History of the town of Haverhill, New Hampshire, Part 31

Author: Whitcher, William F. (William Frederick), 1845-1918
Publication date: 1919
Publisher: [Concord, N.H. : Rumford press]
Number of Pages: 838

USA > New Hampshire > Grafton County > Haverhill > History of the town of Haverhill, New Hampshire > Part 31

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On October 15, 1917, the new free bridge was opened in the presence of the Governors of New Hampshire and Vermont and more than 5,000 people. The day of opening was a perfect one. Promptly at 1.30 o'clock there were two processions starting for the bridge; one from Rowden's block in Woodsville, and the other from Hale's Tavern in Wells River. The line of march from Rowden's block was made up of Major Ray- mond U. Smith, grand marshal; Gov. Henry W. Keyes; the bridge engineer, John Storrs of Concord; A. H. Kittredge, secretary of the United Construction Company of Albany, N. Y .; the Grafton County commissioners; members of the Woodsville Board of Trade; Camp Fire Girls; citizens of Woodsville and surrounding towns, and the pupils of the Woodsville schools. The line of march from Hale's Tavern was made up as follows: Raymond E. Farwell, marshal; color bearer, John Martin; members of the Boy Scouts; Horace F. Graham, governor of Vermont; members of the Vermont Bridge com- mission; selectmen of Newbury; trustees of the village of Wells River; members of the Red Cross First Aid Class; Colonel Preston, Relief Corps; citizens of Wells River; the pupils of the Wells River schools. The two processions met in the middle of the bridge and the exercises began with speeches by the governors and others. Governor Keyes gave a brief sketch concerning the toll bridges which have been built between the two towns, this being the seventh between Woodsville and Wells River, and went somewhat into detail over the controversy which existed when the Boston, Concord and Montreal road extended its line into Vermont. Governor Keyes had much to do with securing free bridges. Governor Graham dwelt on the historical events which had taken place, and suggested that the bridge be called Rangers bridge. Not less than 4,000 people were on the bridge, giving it a test which will stand through coming years. The approximate cost of the bridge was $65,000. The opening of this bridge means a closer relation between the villages of Woodsville and Wells River, and as time goes on will do more to unite their social and business interests than any one thing in the history of the towns.

The charter for the bridge between Haverhill and South Newbury, to be built within the limits of Bedel's ferry, was granted by the New

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Hampshire legislature to Moody Bedel and others, June 16, 1802. Of the one hundred shares of stock Moody Bedel held thirty-five, and Capt. William Trotter of Bradford, Vt., fifteen. The first meeting of the stockholders was held May 9, 1805, at the house of Asa Boynton, innholder in Haverhill. General Bedell conveyed his ferry rights to the new corporation for the sum of $900. The first bridge, an open one resting on wooden piers, was built that same year by Avery Sanders for a contract price of $2,700. Just when this bridge was carried away is uncertain, but at a meeting held September 4, 1821, steps were taken to rebuild the bridge which had been partially destroyed. The cost of rebuilding was a little less than $2,600. This bridge stood till February, 1841, when it was again carried away. The ferry came into use again till 1851 when an open bridge supported by wooden piers was con- structed which lasted till the spring of 1862 when it was carried away by the high water resulting from the unprecedented depth of the winter's snow. The next year a covered bridge was constructed. It was of light construction, and was strengthened by arches in 1865 which made the roadway narrow and unsafe. This bridge was demolished by a gale in 1866, and was replaced the same year by the present structure. It has been known for more than a century as Bedell's bridge.

The fourth toll bridge between Haverhill and Newbury was never built. A charter was granted in 1809 to Asa Porter and others of Haverhill and to Asa Tenney, and others of Newbury, for a bridge between Horse Meadow and the Oxbow in Newbury at some place between half a mile above and half a mile below Col. Asa Porter's ferry. The proprietors were to build a road "from Colonel Porter's house to the main road in Haverhill." The bridge and road were never built.

