USA > New Hampshire > Coos County > Shelburne > History of Shelburne, New Hampshire > Part 5
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was off before the Southern girl knew of her loss. "O! that was real mean !" we cried indigoantly. "Well, yes;" he admitted, "it was rather a mean trick ; but they would have done the same to us." Yes, so they would; burnt our houses, destroyed our crops, laid waste our orchards, killed our flocks and herds, and abused our women and child- ren. but that the fortunes of war made Virginia the battle-ground instead of New Hampshire.
In the fall of 1776, when the American army at Quebec was in a most deplorable. condition, twelve deserters made their appearance in Shelburne. They were discovered by Capt. Ridge's negro, and induced to come to the house. One of their number had been left at Errol. be- ing too much exhausted to walk farther. Ou hearing this, Capt. Ridge. accom- panied by Moses Ingalls, then about thirty years old, started in quest of him. He had dragged himself to a little stream to drink, and too weak to rise, or per- haps too despairing to care to, he lay on his face an I drown d. They buried him on the bank of the little river. and in memory of his fate called it lail's stream.
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CHAPTER VIII.
BURYING GROUNDS.
To those who sometimes "pause by somne neglected grave-yard for a while to muse and ponder," a short notice of these silent cities of the half forgotten dead may not be uninteresting.
Perhaps the first spot of ground given to the dead in the new settlement is occupied by the mutilated remains of Peter Poor. He lies just below the hill on the intervale owned by Martin Bur- bank. Some simple memorial should be raised over his grave to perpetuate the memory of those early times, when the nervous tears of women and children turned every shadow and every unwont- ed noise into a lurking foe. and the hus- band and father went to his daily work armed as for battle.
Many of the old families were buried on the Porter place, Among others were Oliver Peabody and his wife, Mrs. Runnels and her daughter Mary Ann, who died of throat distemper. Mr. Run- nels disappeared when this child was a few months old, and was never heard from after. The railroad cut off one end of this yaud, exposing some of the coffins. Many were removed to a new yard, and
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doubtless others were forgotten or un- known to the living.
The new yard below the stock farm is well kept. and contains a number of ha idsome stones. Esq. Burbank's is a granite monument. Martin Burbank's children, who died with diptheria. were brought over here. Little Hattie was a lovely child, and Death touched her so lightly that the lifeless form was almost perfect in its waxen fairness.
Fletcher Ingalls and his wife, an.l Thomas Hubbard and his wife are buried near Moses Hazeltine's. The graves of Noah Gould's children, who died of throat distemper, are marked by plain grey stones. Melvina. another daughter of Mr. Gould, jumped from a rock while at play, and received fatal injuries. Many have been taken up from here and reburied in a new yard. A child five years old that had been buried thirty years was found petrified.
On the hill near the church is George Green's family burying yard.
No one who passes can fail to notice a little enclosure filled with chrobery near Otis Evans'. The white headstone re- corals the name and age of William Evans. The untime'y death of this promising young man will always be deeply regreted ; not only by his own
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family. on whom this affliction fell with crushing force. but by all his friends and acquaintances.
The Evans. Clemens and Heads are on the Jotham Lary place ; and Mr. Lary himself was brought back from Ma'ne, where he passed the last years of his life, and laid to rest pear the home of his youth.
Three generations of Austins sleep in the yard near the old homestead.
In the yard near Mr. Minard's are the Ingalls. the Wheelers. the Greens and the Philbrooks.
On the hill in front of Gates' Cottage is the family burying ground of the Gates. Mrs. Bazeleel Gates was thrown from a wagon when returning from church. and instantly killed. Anna. a pretty little Irish girl, and a protege of Miss Sarah Gates, died of cousumption at the age of thirteen.
