USA > New Hampshire > Coos County > History of the White mountains > Part 18
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CHAPTER XIX.
GORHAM.
WHITE MOUNTAIN INDIANS. - COL. CLARK. - MOLLY OCKETT. - PEOL SUS- UP. - INDIAN ELOQUENCE. - GORHAM. - INFLUENCE OF THE RAILROAD UPON IT. - ALPINE HOUSE. - GLEN HOUSE. - MOUNT WASHINGTON ROAD -CARRIAGES. - BUILDING OF THE "SUMMIT HOUSE."- WEATHER ON THE SUMMIT IN MAY. - ORIGIN OF PEABODY RIVER. - WONDERFUL ENDUR- ANCE OF COLD.
A FEW things remain yet to be said concerning the White Mountain Indians. Amid the obscurity and uncertainty which shroud the many traditions respecting them, we think the following facts to be authentic. During the last years of the American Revolution, the northern Indians seem to have determined to make a final struggle for their hunting-grounds and home, and Pennacook, or Rumford Falls, in Maine, was selected as the scene of their resistance to white encroachments. No general battle was fought, but after committing many murders and barbarities on the settlers, and greatly annoying them, they retired, forgetting their revenge in the sad and weak condition of their tribe. One Tom Hegan, whom we have before mentioned, was particularly active in waylaying and killing the whites. He figures conspicuously in all the cruel Indian stories of this region. Sometimes in the employ of the British, and sometimes impelled onward by his own
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deep hatred, he was very bold, and bloody, and barbarous, and for a long time a terror to the settlers.
A Col. Clark, of Boston, had been in the habit of visiting annually the White Mountains, and trading for furs. He had thus become acquainted with all the settlers and many of the Indians. He was much esteemed for his honesty, and his visits were looked forward to with much interest. Tom Hegan had formed the design of killing him, and, contrary to his usual shrewdness, had disclosed his plans to some of his companions. One of them, in a drunken spree, told the secret to Molly Ockett, a squaw who had been converted to Christianity, and was much loved and respected by the whites. She determined to save Clark's life. To do it, she must traverse a wilderness of many miles to his camp. But
nothing daunted the courageous and faithful woman. Setting out early in the evening of the intended massacre, she reached Clark's camp just in season for him to escape. Tom Hegan had already killed two of Clark's companions, encamped a mile or two from him. He made good his escape, with his noble preserver, to the settlements. Col. Clark's gratitude knew no bounds. In every way he sought to reward the kind squaw for the noble act she had performed. For a long time she resisted all his attempts to repay her, until at last, overcome by his earnest entreaties and the difficulty of sustain- ing herself in her old age, she became an inmate of his fam- ily, in Boston. For a year she bore, with a martyr's endur- ance, the restraints of civilized life; but at length she could do it no longer. She must die, she said, in the great forest,
amid the trees, the companions of her youth. Devotedly pious, she sighed for the woods, where, under the clear blue sky, she might pray to God as she had when first converted. Clark saw her distress, and built her a wigwam on the Falls
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of the Pennacook, and there supported her the remainder of her days. Often did he visit her, bringing the necessary provision for her sustenance.
It is the tragical end of this same Tom Hegan, we think, which is so commonly remembered by many of the old inhab- itants in Maine, even to this day. "He was tied upon a horse, with spurs on his heels, in such a manner that the spurs continually goaded the animal. When the horse was set at liberty, he ran furiously through an orchard, and the craggy limbs of the trees tore him to pieces."
A daughter of this Molly Ockett married one Peol Susup, we think the one who was afterwards tried for murder at Castine. This Peol Susup was a Penobscot Indian ; but the northern and eastern tribes freely intermarried, we believe. " All the tribes between the Saco and the St. John, both in- clusive, are brothers."
As a specimen of Indian oratory, the speech of John Neptune, the chief of the tribe, at the trial of Susup, may not be uninteresting. "The case was nearly as follows : - On the evening of the 28th of June, 1816, this Indian was intoxicated, and at the tavern of one Knight, at Bangor (whether he had procured liquor there with which to intoxi- cate himself, we are not informed) ; and being noisy and tur- bulent, Knight endeavored to expel him from his house. Having thrust him out of doors, he endeavored to drive him away, and in the attempt was stabbed, and immediately died. On his arrest, Susup acknowledged his guilt, but said he was in liquor, and that Knight abused him, or he had not done it. Being brought to trial in June, the next year, at Cas- tine, by advice of counsel he pleaded not guilty ; and, after a day spent in his trial, a verdict was rendered according to the defence set up, manslaughter.
