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 67
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Squamscot River. (See Exeter.)
Suncook River rises in a pond between Gilford and Gilmanton, near the summit of one of the Suncook Mountains, elevated 900 feet above its base. The water from this pond, passes through two others at the foot of the mountains, thence it flows a southerly course, through the north easterly part of Gilmanton, to Barnstead Center ; thence westerly, through Pittsfield, edge of Chichester, Epsom, and between the towns of Allenstown and Pembroke, and falls into the Merrimack, near Suncook village. It is about thirty miles in length, and its waters flow from thirteen towns, and drain a surface of over 130,000 acres. Its improved water power is about 2,975. Little Suncook has its source in Northwood and Deerfield, from seven ponds and flows west, through Epsom, into the Suncook.
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QUADRUPEDS, BIRDS AND FISHES.
Sugar River. Sunapee Lake is the principal source of Sugar River. Flowing from the Lake, in a westerly direction, through Sunapee into Newport, it receives the waters of the South Branch, coming from Lempster, Goshen, and Unity; thence flowing in a northerly direction, by the course of the river, about three miles, it unites with the North Branch, having its source in the towns of Springfield, Grantham and Croydon ; thence turning and running westerly thirteen miles, through Newport and Claremont, it empties into the Connecticut. From the lake to the Connecticut, by the meandering course of the river, is about twenty-five miles, with a fall of over 500 feet. The Sugar, with its tributaries, turns over 120 water wheels, and has an improved horse water power, of nearly 3,000, with not any more than half of its power improved. With the reservoir of the lake, its water power is considered as perma- nent and as valuable, in proportion to its size, as that of any river in the State.
It drains a surface of over 180,000 acres, and its waters flow from part or the whole of twelve towns.
Sugar, Little. (See town of Charlestown.)
Swift River. (See Saco River.)
Warner River. (See Contoocook River.)
Winnipiseogee River. (See Merrimack.)
QUADRUPEDS, BIRDS AND FISHES.
When our forefathers first commenced to settle this State, the forests abounded with numerous wild animals, both large and small, of which the black and brown bear, catamount, wild-cat and large grey wolf were the most ferocious. With the exception, occasion- ally, of a straggling wild-cat, none of these animals are now found in the southern portion of the State; but the bears still hold pos- session of the heavy tracts of forests of the mountain ranges, reach- ing from the Ossipee Mountains north to Canada line, and appear quite as plenty as forty years ago. Bordering these heavy forests, the farmers find it not very lucrative business to raise sheep, by reason of bears devouring parts of their flocks and scattering the remainder. A few wolves still wander through the extreme north- ern section of the State.
In the early settlement, the moose and red deer were quite plenty
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in all sections of the State. The moose are now found, in small numbers, north of Umbagog Lake, and deer in the mountain re- gions. The beaver and otter were once numerous-the former are extinct ; while the latter are nearly so, only a few being found around ponds isolated from settlements. The mink, ferret and red fox are still quite as plenty as is convenient for the farmer's hen- roost. The raccoon, muskrat, woodchuck, grey, red, flying, and striped squirrel, polecat and rabbit still abound in all sections of the State. The porcupine is found in the northern portion of the State in indeciduous tracts of forests. The raccoon and squirrels generally have their haunts near human habitations, to feast upon the farmers' cornfields and apple orchards; while the woodchuck burrows in the fields and pastures, and plucks the young clover and tender vegetables of the farm and garden.
The eagle, hawk, red and cat owl are the principal birds of prey, and the husbandman's chicks and lambs frequently serve them for a dinner, or a midnight meal. The crow, blue jay and chickadee are omniverous birds, and many of them stay here through the winter. Many species of ducks swarm our lakes, ponds and rivers through the summer. The loon usually stays near the ocean, but in the summer frequently find their way to ponds inland eighty miles from the sea coast. The night-hawk and whippoorwill can be heard, in the country, almost any summer evening. The song of the whippoorwill is hardly ever heard in the northern counties of the State. Partridges and pigeons are still plenty in the forests, but the quail are not as common. Woodcock and snipe abound, and many are killed every season, Various kinds of woodpeckers are still numerous.
Like some of the denizens in our large cities, who visit our moun- tains, lakes and streams every season, for recreation and health, the robin, bobolink, sparrow, brown thrush and wood thrush, black- bird, pewit, blue bird and many other species make their annual visits to our fields and orchards, and make our wood and mountain dells resound with their sweet, melodious songs, to gladden the heart of every lover of nature.
