USA > New Hampshire > The history of New-Hampshire. Comprehending the events of one complete century and seventy-five years from the discovery of the River Pascataqua to the year one thousand seven hundred and ninety, Vol 3 > Part 4
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Merrimack river is formed by the confluence of Pemigewaffet and Winipifeogee rivers ; the former flows from the eaftern part of the ridge called the height of land. To one branch of it, Moofehelock mountain gives rife ; another comes from the S. W. extremity of the White mountains, and a third from the townihip of Franconia. The general courfe of this river, from its fource, is fouth, about fifty miles. Receives, on its weftern fide, Baker's river, which comes from the height of land, a ftream from New Chefter pond, and another called Smith's river, be- fides many finaller ones. On its eaftern fide, it re-
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..
ceives a ftream from Squam ponds, with feveral large and fmall brooks. In its long defcent from the mountains, there are many falls, and its banks, in fome places, are very fteep and rugged. Wini- pifeogee river, comes from the lake of that name, and unites its waters with Pemigewaffet, at the low- er end of Sanborntown. From this junction, the confluent ftream bears the nanne of Merrimack, to the fea. It receives, on its weltern fide, before it croffes the boundary line, Blackwater, Contoocook, Pifcataquoag, Souhegan, and Nafhua rivers. On its caftern fide, it receives Bowcook, Suncook, Co- has, Beaver, Spicket and Powow rivers. It runs a- bout ninety miles, firft in a foutherly, then in an eafterly direction, and falls into the fea at New- bury-Port.
In its courfe through New-Hampfhire, it paffes over feveral falls, the moft beautiful of which, is called the ifle of Hookfet, but the grandeft is Amuf- keag. Hookfet is about eight miles below the town of Concord; the defcent of the water is not more than fifteen feet perpendicular, in thirty rods ; a high rock divides the ftream, and a fmaller rock lies between that and the weftern fhore. From an emi- nence, on the weftern fide, there is a delightful landicape ; the water above and below the fall, the verdant banks, the cultivated fields, and the diftant hills, in the back ground, form a picturefque fcene, which relieves the eye of the traveller from the dull uniformity of a road through the woods.
Eight miles below Hookfet, lies Amufkeag fall ; it confifts of three large pitches, one below the other, and the water is fuppofed to fall about eighty feet, in the courfe of half a mile. The river here is fo crooked, that the whole of the fall cannot be view- ed at once ; though the fecond pitch, which may be feen from the road, on the weftern fide, appears
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truly majeftic. In the middle of the upper part of the fall, is a high, rocky ifland, on fome parts of which, are feveral holes, of various depths, made by the circular motion of finall ftones, impelled by the force of the defcending water .*
At Walpole, is a remarkable fall, in Connecticut river,t formerly known by the name of the great fall. The breadth of the river, above the fall, is twenty-two rods. A large rock divides the Atream into two channels, each about ninety feet wide, on the top of the fhelving bank. When the water is low, the eaftern channel appears croffed, by a bar of folid rock, and the whole ftream falls into the weftern channel, where it is contracted to the breadth of fixteen feet, and flows with aftonifhing rapidity ; but the depth of the water is not known, nor has the perpendicular height of the fall been afcertained. There are feveral pitches, one above another, in the length of half a mile, the largeft of which, is that where the rock divides the ftream. Notwithftanding the velocity of the current, the falmon pafs up this fall, and are taken many miles above ; but the fhad proceed no farther.
In the rocks of this fall, are many cavities, like thofe at Amufkeag, fome of which are eighteen inches wide, and from two to four feet deep. On the fteep fides of the ifland rock, hang feveral arm chairs, faftened to ladders, and fecured by a coun- terpoife, in which fifhermen fit to catch falmon and fhad with dipping nets.
* The following account of these cavities, was formerly sent to the royal society, and printed in their philosophical transactions, vol. xxix. page 70.
" A little above one of the falls of this river, at a place called Amuskeag, is a huge rock, in the midst of the stream, on the top of which, are a great number of pits, made exactly round, like barrels or hogsheads of different capacities, some of which are capable of holding several tuns. The natives know nothing of the making of them ; but the neighbouring Indians used to hide their pro- isions here, in the wars with the Maquas, affirming that God had cut them out for that purpose ; but they seem plainly to be artificial."
+ This fall has been described in the most extravagant terms, in an anonymous publi- cation, entitled ' the History of Connecticut ;' and the description has been frequently retailed in the news papers, and other periodical works.