The Connecticut River was early utilized for transportation purposes. In the early settlement of the town many heavy manufactured articles, including some of the machinery for the first mills, were hauled up the river on the ice, and rafts were early used to convey lumber and some agricultural products to the markets below during the open season. Large quantities of sawed lumber were sent down the river each season, after a series of locks and canals had been constructed at White River, Quechee, Bellows Falls, Millers Falls and South Hadley and the lumber industry in Haverhill and vicinity became an important and profitable one. These rafts of lumber were sent from Kimball's landing in Haver- hill, situated on the east bank of the river near the present Cottage Hos- pital, the hospital being on the site of the tavern, known in later years as the Cobleigh Tavern, a part of which still remains as a portion of the hospital building. Boats were also used to carry to tide water, the prod- ucts of the soil, and to bring back all kinds of merchandise. During the spring and fall seasons when the water in the river was of mean depth,

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the trade between Wells River, Vt., the head of navigation, and Hart- ford, Conn., was considerable. The navigation was carried on in boats, from 60 to 64 feet in length, with an average width of 9 or 10 feet. Their draft of water was from 20 to 24 inches, with full freight weighing on the average 16 tons. This amount could be transported in one boat, when the river was between flood and low water at what is called boat pitch. Such pitch continued from six to eight weeks in the spring and from four to six weeks in the fall. The time required to descend the river from Wells River to tide water was ten days, and to return twenty days, and, not more than two or at the most three trips could be made from Wells River to Hartford and return in any one year. The customary charge for freight down the river was $10 per ton and from Hartford up $20 per ton. This was much lower than the cost of transportation of merchan- dise by land from Haverhill and Newbury to Boston which was upwards of $20 per ton each way throughout the year.

It was but natural that schemes for cheaper transportation were devised and promoted. That which was of chief interest to Haverhill and its sister town Newbury involved the improvement of navigation on the river, by utilizing its waters in connection with canal construction. To promote such improvement the Connecticut River Company was organized in the latter part of 1824. In February, 1825, four of the officers of this company participated in a convention held at Windsor, Vt., which was attended by more than two hundred delegates from various towns in the Connecticut Valley. This convention was in session for two days and after passing resolutions and appointing various committees, unanimously adopted and forwarded to Congress a memorial requesting aid from the general government towards improving navigation in the Connecticut Valley.

In order to ascertain the cost of carrying into execution a river and canal plan, the River Company entered into negotiations with the pro- prietors of the various locks and canals on the river, and provided for a detailed survey of the river to see what other locks and canals would be needed, and to find as near as might be the total cost of the improvements. It was found that the shares of the companies owning the then existing locks and canals could be purchased for the sum of $368,000. The Federal government, through the War Department, provided for a sur- vey of a route for a canal from the river at Barnet to Lake Memphrema- gog, and also to make a survey of the river from Connecticut Lake to Long Island Sound. It was found that the government surveyor would not be able to make both surveys in a single season, and the River Com- pany secured the services of Holmes Hutchinson, an experienced engineer who had been connected with the construction of the Erie canal, to make a survey of the river from Barnet to Hartford to ascertain the practica-

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bility of making the river navigable by using in connection with it locks and canals. This survey was made in the summer and fall of 1825, was thorough and comprehensive and, as published in 1826, is a most interest- ing and valuable document. Mr. Hutchinson's summary after giving his detailed statement of the cost of improving the nineteen sections into which he divided the river for estimation of needed improvements and cost of same was as follows:

The whole distance from Barnet to Hartford in the course of the proposed water com- munication is 219 miles, of which 17 miles would be canal and 202 miles slack water navigation in the river. The number of locks proposed is 41 to overcome 420 feet of descent, and the total estimatal cost is $1,071,827.91.

All the works have been planned to afford a connected navigation of four feet depth at low water; and with reasonable repairs, will, it is believed, admit the use of boats draw- ing three feet of water through the summer. The difficulties of making a canal from Barnet to Hartford would be great; and I think the improvement of the river decidedly the most judicious, considering the relative expense and utility, and the extent of country to be accommodated.

The board of directors of the River Company adopted the opinions of Mr. Hutchinson, but were met with obstacles at the outset. The capi- tal stock of the company authorized by the charter, granted by the legislature of Vermont, was manifestly insufficient for the undertaking, which with the purchase of the rights of the existing lock and canal companies would require, at least, a capital of $1,500,000, and the orig- inal charter had to be amended. This occasioned delay. Then, sub- scriptions for stock could not be opened, until the Vermont act had received the assent of the states of New Hampshire and Connecticut nor could the company be organized until subscriptions should amount to at least $500,000. All this tended to cause delay.

Then came the question of power, whether steam or horses, and the board inclined to the use of steam, though this necessitated the construc- tion of the canals ten feet wider than those which had beeen constructed in the state of New York. It was concluded that steamboats with a draft of three feet of water would possess sufficient power to safely navi- gate the river and pass with convenience all the requisite canals.

