USA > New York > Essex County > Westport > Bessboro: A history of Westport, Essex Co., N.Y. > Part 3
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And the summing up of the whole matter is this :
"There seems little if any prospect of profitable mines in Westport in the future. Those ores that are rea- sonably near the lake are certainly titaniferous, and cannot be used under the present calculation of blast furnace slags and mixtures. The non-titaniferous ores
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which may be in the western limits of the town are ex- tremely inaccessible, if indeed in any quantity."
One of the Mineville ore beds, called the Cook Shaft Mine, is crossed by the town line, so that its northern opening, called Thompson's shaft, lies in Westport, but this mine is no longer worked. Its ore is valuable, but not so cheaply obtained as that from the other
mines of Moriah. West of the school-house at "Seventy- five," (called more commonly "Fletcherville" in Mo- riah,) is a body of ore known as the "Humbug Mine," a title given it when the ore was proved to be titanifer- ous, and therefore valueless. My information in regard to the mines at "Seventy-five" has been obtained from Mr. S. B. McKee, so long Engineer of Witherbee, Sher- man & Co., at Mineville.
HAMLETS.
Our terms of local geography contain constant al- lusion to five or six hamlets which seem to a stranger to be little more than a name. They are referred to by the titles given when they were scenes of far greater activity than can often be the case now. There is Brainard's Forge, in the extreme north west corner, on the Black river, just where Westport, Elizabeth- town and Lewis join, and where the teacher in the school keeps the names of pupils on three separate pages of the register, according to the town in which each one lives. In 1807 there was a forge here, built on the Elizabethtown side of the river, which is
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alluded to in the old town records as "Morgan's Now Forge," but is called "Brainard's" in 1817, and has kept that name for nearly a century. This was the earliest and one of the best known forges of the number built upon the Black river between the begin- ning of the nineteenth century and the final declension of the iron industry in Westport and Elizabethtown. Now you find there a steam saw-mill, a school-house, half a dozen farm-houses, and the little river slipping by under the bridge, still darkened by the stain of iron ore to the color which gave it its name from the first settlers. It is dwindled to less than half its volume since those days, in common with every other water course in the country.
Then there is Meigsville, up the Black river to the south-west, perhaps three miles. Here is a school- house, and a number of houses on both sides of the river, six hundred feet above sea level, and deep within the mountains, with the wild scenery of the great unin- habited Iron Ore Tract to the west and south. If you should follow the road further up the river, you would find on y a desolate, almost uninhabited region for miles and miles.
Few and faint are the memories of Meigs. His name was Guy, and he owned the mill and the forge, and 1 know not what besides. He went away some thirty years ago, he and all his family, in a big emigrant wagon drawn by four horses, to a place indefinitely given as "out west." I find that in the history of our town, the people who have moved away may almost
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always be said to have gone to one of two places. Either they went "out west" or "over the lake." The first means an enterprising seeking of new countries, the second an unambitious return to the older civilization of New England, often expressed by the phrase, "went back to his wife's folks." So much of the western shore of Lake Champlain was settled by emigrants from New England that going back "over the Lake" was, in the earlier days, something like going back to the old country. But Gny Meigs disappeared toward the wild west, which means, of course, that he left Westport bearing due south, not turning literally to the west until he had made his way past the ramparts of the Adirondacks. I have sometimes discovered that when men are accounted for as having "gone west" any time before the last quarter century, they have, not uncom- mouly, goue no further than Buffalo. But as for Meigs of Meigsville, I know no more of him than I have here set down. Doubtless his most enduring monument is the mountain hamlet still called by his name."
In the southwest corner, where Westport, Elizabeth- town and Moriah meet, is the larger settlement of "Seventy-five." This was named from the surveyor's number for the lot in the Iron Ore Tract upon which it was supposed to stand. In geography and in politics "Seventy-five" is obliged to belong to the town of West-
*NOTE .- There has been recently published a large volume containing a gen edogical record of the Meigs family in America, in which it appears that Guy Meigs of Meigsville is of the same family as General Meigs of the Civil War, as well as many other notable people. The author of the book is Captain Henry B. Megs, a brother of the late Guy Meigs.
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port, but in every thing else it is part and parcel of Moriah, or, to speak more exactly, of Mineville. Here is situated the Cook Shaft No. 2, one of the system of Moriah mines, which have made such fortunes for their owners. Here was once a great furnace, offices, stores. and a village of more than thirty houses, with a large school-house. It remained a populous place for some time after the mines shut down. Those who were able, went away as fast as they found chances to work in other places, leaving a sediment of those who were too poor to move. In 1846 we fought with our neighbors for the possession of the soil. In 1896 either one might have had it for less than the asking. for that winter the poormaster traveled wearily over the long, hilly road, once a week, with a great load of provisions to keep some of the people there from starving. This was onr small share, as a town, in the problem of dealing with the wass of unemployed poor which Moriah strug- gled so bravely to solve in those dark years.
