USA > New Hampshire > Coos County > Incidents in White Mountain history, together with many interesting anecdotes illustrating life in the backwoods > Part 3
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INCIDENTS IN WHITE MOUNTAIN HISTORY.
issues from this enclosure, as if enraged at every obstruction. On it rushes, dashing, eagerly pressing its way, and becoming more noisy at every step. It is now within fifty yards, and has disappeared behind a thicket. You hear again a plunge and a rush, and the enraged current has burst forth, foaming and bounding along at your very feet. You almost feel the bridge tremble beneath you; and as you turn toward your left you see the mountain-torrent tumble noisily into the bosom of the Saco. You pass on a little, and what a moment ago was boisterous noise, occasioned by the angry rush of many waters, is now hushed and softened into a gentle murmur, and you would almost fall asleep, soothed by the richest strains of the music of the waters."
Further down from the Notch is a second cascade, called the Flume. It falls a distance of two hundred and fifty feet over three precipices. It falls in a single current over two precipices, when it divides and falls over a third steep in three currents, and unites them all again in a small basin formed in the rocks at the bottom.
Opposite to these cascades stands Mount Willard. Near its top is the mouth of a large cavern, called the "Devil's Den." Curiosity was formerly on tiptoe to know what was in it. Perhaps, proceeding inward a few steps, passages and steps led down into the very bowels of the mountain. Who knew but within these hollow shells, chambers and halls ample and brilliant were waiting to be explored ? Perhaps, winding along the thousand passages, one might reach the hollow cavities of Mount Washington - might stand upon the edge of some almost boundless abyss, from whence issued forth the force which threw the mighty giant far aloft in air. A venturous young gentleman, some years since, thought to satisfy curiosity on this point. Ropes and tackling were
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INCIDENTS IN WHITE MOUNTAIN HISTORY.
carried to. the top of the mountain, and stout companions lowered him down to the mouth. As he neared the dark opening, bones and skulls were seen. Perhaps it was a den ; could he not see eyes ?
" Ere long they come, where that same wicked wight His dwelling has, low in a hollow cave, Far underneath a craggy cliff, ypight, Dark, doleful, dreary, like a greedy grave, That still for carrion carcasses doth crave ; On top whereof, aye dwelt the ghastly owl, Shrieking his baneful note, which ever drave Far from that haunt all other cheerful fowl ; And all about it wandering ghosts did wail and howl.
* Arrived there,
That barehead knight, for dread and doleful teen,
Would fain have fled ; he durst approachen near."
Having, however, sufficient strength to give the signal, he was soon with his friends on the summit.
On the castern side of the mountain are two falls which should not be forgotten. Near Tuckerman's Ravine, before mentioned, Peabody's river and Ellis river descend from the mountain in parallel courses, until they reach the valley, when both turn at right angles ; Peabody river, flowing north- east, a tributary of the Androscoggin ; Ellis river, south- east, a tributary of the Saco river.
Some hundred rods from the angle Ellis river forms in changing its course, in a secluded ravine to the left of the present road, as you go from Jackson to the Glen House, the little stream comes foaming down over the rocks most romantically and noisily. From its high starting-point, winding round amid the rocks and low undergrowth, through hidden recesses and glens, it has scarcely seen the day until
1. Nalies
) Walles
CRYSTAL FALLS, PINKHAM NOTCH.
GLEN ELLIS FALLS PINKHAM NOTCH
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INCIDENTS IN WHITE MOUNTAIN HISTORY.
it reaches the chasm between the piled-up rocks, and comes tumbling over the steep ledges and projections.
The fall is eighty feet, though not in one unbroken descent. About half the distance up is a shelf, or stair, on which the water strikes, rebounding in copious showers of spray, and rushing over the projection with greatly expanded surface. This has been known as the Crystal Falls.
But a short distance from this, further down the Ellis river, on the right of the road, are other falls, more nearly resembling Silver Cascade, known as "Glen Ellis Falls." The water here falls seventy feet in a narrow bed between very steep and precipitous rocky cliffs on either hand. The basin below looks like a deep well amid the hills, open only on one side. It was known formerly as " Pitcher Falls."
The Ammonoosuc is the most rapid, violent, wildest river in New Hampshire. It falls six thousand feet from its source on the mountain, to where it enters the Connecticut. The whole distance of thirty miles is over rough, craggy rocks, and down steep perpendicular precipices. Cascades innu- merable are formed along its whole course. There are several thirty or forty feet in height. One has attracted much attention.