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Over this fall, in the year 1785, a ftrong bridge of timber was conftructed by Col. Enoch Hale. Its length is three hundred and fixty-five feet, and it is fupported in the middle by the great rock. The expenfe of it was eight hundred pounds, and by a law of the State, a toll is collected from paffengers. This is the only bridge acrofs Connecticut river ; but it is in contemplation to erect one, thirty-fix miles above, at the middle bar of White river fall, where the paffage for the water, between the rocks, is about one hundred feet wide. This place, is in the townfhip of Lebanon, two miles below Dart .. mouth college.
It would be endlefs to defcribe, particularly the numerous falls, which, in the mountainous parts of the country, exhibit a great variety of curious ap- pearances, many of which have been reprefented in the language of fiction and romance. But there is one in Salmon-fall river, which, not for its magni- tude, but for its fingularity, deferves notice. It is called the flume, and is fituate between the town- fhips of Rochefter and Lebanon. The river is here confined between two rocks, about twenty-five feet high ; the breadth, at the top of the bank, is not more than three rods. I once vifited this place, in a time of fevere drought (September, 1782,) when the flat rocks, which form the bed of the river, were moftly dry. The flume is about four rods in length, and its breadth is various, not more in any part than two feet and a half, and in one part, fcarcely an hand breadth ; but here the water had a fubterrancous paffage.
In the flat rock, are divers cavities, like thofe abovementioned ; fome of them are cylindrical, and others globular ; all of them contained a quantity of finall ftones and gravel, and in one of them
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was a large turtle and feveral frogs. The dimen- fions of five of thefe holes, were as follows : Diameters in
Depth in
feet and inches.
filled with ftones. )
3-
4.
3.
4
1-4
The largeft of thefe cavities, is confiderably higher than where the water now flows, unlefs in a great frethet.
From a feries of obfervations, made by James Winthrop, Ffq. on the rivers of New-Hampfhire and Vermont, he deduces this conclufion, 'that the ' defrent of our rivers, is much lefs than European ' theorills have fuppofed to be neceffary to give a cur- ' rent to water. In the laft hundred and fifty miles of ' Connecticut river, it defcends not more than two ' fect in a mile. Onion river, for forty-three miles ' from its mouth, falls four feet in a mile, and is ' exceedingly rapid between the cataracts. We may 'reckon the fhore at Quebec, to be at the level of ' the fea, and two hundred miles from that part of ' lake Champlain, where the current begins. The ' difference of elevation, will be three hundred and ' forty-two feet, or twenty inches to a mile. If we 'extend our comparifon from Quebec, to the ' top of the Green mountains, at Williamfton, the ' elevation will be one thoufand fix hundred and ' fixty-fix feet, and the diftance, about three hundred. 'and twenty miles ; which is five feet two inches 'and a half to a mile.'*
It is a work of -great curiofity, but attended with much fatigue, to trace rivers up to their fources, and obferve the uniting of fprings and rivulets, to form
" MS. letter of James Winthrop, Esq.
G
feet and inches. 7- 3. 1- -3 -
1
L
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thofe ftreams which are dignified by majeitic namnes and have been revered as Deities by favage and fu perftitious people. Rivers originate in mountains, and find their way through the crevices of rocks, to the plains below, where they glide through natural meadows, often overflowing them with their frefh- ets, bringing down, from the upper grounds, a fat flime, and depofiting it on the lower, which renews and fertilizes the foil, and renders thefe intervale lands extremely valuable, as no other manure is needed on them for the purpofes of agriculture.
It has been afferted, that* 'rivers run in a more ' direct channel, as they immediately leave their ' fources ; that their finuofities and turnings become ' more numerous as they proceed ; that it is a cer- ' tain fign among the natives of America, that they 'are near the fea, when they find the rivers wind- ' ing and changing their direction, and that this is ' even now become an indication to the Europeans ' themfelves in their journies through thefe track- ' lefs forefts.' It is amufing to obferve how the European writers, in their accounts of America, en- tertain themfelves and their readers, with a detail of circumftances, which have no foundation but in their own fancies. Such a remark would never have occurred to any perfon who had traced the rivers of New-England to their fources. The fact is, that rivers run wherever they find a paffage, whether it be crooked or ftrait; and there are as many windings and finuofities, at the diftance of an hundred miles from the fea, as at any leffer diftance. No judgment can be formed of the nearnefs of the ocean from this circumftance.
There is an important remark concerning thefe rivers, which would not readily occur to any, but thofe who have been in the way of actual obferva-
. Goldsmith's history of the Earth, Vol. I. page 203.