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" After the sentence was declared, Susup was asked by the court if he had anything to say for himself; to which he replied, ' John Neptune will speak for me.' Neptune rose up, and, having advanced towards the judges, deliberately said, in English :
"' You know your people do my Indians great deal wrong They abuse them very much, -yes, they murder them. Then they walk right off ; nobody touches them. This makes my heart burn. Well, then, my Indians say, "We will go kill your very bad and wicked men." No, I tell 'em, never do that thing - we are brothers. Some time ago, a very bad man about Boston shot an Indian dead. Your people said, surely he should die ; but it was not so. In the great prison-house he eats and lives to this day. Certainly he never dies for killing Indian. My brother say let that bloody man go free - Peol Susup too. So we wish. Hope fills the hearts of us all. Peace is good. These my In- dians love it well. They smile under its shade. The white men and red men must be always friends. The Great Spirit is our father. I speak what I feel.'
"Susup was sentenced to another year's imprisonment, and required to find sureties for keeping the peace two years in the penal sum of five hundred dollars, when John Nep- tune, Squire Jo Merry Neptune, of his own tribe, Captain Solmond, from Passamaquoddy, and Captain Jo Tomer, from the river St. John, became his sureties in the cogni- zance "
Gorham is a rough, unproductive township, lying on the northerly base of the mountains. It was formerly called Shelburne Addition ; but was incorporated by its present name, June 18th, 1836. Numerous streams descend from the mountains, through this town, into the Androscoggin.
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The opening of the Atlantic and St. Lawrence Railroad brought this little town out from the greatest obscurity, and it has become one of the great resorts for the travelling community. Its peculiarly favorable situation for viewing the mountains was never known, until travellers, posting through its borders for other destinations, were compelled to admire its beauties.
Immediately on the completion of the railroad to this point, the Alpine House was erected, and the announcement made that the cars set passengers down at the very base of
the White Mountains. People, for a moment, were dumb with astonishment. It had never been supposed that there was any north or south, or east or west, to these old heights ; but that every one who visited them must make up his mind for a long stage-coach ride through Conway or Littleton, and ultimately be set down at the Crawford or Fabyan's. That the cars should actually carry visitors to the base of the mountains was something which every one had supposed would take place in the far-off future, but not until they themselves had ceased to travel; but it was certainly so ; and the Alpine House and Gorham had become familiar words to travellers.
The Alpine House is a large hotel, owned by the railroad company. It is some distance from the base of the moun- tains, which are seldom ascended from this point ; but for quiet and comfort, and beautiful drives, it is surpassed by no house at the mountains. A beautiful little village has sprung up around it, consisting mostly of buildings owned by the company. The post-office is kept here, and the telegraph affords an excellent opportunity to business men to visit the mountains, and attend to their business at the same time. Mount Moriah, Randolph Hill, Berlin Falls, and Lary's, should all be visited before the traveller takes his departure.
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The Glen House is seven miles from the Alpine House, in the valley of the Peabody river, immediately under Mount Washington, and in the midst of the loftiest summits in the' whole mountain district. The house is situated in Bellows' Clearing, which contains about a hundred acres. For a base view of the mountains, no spot could be selected so good. Several huge mountains show themselves proudly to view, in front of the piazza, nothing intervening to obscure their giant forms. " You see them before you in all their noble, calm and silent grandeur, severally seeming the repose of power and strength. On the left is the mountain bearing the worthiest name our country ever gave us. Toward the right of its rock-crowned summit rise, in full view, the celebrated peaks of Adams and Jefferson-the one pointed, the other rounded. On both wings of these towering summits are the tops of lesser elevations. In an opposite direction, fronting the ' patriot group,' of gigantic forms, is the long, irregular rise of Carter Mountains."