About a mile from where stood the Mount Washington House, to the westward, on the way to Littleton, may be seen the falls of the Ammonoosuc from the road. Bursting forth from a forest of pines, the waters come tumbling over large broad granite shelves, laid with all the order and regu- larity of the most finished masonry. Through these succes- sive layers, the stream has worn its bed; at places the edges of the layers looking like the stone abutments of large bridges ; at other points the layers are pulled up and broken off, forming broad flat steps, over which the water comes
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INCIDENTS IN WHITE MOUNTAIN HISTORY.
foaming like boiling torrents, where rains have filled the channel. These layers are frequently many yards in extent, and from a few inches to a foot-in thickness. The height of the fall is thirty feet, and, when the water is very high, it is tossed at the base into heaps as large as haycocks.
The Franconia Mountains, another group of the White Mountains, situated near their north-western boundary, are inferior only to the more central cluster. The Great Hay- stack, or Mount Lafayette, the highest peak in this range, is 5,200 feet high. The mountains are situated on each side of a narrow valley, through which flows the Pemmasawasset river. At one point they approach to within half a mile, and, rising up very steep and abrupt from their base, form a narrow pass, which has been called the Franconian Notch.
The mountains in their general features resemble those of the central range of which we have spoken; their bases thickly wooded and their summits bare rock, beaten and furrowed by time and storm. The view from Mount La- fayette is as extensive and varied as that from Mount Washington itself. Near Lafayette is Eagle Cliff, so called from a pair of eagles, a few years since, having built their nest on its inaccessible sides.
Cannon Mountain, nearly facing Lafayette, and forming the western side of the Notch, has on its southern side one of the greatest curiosities in the world. Huge rocks are so piled up on its steep, precipitous sides, as to form to the beholder the exact outline of the human face.
Said an eccentric speaker, at a celebration a few years since in Fryburg, "Men put out signs representing their different trades ; jewellers hang out a monster watch; shoe- makers, a huge boot; and, up in Franconia, God Almighty has hung out a sign that in New England he makes men."'
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INCIDENTS IN WHITE MOUNTAIN HISTORY.
The top of the mountain is about 2,000 feet above the level of the road, and 4,000 feet above the level of the sea. Near the summit, an oblong rock resembling a cannon has given a name to the mountain. The sides are covered with a thick growth of maple, beech, birch, and spruce.
The Profile Rock itself is more than 1,200 feet above the level of the road; it being situated far below the summit of the mountain. The profile is composed of three separate masses of rock, one of which forms the forchead, the second the nose and upper lip, and the third the chin. Only at one particular place are they brought into their proper position, which is on the road leading through the Notch, about a quarter of a mile south of the Lafayette House. The ex- pression of the face, as it stands out in bold relief against the sky, is quite stern. The mouth alone betrays any signs of age and feebleness. But the " Old Man of the Mountains" has never been known to flinch. "He neither blinks at the near flashes of the lightning beneath his nose, nor flinches from the driving snow and sleet of the Franconia winter, which makes the mercury of the thermometer shrink into the bulb and congeal."
Passing down the road from the particular spot where it can be seen in perfection, the Old Man's countenance changes first into a " toothless old woman in a mob cap," and soon the profile is entirely lost. In passing up the road, the nose and face flatten until the forehead alone is seen.
The length of the profile, from the top of the forehead to the lowest point of the chin, is eighty fcet. The face looks towards the south-east, and is perhaps half a mile distant from the observer in the road.
At the base of the mountain, directly beneath the Old Man's eye, is a quiet little pond about a quarter of a mile in
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INCIDENTS IN WHITE MOUNTAIN HISTORY.
length, and half as wide, called Profile Lake. Its waters are destitute of fish. It was never frequented by the Indians from fear of the stern image reflected in it.
Oakes speaks of a beautiful optical illusion to be seen from the summit of Cannon Mountain.
" In a bright day in October, a most delightful optical illusion may be seen over the summit of the mountain, which I first noticed in the autumn of 1845, while looking with a spy-glass, and which I have since often seen. Near the middle of the afternoon, when the sun has just sunk behind the top of the mountain, the spruce and fir trees seen against the sky near the sun, and a large space of the sky above them, are bathed in a pure golden light, bright and intense, in which the branches and trunks of the trees are distinctly visible ; but of the same brightness as the surrounding space, as if they were transparent gold. Around this mountain pyre I saw hovering, floating and gliding, issuing and returning, with the most graceful motion, beautiful white birds, like the departed spirits of eastern fire-worshippers around the element they adore. I found, at last, that these phantom-birds were thistle down, wafted over the lake by the gentle south wind, in reality quite near the eye, but only visible in the light at the top of the mountain.