Our lakes, ponds and streams are still well stored with many kinds of fish. Pickerel, pond perch, horn-pouts, dace and barvel (or suckers) are the most numerous. The mountain ponds and streams still abound with trout, and millions are annually caught to serve the tables of the mountain hotels. Much attention has
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been given, for the past few years, to stock our ponds and rivers with black bass and salmon. Dams, thrown across our large rivers leading to the ocean, have obstructed the passage of ocean fish up the streams, who annually go to deposit their spawn. Fish ways have been arranged so as to enable the salmon, shad, etc., to again make their annual visits to the source of our rivers, and it is to be hoped that ere long our streams will once more swarm with the salmon and shad.
INDIANS IN NEW-HAMPSHIRE. .
At the time the first settlements were commenced at Ports- mouth, in 1623, the estimated number of Indians, then living within the present limits of New-Hampshire, was 5,000. A small tribe was planted in the vicinity of Exeter ; another, under a chief, named Rowls, near Dover ; and a third, the Piscataquas, on the banks of the river of that name. The Ossipees lived on the north- east side of Winnipiseogee, and around Ossipee Lake, and the Pe- quawkets, on the upper branches of the Saco River. The large tribe of the Penacooks occupied the lands on the Merrimack, mak- ing Concord and Amoskeag their chief places of resort. There were several small tribes, or large communities, which belonged to the Penacooks, but lived in various localities, up and down the river, from Pawtucket Falls, at Lowell, to Winnipiseogee Lake. At this time, all the above tribes were subservient to the Pena- cooks, or their chief sachem, Passaconaway. The tribes within these limits, for protection against the Mohawks of New-York, formed themselves into a confederacy, distinguished by the name of Pawtuckets, of which Passaconaway was the chief head.
In the Connecticut River valley, there were some small tribes, whose names were unknown, with the exception of the Coos Indi- ans, whose hunting grounds extended over a large portion of Graf- ton and Coos counties. These tribes, for over fifty years, main- tained peaceful relations with the early settlers ; but they have all quietly passed away; and all the evidence that ever the red men roamed in the valley of the Connecticut, is shown by the farmer's plow turning out portions of their bones, or arrow heads, stone pestles, and hatchets.
King Philip's war commenced in June, 1675, and was the first serious trouble the settlers ever had with the Indians. With the
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INDIANS IN NEW-HAMPSHIRE.
exception of the short Pequot War in Connecticut, the colonists had lived with them half a century in profound peace. In the minds of the Indians, suspicions and jealousies began to operate ; they saw the English settlements extending on every side; their own hunting grounds were narrowed ; and they began to be appre- hensive they might be eventually dispossessed. Philip, sachem of the Wampanoags, who resided at Mount Hope, in Rhode Island, an ambitious, shrewd, and bold man, was the most active instiga- tor. of the impending war. Though Belknap supposes he was hur ried into it rather by the rash ardor of his young warriors than by his own inclinations, yet the preponderance of historical evidence is certainly on the side of the former opinion. Possessing great in- fluence, not only in his own tribe, but among all the Indians in New England, he resolved to free his country from those whom he deemed intruders. He sent his runners in all directions, and had the address to engage in the enterprise most of the tribes in the region. The Penacooks, on the Merrimack, were the only tribe who resisted his solicitations-their sachem, Wonolanset, not hav- ing forgotten the charge of his father, Passaconaway, now dead, to cultivate the friendship of the white men.
The Ossipees, in Strafford County, and the Pequawkets, on the Saco River, both included in the name of Northern Indians, ar- dently engaged in the hostile confederacy. Of the Eastern In- dians, as those of Maine were called, almost the whole body came into the plan with readiness, and, as truth compels us to add, not without serious provocation, as, not long before, the wife of Squan- do, a noted Pequawket sachem, was passing on Saco River, with her infant child in her frail bark canoe, some rude sailors, who had heard that Indian children could swim as naturally as the young of brutes, met her and wantonly overset her canoe. The child sunk ; the mother instantly dived and recovered it; but the child dying soon after, not only Squando, but the Indians in gener- al, ascribed its death to this brutal treatment. Their discontents were inflamed by other provocations received from the eastern set- tlers, some of whom it must be acknowledged, were unprincipled men. Philip engaged as his allies most of the tribes in Massachu- setts and Rhode Island. An artful plan to enlist the Mohawks in the war proved not only abortive but pernicious to himself. He had murdered, it has been said, some of this tribe and left their bodies unburied in the woods, imagining their brethren would as-
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cribe the deed to the English, and be provoked to join the confed- eracy against them ; but one of the number, who had been left for dead, unexpectedly recovered, and disclosed to his countrymen the perfidy of Philip-a circumstance which made them his implaca- ble enemies.
