USA > New Hampshire > Coos County > Lancaster > History of Lancaster, New Hampshire > Part 30
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264
HISTORY OF LANCASTER.
Again in 1895 and 1896 it broke out with the result of some dozen, or possibly more, cases with only two deaths. The use of antitoxin, the new remedy, was found very effective in all the cases in which it was used, and has tended to allay, somewhat, the fear of people that it is an almost necessarily fatal disease.
During February and March, 1832, there was an epidemic of what the people then called "canker rash." It was so general through- out the town as to cause the authorities to close the schools. Thirty children died of the disease in the two months that it pre- vailed. Just what the disorder was is hard to say. The name is a common one, and is not recognized as conveying any definite knowl- edge of the disease. It is not impossible that it was diphtheria in a milder form perhaps than is common. The same disease is said to have broken out in 1774 and 1775, from which more than a dozen deaths resulted.
Scarlet Fever .- This disease has only been known to have been alarmingly epidemic once in Lancaster, though for many years there have been more or less cases of it. From November, 1873, to April, 1874, there were many cases from which there were twenty-one deaths recorded. From that time to the present year there have been occasional cases both in the village and in the country districts, with but few fatalities. The number of cases is steadily growing less from year to year, and soon it may be hoped that the disease will be quite as infrequent as some of the other . contagious diseases have become.
Consumption .- Although consumption is seldom thought or spoken of as becoming epidemic, yet it is a contagious disease that has wrought sad havoc among the people of Lancaster. Very early in the present century it was supposed that this so-called pulmonary disorder was a result of the climate alone. The climate is a factor in its development, but never in its inception. It is a germ disease, and unless the germs of tuberculosis be introduced into the system through food or drink, or by contact in some way, the climate would never cause a man to be sick of consumption, It is often so slow in its course after the inoculation of the system that many people fail to associate the real cause with the first visible effects that strike terror to their hearts.
.Another fallacious notion about this disease is that it is hereditary, passing from one generation to another. Just how much truth there may be in that notion is not well known to-day; but it is probably an admixture of fact and fallacy, and of but little importance in determining the probabilities of the disease. Even in what are regarded as hereditary cases of consumption, there are mediums for the spreading of the germs from one generation to another as above indicated.
265
EPIDEMICS THAT HAVE VISITED THE TOWN.
Just what were the mediums of its spread in this town from 1840 to 1890, is not now ascertainable; but that the germs of the dis- ease were spread through the medium of food, drink, and contact is beyond doubt. Beef, milk, and possibly some other articles of food and drink are the chief sources of its spread. It is a well-known fact to-day that cattle take tuberculosis, and through the consump- tion of their flesh and milk the disease is communicated to man. A second dangerous means of its spread is through the sputa of the infected person. This is often spat upon the walks and floors, and carried on the feet of others into their homes, where upon becom- ing dry it floats in the air and is inhaled, when if the lungs be the least sore the germs find a footing in the system favorable to their growth.
However it happened, the disease existed in this town from about 1830 to 1890, when it began rapidly to decline. Some years there were nearly fifty deaths from this disease alone; and at no time during that period were there less than half that number per year.
The rapid decrease in the number of cases of this malady is due to the several factors of purer water, healthier beef and milk. The bulk of the meat eaten in the village to-day is from the Western states, where conditions are more favorable to the production of healthy meats. The Western meats are carefully inspected by the government, and what is not healthy does not reach us. The people who produce their own milk and butter have better facilities now for securing a healthy product than ever before in the history of the town; and those who produce milk and butter to supply the market, exercise more care in keeping their cows healthy and get- ting the products into the market in proper conditions.
With a better enforcement of the health laws, purer water supply, good surface drainage and sewers, and a more intelligent compli- ance with the laws of health on the part of the people at large, Lan- caster has become one of the healthiest places in northern New England. A study of its vital statistics reveals the fact that in 1846, with a population of 1,400, there were 224 deaths that year; in the following year with a decrease of population there were 246 deaths; in 1848, there were 234 deaths; 1849, there were 177.