But perhaps the most pathetic story of the delusiveness of hum in hopes and the certainty of sorrow and disappoint- ment is written on the row of narrow mounds across one end of the little yard near the Lead Mine brook. Jacob Stevens and his wife came to Shelburne some twenty-five years ago. and bought the farm owned by Darius Green. They Were a most amiable and industrious
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couple, and managed not only to bring up a family of nine children, but saved a competence. The children were strong and healthy looking, but some fatality seemed to overshadow them. The first sickness was the last. Harriet died dur- ing the typhoid fever. A married daughter, Mrs. Manson Green, and three grown up sons, Simeon, Henry and Charles, were claimed by Death within 12 years. Broken in health and spirits, Mr. Stevens was the next victim, and in little more than a year Ellen, the young- est daughter, followed him. It would seem that the insatiate conqueror was now satisfied. Herbert, the youngest son, married Josie Martin and remained at home with his mother. He was a tal !. rugged looking young man, the very embodiment of healthful life. A little daughter was born. but the sweet blos- som faded in five short months. In just two years an infant son was taken from the ill-fated family, and Herbert was in the last stages of consumption. It was a sad funeral, doubly sad, but the sym- pathies of the friends and neighbors were not so much for the sorrow-stricken mother and suffering father as for the poor old grandmother, so utterly crushed and helpless she seemed when led out to join the procession. It was the last
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time she rode over the familiar road as a mourner, for when Herbert died she was too ill to see him laid in his last resting- place. For six months she battled with incurable disease, literally struggling for breath. and then was mercifully re- leased. The oldest son, Joseph, drifted off out west, and from there to Australia and has been lost sight of for many years. Living or dead he is as lost to his friends as though sleeping in his grave. Of all the once pleasant family only one daughter, Mrs. Loren Evans, remains. As we have read the suc- cessive chapters in this story of real life. it has seemed sadder and sadder, though we know there are worse afflic- tions than death, bitterer disappoint- ment and more overwhelming sorrow over the wayward living than over the peaceful dead.
A little slate headstone marks the spot where lie two children of Stephen Pea- body. victims of throat distemper; Amelia. a promising child of eight, and Daniel aged two. Little Danny, forty- seven years in his narrow grave, is still a precious baby in the hearts and minds of his friends. Time never shall silver the golden hair nor wrinkle the rosy dimpled face. Enoch Peabody had a son of the same age, and hoping to es-
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cape the pestilence he removed to Berlin. Allan Peabody Went up with them, and as he drove away little Allan. his name- sake. said sorrowfully : "I never'll see El again." "O yes you will," replied his mother, "next week you shall go down and make a visit." But he on'y shook his golden head and repeated sadly. "I never'll see El again." And he never did. The dread disease they fed from was on their track, and little Allan's next week was in eternity. In the same row lies Edith, oldest daughter of R. P. Peabody.
"How shall we know her? We were so sad, As we saw her last in her grave clothes clad, But the eye and the smile shall greet us there As they shone on earth, but more dazzling fair, And in robes of white in that radiant sphere She will bear the likeness she once bore here."
In the next row back is buried all that is mortal of Mary Ellen, oldest daughter of Allan Peabody, a lovely and intelli- gent girl of twenty-two. Knowing and loving her from childhood perhaps our judgement may be partial, but to us she possessed rare capabilities for usefulness and happiness. With only limited school privileges she acquired a thorough English education, and was conversant with the best literature of the day. She was in failing health for two years. and during the last few weeks her disease
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assumed a most distressing form; but she was patient and cheerful, so remark- ably cheerful and even lively that but few realized how near she stood to eternity. She was glad to go, and though we mourn her loss, we believe it is her infinite gain. We leave these sacred enclosures feeling more keenly than ever if this life were all. "we are of all men most miserable." Our friends slip from our embrace, and vainly we strive to follow their flight through the darkness of futurity. No tender voice comes back to cheer us, no loving hands stretch out to guide us, but an inborn faith points to a single star of hope, "though weeping may endure for a night, joy cometh in the morning."
END OF PART FIRST.
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HISTORY OF THE
SHELBURNE
Lead Mine.
BY MRS. R. P. PEABODY.
(Continued from MOUNTAINEER, No. 6, 1881.). (History of Shelburne, page 42.)
Three or four years later, the local agent. Barker Burbank, hired Ben Morse and Roswell Peabody to crush the ore remaining on hand, and pack it into barrels.
In 1855 the property changed hands, and about that iime a Mr. Pinch came on. put in a few blasts. and partly emptied one shaft ; but nothing came of it, and for mmny years after the mine was deserted save by occasional visitors, curious to see the rusty machinery and the shafts. which were only round spots
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of water, blinking like great eyes in the sunlight. The dam rotted down, rocks and debris buried the engine, and the houses were fast going to ruin. Finally the machinery was sent to the foundery at Lancaster, and what remained of the buildings sold to Elbridge Peabody.
In the spring of 1880 a new company was organized under the name of the Shelburne Mining Co., with a Capita! Stock of $500,000. The office is at No. 93 Exchange St., Portland. Me., and the President, L. D. M. Sweat, and all the Directors but one are residents of that city.
