana and the Gulf coast, as has been proven in recent years.
A thriving business quite apart from the nutria has been developed by Mr. DuBois at his shore-property on Rand's Pond. A boat-livery, store and attractively-landscaped cluster of cabins provides him with a preferred list of folks who wish to return to the Bonny Acres Camps again.
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Condition of Woodlands
Sixty years ago men were remarking with satisfaction that white-pine was on the increase. Just what the previous stand of the species may have been is pure conjecture. At Goshen Center, George B. Bartlett, Sr., in after years recalled that only a few pine trees were standing on the home-farm in his boyhood. If seedlings were found in the fence-corners they were cherished and allowed to grow. Although not in the class of rare species, they were unquestionably far less plentiful than at the present time, even though many of our oldest houses show wide pine boards in their construction. Assuredly, one might say, the trees from which they were sawed must have grown in the locality, for Yankee thrift would not have tolerated the carting of lum- ber, however desirable, from any great distance. On the other hand, it is dangerous to assume that all the wide wainscotings found here are of pine; they may be of clear mountain-spruce. This is true of the pews and finish built into the Baptist church in 1851. In the Corners church, of older date, the pews were of spruce, but a considerable portion of old-growth pine was also used in finishing-materials. It is remembered that a majestic pine was standing as a shade-tree at the Hiram Sholes farmhouse as early as 1880, similar to the one now admired at the Stelljes place at the Corners. Individuals such as these, widely scattered over town, insured continuation of the species until a change in weather-conditions, or a decrease in farming - who shall say? -brought in the present abundant coverage. It is highly in- teresting to watch the rapidity of a young pine's growth, which may range from 21/2 to 3 feet in a single season.
The Asa Baker mountain-lot had come into a dense spruce stand and in 1902 it was logged over by the International Paper Co., yielding 1200 cords of pulpwood.
World War 1 produced a demand for spruce timber, ostensibly for airplane-manufacturers - how building methods have changed! - and skid-roads were built higher on the mountain- side than ever before, in order to reach the old-growth trees standing there.
In common with the region, the hurricane of Sept. 21, 1938,
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wrought immense damage to Goshen woodlands, so much timber being felled before that turbulent evening was over that only a small portion of it could be immediately cared for. Over the suc- ceeding months every resource of the lumberman's art was strained to salvage the wood and logs resulting. About every able-bodied man in town turned out to clear the highways after the storm. Amos Trudeau, Jr. and Bernard Hawkins, his brother- in-law, operated a saw-mill, gas-powered, at this time, and in compliance with state specifications. Chain-saws made their ap- pearance, forcing old-time woodsmen, even, to grudgingly con- cede they had merit.
As though in derision of both the hurricane and the loggers, the wooded areas in town have steadily expanded, whole farms having, within two generations, reverted to brushland. This must in natural course become timber-potential, skeptics to the contrary. The term "resurgent growth" has become accepted in our New Hampshire vocabulary, for no other phrase so well describes the irresistible press of growing trees.
The prevalent use of gasoline and fuel-oil, with gas a com- petitor, even in farm-homes, has given the woods a needful re- spite that is not entirely negated by increased demand from the building and paper trades. Fear of a wood-and-timber shortage was very real during the past century, as illustrated by the ad- monition given by Mrs. Mira Lear, a widow, to her 'teen-age son, in 1898, to cut only the dead and dying trees in the farm wood- lot for firewood, "else they might be without wood before long." Soon, however, the creeping advance of the brushland became visible. Mrs. Rose (Messer) Purington, Goshen correspondent for the Newport Republican Champion, reiterated in her weekly news-space, "Keep your bushes cut and don't leave the farm!" Today, the Purington farm, as well as the Lear pasture land, which has been once cut over, has all but disappeared in ever- heightening woods.
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