Those were times when everybody drank spring water, or that of a well that drained his dooryard; there were no sewers, and the surface of the streets were not graded to carry off the waters from snow and rains; there was no regard for health laws; no atten- tion was paid to the sanitary conditions of things anywhere in the town, save as the intelligence of now and then a single family would dictate that they should exercise some care of their own premises. No one then could so readily require and compel his neighbors to keep their premises clean as he can now do through the board of
266
HISTORY OF LANCASTER.
health. The natural result of all this change is that, with a popula- tion three times as great as we had in 1845, the number of deaths has fallen below fifty a year. In 1895 there were but thirty-seven deaths, three of which were from old age; one was a transient guest coming to one of the hotels sick, and died there; five were infants of stillbirths. That leaves but twenty-six persons who died of disease ; and even some of those diseases, as apoplexy, cannot be attributed to climate or other local conditions.
For the present year there were fifty-one deaths. This includes three infants that died at birth; two drowned; three of old age; one homicide (accidental), leaving but forty-two that died of disease.
These two years represent the extremes reached in the death rate since 1890; and the average of these two years is the same as that for the last six years-44. From this should be taken the average of deaths from accident, old age, and others not resulting from disease -an average of ten per year, leaving but thirty-four as the average number of deaths from disease per year, which makes less than ten in a thousand of the population.
In the light of these facts it may be confidently stated that this town is as healthy a place in which to live, as one can find with so many of the conveniencies and luxuries of life as are to be found here. With the improvements, already referred to, there is every reason to expect a marked improvement in the health conditions in the town in the immediate future.
The vital statistics of the State Board of Health show Lancaster to be second to no other town in the state for healthfulness. The death rate is far below the average for the state.
CHAPTER XXIII.
THE RAILROADS.
No matter has been of more vital interest to Lancaster than that of railroad connection with the other sections of the state, and with the markets in which she must buy and sell the things from which her people were to get their subsistence and comforts. When railroad construction became an assured fact within the state the people here at once took a lively interest in the probabilities of getting a road so far north as to connect them with the rest of the fast-going world, for it was apparent to any one of a discerning mind that the old stage-coach pace had been broken, and that to prosper, the people of even so remote a town as Lancaster would have to
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THE RAILROADS.
reach that pace or be left to see her sons and daughters forsake her for other fields of enterprise.
In the history of this town we see how a railroad coming within a day's journey by team of. a prosperous community, disturbs it and throws every sort of enterprise out of relation and harmony with similar ones on the line of the roads. Accordingly when railroads were an assured fact north of Concord, the people in Lancaster be- gan to make arrangements to encourage the completion of a road to this point, by means of a branch from the main line on the Con- necticut river up the Ammonoosuc River valley.
The practical business men of that day saw that with a railroad up that valley, the town would be only a few hours further from Boston than the towns below it with which they had sustained a rather uneven rivalry in point of business for some years, and which towns if nearer the proposed railroad would bolt ahead and leave Lancas- ter an unprosperous back district. This the people did not intend to see happen if a live effort on their part could prevent a fate so direful.
The matter of a railroad was discussed in all its features pro and con for several years, when the leading spirits in town made a bold move to bring about what seemed the most needed of all things-a railroad.
The following notice appeared in the Coos County Democrat, December 28, 1844:
"Notice is hereby given that a meeting of the citizens of Coos county will be holden at the Court House in Lancaster, on the 11th. day of January next, at ten o'clock, forenoon, for the purpose of considering the expediency of connect- ing the City of Montreal with the seaboard east of the City of Boston. All per- sons desiring the accomplishment of the above object are invited to attend !"
Signed by the following-named sixty-five men :
"A. N. Brackett, G. W. Perkins, David Burnside, John W. Hodgdon, Thomas S. Hodgdon, I. B. Gorham, Nelson Cross, John Bellows, Turner Stephenson, George W. Moore, A. N. Brackett, Jr., J. W. Lovejoy, Wm. D. Spaulding, H. C. Harriman, Wm. J. Brown, J. W. Barney, Chas. B. Allen, Allen Smith, Edward Melcher, Stephen Hayes, Joseph Roby, Francis Wilson, William Samp- son, Harvey Adams, George Alexander, Lewis C. Porter, Jacob Benton, Samuel Rines, Lucitanus Stephenson, Saunders W. Cooper, Hosea Gray, Heber Blan- chard, Reuben L. Adams, Benjamin Hunking, Charles Bellows, John H. White, Gorham Lane, John S. Wells, Harvey Howe, Richard P. Kent, Reuben Stephen- son, John Wilson, J. C. Cady, George Bellows, Zadoc Cady, Guy C. Cargill, Royal Joyslin, Frederick Fisk, Robert Sawyer, Wm. T. Carlisle, James H. Hall, Asa Gould, Thomas B. Moody, Joseph Mathews, Asa Wesson, J. W. Williams, John C. Moore, Samuel McIntire, Briant Stephenson, Horace Whitcomb, Anson Fisk, Charles Cady, Joel Hemmenway, Joseph Moulton, George W. Ingerson."