For some time had the colonists been apprehensive of hostile de- signs on the part of the Indians. Their suspicions were confirmed by the following occurence. Sausaman, a Christian Indian, whom Philip suspected of giving intelligence of his plots to the English, was murdered at his instigation, and his body thrown into a pond. This act was considered as equivalent to a declaration of war. But the first settlers of this State did not suffer as much as in wars brought on by the French and Canada Indians, years afterwards.
The Tribes on the Merrimack were the Nashuas occupying the lands on the Nashua and the intervals upon the Merrimack, oppo- site the mouth of the river, and for some distance along its banks.
The Souhegans, lived on the Souhegan, occupying the rich inter- vals on the Merrimack, above and below the mouth of the Souhe- gan. These Indians were often called Natacooks or Nacooks, mean- ing a clearing, as much of their lands was cleared. The Namos- keags lived near the falls of the Merrimack, now called Amoskeag, at the city of Manchester.
The Penacooks occupied the rich intervals on the Merrimack, at Penacook,* now including Bow, Boscawen, and Concord.
The Winnipesaukies occupied the land in the vicinity of the Lake of that name.
The Weares, at the outlet of the Lake, was a noted fishing place for the Indians, thence the name.
The four tribes above mentioned, were subservient to the Penna- cooks, who by living upon fertile soil, and long under control of a wise chief (Passaconnaway,) were more intelligent, and became the head of a powerful confederacy.
The Falls, from the mouth of the Souhegan, to the mouth of the Contoocook, proved great fishing grounds for the Indians, at the right season of the year.
The Namoskeag Falls, were far the best for securing fish, and doubtless more fish were caught here, than at all the other falls north of the Pawtucket fall, at Lowell.
* This word was formerly spelt Pennacook, but, at the present time, it is usually spelt Penacook.
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INDIANS IN NEW-HAMPSHIRE. 1
PENACOOK INDIANS.
The Penacook Indians, as a tribe, always kept good faith with the early settlers. Passaconaway was the first Sagamore of whom the English had any account. The Wheelwright purchase of land, between the Piscataqua and Merrimack rivers, it is said, was conveyed, and the deed signed by him. If that be the fact, he was a chief Sagamore of all the tribes in this section of New England as early as 1629. By Hubbard's narrative, he made his farewell speech to his children and people in 1660, and advised them to keep good faith with the English .* Wonolanset succeed- ed his father, and observed his dying advice.
The Penacooks were a warlike tribe, and set in their notions, and strenuously opposed to the introduction of Christianity among them, and obstinately refused to pray to God after the manner of the White Christians. Before 1670, a party of the Penacooks went down the river and built a fort at Pawtucket Falls, Massa- chusetts. They also erected a fort on the east side of the Merri- mack, on Sugar Ball heights, in Concord.
The following interesting lines are part of a beautiful poem, written and delivered by Mrs. Abba Woolson, at the dedication of the Board of Trade Rooms, in Concord, Oct. 20, 1873, which re- lated to the Penacook tribe; Passaconaway, their chief; the Mo- hawks, their deadly foe; Mrs. Dustin's heroic deed, on Dustin's Island, at the mouth of the Contoocook River, in March, 1697, and the Bradley Monument.
What haunts beloved stretch beyond! The sedgy shores of Horseshoe Pond, And Wattanummun's sluggish brook,- Where once the savage Penacook Took deadly aim at beast and bird, And all the silent valley heard His whizzing arrow, where to-day Whistles the engine on its way.
How proudly in this woodland shade Dwelt the wise chief his tribe obeyed, How gaily by the river's side A sachem wed their royal bride, No later muse shall dare rehearse,- It lives in Whittier's classic verse.
* It is stated, in history, that Passaconaway was about one hundred and twenty years of age at the time of his death.
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INDIANS IN NEW-HAMPSHIRE.
Not always thus with rousing cheer Of feast and bridal passed their year! Foes sought the vale of Penacook, And there within the sheltered nook Of Sugar-Ball, thick arrows sped, And hostile Mohawks scalped their dead.