Still again came the question of railroad construction. These had recently been constructed in Great Britain, and the discussion of the expediency and practicability of railroads in which President Alfred Smith of the River Company indulged makes at the present day decidedly interesting reading. He said, quoting from his published report:

As to the saving of expense in the first outlay, railroads require less land than canals, and no water, and the savings in those particulars amount in Great Britain, to a large sum. The land necessary for a railway in this valley would, on the contrary, cost much more than that which is necessary for improving the river. Iron, an article of the first consequence in railways, is dearer in this country than in Great Britain. Frosts in New England are much more severe than in that country, which would

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occasion an increased expense by requiring the supports of the rails to be longer and to be sunk deeper.

President Smith discussed at length the comparative merits of a rail- road, or the improvement of the river, as furnishing transportation facilities for Haverhill, Newbury and the other towns in the Connecticut Valley, citing the various experiments which had been made in Great Britain and finally pronounced what he doubtless believed to be a sound verdict, he said:

It appears to be a safe conclusion that a power moving a boat with a speed of four miles an hour will produce an effect at least equal to that which will be produced by the same power on a railroad. And it is only when the quantity or value of property to be trans- ported is very great, that a velocity exceeding four miles an hour will become important, and were the question here, as in England, between a railway, which would cost $16,000 a mile, and a canal which would cost double or treble that sum, we think the subject of a railway may be safely dismissed from consideration; inasmuch as the cost of the proposed improvement of the navigation is estimated at less than half the stated average expense of railways; as the navigation by steamboats with a velocity of four miles an hour is equal to the wants of this section of country, and may be maintained on the river with no greater power than that required on a railway.

The entire programme for the improvement of the river was not carried out, but enough was done so that navigation was carried on to a certain extent. A steamboat, the Barnet, built in New York in 1826, had got up as far as Bellows Falls. In 1830, the John Ledyard was taken up the river by the aid of the locks then constructed as far as Wells River, and an attempt was made to steam up through the Narrows to Barnet. It grounded on a bar just above the Narrows, and the man-power furnished by a gang of rivermen was insufficient to pull it further. It went back down the river and never returned.

In the autumn of 1830 the Connecticut River Valley Steamboat Com- pany was organized, and stock was issued for building five boats which were to ply the river in sections without attempting to pass through the locks and canals which had been constructed. The Adam Duncan was built at Wells River, at a cost of nearly $5,000, to ply between that point and Olcott Falls. The boat would be a curiosity today. It was about 60 feet in length with a breadth of beams of 12 feet and had a draught of 22 inches of water. It had four boilers each 15 feet in length by 1 foot in diameter. Horace Duncan of Lyman was captain, and Hiram Wells, pilot. The career of the boat was brief. On its second trip, July 4, 1831, to take a party of excursionists from Wells River to Hanover, the con- necting pipe between the boilers burst, letting the steam and water escape. This created a panic, but no one was injured, except a Dr. Dean of Bath, who in his excitement jumped overboard and was drowned. The Adam Duncan went out of commission. It was taken to Olcott Falls and dis- mantled. Steamboat navigation on the Connecticut, between that

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point and Wells River, was abandoned. The Connecticut River Valley Steamboat Company had also a brief career. It was not popular in the more important towns on the river. Haverhill-and Haverhill was then Haverhill Corner-gave it no encouragement. It threatened the turn- pike and stage routes; and there were obstacles in the way of success, found in high freight rates and uncertain service. Assessments were in order, and state assessments usually mark the beginning of the end of any corporation. A specimen receipt reads :

CONNECTICUT RIVER VALLEY STEAMBOAT COMPANY

This certifies that the assessment of four dollars per share has been paid by John & Joseph Patterson on Shares Nos. 1197 & 1198 of the Capital Stock of Said Company, agreeably to a vote of Directors, passed February 9, 1832, at Brattleborough, Vermont. FREDERICK PETTIS, Treasurer.

$8.00.

Windsor, Vt., May 12, 1832.

The company failed in 1832. Assessments even when paid, did not save it. The canals and locks which had been constructed at large expense around the various falls continued to be used for rafts of lumber from Haverhill and for steamboats below Turners Falls. At the present time the Enfield canal, and the canal at Holyoke are utilized in furnishing power for manufacturing and the same is true of the canal at Bellows Falls.

There had been other waterways planned previous to the Connecticut River scheme. Better connection was desired with the Boston market. A canal was proposed from the Pemigewasset River in Wentworth to Haverhill, the channel of that river and Baker's river to be improved to that point. The route of the canal, as surveyed by John McDuffee in 1825, would have been practically that later followed by the railroad. But the lack of water made this plan impracticable. There was also a strong opposition in some quarters to any river navigation whatever. This was especially the case in Haverhill.