Just what was said and done at that meeting I have been unable to learn beyond the fact that a survey of a railroad was determined
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HISTORY OF LANCASTER.
upon, and carried out. As a result of that survey a road was pro- jected from the main line of the Boston, Concord & Montreal rail- road in the town of Haverhill (at Woodsville) to Lancaster, on prac- tically the same survey that was later followed in building the present road. " Railroad meetings " were held at all points of any impor- tance along the proposed line of the road from the time of that sur- vey until it had become a settled fact that a road was to be built. In Lancaster such a meeting was held at the old Coös Hotel, kept by Joseph C. Cady, on the corner of Main and Canal streets. There, on November 22, 1847, were · gathered an assemblage of Lancaster's business men to take into consideration what steps were necessary to be taken to secure a railroad either from the south or from the east, as the Atlantic & St. Lawrence railroad (now the Grand Trunk) was talked of, and active measures had been taken toward securing a charter for it from the approaching term of the legislature.
One result of this meeting was inducing the company to ask for a charter over one or the other of two routes from Gorham north- ward so that it might choose the most available one. There was a willingness on the part of the promoters of that road to come to Lancaster ; but it was not known, at the time, whether a road could be built through the towns of Randolph and Jefferson on account of the hilliness of that section of country. The people of this town believed that a road could be built through those towns and down. the Isreals river valley through Lancaster and up the Connecticut river to reach its proposed northerly course to the St. Lawrence valley. The Lancaster people were too slow in the matter of settling the question of feasibility of a road through the Isreals river valley route. Had they foreseen a fact that time was to change the course of that road to the disadvantage of this town they might have pre- vented a charter issuing without an alternative route from Gorham as the charter was issued on June 30, 1847. But Josiah Little, of Portland, president of the road, had bought the water power at Berlin Falls in 1844; and by the time the road was graded as far as Gorham, it had become certain that boundless wealth was stored in the timber lands that would be made accessible by running the road up the Androscoggin river. A result of that decision is seen in the changing of the country about Berlin Falls from a howling wilderness into a prosperous city (chartered as a city 1897), with a population far in excess of that of Lancaster; all of which is due to the manufacturing of lumber and products from the timber of that section, and throwing much trade along the line of that road which might have been concentrated here by having the road con- structed on the proposed route through Lancaster.
A strong effort was made, however, by Lancaster men to secure
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THE RAILROADS.
the road over that route. A public meeting was held at Town hall, February 16, 1850, from which resulted a survey of the pro- posed route. At a subsequent meeting, at the same place, March 20, 1850, for the same purpose the directors of the company were present and conferred with the citizens, and some rays of hope still remained for the construction of the road on their proposed route. The survey went forward during the early fall of that year, and, as everybody expected, proved that the route was practicable. The survey showed that the grade was only sixty feet to the mile from Bowmans to Gorham, the only section of the route that was in any way doubtful. The survey was made by the company's own engi- neers, and was satisfactory in every particular.
While these movements of the At. & St. L. R. R. were going on a move was being made to connect Lancaster with the B., C. & M. R. R. to the south by building a road from the main line of that road to connect with the At. & St. L. R. R. at some point in Lan- caster. A charter to that effect was issued by the legislature December 25, 1848, to the White Mountain Railroad company, as the outcome of a railroad convention held in Littleton September 16, 1848, which was largely attended by Lancaster people, and others along the proposed line of that road. A committee of ten men were appointed to cause a survey to be made, which they did, following in the tracks of the previous one we have mentioned. This effort was brought to naught through the magnifying of sup- posed difficulties in its way. The real difficulty may be discovered in the fact that on January 3, 1849, a new charter was granted by the legislature to the Connecticut River and Montreal R. R. Co. to build a road " from some point on the B., C. & M. R R., at or near the mouth of the Ammonoosuc river in Haverhill, or the terminus of the B., C. & M. R. R., up the Connecticut river to Lancaster, most convenient for connection with the At. & St. L. R. R."