1
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cion ; and that is, that rivers change their courfes, and leave their ancient channels dry. Many places may be feen in our wildernefs, where rivers have rolled for ages, and where the ftones are worn fmooth as on the fea fhore, which are now at a con- fiderable diftance from the prefent beds of the riv- ers. In fome places, thete ancient channels are con- verted into ponds, which, from their curved form, are called horfe-fhoe ponds ; in others, they are overgrown with bufhes and trees. Thefe appear- ances are frequent in the mountainous part of the country. Connecticut river, which divides two States, has, in fome places, changed its courfe. Many acres have been thus made in a few years, and the land is of an excellent quality.
There are generally two itrata of intervale lands, on the borders of the large rivers, one is overflow- ed every year, the other, which is feveral feet high- er, and further removed from the water, is over- flowed only in very high frethets. In fome places a third is found, but this is rare. The banks of the upper and lower intervales, are often parallel to each other, and when viewed from the oppofite fide, appear like the terraces of an artificial garden.
Thefe intervale lands are of various breadth, ac- cording to the near or remote fituation of the hills. On Connecticut river, they are from a quarter of a mile to a mile and a half, on each fide. In digging into them, large found trunks of trees are found at various depths.
The frefhets are not equally high every year. Mafts have lain in the river above Amufkeag fall, two or three years, waiting for a fufficiency of water to float them over. They fometimes fall athwart the ftream, and are broken ; fometimes in a narrow paffage, they are lodged fo firmly acrofs, as to be removed only by cutting ; and fometimes
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they are fo galled by the rocks, in their paffage, as to leffen their diameter, and confequently their value.
Every fpring there is more or lefs of a frefhet, caufed by the diffolving of the fnow in the woods and mountains ; if it be gradual, as it always is, when not accelerated by a heavy rain, no damage is done by the rifing of the water. Deftructive floods have happened at other feafons of the year, as frequently as in the fpring. In January, 1770, a remarkable inundation carried away the mills and bridges on feveral branches of the river Pafcataqua. A heavy rain, which continued twelve hours, and which could not. penetrate the frozen earth, raifed the rivers fo high as to break up the ice, then from fourteen to eighteen inches thick, and as hard as marble ; large cakes of it being carried down by the impetuous current, bore all before them. Af- ter this the rivers froze again, and the ice continu- ed as ufual, till the month of April. When the ice remains late in the fpring, it does not break up with violence ; but diffolves gradually, till it difap- pears. In this manner the frozen lakes and ponds are reduced to fluidity.
In the great flood of October, 1775, when a new river broke out of the White mountains, the banks of Saco river were overflowed very fuddenly. Stacks of hay were carried off, cattle were drowned or otherwife killed, and the Indian corn, then ripe for harveft, was deftroyed. The river was of a deep brown colour for fourteen days, and when it fubfided, great alterations were obferved, the bed of the river in fome parts was widened, and the courfe of feveral of its branches changed ; large ridges of pebbles were thrown up in the middle, forming two channels where there had been but one before,
Another flood happened in October, 1785, which
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deftroyed the fields, and carried off cattle and fwine on that river ; and in other places fwept away bridges, mills, and great quantities of lumber. · Some mills, on Salmon-fall river, were preferved by chains, one end of which was faftened to their prin- cipal timbers, and the other end to trees or pofts fet in the ground. In Cochecho river, below the great fall, the water rofe fourteen feet above high water mark. Immenfe quantities of drift wood are brought down by thefe frethets, from which the inhabitants of the lower towns, contiguous to the rivers, are fupplied with fuel, and they have learn- ed to be extremely dextrous in towing on fhore whole trees with their branches. But notwith- ftanding their activity, much efcapes them, and is driven out to fea, and fome of it is thi own back on the coaft.
Saco river has rifen twenty-five feet, in a great frefhet ; its common rife is ten feet. Pemigewaffet river has alfo been known to rife twenty-five feet. Connecticut river, in a common frethet, is ten feet higher than its ufual fummer level. Its greateft elevation does not exceed twenty feet.