' I took it for a fairy vision Of some gay creatures of the element, That in the colors of the rainbow live. And play in the plighted clouds. '"'
North of the Cannon Mountain, beneath Eagle Cliff, is the small, but exceedingly deep pond, called Echo Lake. It is entirely surrounded by mountains. From the centre of this lake the voice in common conversation will echo two or
ECHO LAKE FRANCONIA. NOTCH
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INCIDENTS IN WHITE MOUNTAIN HISTORY.
three times distinctly, while the firing of a gun is like the discharge of a park of artillery. No wonder the poor Indian thought the heard the war-whoop of the Gods sounding, during his wild carousals.
One pleasant morning, in the summer of 1850, a friend and myself pushed out into this little pond. Around us on all sides the clear water reflected back the high cliffs in all their beauty and wildness. As we gave a loud halloo, the moun- tains directly before us gave back the cry, like an army of men shouting from its summit. As that died away, the moun- tain behind us caught up the sound, and returned it like the shouting of an opposing army; and, as that died out, the hills upon our right and left tossed back and forth the - lessening shout, until it could be heard far off taking its flight. The several echoes are very distinct, and each commences as the preceding closes.
Five miles south of Franconia Notch, in the town of Lincoln, are very interesting curiosities.
Near the road-side the Pemmasawasset river has worn, in the solid rock which forms its bed, a very curious cavity, known as the Basin. It is forty feet in diameter, and twenty- eight feet from the edge to the bottom of the water. The water, rushing in with great force at one side, whirled rocks round in its current, until it has worn the solid rock to its present shape and depth. It is almost perfectly circular, and the water rushes round it several times with great velocity before it goes out at the opposite side. It would take a strong swimmer to buffet its waters. The water itself is usually ten or twelve feet deep. The sides above the water are very smooth and regular, and the bottom is strewn with rocks bright and round. The water, as it falls over the brink into the cavity, forms a beautiful cascade, white with foam.
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INCIDENTS IN WHITE MOUNTAIN HISTORY.
The lower margin of the basin where the water passes out, worn off by the current, has been formed into a very striking representation of a human leg and foot.
During a freshet, the whole basin is filled by a foaming, whirling torrent, of great quantity and force.
Leaving the road just below the basin, and turning to the left up among the hills, after nearly a mile's walk, you come upon a slightly-inclined granite ledge, more than one hun- dred feet in length, and thirty feet wide, bare, solid, and very smooth. Over this runs a small stream - now mur- muring along in a narrow, shallow bed, and now spread out over the whole width.
Near the top of the ledge you enter what has been called "The Flume." Twenty feet apart rise up perpendicular walls of solid rock, fifty feet in height. The uplifted walls were evidently split apart far back in time by some convulsion in nature; in many places the projections on one side corre- sponding with like depressions on the opposite. Through this vast and regular fissure flows the little stream we have just mentioned ; its bed so narrow as to afford sufficient room for dry footing through the entire extent. These walls are cov- ered with a green moss, and, within, the air is very damp and cool. This recess is several hundred feet long, gradually narrowing to the upper extremity, where it is but ten or eleven feet wide.
About midway, a huge boulder, weighing several tons, has rolled down from the top of the cliff, and caught in its descent in a somewhat narrower space, and remains suspended half-way down between the perpendicular walls. Several years ago a pine-tree fell across the Flume, near its top, and its trunk forms a rude and dangerous bridge over the chasm.
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INCIDENTS IN WHITE MOUNTAIN HISTORY.
Near the Flume is a deep natural well in the solid rock. A small stream flows over its northern brink, finding egress in a narrow opening opposite. It is more than one hundred and fifty feet from the brink of the well to the surface of the ' water below. The diameter of this "Pool" is about sixty feet. The water in the bottom is about forty feet deep, and greatly agitated.
Several years since, a gentleman from New Orleans made a misstep and fell into this pool. Though the water was icy cold, and he was encumbered with his clothes, he had presence of mind to swim to a crag of the rock on a level with the water. There were no means of ascent except by ropes, which were procured by friends who were with him at the time of the fall. He fastened a rope round his body, and was raised aloft, drenched and bruised; but the only human thing, we presume, that ever came from the pool alive after such a fall.