Between the White Mountain R. R. Co. and the Connecticut River & M. R. R. a dispute arose that was carried before the rail- road commissioners, who held a hearing on the question as to which company had the lawful right to build the road. Their decision was rendered May 24, 1849, in favor of the latter company. Hav- ing gained their end this company was not satisfied to go on and build the road according to the condition of its charter. The incor- porators of the White Mountain Railroad under the charter of Dec. 25, 1848, were: Royal Joyslin, R. P. Kent, Jas. W. Weeks, Wm. D. Spaulding, Wm. Burns, Presbury West, Jr., N. D. Day, L. Johnson, L. Montgomery, John M. Gove, and Morris Clark. This road was designed to be an extension of the C. & M. R. R., from Woodsville to Lancaster.
This road was built as far as Littleton in 1853, and for a number
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HISTORY OF LANCASTER.
of years no move was made by the company to fulfil its contract with the state to construct the road to Lancaster. Satisfied that the company intended to let the matter rest where it then stood, the people of this section interested themselves and secured the forma- tion of a new company-the Ammonoosuc Valley R. R. Co. A charter was granted this company July 14, 1855, authorizing it " to buy the White Mountain Railroad and to build a road from said rail- road in Littleton to some point on the At. & St. Lawrence R. R. in Lancaster." At this time there was an arrangment between the latter company and some of the citizens of Lancaster for the con- struction of a branch of the At. & St. L. R. R. from Northumber- land to Lancaster, which was considered in the legislature of 1854. Later, through the violation of the agreement by the company, it was not carried out, which we shall see caused the Ammonoosuc Valley R. R. Co. to break its contract with the people, or rather violate its charter, through which the same was forfeited.
When the At. & St. L. R. R. had gone up the Androscoggin val- ley in 1850, and was completed to Northumberland, a movement was set on foot in Lancaster, by a number of citizens who had been so long engaged in the effort to get a railroad, to secure a branch of that road from Northumberland into Lancaster down the Connec- ticut river. They had been successful in securing from the company an agreement to that end; and the star of hope still shone in their horizon. The company, however, saw fit to break its agreement and, to heal the wound their conduct made, tendered the citizens the sum of $20,000 as a forfeit for their non-compliance with the agreement.
When this project failed the Ammonoosuc Valley R. R. Co. dropped their projected road from Littleton to Lancaster. Nothing more was done to further the matter of road building until the win- ter of 1858-'59, when another popular movement among inter- ested citizens led to the formation of the White Mountain Railroad company, which secured a charter June 27, 1859, for a road "from Woodsville to some point on the At. & St. L. R. R., to take the property of the White Mountain Railroad and succeed it." This effort came to naught, like so many others, chiefly because of financial difficulties in the way of its construction. Nobody believed that the road would pay, and that it would cost so much to build it that it could not be made a success in any sense. Before these objections could be fully cleared up by proper considerations, the Civil War had broken out and drawn attention away from such enterprises. Every- body was so absorbed in the great questions of the war, raising sol- diers, paying bounties, and supporting the families of the men who enlisted in the service of their country, that no time or disposition was left for building railroads until the fate of the war was known and decided.
27I
THE RAILROADS.
Near the close of the war, or in the early months of 1864, another effort was set on foot to secure the building of the much-planned- for railroad from Littleton to Lancaster. A new company was formed under the name of the Coos Railroad Company, which secured a charter July 16, 1864, for building a road " from the ter- minus of the White Mountain Railroad in Littleton to some convenient point on the Grand Trunk Railway (formerly the At. & St. L. R. R.) in Northumberland." The people set themselves resolutely to the task again with renewed courage; but alas! No immediate results followed their earnest efforts. No road could then be built.
