USA > New Hampshire > Hillsborough County > Peterborough > History of the town of Peterborough, Hillsborough county, New Hampshire > Part 16
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This factory is situated in West Peterborough on the Nubanusit, each mill has a separate dam, so that the same water moves them both.
Gov. John H. Steele, who had the superintendence of this factory from its erection, sold out his interest in the same in 1845, when he resigned, and was succeeded by Frederick Liv- ingston.
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Bufford's Lith Boston ..
A. J. Morrison
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MANUFACTURES.
He continued in charge till 1857, when he was succeeded by J. Wallace Little, who held the office till his death, Sept. 23, 1867. Levi Cross succeeded Mr. Little, and held it till his resignation in 1875. Joseph S. Moody is now the su- perintendent.
The usual number of operatives employed in both mills is about one hundred and ten. From the great depression in cotton manufactures at the present time (1876), these mills are suspended.
PAPER MANUFACTURE .- The first paper-mill in town was put in operation by Samuel Smith in his great building already alluded to, probably in 1795 or '96, and carried on extensively by him in the use of from two to four engines to grind the rags. The mill was furnished with the necessary vats, presses, etc., together with large lofts for drying the paper, the shutters of the same giving such a peculiar appear- ance to the paper-mills of the olden time. This mill was continued in operation till the erection of the brick cotton factory on its site in 1823. Up to this time all the paper was made by hand, none of the recent improvements in paper- manufacture having come into use or being even invented.
The next mill was erected by James Smith, now of St. Louis, and William S. Smith, in 1825, on the Nubanusit, near and east of the Union Mills. It was sold to Messrs. Morri- son, Hoit & Blodgett, in May, 1835. Mr. Blodgett soon sold his interest in the same to Moses Cheney, of Holderness, who removed to town and remained here till 1846, when he returned to Holderness (now Ashland). The manufacture was then carried on by Mr. Morrison and his son till Mr. Morrison's death, in 1870, when the mill was sold to Samuel Adams, Jr., and J. Madison Nay, the present proprietors.
Another paper-mill was erected in the north-west part of the town, on an old site of Silas Spring's saw-mill, by Gov. P. C. Cheney. It was burned while he was carrying it on, and rebuilt; and on his removal to Manchester it was sold to John J. Barker, who has operated it since. 26
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HISTORY OF PETERBOROUH.
WOOLLEN MANUFACTURES .- William Powers, from Ireland, was the first clothier who settled in town, on the Wallace Brook, near I. Miller Mears', about 1777. Before this, cloth was carried out of town to be dressed. It is not probable that he commenced the wool-carding; for he became very poor, and 1 the town took his farm and supported him many years. Samuel Smith built his clothier's mill about 1794 or '95, in the village, and continued it till near 1822 or '23. We are unable to fix the precise time or by whom wool-carding was first introduced, but most probably by Samuel Smith. Nathaniel Prentice was many years employed by Samuel Smith in his clothier's shop, and was probably his first clothier. Asahel Gowing carried on the business in 1813, and E. B. Kimball and Jefferson Fletcher in 1816 and '17, and Nathaniel Brown in 1820.
Calvin Chamberlin and James Perkins erected a building for carding wool and dressing cloth and the manufacture of wool, in 1813, at the South Village. In 1817 this mill was purchased by Henry F. Cogswell. It was greatly improved by him, by additions both to the buildings and the machinery. It was destroyed by fire in 1823, at a loss of $3,571.00, and rebuilt in a much improved form in 1824. Mr. Cogswell carried the business on very successfully for some years, and acquired considerable wealth, when he sold out to Joseph Noone in 1845. Mr. Noone continued the business till his death in 1870, and it has been continued since by his sons, R. H. and A. W. Noone. The mill was destroyed by fire in 1872, and has since been rebuilt in the most substantial manner, of brick, and greatly enlarged. The mill is now in successful operation, principally manufacturing a species of goods called roller-cloth for the cotton factories.
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In 1828, Thomas Wilson purchased the house and the blacksmith-shop of George McCrillis, on the Contoocook River, north of Noone's woollen mill, and converted the shop into a mill for cloth-dressing and wool-carding, and carried on the business till his death in 1839. After his decease it was purchased by E. B. Kimball, who continued the business till the building was destroyed by fire in 1873. It has not yet been rebuilt.
