USA > New Hampshire > The statistics and gazetteer of New-Hampshire. Containing descriptions of all the counties, towns and villages statistical tables with a list of state officers, etc. > Part 63
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UNION CHURCH .- There were sixteen Union churches in 1870 in various sections of the State, and are formed in communities where there are not enough persons to form a church of their own relig- ious faith but join with others for the purpose of sustaining the gospel.
553
RELIGION.
There is also one local Mission school and one New Jerusalem, (Swedenborgian) church located in the State.
TABULAR STATEMENT, Showing total number of Religious Denominations in New-Hampshire.
COUNTIES.
Organizations.
Edifices.
Number
of
Sittings.
Value of
Church
Property.
Sittings for
the whole
population.
Rockingham
113
112|
33,910|
$ 564,000|
.72
Etrafford
55
56
19,550|
290,000
.641/2
Belknap
46
47
12,135|
158,500
.68
Carrol
46
46
10,830
65,700
.63
Merrimack
76
75
25,083
501,500
.60
Hillsborough
90
72
36,676
819,500
.57
Cheshire
62
62
26,800
425,680
.92
Sullivan
49
54
15,425
180,700
.85
Grafton.
72
77
24,631
248,700
.63
Coos
24
23
5,050
49,500
.35
Total
633
624
210,090|
$ 3,303,680|
.66
-
Per cent. of
554
REVIEW OF NEW-HAMPSHIRE.
GENERAL VIEW OF NEW-HAMPSHIRE.
CHAPTER VII.
A brief review of the State, its climate, its grand mountain, ocean, lake and river scenery, geology and mineralogy, a description of its mountains, lakes and rivers; a brief account of the aboriginals of New-Hampshire ; New- Hampshire compared with the Western States; A Poem on New-Hampshire, etc.
REVIEW OF NEW-HAMPSHIRE.
The last period in the history of New-Hampshire, it might be said, commenced at or near 1840, or thirty-three years ago.
December 23, 1838, the first regular train of cars that ever ran into New-Hampshire, for public business, came from Boston through Lowell to Nashua, and, from that date commenced a new history in the business and prosperity of the State. Although it is one of the oldest States in the Union, the changes in business and population in every section, have been nearly as great as in any of her sister States. The six miles of railroad to Nashua was the only line which was operated till after 1840.
By the foregoing statement, in connection with other important facts, it might be well enough to take a retrospective view, in brief, of the standing of the State relative to its industries, and every- thing pertaining to a civilized and prosperous people in 1840, and 1850, compared with the present time.
In 1840, New-Hampshire contained a population of 284,574; in 1870, 318,320. Portsmouth, in 1840, was the largest town in the State, Dover was the next in size, 6,558; then followed Nashua with 6,054; Concord, 4,897; Somersworth, 3,383; and the town of Manchester, 3,335 inhabitants, and employing in her trade and manufactories 1,052 persons. Manchester is now a large city of 30,000 people, and employs in her various industries over 12,000
555
REVIEW OF NEW-HAMPSHIRE.
persons, with five lines of railway diverging from her depot to all sections of the State and country.
In 1840, there were but six miles of finished railroad in the State. There are now over. 890 miles of railway track stretching through two thirds of the towns in the State, and up the towering summit of Mount Washington amid the clouds. There is now one mile of railroad track to every 400 persons in the State, while in Europe there is only one mile to every 7,500. These railroads have been built at an expense of not less than $ 32,000,000. Thirty years ago the electric fluid flashed its deadly shaft through the air, unguid- ed by man, like the dreaded missiles hurled from the cannon's mouth over the field of battle. To day it harmlessly flashes over 2,000 miles of wire, conveying messages of peace instead of destruction and death. In 1840, our cotton manufactories annually produced goods to the value of $ 4,142,000; now they produce over $ 30,000,000. In 1840, the value of woolen goods produced was $ 795,000; to day it is over $ 9,000,000 ; in 1840, less than 500,000 pairs of sale boots and shoes were made; to-day, over 8,000,000 pairs are manufactur- ed. In 1840, there were less than 12,000 persons employed in all the manufactories in the State, and annually producing goods to the value of about $ 13,000,000; to-day over 46,000 persons are employ - ed, and producing goods to the value of over $ 95,000,000. In 1840, the 78,000 persons engaged in farming respectively received for ag- ricultural productions $ 320; in 1870, the 46,573 inhabitants en- gaged in the same business receive $ 483 each for the same labor. Twenty-four years ago, there was deposited in the ten savings banks in the State, $1,564,000, owned by 12,082 depositors, now (1873) there are deposited in the sixty-one savings banks, $ 29,671, 000, and owned by 94,967 depositors. In 1850, there were twenty newspapers, with an annual issue of 1,024,424 copies; in 1873, there were 62 papers, with an issue of 7,237,588 copies. In 1850, there were no regular daily papers in the State; in 1870, there were seven, with a daily circulation of 6,100, or an annual issue of 1, 900,000 copies. In 1850, the value of church property in the State was $ 1,561,610-in 1870, $ 3,303,780. In 1850, there were $ 221,146, annually appropriated for public schools ; in 1870, $ 574 898. In 1850, the true valuation of personal property and real estate was $ 103,652,835; . in 1870 it was valued at nearly $ 250,000,000.