Near the place where the town line crosses Mullein Brook is a saw-mill and school-house, and we always. speak of the neighborhood as "Stevenson's," from the name of the family who have long owned the mill. This is also known as "Adirondack Springs," and at one time was called "Spencer's." The oldest name, and one seldom or never heard now, was "Fisher Mills," from the name of the first settler.
Where the railroad crosses the highway near the lake shore is a place where mail is left and taken on for a short time during the summer, called
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HISTORY OF WESTPORT
after the boarding-house near by "Oak Point." The next railroad crossing to the north is spoken of as "Graeffes" or, more formally, the Westport Farms. The latter title indicates more properly all the land between the railroad and the lake, with the residence on the lake road, and the numerous tenement houses and barns.
In the northeast part of the town, not far from the Essex line, ou the Boquet river, lies "Merriam's Forge." A passing stranger can see no reason for the name, as even the ruins of the old forge, built in 1825, were swept away in the flood of 1897. The dam in the river is still left, kept in repair by the terms of the will of the former owner, Mr. William P. Merriam, but the water ruus away nnemployed and useless. There is something pathetic in this one surviving token of the care and en- ergy once lavished on the place. The forge, with its three fires, and the labor of the colony of operatives for whom the row of houses were built, made its founder and owner a rich man. Now his house by the riverside stands empty most of the year, and the work- men's houses are filled with an agricultural or a wan- dering population.
None of the forges on the Black and Boquet were situated near iron mines. All the ore was brought in wagons from the Moriah mines, or, in latter times, from the ore beds at Nichols Pond or Ledge Hill. If you drive over the roads now you may form some idea of the profits of a business which paid for such long and laborious transportation,
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The name "Jacksonville" indicates to us the most im- portant iron enterprise which Westport ever knew, in the amount of money involved and the actual results. The place was upon a beautiful point, across the bay to the northeast of the village, now occupied by the houses of Mrs. Hall and of Mr. Robertson Marshall. The name is taken from that of Francis H. Jackson, of Boston, who built the Sisco furnace here in 1848, at a cost, it is said, of one hundred thousand dollars. The massive foundations of this furnace still remain, and much of the stone of its walls has been used in Mr. Marshall's house. The house occupied by Mrs. Hall was built for Mr. Jackson's residence. The book-keeper's house is still in use, but most of the workmen's houses have disappeared, or are used in other ways. The wharf is still left, but the heavy barges, laden with coal and iron, are now replaced by the graceful lines of some pleasure craft.
Very recently have been observed in the local news of the county papers substitutions for the old names of our hamlets. Meigsville is West Westport, Steven- son's is South Westport, and Brainard's Forge is West Wadhams. Perhaps this is an indication that the an- cient names are passing away, and that untility is be- coming more to us than memory.
SCHOOL DISTRICTS.
There are eleven school districts in the town. The most southern is at "Stevenson's," near the saw mill on Mullein brook. Here you can turn off the "back road,"
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and take the "Bald Peak road" to Mineville, skirting the base of the mountain, and with Mullein brook for company half the way. Then there is the school house at "Graeffes," alias the Westport Farms, This is the district that was spoken of for many years as "Root's" because Mr. Samuel Root lived here. The school- house stands on a hill overlooking Coll's bay, with a beautiful view of the lake and of the Vermont mount- ains. North of this, on the lake road, stands what must be the oldest school building in town,-the "stone school-house." It is built of the limestone of the neighborhood, with windows let in directly under the caves, so that no one can look out of them without standing up, and little folks not at all unless they climb npou the desks. Consequently, you will usually find the door open in summer, and can look in sociably as you pass.
At the point where the cross road and the back road and the railroad meet is the Howard school house. Here come the children "off the mountain," two and three miles sometimes. This school house, as well as the one at Stevenson's, sees a regular Sunday gather- ing for religious services. Here the meeting of adults on that day is larger than that of the children during the week.
There is a large school house at Seventy-five, which had until very recently a full attendance, but is now closed. At Meigsville the school house stands on the Elizabethtown side of the river, and this is also the ense at Brainard's Forge. You will find one at Hois-
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ington's, accommodating children from four roads, and about half way to Elizabethtown on the turnpike is the one most likely to be noticed by a stranger. This is because it stands half hidden by an immense boulder, almost as high and half as large as the building. This used to be called "the red school-house," but since it was rebuilt with a different eye for color we make sure of being understood by saying "the one by the big rock."