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PEG MILL. - A peg-mill was built by Mark Wilder in 1834, on the Nubanusit River, east of Morrison's mill, and on the Main Road. He commenced making pegs in 1835. He manufactured, the first year, one thousand bushels and aver- aged twenty-four hundred bushels for several years. The business was discontinued and the building converted into a saw-mill, and now constitutes the site of Briggs' great manu- factory for piano-stools, etc.
STONE GRIST-MILL. - This is said to be the best grist and flouring mill in Hillsboro County. It was built in 1840 by Gen. James Wilson and Asa Davis, of split and squared stones from the quarries near. It is two stories high, with a large attic, and thirty-five by thirty-three feet in size.
It is now in successful operation as a grist-mill, a flouring- mill, and a grain-store, sustaining its former reputation, and commanding the confidence of the public. The upper part of this building constitutes the office of the Peterborough Transcript, and the printing-office of Farnum & Scott. It is now owned by J. F. Noone. There had been a grist-mill for some years on the spot on which the Stone Mill was erected, tended by Job Hill. It was originally an oil-mill, and is the first water-power below the junction of the Nu- banusit and Contoocook Rivers.
BASKET SHOP. - This is the building erected by Moses Chapman, in 1830, for a wheelwright-shop, and was used for various purposes till purchased by Amzi Childs for a basket- shop, in 1854. It is situated near the Stone Mill, and receives its water from the Phoenix Factory into an artificial pond, made of sand carted, in 1825, from the bank to make a place for the Goodrich buildings, so called.
A considerable business is done in the basket line -be- ing the first ever done in town, - the work being principally . done by machinery. Amzi Childs is the proprietor of the same.
THE MANUFACTURE OF BAROMETERS AND THERMOME-
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HISTORY OF PETERBOROUGH.
TERS. - This business was commenced in town by Charles Wilder, in 1860, in the buildings of North Cotton Factory, which he purchased for this purpose. It has been continued by him since, and is now extensively and successfully carried on, so that the sales vary from one to three or four thousand dollars per month. These instruments have attained such a reputation for accuracy and finish, that they are known and sought after in every part of our country.
The United States government, in some of the depart- ments, after trying English, German, and French thermome- ters, give Mr. Wilder's instruments the decided preference. He has begun also to export his thermometers to South America, to the British American Provinces, and to Japan, and he is finding an increasing demand for them at home every year.
He employs seventeen persons in his works, and carries on all the processes needed in the operations of his factory, employing a glass-blower constantly for the tubes of his vari- ous instruments, and furnishing all the beautiful ornamental and useful mountings of the same.
This business has become a useful and important acquisi- tion to the town.
THE MANUFACTURE OF HAND-CARDS FOR COTTON AND WOOL. - This business was commenced here, in 1797, by Edmund * Snow, and continued by him till the erection of the cotton factories, when he removed to Amherst, in 1810 or'II.
The wire was prepared to be set into the leather by machinery, and the holes were pricked in the leather and the work of setting the same was done in families in this vicinity.
Isaac Parker, Esq., that late eminent merchant of Boston, in his answer to an invitation to attend the Peterborough Centennial in 1839, speaks of setting card-teeth by hand, for which he was paid fourpence per pair, and he says, "By close
* Drake's Dictionary of American Biography gives his name as Edward Snow; his name is Edmund.
Bufford's Lith. Boston
yours with respect birthum Muore
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application in my leisure hours, I could set about one and a half or two pairs per week." Mr. Snow came from Lieces- ter, Mass., where he first pursued this business in company with Pliny Earle, as early as 1785 .* He was a great Ameri- can inventor, and ultimately made such great improvements in the manufacture of cards that they could no longer be manufactured by hand, being entirely wrought by machinery.
Mr. Snow carried on this business in the basement story of the house which he is supposed to have built, directly op- posite the factory brick house, east of the first Peterborough cotton factory.
MACHINE-SHOP AND FOUNDRY. - This is a large establish- ment in which all kinds of cotton, woollen, and wood-working machinery are manufactured. It stands on the site of the Eagle Factory, or original chair-factory, of Daniel Abbot. The business was first commenced here by Moore & Colby, in 1833, and subsequently carried on by William Moore. He sold out to Morrison & Felt, in 1848, who continued in busi- ness till 1851, when Granville P. Felt became sole pro- prietor, and greatly enlarged the same, and has carried it on extensively since. Mr. Felt added to the above, in 1865, a foundry, which escaped the conflagration of his works. In 1871, he commenced the manufacture of force and suction pumps, in which he has of late been largely engaged. He has employed from twenty-five to thirty hands, and his busi- ness has amounted to $30,000 a year.