The merchants of Haverhill Corner, which eighty years ago was the most important place in the north country, were not in favor of river navigation, their interest lying in the Coos turnpike, which was largely built by Haverhill capital, and which in its turn built up Haverhill Corner. This turnpike which went out through Court Street and passed between the Tarleton lakes in Piermont to Warren was then the most travelled road in all this region. There was a tavern every two miles, and often 200 teams passed over it in a day. One may now travel for miles along that road without meeting a team, and what was then a prosperous community, east of Tarleton lake, has not now a soli- tary inhabitant.1

Haverhill Corner opposed river and canal navigation and transporta- tion, but later was enthusiastically in favor of railroad construction. It duly recognized what had been done for its prosperity by the Coös turn-

1F. P. Wells' History of Newbury, p. 303.

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pike, and it expected greater things from the railroad. Railroad construc- tion did indeed have large influence in promoting the prosperity of Haver- hill, though not to the section anticipated so fondly by the leading citizens of the Corner.

The Boston, Concord and Montreal Railroad was incorporated by the legislature December 27, 1844. Among the incorporators were John Page and John McClary of Haverhill. No town was more deeply inter- ested in the road than Haverhill which was expected to be its northern terminus, an interest all the more felt since the exact location of this ter- minus remained for some time unsettled after the granting of the charter. Section 2 of the act of incorporation read, "beginning at any point on the westerly bank of the Connecticut River opposite Haverhill or Littleton in this state, or any town on said river between the towns aforesaid thence passing in the direction of the Oliverian route, so-called to Plymouth," etc. The return of the survey of the route by William P. Crocker, civil engineer, was made August 1, 1845. The northern terminus of the survey was at the whetstone factory in Haverhill (now Pike), a distance from Concord of eighty-one miles. The engineer said: "The course of the line from this point will depend upon what shall finally be decided upon as the crossing place into Vermont. The line may be continued down the Oliverian, upon either side of the stream, as shall best accommo- date the farther extension of the road. The distance from this point to the village of Haverhill is about three miles." It was doubtless at first expected that the road would cross the Connecticut near the mouth of the Oliverian and that a junction would be made with the Passumpsic, but difficulties in the way of grade, and dangers from freshets and high water on the meadows, led to an abandonment of this plan, much to the disappointment of the citizens of Haverhill Corner whose fears of the results have been realized. Subsequent events, including the construc- tion of the White Mountain and the Montpelier and Wells River roads have vindicated the wisdom of the decision which made Woodsville the terminus.

As evidencing the optimism of the promoters of the road, some abtracts from thestatistical report made by the directors in July, 1845, give an idea of the amount of business which these promoters expected in order to make the road profitable to the stockholders. They stated that the total number of passengers annually over the Grafton Turnpike, and the Bris- tol, Sanbornton, Meredith, Sandwich, Moultonborough, Eaton, Conway and other small roads was 34,350, and most of these would be diverted from the stage routes to the railroad. The 4,600 passengers over the Grafton Turnpike would take the road at Haverhill. The promoters believed that mountain travel would add something to the income. They said: "The White Mountains, Franconia Notch, Red Hill and Center Harbor,

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and the variety of natural scenery which this section of our state presents, it is well known, have become objects of great attraction and are visited by thousands of people from all parts of our country. Railroad facilities into these mountain regions would undoubtedly increase very much this kind of travel-many suppose it would double in a single year." Then they proceed to map out an ideal excursion. "It would be difficult to imagine a more beautifully, romantic excursion than this would afford, leaving the railroad at the head of the lake, Meredith Village, passing to Centre Harbor, which is a place of great resort, being in the vicinity of Red Hill, thence passing up the southeast side of the White Mountains through the Notch to the Hotels upon the west side. Then visiting the Franconia Notch, the Flume, the Old Man of the Mountain, and passing out striking the railroad again at Plymouth; or passing down the Ammo- noosuc into the Valley of the Connecticut at Haverhill. The quantity of this mountain travel is not easily estimated, but from the present amount, it may be set down as no inconsiderable item in the business of the rail- road." In the light of present day summer travel this outlook into the future was certainly modest.