The property consists of a tract of mineral land eighty rods square, having for its centre the main shaft sunk by the old company. In his report of the mine. Prof. C. H. Hitchcock, State geologist of New Hampshire, says : "The ore closly resembles the mass of ores taken out of the Comstock. It would puzzle most of us to separate the specimens from Shelburne and Nevada, were two piles of the ore from the two localities mixed together. The quantity of this ore is immense, averaging sixteen feet thick and eighty rods long, extending downward indefinitely."
"Quartz from the very bottom of the shaft is said to have yielded $10.00 in
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gold, besides silver. Excellent speci- mens of galena have also come from a great depth as well as handsome pieces of brittle silver."
".Four samples sent by the company yielded :
Ist sample, 564 per cent lead. 32 1bs silver to the tou.
2d sample. 43 per cent lead, 36 lbs silver to the ton.
3d sample. 446 per cent lead, 648 lbs silver to the ton.
4th sample. 426 per cent lead, 753 lbs silver to the ton."
Experts of thirty years ago, among whom are Hodge of New York, Jack- son and Richardson of Massachusetts, Prof Avery and Dr. Partz all agree that the mine is very valuable.
Prof. James Hodge, of New York, speaking of the vein. says: "It is per- manent, cannot be exhausted in depth nor probably in length."
Mr. A. A. Hayes. State Assayer of Massachusetts, gives the following re- sult of his assay :
1st sample, 32 lbs pure silver to ton.
2d .. 36 “ 66
..
3d .. 6477 **
66
66 ..
4th 753 . 6.
.. . 6
Dr. Jackson. in his report to the New Hampshire Legislature. remarks that
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"The ore contains three pounds of silver to the ton; hence it is worth $60 per ton for the silver, while it also yields 70 per cent of lead."
Frank L. Bartlett, State Assayer of Maine, gives the composition of the Shelburne ore as follows :
THE MATRIX.
Quartz, .90
Calcite.
.06
Feldspar.
.03
Clay Slate,
.01
THE ORE.
Argentiferous Galena,
.90
Zinc Blend, .05
Copper Prites. .03
Iron Prites,
.02
The chart of the shaft shows a perpen- dicular descent of fifty-eight feet, then an incline of about 60° to the north ward. Several short drifts or tunnels lead from it to the east and west. The upper and most important one extends sixty-five feet westerly. and carries a rich seam of galena. varying from a few inches to two feet thick. From this drift was taken the specimen exhibited at Syden- ham Palace in 1851. about four feet square. and weighing 2400 lbs.
Early in the spring of 1880. E. M. Hubbard and sons built a dam to turn the course of the brook, and soon after
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four or five men, under the direction of Mr. John Johnson, commenced to empty the main shaft. The stagnant, milky- looking water was very offensive, and many thought the foul gasses would generate fevers ; but nothing worse than headache and nausea was felt by those at work around it. They tried hanling up the water by hand, but it ran in near- ly as fast as they could dip it out. Even after the engine was procured it was busy work to hold their own against the flood that came in tiny streams from all directions.
In October Washington Newell con- tracted to put up a shaft-house and boarding-house within a period of four weeks. The lumber was carred down to the siding from Gorham, hauled to the mine by two two-horse teams, and the buildings ready to use at the specified time.
The works are well worth a visit, and will be a great addition to the places of interest in this vicinity. They are on the Lead Mine Brook, only 1 1-4 mile from the main road. The last half mile is quite rough, but with careful drivers is not dangerous. Crossing a long pole bridge, we come to the little flat where stood the buildings of the old company, the sites of which can be plainly traced
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by a rank growth of grass and catnip. Thirty rous further ou is the present boarding-house, 20x40 feet. containing sitting-room, office, dining room, store- room and kitchen. A flight of stairs in the sitting-room lead to the chambers, furnished with mattresses and blankets. Mr. Harte Coffin boarded a few weeks at first. but now the company hire a cook and board the men themselves. We passed through the entire house, and found everything in Mr. Libby's domain in perfect order. We really envied him the kitchen. which is cool. roomy and very pleasant. if one is not dependent on the amount of passing for happiness. The view is only mountains and sky. but these are susceptible of endless and delightful variations.