This shop, with most of its valuable contents, was de- stroyed by fire, Nov. 16, 1875, at a loss of from $25,000 to $30,000.
PETERBOROUGH MARBLE AND GRANITE WORKS. - These were established in 1849 by Hubert Brennan. The marble business was commenced in town as early as 1848 by Hill & Gray, then by Gray, and subsequently by Goodyear Bassett, but with little success till the works were assumed by Hubert Brennan, of Lowell, in 1852.
* See New American Encyclopædia, article, Pliny Earle.
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HISTORY OF PETERBOROUGH.
These works are at present located in the basement of Brennan's Block, on the west side of the granite bridge, on Main Street.
Mr. Brennan, by his workmanship, industry, and talent, has built up a large business, and acquired for his art a wide- spread reputation in the community.
Among the many elegant specimens of his art we may mention a monument to the late Charles G. Cheney, Esq., in the Holderness Cemetery; an elegant and extensive catacomb for John H. Elliot, in the Keene Cemetery ; and a chaste and elegant monument, in the Village Cemetery, to the late Jo- seph Noone, Esq .; beside the beautiful soldiers' monuments erected in the towns of Sullivan, Dublin, and Temple. His business now takes in a large circuit, of twenty-five miles or more, and gives constant employment to eight hands. In point of skilful execution his work is not excelled in the State, if anywhere else.
BRIGGS' MANUFACTORY OF PORTABLE, PATENT PIANO- STOOLS. - This business was commenced in town, in a small way, by Joshua Briggs, in 1862. He made, at odd jobs, one dozen of piano-stools in 1863, occupying the basement of Rob- ert Day's shop, near "Wilder's Manufactory," North Peter- borough. In the spring of 1864 he rented the second story and attic of "Brennan's Building," in the village, and contin- ued there until the whole building was too limited for his vastly increased business, when he purchased the saw-mill property of Sampson Washburn, the site of the old peg-mill of Mark Wilder, and erected for his manufactory, in the sum- mer of 1873, his present large and commodious buildings. The progress of his business was gradual, from making a dozen piano-stools by himself, as in 1862, '63, and then with hiring one or two hands a part of the time, to his present condition. He now employs, when the business is good, from twenty-five to thirty hands in the shop, and at the same time hires all his iron-work, castings, screws, etc., done out- side.
Mr. Briggs has secured five several patents on his piano-
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stools; viz., two on the screw style, two on the ottoman style, one on the portable back.
"The Massachusetts Charitable Mechanics' Association," Boston, in September, 1869, awarded to him a diploma and honorable mention of his piano-stools. In September, 1871, at the New England Fair at Lowell, Mass., a silver medal was awarded him for his portable piano-stools.
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CHAPTER XVIII.
TOPOGRAPHY.
Situation of the Town, etc .- Village .- Little Waste Land at First .- East Mountain Added. - Uneven in its Surface. - Best Portions of It. - Forests. - Letter of S. J. Todd, Esq. - Forests Destroyed and Land Deteriorated. - Small Growth of Wood now. - Game has all Disappeared. - Climate not Materially Changed. - Salubrious. - Longevity Increased. - Causes. - Rivers. - Contoocook. - Nub- anusit. - Brooks. - Arboreal Products. - Wild Fruit. - Wild Ani- mals. - Insects Injurious to Vegetation. - Putnam's Grove.
PETERBOROUGH, County of Hillsboro, latitude forty-two degrees, fifty-two minutes, longitude seventy-two degrees, three minutes, is situated in the south-western part of the county, bordering on Cheshire County, and lies in an amphi- theatrical form, with the Monadnock and the large elevated ridge of land north of it on the west, the Pack Monadnock and its range, extending through Sharon to New Ipswich, on the east. The village is situated on the Contoocook not far from the centre of the town, and is the place where these op- posite sides converge. The village is thus conveniently situa- ted, not less for business than beauty. It has been considered one of the most beautiful of our New England villages.
As originally laid out, by the first surveyor, the town had very little waste land, and would have been quite free from it, but that Col. Blanchard, the agent of the Masonian Propri- etors, under their direction, cut off three-fourths of a mile from the west side of the town, and added as much to the east side, thus including most of the East Mountains within the limits of the town. As originally laid out, it was, with .. out doubt, the best township in this vicinity.