Like the railway speed of travel, all branches of industry for the
556
CLIMATE OF NEW-HAMPSHIRE.
past thirty years in New-Hampshire, have increased at the same rate. But with our natural facilities for every department of indus- try, which are not equaled by any State in the Union, with our fine water power, excellent market for agricultural products, the best commercial harbor in the country, and the grandest river, lake and mountain scenery in the world, with over 30,000 tourists who annu- ally make their visits the wealth of the State ought to have been $ 100,000,000 in excess of its present value. The fairy tales of west- ern farming, and adventures in western cities, with paper corner lots, together with inducements held out to invest money in western railroad bonds at the inflated usurious rates of ten per cent. for money thus invested, when the road could not pay more than run- ning expenses, have been the greatest injuries as to the prosperity of New-Hampshire. There is no doubt but the lessons so dearly bought by many persons in this State, will be of lasting benefit to the generation to come, both to their happiness and wealth.
CLIMATE OF NEW-HAMPSHIRE.
Like all other New-England States, the climate of New-Hamp- shire is exceedingly various as to heat and cold, and attended with sudden changes.
The extreme varation of temperature is from twenty to thirty de- grees below zero, to ninety-eight or one hundred above, but these extremes do not often occur. The extensive ice-bergs in the north- ern sea, together with the various currents of air cause cool breezes to pass over the hills and through the valleys, and in the summer the hot rays of the sun, on these cool currents of air, and upon the heavy forests create a moisture which produces frequent showers. Thun- der showers are frequent through the hottest portion of the season, but never as violent as in the Western or Southern States, and seldom attended with high winds. Whirlwinds and tornadoes are very rare, yet not unknown. A whirlwind that passed over Suna- pee, New London and Warner, Sept. 9, 1821, was the most severe ever known in this section of the country. The lofty elevations in various sections of the State break the clouds so that it is nearly impossible for long sweeps of wind, as on the prairies in the West. Summer showers are also broken by the high hills and mountains, and move through the valleys between the mountains. Very often
557
CLIMATE OF NEW-HAMPSHIRE.
there will be a heavy shower on one side of a mountain, while a few miles distant, on the other side, within hearing of the rumbling thunder, is bright sunshine. Owing to the continual breaking up of the clouds through the summer, showers are frequent, and the ground is seldom parched by continuous droughts, or saturated with protracted rain storms. Storms on the eastern and southern slope of New-Hampshire usually come from the north-east, while in the Connecticut valley, which runs nearly north and south, the storms are oftener from the south-east. It is a long storm that continues four days, and they are oftener less. Owing to the many hills and mountains, the streams rise rapidly, but their usually high banks generally keep the water within the channel of the streams, and there are no such devastating floods as occur in the West or South, neither are the storms, on an average, more than two thirds as long.
The amount of rain falling, one year with another, generally varies not more than five or six inches. Within the past fifteen years, the smallest quantity of rain falling was 272 inches, in 1859; and the largest was 46% inches, in 1863. The extreme hot days are usually followed by cool nights, and, within a few days, by re- freshing showers. The warm rays of the sun, followed by fine irrigating showers, cause the various productions common to this climate to ripen in from sixty to one hundred and twenty days from the time that the seed is put into the ground. The season for planting varies in different sections of the State from ten to twenty days, the earliest being in the southern valleys of the Merrimack and Connecticut rivers, the latest in Carroll County and the north- ern portion of the State. The fair winds usually blow from the west and north-west. Southern winds indicate short, warm rain storms ; eastern and north-eastern winds denote more cool and ex- tended storms; but our lofty mountains, frequently, in a dry time, blast all human calculations as to rain.