These are but a few, and imperfectly described, of the many interesting localities among the mountains. They should be seen to be appreciated - the mighty monarch with all the noble cliffs clustering around him.
Heaven bless him, with all his sun, moon and stars ! Call him the noblest of "the mountain kings." " His subjects are princes, and gloriously they range around him, stretching high, wide, and far away; yet all owing visible allegiance to their sole and undisputed sovereign. The setting and rising sun do him homage. Peace loves to dwell within his shadows; but high among the precipices are the halls of the storms."
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CHAPTER III.
THE INDIANS.
THE UNCERTAINTY OF THE MANY TRADITIONS. - THE SUPERSTITIONS OF THE INDIANS. - PROBABLE CAUSE OF THOSE SUPERSTITIONS. - TRADITION OF A FLOOD. - GREAT TREASURES OF GOLD AND GEMS. - SEARCHI FOR TREAS- URES. - TIIE PARTICULAR TRIBES INHABITING THE MOUNTAINS. - INDIAN RELICS IN CONWAY - IN OSSIPEE -IN FRYBURG. - TIIE SOKOKIS. - THEIR DESTRUCTION BY TIIE PESTILENCE. - ACCOUNT OF VINES. - OF IIIS VIS- IT TO TIIEM. - SQUANDO. - DEATHI OF IIIS CHILD. - ASSACUMBUIT. - VISIT TO FRANCE. - DESTRUCTION OF HAVERIIILL. - POLAN. - WHITTIER'S VERSES ON IIIS BURIAL. - CHOCORUA. - IIIS CURSE. - ANASAGUNTICOOKS. - THEIR CHIEFS. - HON. ENOCH LINCOLN'S INTEREST IN INDIANS OF THIS RE- GION. - VISIT OF GOV. LINCOLN TO NATALLUCK. - INDIAN MYTH. - TIIE LITTLE INDIAN INFANT. - CURIOUS MARRIAGE CUSTOM
" For many a tale
Traditionary, round the mountain hung, And many a legend, peopling the dark woods."
THE Indian history of the White Mountains, as elsewhere, is involved in mystery. From the many myths and tales but few reliable facts can be obtained. That powerful tribes once lived beneath the shadow of their heights, once hunted these valleys, not only tradition, but their remains attest. But their ancient encampments, their favorite retreats, the hills they were accustomed to ascend, and the waters they dare fish, are unknown.
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INCIDENTS IN WHITE MOUNTAIN HISTORY.
The highest peaks they never dared ascend. They peo- pled these mountains with beings of a superior rank, who were invisible to the human eye, but sometimes indicated their presence by tempests, which they were believed to con- trol with absolute authority. The ascent they decmed not only perilous, but impossible.
And to one who has visited the mountains, and heard their singularly loud and almost deafening echo, the fears of the superstitious savages may not seem entirely without founda- tion. The terrific thunder-showers, which frequently occur among these cliffs, are enough to startle the boldest. To
" The poor Indian, whose untutored mind
Sees God in clouds and hears him in the wind,"
these storms were appalling beyond expression. Trembling with fright, he sees the evil spirits of his imagination, on their dark black clouds, gathering around these lofty sum- mits, where
" Unusual darkness broods. . .. A reddening gloom, A boding silence reigns Dread through the dun expanse : save the dull sound, That from the mountains, previous to the storm, Rolls o'er the muttering earth, disturbs the flood, And shakes the forest leaf, without a breath, 'Tis listening fear, and dumb amazement all ; When to the startled eye the sudden glance Appears - cruptive through the cloud, Ard following shower in explosion vast,
Und Carnirvon's mountain
Into the flashing deep, from the rude roky Of Penmanmaur heaped hideous to the sky,
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Tumble the smitten cliffs ; and Snowden's peak, Dissolving, instant yields his wintry load."
Slides must have occurred before the ones in 1826, judg- ing from appearances of the mountains, but where, or how extensive, we know not. Traditions of these existed, un- doubtedly, among the Indians, tending greatly to increase their fear and veneration. The suddenness and violence of the storms they had themselves witnessed, and the exaggerated tradition of still more violent ones experienced by their fath- ers, had produced a fear they could never overcome. Darby Field, the first explorer of the mountains, not only could not persuade them to accompany him
" To those mountains, white and cold, Of which the Indian trapper told, Upon whose summits never yet Was mortal foot in safety set ;"
but they were most earnest in their entreaties for him not to undertake the daring feat, and thus so stir up the wrath of the Gods.