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In 1788 a small portion of the town situated on the south- east corner of the same, and on the east side of the moun- tain, was set off to Temple to accommodate those occupying the land, by the following vote of the town, July 8, 1788.
"Voted, that the following eight lots of land in the south- east corner of Peterborough be set off to Temple, to wit: No. I, No. 2, No. 3, No. 4, No. 5, No. 6, No. 33, No. 34, upon the condition that any person or persons who now or at any time, when the said lots shall be annexed to Temple, shall re- side or live on the same shall, in case they stand in need of relief, be considered as the proper charge of said Temple."
During the next Legislature, of 1789, an act was passed annexing the above named lots to Temple.
We find further, that when Greenfield was chartered, in 1791,* that the remainder of the range of lots which were annexed to Temple, of from one to six, was added to this town, the length of the line being one thousand four hundred and fifty rods.
The following is the article in the charter of the same :-
"Easterly on the north line of Peterborough about seven hundred and sixty-eight rods to the west line of the east range of lots in said Peterborough, then south, on the west line of said east range of lots in said Peterborough, about fourteen hundred and fifty rods to the north-west corner of Temple."
It seems by this, that one entire range of lots on the east side of the town was cut off, and the east line of the town removed one lot or one-half mile further west. The action of Col. Blanchard in cutting off one and a half ranges from the west side of Peterborough and annexing the same amount
* Proceedings of the town. By Town Records, March 16, 1790, on the petition signed by a few inhabitants of Peterborough and a number of the inhabitants of Lyndeboro, Lyndeboro Gore and the Society to take the east range of lots of Peterborough to be annexed to the Society, Lynde- boro Gore and the westerly part of Lyndeboro to make a parish. It wa's voted not to grant the prayer of the petitioners. Another article was inserted in the warrant the same year, Aug. 12, 1790, to see what the town will do respecting the petition of sundry persons to be disannexed from Peterborough and incorporated into a town.
It was voted, Sept. 20, to grant to the persons petitioning the General Court for the east range of Peterborough, in case they obtain from Lyndeboro and other places what they have petitioned for, to be incorporated into a town.
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HISTORY OF PETERBOROUGH.
to the east side, threw the East Mountains entire into Peter- borough. After the east range had been disannexed and added to Temple and Greenfield, the east line of Peter- borough passed over the highest part of the first mountain, and west of the other elevated land, so that only a part of the highest mountain is now contained in Peterborough.
The town is very uneven in its surface, the hills rising both on the eastern and western sides of the valley of the Contoo- cook to considerable height. On the eastern side of the vil- lage is an elevation rising rather abruptly to the height of two hundred feet, where the old meeting-house stood, which was used for public worship till 1825. Though so uneven in its surface, the town has been considered to contain a large amount of soil well fitted for cultivation, some parts being better than others. The best portion of land in town was, no doubt, the farm A, of five hundred acres, laid out for Jere- miah Gridley, one of the original proprietors, embracing part of the farms of Cyrus Frost, Stephen D. Robbe, Charles McCoy, and W. H. Longley, and extending across the Nub- anusit and reaching near to the machine-shop of Granville P. Felt; while the farms B, C, D, laid out for the other propri- etors, situated on the Contoocook and extending to the Han- cock line, were not nearly so good. Some of the hill land was very good, especially that on the meeting-house hill, where early settlements were made. The surface was mostly covered with a heavy growth of wood. The principal of the arboreal products were the pine, hemlock, beech, birch, and maple. These dense forests extended as far as the eye could reach. On the north it was one unbroken forest to Canada, on the west Keene was the nearest point, and Townsend on the south. Here was the pine in its pristine glory, the king of the forests, so uniformly reserved, in all grants, for the mast- ing of His Majesty's ships. Many of them were found one hun- dred feet in height, and six feet in diameter at the butt. All these noble trees have been destroyed and burnt in the clear- ing of the land, till now hardly a vestige remains of the origi- nal forest. One of the sons of Peterborough, S. J. Todd, Esq., of Beloit, Wis., writes me: "At my last visit to
a
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Peterborough, in 1874, I found (after thirty-seven years' ab- sence) that the heads of my old school-mates were turning gray, and that their faces were furrowed by time, and, sadder still, that which was the crowning glory of Peterborough (next to her sons and daughters) had nearly disappeared. Your noble forests were gone. Those hills which had been covered with grand trees had been stripped bare and naked. The beautiful groves, 'God's first temple,' had vanished." So it is; the trees are nearly gone, leaving the hills bare and un- productive to cultivation, and mostly covered with white grass, and unsuited to furnish much pasturage to the cattle.