The fall of snow is not as even from year to year as rain, varying from one third to one half. In 1858, the amount of snow falling through the year was four feet and nine inches ; in 1859, there fell eight feet and one inch; in 1871, the snow fall was only four feet and nine inches ; while, in 1872, there were seven feet and eight inches. Then again: snow is not so evenly distributed over the surface of the ground as rain; falling much deeper on the height of land which separates the basins of the large rivers, and in that
558
CLIMATE OF NEW-HAMPSHIRE.
section of the State north of the White Mountains. It does not necessarily follow that the falling of large quantities of snow pro- duces the best and largest amount of sleighing through the winter. From the first to the middle of January, there is generally a mode- ration in the weather, which goes by the name of the "January Thaw." This mild weather frequently produces rain which carries away all the snow, breaks up the ice in the large streams, and sometimes produces devastating floods by the ice damming the streams and flowing the water back over the country. If the snow escapes this rain-thaw, there is generally a fine winter for sleighing ; but, if otherwise, there is but little snow till March and then the sun runs so high it is soon melted away. Sleighing for two months in succession, of the best quality, is frequently on less than eight inches of snow, but good lumber sledding requires larger quantities to make it a successful business.
Sleighing in northern New-Hampshire frequently continues over four months ; in the central part of the State, about three months ; while ten miles south of the city of Manchester there is seldom over sixty days, and oftener less. Livery stable keepers in Manchester, frequently, for four weeks in succession, if their team is going five or ten miles south of the city, harness their horse into a wagon, while if they are going north, east or west any distance, a sleigh is provided. Many people in the Southern States have the im- pression that the deep snows of New-Hampshire are a barrier to its prosperity. Deep snows are called the farmer's fertilizer, and generally large crops follow deep winter snows. The people of this State consider it a calamity to have a winter without sleighing. Aside from cars, the sled and sleigh with sufficient snow are the best and pleasantest mode of conveyance ever invented. On a clear, cool winter day, with good sleighing, together with a fine horse and sleigh, with sufficient robes to keep warm, gliding over the glistening snow at a ten mile gait, is far preferable to a carriage ride through six inches of Southern mud in mid winter, at the rate of one mile an hour, as the writer fully knows by experience.
The deepest snows fall with a north-east wind, while snow com- mencing with a southern wind usually changes to rain. Frequently it will rain in the valleys, while on the higher elevations it will snow; also, in the southern section of the State, it will rain twenty- four hours, and in the vicinity of the White Mountains at the same time, snow will fall to the depth of fifteen inches. One foot of
559
CLIMATE OF NEW-HAMPSHIRE.
snow, when melted, on an average, produces one inch of water.
In 1872, rain fell on 88 days, and snow 32 days. In this state- ment it must be considered that many days were fair with the ex- ception of a pleasant shower, while on the other hand, there have been cloudy days but no rain. Over two-thirds of the days in the year the sun can be seen some part of the day. There are, frequent- ly, heavy fogs on the streams in August and September, in the morning, which are followed by a fair day, the fog being dispersed by the sun by nine or ten o'clock in the forenoon.
Our most pleasant months are June, September and October. Often the first two, and not unfrequently the first three weeks in September, are, however, very warm. From the 20th of Septem- ber to the 20th of October, the weather is delightful. The temper- ature is mild, the air is sweet, and the sky singularly bright and beautiful. This is the period denominated the Indian summer. Some persons think June to be a more pleasant month than either September or October. In June, there are usually a few days of intense heat. In all other respects, except the brilliancy and beau- ty of the heavens, this month must be confessed to have the superi- ority over all others. The progress of vegetation is wonderful ; and it seems as if the creative hand was, in a literal sense, renewing its original plastic efforts, to adorn the world with richness and splendor. All things are alive and gay. "The little hills rejoice on every side. The pastures are clothed with flocks. The valleys are also covered with corn, and shout for joy." Health at the same time prevails in a peculiar degree. The spring is often chilled by easterly winds, and rendered uncomfortable by rains. The winter months, when the earth is clad with its mantle of snow, is the season for relaxation and pleasure. Then come the even- ing parties for the old, the dance for the young, and the merry sleigh rides for all, which no one knows how to appreciate unless he has lived mid the snow-capt hills of New-England.
We are indebted to the Hon. William L. Foster of Concord for the following meteorological observations for the year 1872, and statements relative thereto.
THE WEATHER OF THE YEAR 1872
has been, upon the whole, considerably warmer than the average temperature of the last 17 years.
The mercury rose above 90° sixteen times, four times in June,
560
CLIMATE OF NEW-HAMPSHIRE.
seven in July, four in August, and once in September. The warm- est days in the year were June 30 and July 1, when the mean tem- perature was 842°. The highest temperature was June 21, 98°.