Winipifeogce lake is the largeft collection of water in New-Hampthire. It is twenty two miles in length, from S. E. to N. W. and of very unequal breadth, but no where more than eight miles. Some very long necks of land project into it, and it contains feveral iflands, large and fmall. The mountains which furround it, give rife to many ftreams which flow into it ; and between it and the mountains, and feveral leffer ponds, which commu- uicate with it. Contiguous to this lake, are the townfhips of Moultonborough, on the N. W. Tuf- tonborough and Wolfborough on the N. E. Meredith and Gilmantown on the S. W. and a tract of land, called the Gore, on the S. E. From the S. E. ex-
-
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HISTORY OF
tremity of this lake, called Merry-meeting bay, to the N. W. part called Senter-harbour, there is good navigation in the fummer, and generally a good road in the winter ; the lake is frozen about three months, and many fleighs and teams, from the cir- cumjacent towns, crof's it on the ice.
The next largeft lake, is Umbagog, in the northern extremity of the ftate. It is but little known, and no other furvey has been make of it than was ne- ceffary for extending the divifional line between New-Hampfhire and Maine, in 1789. Next to this, are Squam, in the townfhip of Holderneffe ; Sunna- pee, in the townfhips of Wendel and Fithersfield, and great Offapy, in the ungranted land of the Ma- fonian purchafe. Smaller ponds are very numerous, fcarcely any town being without one or more, There is generally a current through them; but fome have no vifible outlet. Their waters are lim- pid and fweet.
A remarkable circumftance is mentioned, refpect- ing Mafcomy pond, which lies partly in Lebanon and partly in Enfield, and vents into Connecticut river. It is about five miles in length, and one in breadth ; its depth is from thirty to forty fathoms. The furrounding land bears evident marks that the furface of this pond was once thirty or forty feet higher than its prefent level. By what caufe the alteration was made, and at what time, is unknown; but appearances indicate a fudden rupture, there being no fign of any margin between its former and prefent height. About a mile diftant from its out- let, there is a declivity of rocks, forty feet higher than the ftream, as it now runs. By the fituation of thefe rocks, it appears that they were once a fall, over which the water flowed ; but it has now made for itfelf a very deep channel, through folid earth,
1
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· nearly a mile in length, where it feems confined for futurity. *
In the townfhip of Atkinfon, ' in a large meadow, ' there is an ifland, containing feven or eight acres, 'which was formerly loaded with valuable pine ' timber, and other foreft wood. When the mea- ' dow is overflowed, by means of an artificial dam, ' this ifland rifes in the fame degree as the water ' rifes, which is fometimes fix feet. Near the mid- ' dle of this ifland, is a finall pond, which has been 'gradually leifening ever fince it was known, and 'is now almoft covered with verdure. In this place, 'a pole of fifty feet has difappeared, without finding 'a bottom. In the water of that pond, there have ' been fith in plenty ; which when the meadow hath ' been flowed, have appeared there, and when the 'water hath been drawn off, have been left on the 'meadow ; at which time the ifland fettles to its 'ufual ftate.'t
In the town of Rye, there was formerly a frefh pond, covering about one hundred and fifty acres, fituate within ten or fifteen rods of the fea, being feparated from it by a bank of fand. A communi- cation was opened between this pond and the fea, in the year 1719, by which means the frefh water was drawn off, and the place is regularly overflow- ed by the tide, and yields large crops of falt hay .¿
Within this prefent year (1791) a canal has been cut through the marthes, which opens an inland navigation, from Hampton, through Salifbury, into Merrimack river, for about eight miles. By this paffage, loaded boats may be conducted with the ut- moft eafe and fafety.
* MS, Letters of the Hon. Elisha Payne, Esq.
t MS. letter of the Rev. Stephen Peadody.
1 MES. letter of Rev. Mr. Porter.
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CH A P. VI.
Remarks on the Forest, Manner of Surveying, making Reads aud Travelling.
NOTWITHSTANDING the gloomy ap- pearance of an American foreft, yet a contemplative mind may find in it many fubjects of entertainment. The moft obvious remark, is the filence which reigns through it. In a calm day, no found is heard but that of running water, or perhaps the chirping of a fquirrel, or the fqualling of a jay. Singing birds do not frequent the thick woods; but in every opening, made by the hand of cultivation, their mel- ody is delightful.
Another thing, worthy of obfervation, is the aged and majeftic appearance of the trees, of which the moft noble is the maft pine. This tree often grows to the height of one hundred and fifty, and fome- times two hundred feet. It is ftraight as an arrow, and has no branches but very near the top. It is from twenty to forty inches in diameter at its bafe, and appears like a ftately pillar, adorned with a ver- dant capital, in form of a cone. Interfperfed among thefe, are the common foreft trees, of various kinds, whofe height is generally about fixty or eighty feet. In fwamps, and near rivers, there is a thick growth of underwood, which renders travelling difficult. On high lands, it is not fo troublefome ; and on dry plains, it is quite inconfiderable.