The shaft-house is 30x50 and 18 feet posted, and has recently been painted brown. Ou one side is placed the fifteen horse-power engine, that hoists the ore and works the pump, placed some 240 feet below the surface. The water has all been removed from the shaft, and with the pump is easily kept out, while a brick wall keeps back most of the sur- face water. The explosive used is Atlas power D., (Giant powder 2) with Glycer- ine as a basis made into cartridges. These are kept carefully locked up in a
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little building back on the hill. The engineer. Mr. Harding, kindly explained the method of discharging the blasts by electricity when, owing to dampness, fuse cannot be used. "When eight or nine blasts are all connected with the battery at once it makes everything rattle," and the concussion of air is so great that the candles are instantly put out. A telephone intended for use in the shaft was of no practical valne, owing to these variations. Just then the alarm sounded. the engineer stepped back to his post, and looking down in- to the black depths we could see the white upturned face of one of the men slowly ascending. The bucket moved quite steadily, and by putting out his hand he kept it from stricking the sides of the shaft. Only one accident has happened. Last winter Alverton Fare- well. of Bethel, was struck by the pump timbers and thrown out. He fell thirty- five feet. went through a two inch plank, and fell ten feet more into the water. He was badly shaken and had one arm broken. A notice posted near the open- ing prohibits the engineer from lowering visitors into the mine. or allowing them to descend on the ladder without a special permit from the superintendent. It was no bar to our pleasure, for no
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probable combination of circumstances will ever induce us to hang, even by a two-inch rope. over such an abyss. The feelings of the miners when first intro- duced to the business, is quaintly ex- pressed by the Frenchman, who says: "You don't want to think not at all nor look up; if you do, you think you're lost sure."
Mr. George D. Holt, the present superintendent, is a quiet, affible gentle- man of acknowledged business capacity. The following tribute to his mining qualifications we copy from the Gold Hill News of March 5, 1881 :
"George D. Holt, of Gold Hill and Silver City, Nevada, for three years superintendent of the Niagara G. & S. Mining Co.'s property, and a worker of other mines on the south end of the Comstock is an experienced mining engineer and draughtsman. He was en- gaged in making the draughts of the Gould & Curry. Overman, Hale and Norcross and other new and extensive machinery for the mines and mills of the Comstock, and was formerly draughts- man in the Union Iron works. Proscott. Scott & Co., San Francisco. the builders of most of the heaviest machinery there in use."
The Company propose at an early
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date to put in good condition the road leading from the mine to the main road by the way of E. M. Hubbard's. This will save a half mile's travel, and what is more important, a hard pull up the Great Hill. If our people had a little public spirit, and were anxious to help each other, we have no doubt the com- pany might have been induced to expend at least half as much on the other road. It would be money in the pockets of every farmer in town to give a week's work with a team for the sake of having this hill cut down. But no, they will go on year after year, pulling the load up one way and holding it back the other, and spending more time and strength after trigs than it would need to carry away the whole hill in a bushel basket.
A dozen small cottages will be built at a cost not exceeding $200 each, to ac- commodate a permanent force of miners, doubtless from the Eastern Provinces. It is proposed to commence shipping ore at regular intervals, say once a month at first, and oftener as circum- stances warrant it. Pay-day is the 10th of every month, and there has been a standing call for men since the work be- gan.
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HISTORY OF SHELBURNE.
BY MRS. R. P. PEABODY.
PART SECOND
THE WHITE MOUNTAIN STOCK FARM.
This large and valuable piece of prop- erty is situated about one and a half miles from Shelburne village, and is owned by Judge R. I. Burbank of Bos- ton.
The nucleus, so to speak. is the farm of his father, the late Barker Burbank, to which has been added the farms for- merly owned by Fletcher Ingalls, Na- thaniel Porter. Oliver Peabody and Dea- con Edward Green, making an unbroken intervale field two miles in length. The hillsides. for the same distance. have been cleared up and afford ample pas- turage for one hundred and twenty head of cattle. The house, a large two story building with extensive ell, carriage house, workshop and woodshed, was erected by Barker Burbank forty years
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ago, and with the exception of piazza. modernized roof and tower. remains un- changed. Probably no money could purchase the diamond shaped window panes near the front door, or the narrow winding front stairs.
The view from the house and grounds is magnificent, one grand picture drawn and painted by the hand of Nature. You seem to stand in a vast amphitheatre, three tiers of mountains rising on either hand. The highest, shadowy, indistinct, is outlined against the blue. gray horizon ; below is a darker range heavily wooded, and lower still the green hillside pas- tures. The Androscoggin winds in and out like a jeweled necklace thrown care- lessly down on its green velvet bed, darkling like jet in the shadows, flashing. , sparkling. twinkling like myriads of diamonds in the sunlight. Here and there a graceful elm or maple contributes to the beauty of the landscape. and in these days of reckless change and doubt- ful improvement it is good to see the pile of rocks and row of choke cherry bushes spared because an honored father left them so.