The mercury fell below zero on 23 days, once in January, seven times in February, four times in March and eleven times in Decem- ber. The coldest day in the year was March 5, when the mean temperature was-9º. The lowest temperature was Dec. 25, -20°. Rain has fallen on 88 days, snow on 33 days.
The whole amount of rain is 37.17 inches, being 2.95 inches more than the average rain-fall of 1871, and 3.58 inches more than the annual rain-fall in the last 17 years.
The following table indicates the amount of snow in feet and inches ; rain in inches and hundredths ; and rain and melted snow combined, in inches and hundredths (estimating one inch of water as the product of one foot of snow), during the last 16 years.
Rain
Snow ft. in.
Rain.
and Snow.
Snow. ft. in.
Rain.
Rain and Snow.
1857
5.03
30.06
35.31 1865
5.00
33.65
38.15
1858
4.09
32.45
37.20 1866
3.10
33.98
38.81
1859
8.01
27.51
35.59 1867
5.10
33.90
39.73
1860
8.05
27.99
36.41 1868
7.05
33,26
40.76
1861
8.07
33.48
42.06 1869
7.00
33.03
40.03
1862
7.03
39.78
47.03 1870
6.05
27.52
33.94
1863
7.06
46,21
53.71 1871
4.09
34.22
39.12
1864
5.11
32.23
39.83 1872
7.08
37.17
44.84
THE WINTER OF 1872 -. 3
The average minimum temperature of the ninety days was scarcely more than six degrees above zero; being nearly ten de- grees below the average of the last seventeen winters.
During all these winters the number of times the mercury has fallen below zero is as follows : winter of 1856-7, 15 times ; 1857-8, 3, and once in March ; 1858-9, 9 ; 1859-60, 8; 1860-1, 7, and twice in March; 1861-2, 7; 1862-3, 6, and seven in March ; 1863-4, 7; 1864-5, 11; 1865-6, 11; 1866-7, 16; 1867-8, 32, and three in March; 1868-9, 6, and five in March; 1869-70, 6; 1870-1, 20; 1871-2, 14, and twice in November and four times in March; 1872-3, 31.
The whole amount of snow fallen this winter thus far, beginning with Nov. 22, is 92 inches ; being 40 inches more than that of last winter, and the largest quantity ever recorded by me prior to the first of March.
In the winter of 1860-1, 110 inches fell; of which quantity 24
561
SCENERY IN NEW-HAMPSHIRE.
inches fell in March and 10 in April. The average quantity fall- ing after February is 18 inches.
Sleighing began Nov. 29, and has been uninterrupted.
The whole quantity of rain this winter (since Dec. 1) is 2.95 inches, being about half an inch more than the average quantity during the winter months.
The coldest day this winter was Dec. 25, when the mercury was, min. 20° max. 8° mean 6°.
The coldest morning and lowest temperature was Jan. 30, 26°.
The warmest day of the winter was Jan. 4, when the mercury recorded, min. 31° max. 44° mean 372°.
The highest temperature recorded during the winter was Feb. 17, 50°.
Range of temperature during the winter, 76°.
SCENERY IN NEW-HAMPSHIRE.
There is no doubt but the scenery of New-Hampshire is more varied and beautiful than can be found in any other State in the Union.
The ocean scenery along her narrow coast of less than eighteen miles, is pronounced the grandest on the western Atlantic shore.
The Hon. Edmund Burke, of Newport, when in Congress, more than thirty years ago, while in debate, in defending New-Hamp- shire against an attack from a southern member of Congress, speaking of her natural scenery, blended with civilization, well and eloquently said : "New-Hampshire is indeed throned among the hills. She is the Switzerland of America. Her mountains point high up among the clouds, where eagles take their flight and enjoy unrestrained the freedom of the skies. She is a land
Of mountain and of flood,
Of green heath and shaggy wood.
Her cloud-capt hills, even in mid-summer, glisten with the frosts and snows of winter. The terrific avalanche springs from her sum- mits and thunders down their sides. But she is a land of crystal streams, of glassy lakes, embosomed among her hills, and of beau- tiful valleys and meadows, dotted with neat and pretty villages, teeming with fertility, the hum of industry and all the evidences of wealth and prosperity. She has more of those noble temples of
562
SCENERY IN NEW-HAMPSHIRE.
liberty, common schools, more village spires pointing to Heaven, and more of the monuments which mark a high and advanced state of civilization than any other State of this Union, with, perhaps, one or two exceptions. If she is indebted to any cause under Heaven for her advancement in prosperity, wealth and civilization, it is to her lofty mountains, and her beautiful and fertile valleys."