The carriage-road to the summit of Mount Washington starts from this point. This road, together with the rail- road upon the opposite side of the mountain, are two of the most gigantic undertakings of the age, and among the best pieces of engineering in the country. These roads have proved themselves a success, even to the most incredulous. The carriage-road we have described in a preceding chap- ter, and it seems but just to devote the present space to the railroad. It caused much amusement among the mem- bers of the New Hampshire legislature, when Mr. Marsh exhibited the model of his invention and asked for a charter; and one advised that he should make the moon one of his termini. They granted the charter, however,
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and Mr. Marsh purchased some seventeen thousand acres of land, lying for several miles along the Ammonoosuc, and leading to the summit of the mountain as a location for his proposed road. The carriage-road, which, leaving the main road at a point opposite the " Giant's Grave," leads to the foot of the mountain, was commenced in April 1866, and the railroad in May of the same year. This road, which commences at a point about seven miles from the " White Mountain House," was formally opened to the public August 14, 1868. The peculiarity in the road is, that it has three rails, two common strap rails and a centre ratchet rail, bolted to sills laid longitudinally. The centre rail is to receive the cogs in the centre of the engine and car, and is so constructed as to be exceedingly strong. To retain the car and engine on the track there are friction rollers running under the middle rail on either side. The two cylinders of the engine are connected with the drive-shaft, and the crank-shaft is so geared as to render the necessary power for steep grades. The boiler is upright and is kept level by trunnions. There is a plentiful supply of brakes, by means of which the train, consisting of car and engine, can be instantly stopped. In addition to the brakes, there is a strong iron " dog " working in the drive wheel during the ascent, which prevents the engine from going a single inch. In ascending the car is pushed before the engine, and in descending, should the car by any accident become detached, it can be almost instantly stopped by a single turn of the hand-brake, which is constantly tended by a man who has it perfectly under his control. The style of the car at present in use is very much like a street car in appearance, with windows along the sides and a door at each end ; the seats, however, are arranged upon each side
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of the centre aisle, and so hung as to secure an easy posi- tion, whatever may be the grade. These afford accommo- dations for forty-eight passengers.
The building of the Summit House, on the top of Mount Washington, was a noble undertaking. No one but a Yankee would ever have thought of building a house where hereto- fore men had hardly been able, on account of the cold, and wind, and storms, to remain long enough to obtain a satisfac- tory view of what surrounded them. The bold thought, we believe, is due to Joseph S. Hall, who was a guide from the Notch House for many years, and who saw the necessity of a shelter at the summit.
Mr. Hall disclosed his plans to a Mr. Rosebrook, a brother farmer of Jefferson, and together they determined to under- take the task. No one surely owned the top of Mount Washington ; no one ever thought of owning it, save one Nazro, a moon-mad Jew, who sought to establish tolls around the summit, and himself sat down to collect the fees. But to make all sure, a lawyer was employed to search the records at Concord, and it was fully ascertained that the State of New Hampshire had never granted to any one the acre of solid rock which crowned Mount Washington. J. M. Thomp- son, Esq., the landlord of the Glen House, granted them for a small compensation the use of his bridle-path, over which to transport their material; and the first day of June, 1852, they broke ground, or rather rock, for their house, and, the twenty-fifth day of July, sat down to dinner in it, with the outside completed. The state of the atmosphere on the summit, during these early months, may be imagined from an account of an ascent made in the month of May, the 9th instant, this year, 1855.
" The second and third miles we found the snow from two
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to four feet deep, and with sufficient crust for snow-shocing. At the old ' half-way camp,' we left our snow-shoes, and pro- ceeded on an icy crust, so solid that a heel stamp would scarcely dent it. All the high mountain streams are yet fettered by the strong chain of winter, and in several places we were compelled to cut stepping-places in the ice with our hatchets, that we might advance. In this manner we at last arrived at the foot of the highest crag, when, trumpeted along by the deafening roar of high wintry wind, a frost-cloud came over us, and shrouded us in white. We found our houses yet firmly resisting the destructive power that freely moves around them in this exposed latitude; and after much difficulty succeeded in entering the Tip-Top house by a back window. The doors and windows of both houses were securely covered with a glistening crust of thick frost, and against the doors snow was banked up so solid, that even with a good axe and spade, I think we could not have lived to cut away an entrance, with the wind and sleet so strong against us. I can say truly, that, entering as we did on one side sheltered by rocks from the wind, we were compelled to make constant and active exertion to keep from freezing, with thick gloves and heavy outside coats. In short, we went prepared with a thorough winter dress."