But the promoters of the road expected great things in the way of Haverhill business. "Haverhill Lime. This article of universal con- sumption is found at Haverhill, contiguous to the track of the railroad (some two miles distant). According to Dr. Jackson's Geological report, of superior quality, better than the best of Thomaston, and as inexhaust- ible as the mountains of which it is composed. Lime is produced here to a limited extent, being carried off for the surrounding country, some of it as far down as Holderness. There is no doubt that lime will be fur- nished for our entire consumption as far down as Nashua, if it would not compete successfully for the Lowell and Boston markets; and this item

alone will furnish many thousands of tons annually. Of the lime of Haverhill Dr. Jackson says: 'This bed of limestone is of incal- culable importance to the people of New Hampshire, and will save an immense sum from expenditure for foreign lime.'" The optimism of these statistics has not been justified by subsequent events. The rail- road has not by way of transportation made inroads on this deposit. The limekilns at the base of Black Mountain have fallen into decay, and Haverhill is as rich as ever in limestone deposits.

The railroad promoters also counted on making Haverhill the seat of an iron industry. The iron ore of Piermont was within a mile and a half of the line of road as surveyed. Quoting from Dr. Jackson: "The Piermont iron mine is favorably situated for advantageous operations in the manufacture of iron. The ore is abundant and the mine will need no artificial drainage. Water power is close at hand and is unoccupied at present. Charcoal may be had in any desired quantity, for three or four

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dollars per 100 bushels. Stone, proper for the construction of blast furnaces, is found in the immediate vicinity." The furnaces have never been erected. Iron and lime have been transported in, not out. Strange that in this outlook for business, the whetstone factory at the end of the survey was overlooked, as were also the cattle, swine and sheep then driven to market, but later filling long heavily loaded cattle trains.

The difficulties in the way of the construction of the road were great, and would have seemed insurmountable to men less determined than its promoters, and less energetic than the president of the Corporation, Josiah Quincy, whose indomitable zeal and self-sacrificing devotion to the task which he unwillingly accepted won at last merited success.

Some of these obstacles were detailed in a paper written by Mr. Quincy in 1873 for perusal by his children. His story was an interesting one. A part of this paper is here presented :

Our plan was to connect with the Passumpsic Road at Wells River, and by that road with the Grand Trunk in Canada. The gentlemen who represented the Passuinpsic interest gave us the strongest assurances of their co-operation, cautioned us against being carried away by side issues, and begged us to reject at once all applications to deviate from the general course proposed.

At the time our road was chartered, a charter was granted to the Cheshire and to the Northern roads. It was then understood that the Cheshire was to connect with the Rutland, the Northern with the Vermont Central, and the territory through which they respectively passed was assigned to them, while the territory through which the upper part of the Passumpsic and Connecticut River lies was assigned to us. A scheme was, however, privately formed to defeat the building of our road, and to have the Passump- sic connect with the Northern about forty miles down the Connecticut River. I received notice that a committee of the Passumpsic road were in Boston attempting to carry such a scheme into effect. I immediately went to Boston, where I found the com- mittee and was informed by them that the Northern had offered to subscribe five hundred thousand dollars to their stock, on condition that they should leave us and join them. This was entirely out of the question as we could not secure subscriptions to stock to build our own road. They made the threatened arrangement, thus abandoning us entirely, and informed us that the promised subscription had been made. This sub- scription we afterward proved before the railroad committee of the Legislature was a bogus one. There were but few subscribers, some of whom took $50,000 apiece, and all lent their names with the understanding and agreement that they were not to take a single dollar of the stock subscribed for. The Concord Road, also, which we supposed would be greatly benefited by the building of our road, turned a cold shoulder to us, and exerted its influence, which was then great against us. Its principal managers sneeringly said we could "not get stock enough to operate a wheelbarrow." Wherever our agents went in Boston to procure subscriptions, they were preceded or followed by parties in the interest of the Passumpsic and Northern roads, who insisted upon our inability to accomplish anything, and who declared that every cent of money paid us would be lost. The struggle was so hard and our prospects were so discouraging, that at one time we accepted a proposition from the Northern directors to the effect that they should furnish us sufficient subscriptions to our stock to build our road to the present Laconia, which should be our terminus; and that our road from Concord to Sanbornton should be trans- ferred to them. The bargain was to be ratified in Boston, but upon our proceeding thither for this purpose, they peremptorily withdrew from it. Mr. Addison Gilmore

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History of the town of Haverhill, New Hampshire, Part 31

Author: Whitcher, William F. (William Frederick), 1845-1918 Publication date: 1919 Publisher: [Concord, N.H. : Rumford press] Number of Pages: 838

Author: Whitcher, William F. (William Frederick), 1845-1918
Publication date: 1919
Publisher: [Concord, N.H. : Rumford press]
Number of Pages: 838