And the land, thus stripped of its trees, is in a worse con- dition. When the first settlers commenced, the land was in its virgin state, and was very productive without much fertiliz- ` ing or labor ; the same is now worn out and nearly worthless.
Many large, productive farms are now so run out that they have been abandoned, and others will be as soon as the pres- ent buildings grow tenantless.
We know not how these lands are to be recruited as long - as the agricultural products of the West can be brought to us by a cheap transportation, so as to undersell our home pro- ductions raised on the hard soil and by the dear labor of New England.
It is doubtful if the wood now grows in town as fast as it is consumed, even with a considerable use of hard coal. Almost all wild game has disappeared, having no place of shelter now. The brooks, the home of the trout, have so dried up, with the clearing of the forests, as to afford hardly any re- treat for them. We should be thankful that the birds will still remain with us, and accept our planted trees as a substi- tute for the primeval forests.
We are not aware that there has been any great change in the climate. There are with us the same great varieties of warm, mild, and intensely cold weather as with our ancestors. We have the same very cold winters as formerly, and the same deep snows, and when we begin to talk of an ameliora- tion of the climatic influences, we often experience a variety of bad weather, intensely cold, or wet, or hot, never exceeded before.
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HISTORY OF PETERBOROUGH.
We have summer enough generally to ripen our crops, though now and then some of them are cut off by the early frosts. Though rains are usually abundant enough, now and then an extreme drought comes on to destroy all vegetation, and cut off most of the crops of the season. But with com- mon prudence and forethought the farmers usually secure their crops safely, the season being long enough to ripen . such products as they raise.
If the winters are sometimes intensely cold and the sum- mer intensely hot, it is very rare that these periods continue much length of time. The climate is considered salubrious, notwithstanding these great vicissitudes of weather, and tend- ing to the longevity of the inhabitants. Many are of the opin- ion that the longevity of the early settlers far exceeded that of the present day. If a careful examination should be made from such data as we can command, it is pretty certain that the present generation would go far beyond their predecessors in longevity. Never were more persons above seventy living in Peterborough than at this very time. The number over seventy years of age, by an exact enumeration carefully made by George H. Longley, in June, 1876, has been found to be one hundred and fifty-one, with thirty in their seventieth year. The number over eighty is thirty-five, and three over ninety, viz .: Elihu Thayer, ninety-three, Mrs. Job Hill, ninety-three, and Nathan Gould ninety-one. The period of human life is prolonged by the progress of our age. There has been a great improvement in all that pertains to our liv- ing, a more judicious diet, a more comfortable and safe mode of clothing, better dwellings, and a more general observance of the laws of health. The early settler, by his dauntless spirit and daring courage in braving the perils of the forests, the dangers of war, the depredations of the Indians, and all with insufficient clothing, and often with a scanty and in- nutritious diet, often succumbed to these evils which assailed him, at an early age. We are surprised to see how many deaths have occurred in full manhood, but particularly how many are recorded at ages from sixty-five to seventy-two or three. It is evident that these men were not wise in regard
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to themselves. The common precepts of prudence in regard to life are never to be disregarded by any one with impunity.
There are only two important rivers in town, -the Con- toocook and the Nubanusit. The Contoocook (meaning long river), always called, on the plan, "the great river," takes its rise from ponds in Rindge and a small branch from the foot of the southern part of the Monadnock, which unite before they reach East Jaffrey, where the stream is used largely for manufacturing and mechanical purposes. Before it reaches Peterborough it is enlarged by two brooks, the Mace Brook and the Town Line Brook. It runs nearly north through the town, and about a mile west of the centre. There are various manufactories on it, - Barker's saw and grist-mill, near the southern border of the town; Noone's woollen-mill, at South Village ; the grain-mill and other works in J. F. Noone's stone buildings, in the village; a saw-mill and the barometer and thermometer-shop of Charles Wilder, at North Village. On it formerly stood, in the South Village, the second cotton fac- tory built in town, which was burnt in 1849, and Kimball's clothing mills, burnt in 1873. This stream is very readily affected by large rains or by the effects of melting snow in the spring, so that it was a common thing to have a bridge carried off, as the south bridge, the new bridge, or the great bridge at the village. The permanent stone bridge at the village, built in 1842, has as yet stood all the freshets that have occurred since.
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