A camp was built about half way up the mountain, in the small growth of spruce and pine, which was to be their home while building the house. Several tough, scrubby mountain horses and pack-saddles were purchased, and a number of stout, able-bodied men were hired. Thus pre- pared, they at length commenced operations. A few com- menced blasting heavy blocks of stone from the solid mountain itself, and laying up the walls of the house. A few were employed down at the camp in hewing timbers and
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riving shingles, and the remainder brought up from the valley below, on their own shoulders, and on the horses, boards and " fixins " for the finishing. Those on the summit could work but a few hours during the day, and some days not any. Occasionally, clouds of sleet and snow would come drifting over the summit, so frosty and biting, that the utmost exertion could only save them from being thoroughly numbed. Their only safety then was in fleeing to their camp. Thus whole days would be spent in going to and from their work. Around the summit it would appear all clear and comfortable, and up they would go to their labor. Hardly would they be fairly commenced, when some sudden storm would come upon them, and down they would be forced to go to their shelter. Seldom more than two or three con- secutive hours could they work at once. The house was located under the lee of the highest rock on Mount Wash- ington, and was laid out forty feet long, and twenty-two feet wide. The walls were four feet thick, laid in cement, and every stone had to be raised to its place by muscular strength alone.
While these were laying the walls, the material for finish- ing and furnishing were being dragged up from the Glen House, a distance of six miles. Lime, boards, nails, shingles, timbers, furniture, crockery, bedding and stoves, all had to be brought up by piecemeal on the men's or horses' backs. No one ever went up without taking something - a chair, or door, or piece of crockery. Four boards (about sixty feet) could be carried up at once on a horse's back, and, but one trip could be made daily. Mr. Rosebrook, a young giant; carried up at one time a door of the usual length, three feet wide, three and one half inches thick, ten pounds of pork, and one gallon of molasses.
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The walls were raised eight feet high, and to these the roof was fastened by strong iron bolts ; while over the whole structure were passed strong cables, fastened to the solid mountain itself. The inside was thrown, primitive fashion, into one room, in which the beds were arranged, berth-like, for the most part on one side of the room, in two tiers, with curtains in front. A table, capable of seating thirty or forty persons, ran lengthwise of the room. At one end of the room a cooking-stove and the other furniture of a kitchen were placed, with a curtain between it and the table. At the other end was a small stove, in which was burned mountain moss. The walls are perfectly rough, outside and in ; a little plaster upon the inside merely fills up the chinks. The house trembles and creaks in the gale, but stands strong. Says one : "The Summit House is quite as good a place as a ' cottage chamber,' wherein to listen to the strain,
" Which is played upon the shingles, By the patter of the rain.'
" It seems like the times of bygone days, when we used to sleep in a chamber with nothing overhead but the humble roof.
' Every tinkle on the shingles Has an echo on the heart, And a thousand dreary fancies Into busy being start, And a thousand recollections Weave their bright hues into woof, As I listen to the patter Of the soft rain on the roof.' "
"The father of Oliver Peabody, who resided at Andover, Mass., in one of his excursions into New Hampshire, met 23
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with an adventure, which has connected his name with the geography of the country, and which, for that reason, as well as for its singularity, may perhaps with propriety be men- tioned here. He was passing the night in the cabin of an Indian, situated on the side of a mountain, in the neighbor- hood of Saco river. The inmates of this rude dwelling were awakened in the course of the night by a loud noise, and had scarcely time to make their escape, before their hut was swept away by a torrent of water rushing impetuously down the hill. On reconnoitring the ground, they found that this torrent had burst out suddenly from a spot where there was no spring before. It has continued flowing ever since, and forms the branch of the Saco which bears the name of Pea- body's river."
A late number of the State of Maine contains the fol- lowing narrative, which it almost curdles one's blood to read. We were in Shelburne, at the time it transpired, collecting materials for our work, and saw ourselves young Goulding, who was at the hotel under the care of a physician. Who besides these men would not have yielded to death in such an extremity ?
" On January 31st, Nathaniel Copp, son of Hayes D. Copp, of Pinkham's Grant, near the Glen House, White Mountains, commenced hunting deer, and was out four suc- cessive days. On the fifth day, he left again for a deer killed the day previously, about eight miles from home. He dragged the deer (weighing two hundred and thirty pounds) home through the snow, and at one o'clock, P. M., started for another one discovered near the place where the former was killed, which he followed until he lost the track, about dark. He then found he had lost his own way, and should, in all
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probability, be obliged to spend the night in the woods, the thermometer at the time ranging from thirty-two to thirty- four degrees below zero.