A road as far as Littleton was a good thing for Lancaster, but if that was a blessing, a road running into town was of a hundredfold more value to their enterprises. The connection, by team, with the At. & St. L. R. R. was much better than with the road at Littleton as it was not one half as great a distance, so all the freight that could be moved over that road reached Lancaster by way of North- umberland. It was plain that if the roads to the south were to share, to any very great extent, in the traffic of the northern section of the county they must reach Lancaster, at least, if not the Grand Trunk. Various efforts were made during the next four years to induce the B., C. & M. R. R. Co. to take hold of the matter, and help along the building of the road. The company finally made the proposition to the towns, through which it was to pass, that if they would prepare the roadbed free of cost to the company, and ready for the iron, that it would then lay the iron and operate the road. This brought the matter to a point where it was finally set- tled by the town issuing bonds to enable the company to build the road. The road was built to Whitefield early in 1869, a formal opening of which was held in May of that year. On June 5, 1869, at a special town-meeting, Lancaster voted 256 to 50 to bond the town to the amount of five per cent. of its valuation (all the law allowed) to the Boston, Concord & Montreal Railroad company, on condition that the company build a road into Lancaster by the first of July, 1871. To this the company readily acceded, and at once made preparations to build the road, though actual operation did . not, for some reason, begin until the spring of 1870. On April 30, 1870, S. S. Thompson, of Lyndonville, Vt., and John Lindsey, of Lancaster, took the contract to grade the road from Whitefield to Lancaster. They did their work rapidly and well, so that by the first of October the track was being laid into the village; and on October 10, 1870, nine months before the limits of time set for the completion of the road, the cars were running. The first train of out freight, consisting of thirteen cars of cattle and sheep, loaded at the Chessman road, was carried over the road on that date. The first passenger train had come from Whitefield on the fifth of October.
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HISTORY OF LANCASTER.
Regular passenger trains were not run until about the end of the month.
This was an event not to be passed over slightly, so a public and formal opening was decided upon for October 29. Many distin- guished guests were invited from abroad, and everybody in and near Lancaster turned out to celebrate the event. A committee was appointed to attend to arranging all the details of the occasion, and invite those whom it was thought should be present and parti- cipate in the exercises.
The committee consisted of Col. Henry O. Kent, Hon. Jacob Benton, Hon. B. F. Whidden, Col. B. H. Corning, Hon. Ossian Ray, and Mr. John Lindsey.
Col. Henry O. Kent was chief marshal of the day, with Edmund Brown and B. H. Corning as aids. The Lancaster Cornet band furnished music.
An excursion train was run from Plymouth on that day, leaving there at forty minutes past seven, reaching Lancaster a little before noon. The train was drawn by the new engine named Lancaster, which had recently been built for the road by A. Blood of Man- chester. The conductor was the noted old stage-driver, Seth Green- leaf, son of David Greenleaf, the miller of Lancaster. His mother was Ruth Stockwell Hutchins, granddaughter of Emmons Stockwell. Seth Greenleaf had driven stage from Lancaster to Concord and Boston when the trip required three days; and now after all those. years he was privileged to run the first train of cars into his native town.
On the arrival of the excursion train it was met by the committee, and hailed by the citizens who had turned out in large numbers. The invited guests from a distance were escorted to the Lancaster House and American House by the committee, band, and citizens, where at both places sumptuous dinners had been prepared for the invited company. The chief function was at the Lancaster House, where Landlord Elijah Stanton had prepared a most elaborate din- ner. Hither the main part of the company of invited guests and citizens were escorted. There were present the following persons from out of town :
John E. Lyon of Boston, president of the B., C. & M. R. R. Co .; J. A. Dodge of Plymouth, superintendent of the road; Francis Cogswell of Boston, president Boston & Maine Railroad; Stephen Kenrick, president Concord & Portsmouth Railroad ; S. N. Bell, pres- ident Suncook Valley Railroad ; A. H. Tilton of Tilton, J. P. Pitman of Laconia, J. W. Lang of Meredith, directors B., C. & M. R. R .; Hon. G. W. Kittredge of Newmarket, director B. & M. R. R .; ex- Governor Frederick Smyth of Manchester, Gen. Natt Head of Hook- sett, Col. John H. George, Nathaniel White, Hon. N. W. Gove, Gen.
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