Mr. E. P. Burbank is superintendent, and employs from four to ten men on the farm. Passing down the road lead- ing to the intervale we notice first a two
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acre piece of Jerusalem artichokes. The plants seemed to be well rooted. and the crop is said to yield better and to be more nutricious food for stock than potatoes. A little farther on are fields of carrots, sugar beets, turnips, potatoes and corn, all looking finely and testify- ing to the experience and personal over- sight of the superintendent. All these crops, however. are but accessories or experiments, the leading crop is hay, of which over three hundred tons are raised yearly.
Quite a strip of land near the river bank is overflowed at high water, and a sediment deposited which acts as a fer- tilizer. Some of this sward has been un- broken for fifty years, and still produces a fine crop of grass. Here may be seen one of the curious freaks of Nature. What was once a bend in the river has filled up, making a level field several acres in extent, on which grass was growing five feet tall. On the new river bank were trees four or fiye inches in diameter.
No surface dressing is applied. on the principle that plants receive their food in the form of gas, and where this is supplied from above most of it passes off into the atmosphere before it can be utilized for vegetation. Instead, the
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ground is carefully plowed, dressed either with barnyard manure or lime mixed with muck, and sown in the fall with grass seed alone. Most other far- mers in this vicinity seed down in the spring with oats or barley, and have to complain of a poor catch. We noticed one piece in particular that three years ago was covered with dark moss. It was treated to a liberal coat of oyster shell lime, and now cuts two tons to the acre.
An inexhaustible bed of muck supplies immense quantities of valuable fertilizer. Prof. Jackson analized it some years ago to ascertain for what crops it was best suited. The Almighty provides a sim- pler and cheaper test-experiment. All crops, so far as tried, do well on it. A very luxuriant growth of India wheat stood within a few rods of the cavity where muck had been taken out. Far- ther on was a strip of potatoes with fodder corn between the rows. Two large barns have been built in the field, and are very convenient if work is driving or a sudden shower arises.
Not the least interesting feature to us was the house of Fletcher Ingalls, still in comfortable order, and occupied by one of the workmen. A little to the west is the cellar over which stood the
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first framed house in town, built by Fletcher Ingalls. on or near the site, we think, of Deacon Ingalls' log house. Standing on this spot we shuc our eyes to the wide stretching green field and see only a tiny clearing. dotted here and there with blackened stumps, and shut in by the primeval forest. Just across the river is the home of Hope Austin, his nearest neighbor, and right there fastens the little boat. their only means of communication. Wild animals and wilder and more savage Indians lurk in the shadows; the hardy pioneer stands his gun near by as he works, and the wife and mother slys out to the spring of patch of berries, every sense on the alert; the whirr of a bird's wing or the snap of a dry twig sending a spasm of fear through her heart.
One hundred years ago! Ah me! How short the road when we glance backward; how far it stretches into fu- turity when we look ahead. Not a ves- tige now remains of the old house. No one living ever saw the father and mother who built this home in the wil- derness and reared their children within its walls ; but the framed house, finished about three weeks before the birth of Mrs. Barker Burbank, is still in ex- istence. It is used for a wood-shed, but
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the Judge reproaches himself for per- mitting such desecration, and intends to preserve it as a memento of those "olden times." We suggest that it be restored as nearly as possible to its original appearance, and furnished with relics of the early settlers, of which every family has one or more-a straight-backed kitchen chair, a turnup bedstead, home made bed and table linen, a plain glass tumbler thin as paper. a tiny silver spoon, or a piece of quaint blue and white or red and white crockery. The collection would be invaluable for its associations.
The pastures lie along the south side of the highway, and are well cleared and tenced. Thirty or forty head of young cattle are kept in the lower enclosure. We noticed some fine one and two year olds, and one that was curiously marked like both parents, one side being Hol- stein and the other belted Dutch. In the next enclosure were five or six bulls. A large matched pair of belted Dutch have been broken to work, and one of them is frequently driven in harness by Lincoln Burbank, a sou of the superintendent. The Ayrshire bull, "Son of Mars," and several heifers were in another field, and still further on a herd of Jerseys. These Jersey heifers are handsome and delicate
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