Our description of the mountains in New-Hampshire,
Whose snowy tops Among the clouds are towering high, And seem to meet the heavens Amid the starry sky ; Her hundred glassy lakes, and
Like brilliant diamonds Set in emerald green,
Add beauty To her mountain scene ; And her sparkling, winding rivers,
That feed her glassy lakes, Or meet the briny ocean's tide,
Are like the golden chains
Which hold the diamond to the maiden's breast;
They stretching back their silver arms, Clasp them to the mountain crests ;
Are the sequel to the beautiful scenery to be found in almost ev- ery section of the State, and with the exception of a few remarks made by Dr. Moses F. Morrison on New-Hampshire scenery, and its bearing upon industry and civilization, will be all the descrip- tion given of its grand ocean, mountain, lake and river scenery.
In many respects the White and Green mountain ranges differ perhaps from all others in the known world. They are purely of primitive origin, while most others are thrown up through the tran- sition, secondary or tertiary strata. We have not even the organic remains of the transition period, and hence the search for coal, which is now known to be in every instance vegetable matter, acted upon by the united agency of heat and pressure, is equally futile and hopeless. But primitive rocks contain the most valuable ores, and in our instance their surface is covered almost to the summits of our highest mountains with a productive soil and with a beauti- fully varied vegetation. The world produces not a spot where the air is more pure, the water more clear and limpid, and the scenery more wild and beautiful, where the human foot can move with more boldness and less danger. The wolf and lammermuir of the
563
SCENERY IN NEW-HAMPSHIRE.
Alps, the tiger and condor of the Andes, the cougar and rattle- snake of the Alleganies are not here. The associations of child- hood and youth become a part of our being, and it is only when they are disruptured by transition, that we realize their existence.
Place a mountaineer upon the prairies, and he longs for the scene- ry of his youth ; he returns to behold with rapture the beauties of landscape which before he had passed with careless indifference.
We have passed the magnificient gorge of the White Hills, and viewed with enthusiasm the wild sublimity around us. We have entered the defile of Franconia, and beheld with astonishment and admiration the Old Man of the Mountain and his wild domain. We have scaled the summit of Mount Washington, and at one time beheld the thunder cloud, hundreds of feet below us, the lightning playing over its surface, and a brilliant sun irradiating the sky. Again we viewed from its summit the valley of the Connecticut spread out like a map before us; the rays of light, reflected by a dark cloud that hung upon the Green Mountains, brought into dis- tinct view the streams, the cottages, the fields, the villages, the hills and valleys, the waving forests and vast amphitheatre of mountains supporting the blue vault around and above us; we felt that the beautiful and sublime were here mingled upon a scale never to be surpassed, and hallowed by a thousand associated ideas of fond remembrances never to be forgotten.
We have stood on the shores of the ocean and contemplated the vast and almost illimitable world of waters before us, and viewed in imagination the innumerable ships and vast navies that float upon her bosom. We have sailed upon the waters of Ontario, when the departing sunbeams cast their gorgeous shades of green and gold over its surface-transcendently beautiful-far beyond the most splendid drapery of the imagination. Finally, descending into the awful chasm of Niagara, we have approached in a frail boat the tremendous cataract of the Western seas, until repelled by the rolling surges of its abyss, we were warned that nearer approxima- tion might be death. No person can describe the sublimity of this scene-its grandeur is overwhelming, and the vast display of mag- nificence and power presented at a single glance to our view shows how puny are the efforts of man compared with the omnipotence of God. But with the ocean, with the lake and with the cataract were associated in our minds the ideas of loneliness, of solitude-al- most of desolation. We longed for the early visions of life, for
.
564
GEOLOGY OF NEW-HAMPSHIRE.
that play of light and shade upon the mountain scenery of our na- tive land. We had learned that the impress of external objects had stamped their seal of loveliness upon the heart and shaped the visions of ideality in the brain; and that the cultivation of the in- tellectual faculties of the mind and the physical energies of the body alone were wanting to make us the happiest of the free.
And now permit us to ask, where shall we find a soil more pro- ductive, with a climate equally salubrious ? where shall we breathe an atmosphere more invigorating, or drink of fountains more pure ? where shall we behold scenery more sublime, beautiful and good, surrounded with less evils or exposed to fewer dangers ? Of the moral and physical evils we do suffer, few are consequent upon locality-some are contingent-but many are created by our vices and perpetuated by our ignorance. We constantly violate the laws of organic life ; and shall we complain that the degeneracy of the species and the ill health and early dissolution of the indi- vidual should be the consequence ? or shall we value less the num- berless blessings which surround us because the harmony of the intellectual with the physical world is comparatively unknown ?
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