No terms of half-forgotten lore Were these sweet Indian names of yore To men who built our meadow-town, With dusky faces looking down From wooded heights, to matron's pale Who spied the savage in the vale, And trembled lest the moon should rise On homesteads blazing to the skies.
In vain their fears, that shaft will tell Whose granite shows us where they fell; And yonder isle that bears the name Of her who to its margin came ' A pale-faced captive, nerving there Her valiant soul to do and dare The utmost, if its fearful cost Might give once more her loved and lost.
There by the stream whose waters flow As when she heard them long ago,. Listening in terror for a sound From startled warriors, while the ground Echoed each foot-fall, and her breath Seemed warning them of coming death, -- There may her sculptured statue rise, Bearing its witness to the skies, That courage knows no narrow ban But brave endeavors to be free Strong arms and stronger will should be Honored in woman as in man.
[The following beautiful poem was written for, and read on the occa- sion of the commemoration of the Bi-Centennial Settlement of the State of New-Hampshire, by the New-Hampshire Historical Society, at the State Capitol, Concord, May 22, 1873.]
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NEW-HAMPSHIRE.
NEW-HAMPSHIRE.
EDNA DEAN PROCTOR.
" A goodly realm !" said Captain Smith, Scanning the coast by the Isles of Shoals, While the wind blew fair, as in Indian myth Blows the breeze from the Land of Souls ; Blew from the marshes of Hampton spread Level and green that summer day, And over the brow of Great Boar's Head, From the pines that stretched to the west away; And sunset died on the rippling sea, Ere to the south, with the wind, sailed he. But he told the story in London streets, And again to court and Prince and king. "A truce," men cried "to Virginia heats ; The north is the land of hope and spring!" And in sixteen hundred and twenty-three, For Dover meadows and Portsmouth river, Bold and earnest they crossed the sea, And the realm was theirs and ours forever!
Up from the floods of Piscataqua, Slowly, slowly they made their way Back to the Merrimack's eager tide, Poured through its meadows rich and wide; And the river that runs like a joyous brook- Monadnock's darling, the Contoocook ;- And westward turned for the warmer gales And the wealth of Connecticut's intervales ; And to Winnipesaukee's tranquil sea, Bosomed in hills and bright with isles Where the alder grows and the dark pine tree, And the tired wind sleeps and the sunlight smiles ; Up and on to the mountains piled, Peak o'er peak, in the northern air, Home of streams and of winds that wild Torrent and tempest vale-ward bear,- Where the Great Stone Face looms changeless, calm As the Sphinx that couches on Egypt's sands, And the fir and the sassafras yield their balm Sweet as the odors of Morning lands .- Where the eagle floats in the summer noon, While his comrade clouds drift, silent, by, And the waters fill with a mystic tune The fane the clifts have built to the sky! And, beyond, to the woods where the huge moose browsed, And the dun deer drank at the rill unroused
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By hound or horn, and the partridge brood Was alone in the leafy solitude ; And the lake where the beaver housed her young, And the loon's shrill cry from the border rung, The Lake whence the Beauteous River flows, Its fountains fed by Canadian snows. What were the Labors of Hercules To the toils of Heroes such as these ?- Guarding their homes from Savage foes Cruel as fiends in craft and scorn ; Felling the forest with mighty blows; Planting the meadow plots with corn; Hunting the hungry wolf to his lair; Trapping the panther and prowling bear; Bridging the river; building the mill Where the stream had leapt at its frolic will; Rearing, in faith, by sorrow tried, The church and the school-house, side by side ; Fighting the French on the long frontier, From Louisburg, set in the sea's domains, To proud Quebec and the woods that hear Ohio glide to the sunset plains ; And when rest and comfort they yearned to see, Risking their all to be nobly free! Honor and love for the valiant dead! With reverent breath let their names be read,- Hiltons, Pepperels, Sullivans, Weares,
Broad is the scroll the list that bears Of men as ardent, and brave, and true As ever land, in its peril, knew, And women of pure and glowing lives, Meet to be heroes' mothers and wives! For not alone for the golden maize, And the fishers' spoils from the teeming bays, And the treasures of forest, aud hill, and mine They gave their barks to the stormy brine,- Liberty, Learning, righteous Law Shone in the vision they dimly saw Of the Age to come and the Land to be; And, looking to Heaven, fervently They labored and longed through the dawning gray For the blessed break of that larger day!