Amidft thefe wild and rugged fcenes, it is amufing to obferve the luxuriant fportings of nature. Trees are feen growing on a naked rock ; their roots either penetrate fome of its crevices, or run over its furface, and fhoot into the ground. When a tree is contigu-
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ous to a finall rock, its bark will frequently inclofe and cover it. Branches of different trees, but of the fame fpecies, fometimes intertwine, and even in- graft themfelves, fo as to grow together in one. On fome trees, are found large.protuberant warts, capa- ble of being formed into bowls, which are very tough and durable. On rocks, as well as on trees, we find varieties of mofs ; it fometimes affumes a grotefque appearance, hanging in tufts, like long hair, from the branches ; or inclofing the trunks; or fpreading over rocks, like a carpet, and extending from one rock to another. It is obferved that mofs is thickeft on the north fides of trees. By this mark the favages know their courfe in cloudy weather, and many of our hunters have learned of them, to travel without a compafs.
In laying out roads, and lines of townfhips, it is ufual for the furveyor to make large meafure, of which however, there is no certain ftandard. Some allow one in thirty, for the fwagging of the chain. 'The length of a man's arm to every half chain, has been allowed for inequality of furface. The half chain is moft convenient in thick woods ; but fome have very abfurdly ufed a line ; and if any allowance is made for its contraction by moifture, it muft be ar- bitrary. Surveyors are often fworn to go according to their beft fkill and judgment ; this they may do with great fincerity, and yet, for want of better fkill, may commit egregious miftakes. The variation of the needle, has not in general been attended to with that caution which it demands, and from this negli- gence, many errors have arifen. It was once pro- pofed, in the General Affembly, that durable monu- ments fhould be erected in convenient places, on a true meridian ; by which all furveyors fhould be obliged to regulate their compaffes ; few of them, at that time, being fkilled in the method of finding
H
1
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HISTORY OF
the variation by the fun's amplitude ; but the pro- pofal was rejected.
The manner of making a new road, through the wildernefs, is this : Firft, a furveyor and his party, with the compafs and chain, explore the country, and where they find the land fuitable for a road, the trees are fpotted, by cutting out a piece of the bark, and at the end of every mile, the number is marked on the neareft tree. Then follow the axe-men, who clear away the buthes and fell the trees, in a fpace of three rods wide, cutting them as near as poflible to the ground, that the ftumps may not impede travelling ; and if the trees are very long, they cut them again, into fuch lengths, as that the teamfters, by the help of chains and oxen, may draw them out of the way. In wet land, the trees thus felled, or others which are proper, are formed into caufeways and bridges. Rocks are either turned out of the road, or fplit by gunpowder or heated by fire and then foftened by water.
Roads are not brought to perfection at once, ef- pecially in rocky and hilly land ; but after the firft operations, they are paffable for fingle horfes and teams of oxen. As the earth is opened to the fun, many wet places are dried, and brooks are contract- ed ; and as the land is more and more cleared, fmall- er ftreams difappear. The beft kind of land for roads is where the pitch pine grows ; this is gener- ally level, or if not perfectly fo, yet always dry. The foil is fandy or gravelly ; the trees are fparfe ; and the under growth confifts of brakes, fern and wortle bufhes, which are cafily fubdued ; but this kind of land is not profitable. The beft land for cultivation, is a deep loamy foil, which makes miry roads, and needs much labor to be beftowed on bridges and caufeways. For croffing fmall ftreams, the beaver dams are found very fafe and conveni-
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ent. They are about three or four feet wide at the top, which is on a level with the water above, and is always firm and folid. New roads, therefore, arc frequently laid out fo as to fave expenfe, by taking advantage of the labor of that ufeful animal.
When a road is conftantly ufed, the feet of horfes and cattle keep down the growth of bufhes, which fprout, with great luxuriance, from the roots of fell- ed trees ; but if the road be neglected, thefe young fhoots render travelling extremely inconvenient ; and it is more difficult to clear them a fecond time. Men who are ufed to handle the axe, had rather at- tack a fturdy tree than hack the buthes. High winds frequently blow up large trees by the roots, or break them off above the ground. Thefe wind- fallen trees often proye a great obftruction to new roads ; a fingle horfe may find his way over or round them ; but if a team is to pafs, the obftruction muft be removed by the axe, for which reafon, the driv- ers of teams are never unprovided with this necef- fary inftrument.
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