" Despair being no part of his composition, with perfect self-possession and presence of mind, he commenced walking, having no provisions, matches, or even a hatchet; knowing that to remain quiet was certain death. He soon after heard a deer, and, pursuing him by moonlight, overtook him, leaped upon his back, and cut his throat. He then dressed him, and, taking out the heart, placed it in his pocket for a trophy. He continued walking twenty-one hours, and the next day, at about ten o'clock, A. M., he came out at or near Wild river, in Gilead, in Maine; having walked on snow-shoes the unparalleled distance of forty miles without rest, a part of the time through an intricate growth of underbrush.
" His friends at home becoming alarmed at his prolonged absence, and the intensity of the cold, three of them started in pursuit of him, viz., John Goulding, Mr. Hayes D. Copp, his father, and Thomas Culbane. They followed his track, until it was lost in darkness, and, by the aid of dogs, found the deer which young Copp had killed and dressed. They then built a fire, and waited five or six hours for the moon to rise, to enable them to continue their search. They again started, with but the faintest hopes of ever finding the lost one alive ; pursued his track, and, being out twenty-six hours in the intense cold, found the young man of whom they were in search.
" Goulding froze both his feet so badly that it is feared he will have to suffer amputation. Mr. Copp and Mr. Culbane froze their ears badly. No words can reward the heroic self- denial and fortitude with which these men continued an almost
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hopeless search, when every moment expecting to find the stiffened corpse of their friend.
" Young Copp seems not to have realized the great danger he has passed through, and, although his medical advisers say he cannot entirely recover the use of his limbs for from three to six months, talks with perfect coolness of taking part in hunts which he planned for the next week."
CHAPTER XX.
ALBANY, FRANCONIA, AND BETHLEHEM.
DRAKE'S VERSION OF CHOCORUA'S CURSE. - POPULAR LEGEND CONNECTED WITH THIS CURSE. - CAUSE OF THE DISEASE AMONG CATTLE IN ALBANY. - REMEDY FOR THE DISEASE. - BEAVERS. - MILITARY INCIDENT. - FRAN- CONIA. - IRON MINE. - EXTENT OF THE MINE. - KNIGHT'S MOOSE STORY. - VILLAGE OF BETHLEHEM. - VIEW OF THE MOUNTAINS FROM BETHLE- HEM. - EARLY SETTLEMENT. - FIRST ROAD TO THE WHITE MOUNTAINS FROM BETHLEHEM. - EXPEDIENT TO KEEP FROM FREEZING. - FIRST TOWN MEETING. - BUILDING BRIDGE OVER AMMONOOSUCK. - SCARCITY OF PRO- VISION. - EXTREMITY TO WHICH INHABITANTS WERE DRIVEN. - BETHLE- HEM OF THE PRESENT DAY.
" What a rich, sonorous word, by the way, that ' Chocorua ' is ! To my ears it suggests the wildness, freshness and loneliness, of the great hills. It always brings with it the sigh of the wind through mountain pines."
WE have given in another place what Drake, the author of the " History of North American Indians," considers the correct account of Chocorua's curse. There is, however, a beautiful story connected with it, whether true or not we cannot say, which should not be passed over unnoticed.
A small colony of hardy pioneers had settled at the base of this mountain. Intelligent, independent men, impatient of restraint, they had shunned the more thickly-settled por- tions of the country, and retired into this remote part of New Hampshire. "But there was one master-spirit among
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them who was capable of a higher destiny than he ever ful- filled.
"The consciousness of this had stamped something of proud humility on the face of Cornelius Campbell, - something of a haughty spirit, strongly curbed by circumstances he could not control, and at which he seemed to murmur. He assumed no superiority ; but, unconsciously, he threw around him the spell of intellect, and his companions felt, they knew not why, that he was 'among them, but not of them.' His stature was gigantic, and he had the bold, quick tread of one who had wandered frequently and fearlessly among the ter- rible hiding-places of nature. His voice was harsh, but his whole countenance possessed singular capabilities for tender- ness of expression ; and sometimes, under the gentle influence of domestic excitement, his hard features would be rapidly lighted up, seeming like the sunshine flying over the shaded fields in an April day.
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