When the wail of Harvard in sore distress Came to their ears through the wilderness,- Harvard, the hope of the Colonies twain; Planted with prayers by the lonely main- It was loyal, struggling, Portsmouth town
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That sent this gracious message down; " Wishing our gratitude to prove, And the country and General Court to move For the infant College beset with fears, (Its loss an omen of ill would be !) We promise to pay it, for seven years, Sixty pounds sterling, an annual sum, Trusting that fuller aid will come,"- And the Court and the country heard their plea, And the sapling grew to the wide-bowed tree. And when a century had fled, And the war for freedom thrilled with dread Yet welcome summons every home,- By the fire-lit hearth, 'neath the starry dome, They vowed that never their love should wane For the holy cause they burned to gain, Till right should rule, and the strife be done ! List to the generous deed of one: In the Revolution's darkest days The Legislature at Exeter met ; Money and men they fain would raise, And despair on every face was set As news of the army's need was read; Then, in the hush, John Langdon said : " Three thousand dollars have I in gold; For as much I will pledge the plate I hold ; Eighty casks of Tobago rum ; All is the country's. The time will come, If we conquer, when amply the debt she'll pay ; If we fail, our property's worthless." A ray Of hope cheered the gloom, while the Governor said: "For a regiment now, with Stark at its head!" And the boon we gained through the noble lender Was the Bennington Day and Burgoyne's Surrender!"
Conflict over and weary quest, Hid in their hallowed graves they rest; Nor the voice of love, nor the cannon's roar Wins them to field or fireside more! Did the glory go from the hills with them? Nay! for the sons are true to the sires! And the gems they have set in our diadem Burn with as rare and brilliant fires ; And the woodland streams and the mountain airs Sing of the father's fame with theirs! One, in the shadow of lone Kearsarge Nurtured for power, like the fabled charge Of the Gods, by Pelion's woody marge ;-
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So lofty his eloquence, stately his mien, That could he have walked the Olympian plain The worshiping, wondering crowds had seen Jove descend o'er the feast to reign! And One, with a brow as Balder's fair, And his life the grandeur of love and peace; Easing the burdens the' race must bear, Toiling for good he might not share, Till his white soul found its glad release! And one-a tall Corinthian column,
Of the Temple of Justice prop and pride- The judge unstained, the patriot tried, Gone to the bar supernal, solemn, . Nor left his peer by Themis' side! Ah! when the Old World counts her Kings, And from splendor of castle and palace brings The dainty Lords her Monarchies mould, We'll turn to the hills and say, " Behold Webster, and Greeley, and Chase, for three Princes of our Democracy!"
Land of the cliff, the stream, the pine, Blessing and honor and peace be thine! Still may thy giant mountains rise, Lifting their snows to the blue of June, And the south wind breathe its tenderest sighs Over thy fields in the harvest moon ! And the river of rivers, Merrimack, Whose current never shall faint nor lack While the lakes and the crystal springs remain,- Welcome the myriad brooks and rills Winding through meadows, leaping from hills To brim its banks for the waiting wheels That thrill and fly to its dash and roar Till the rocks are passed, and the sea-fog steals Over its tide by Newbury's shore !- For the river of rivers is Merrimack, Whether it foams with the mountain rain, Or toils in the mill race, deep and black, Or, conqueror, rolls to the ocean plain ! And still may the hill, the vale, the glen, Give thee the might of heroic men, And the grace of women pure and fair As the Mayflower's bloom when the woods are bare; And Truth and Freedom aye find in thee Their surest warrant of victory! Land of fame and of high endeavor, Strength and glory be thine forever!
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CONSTITUTION OF NEW-HAMPSHIRE.
CHAPTER VIII.
Constitution of New-Hampshire; Congressional, Councilor, and Senatorial Districts ; State and Legislative Officers; Governor vote of the State in 1872 and 1873; Governors of New-Hampshire since 1680; Justices of the higher Courts of New-Hampshire, since 1776; Wheelwright Deeds; Cities and Towns in the United States of 6,000 inhabitants and upwards.
CONSTITUTION OF NEW-HAMPSHIRE.
The Constitution of New-Hampshire, as altered and amended by a con- vention of delegates held at Concord, in said State, by adjournment, on the second Wednesday of February, 1792.
PART FIRST.
BILL OF RIGHTS.
ARTICLE 1. All men are born equally free and independent; there- fore, all government of right originates from the people, is founded in consent, and instituted for the general good.
ART. 2. All men have certain natural, essential and inherent rights; among which are the enjoying and defending life and liberty -- acquiring, possessing and protecting property-and, in a word, of seeking and ob- taining happiness.
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