A tradition, similar to what has been found to exist among most savage tribes, concerning a deluge having once over- spread the land, prevailed among the Indians. Every human being was destroyed, and the world was drowned, save the White Mountains, where a single powow and his wife retreated and were saved. These mountains they climbed, found pro- tection from the rising water, and thus preserved the race from extermination.
Suspended at immense heights over the precipices, and be- yond the reach of human hands, the Indians saw huge car- buncles, which, in the darkness of night, shone with the most brilliant splendor.
And even among the early settlers, vast treasures, guarded
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by evil spirits, were supposed to be hidden among the hills. Pago,
sowie persons had been anos I Falls and said They hat Bauund w gellen treverre, or ebundle, which chy sald was under a large, shelving rock, and would be dim- cult to obtain, for they might fall and be dashed to pieces. Moreover, they thought it was guarded by an evil spirit, sup- posing that it had been placed there by the Indians, and that they had killed one of their number, and left him to guard the treasure ; which some credulous, superstitious persons believed, and they got my father to engage to go and search for it. Providing themselves with everything necessary for the busi- ness, and a sufficient number of good men, and a minister well qualified to lay the evil spirit, they set out in good earnest and high spirits, anticipating with pleasure how rich they should be in coming home laden with gold; that is, if they should have the good luck to find it. They set out, and went up Dry river, and had hard work to find their way through the thickets and over the hills, where they made dil- igent search for a number of days, with some of the former men spoken of for guides ; but they could not find the place again, nor anything that seemed to be like it, until, worn out with fatigue and disappointment, they returned; and never since, to my knowledge, has any one found that wonderful place again, or been troubled with the mountain spirit."
The Indians inhabiting more particularly the White Mountains, were the Sokokies, or Pequawkets, and Anasa- gunticooks, tribes of the Abenakis. Traces of their ancient encampments are frequently discovered on the banks of the riv- ers, and near the ponds. In Conway, near the homestead of my father, pipes, and pieces of kettles, of a soft substance, easily cut with a knife, and of a whitish color, have often been dis-
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INCIDENTS IN WHITE MOUNTAIN HISTORY.
covered. The pipes and kettles must have been quite large. On Crocker's point, in Conway, formed by one of the many turnings and bends of the Saco river, guns and hatchets were found, in former years, in considerable numbers.
Further down, on the same river, on what is known as Merrill's intervale, arc indications of a large encampment. Fields, embracing acres, where the Indians formerly raised corn, are clearly marked out. Amid the growth of trees which have since sprung up, the corn-hills, such as are seen in any harvested corn-field, are quite distinctly seen. The older settlers say that, from appearances, the first growth of trees had been destroyed by " girdling" them ; an operation consisting merely in peeling the bark off entirely round the trees, causing them to decay and fall.
Some years since, in Conway, while digging the cellar where at present stands the house of a Mr. Furber, the per- fect skeleton of a human body was found in a sitting posture.
" The Indian, when from life released, Again is seated with his friends, And shares again the joyous feast."
In Ossipee is a large mound of earth, forty-five or fifty feet in diameter, perfectly round, and about ten feet high. It is one hundred rods from the western shore of Ossipee Lake, in a large meadow. The trees, which covered this mound, were cut off not many years since, the stumps of some of them measuring a foot in diameter. Extensive excavations have never been made in this mound ; and yet, there have been taken from it, by only digging from the top, three entire skeletons. One of these was full-grown, in a sitting posture, with a piece of birch-bark over his head. Toma- hawks, and many pieces of coarse earthen-ware, have been
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INCIDENTS IN WHITE MOUNTAIN HISTORY.
found on the surrounding meadow. Corn-hills, in several directions, were distinctly discernible when the land was first cleared. This was undoubtedly, at one time, the resi- dence of the Indians.
Not far from this mound are yet to be seen the remains of the fort, built by Lovewell, on his way to fight the Pequaw- kets, an account of which we have given in another place. This appears to have been only palisaded, or a stockade fort. Its eastern face fronted the lake, and was situated on the top of a small bank, near the river which here empties into the lake. At the north and south ends of the fort, considerable excavations of earth were made, resembling cellars in size and appearance. A ditch, in which the palisades were set, . appears to have run round the whole tract which the fort contained, which was about an acre.
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