At Wadham's Mills is a large brick school-house, one of the oldest in town, often repaired, which the people still make use of, patiently waiting some turn of events which shall bring them a new one. On the road to Whal- lousburgh, just over the hill which rises south of the riv- er, is the Royce district, now oftener referred to as the Sherman district. On the lake road to Whallonsburgh, where the road divides, the east branch running direct to Essex village, stands the "Augier Hill school-house." The Augiers are long since gone, but here, I am happy to say, the old name still holds in spite of all new com- ers. Angier Hill itself you will find a half mile further north. Standing at its top, you look off over the level land of the river bottom in Essex, and the earth drops away from before you suddenly in a terrace. This is "Angier Hill," onee a synonym for stony steepness, but much modified by years of patient grading.
The school house in the village was built in 1889, after such a prolonged and heated "school-house war" as is often seen when there are two parties of opposing opinions, ouly one of which can possibly have its way. It is hard to believe that any spot could have been bet-
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ter than the one chosen, on the flat near the shore of the bay, where the building shows so finely in the first view of the village from the lake.
All these school-houses are to a certain extent social centres, particularly in the remote districts. Here are not only the school exhibitions but the Sunday-schools and the mid-week prayer meeting often held, as well as the annual "school-meetings" for the election of trus- tees and officers of the district.
CEMETERIES.
The cemeteries of a town are always interesting places to any one who cares for its history. There you find a directory of the past, with blanks in place of the names of those who died among other scenes, or who left no one behind them who cared to raise a stone to their mem- ory. Here dates' are copious and authentie, and it seems a relief to walk these silent aisles after much ex- perience with the uncertainty aud contradiction of local legendary history. Not that long exploration of the le- gends will not add to the interest of loitering in these old graveyards. One of the most delightful of summer afternoons can be spent in wandering thro' the village cemetery in company with the Oldest Inhabitant, and and listening to story after story suggested by the names on the tombstone.
The largest cemetery in town is the one in Westport village, on the north bank of the brook, on Pleasant St. It must be almost as old as the village itself, but the
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earliest date of burial here cut in stone is in the year 1808.
Here are buried many of the men conspicuous in our history. Here lies "old Squire Hatch," as we commonly call him, "Hon. Charles Hatoh," it reads here, - with a monument which was altogether the most imposing one in the cemetery whenit was erected, though somewhat overshadowed since.
There is scarcely an old name which is met with in our annals that cannot be found here, and of course one cannot attempt to name them all. Most of the earlier graves are found in the eastern end. Here is the shaft put up for Barnabas Myrick, who seems to have been the great man of the village after the days of Squire Hatch. Near it is the grave of General Daniel Wright, who commanded all the militia forces of Essex aud Clinton counties in the War of 1812, with the title of Brigadier-General. His tombstone relates none . f his deeds or distinctions, and his wife, whose name was Patience, might be fancied to have need of that virtue in putting up with the fact that she has no stone of her own, but is given a few lower lines ou that of her husband. Perhaps it is going too far to. imagine any one criticising one's own epitaph, or the manner iu which it is emblazoned to the world, but it has an odd effect of making her natue seem appropriate. It was a very common cust :m in those days,
Across the graveled path are the Holeombs. Doctor Diadorus Holcomb was a very early settler, and the first one who practiced the healing art. He acted as a
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surgeon at the Battle of Plattsburgh. Not far away are the graves of the Cuttings, conspicuous in the vil- lage life a little later. These are some of the oldest names, most of them on quaint, old-fashioned slabs, sometimes with the conventional weeping willow ent at the top. There are many handsome monuments of re- cent date, like those with the names of Page, Sargent and Newell.
One of the most interesting graves in the cemetery is that of Col. Francis L. Lee, Colonel of the 44th Massa- chusetts Volunteers. A shaft of stone in its native beauty, uncut and unpolished, taken from his own es- tate at Stony Sides, marks the spot. A tablet of slate is let in on one side, with name and date. A massive boulder from North Shore is laid at the grave of Mr. William Guy Hunter, in which are deeply cut his name and that of his wife.
There is the grave of Joseph Call, the giant, of whose feats of strength so many tales are told. Ebenezer Durfee has written on his tombstone that he was a Revolutionary soldier, the only stone so marke . Would that more old soldiers had left it cut in stone, so that we might know and honor them all.
A noticeable thing is the number of stoves on which it is recorded that the silent sleeper beneath met his death by drowning. In former times such an interest- ing fact as this could not fail to be engraved upon the tombstone, with the appropriate moral reflection thrown in. Of late we are grown more reserved, or more in- diferent, and in the newer part of the cemetery the
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stones grow larger and the inseriptions smaller, ant there is no longer any literatureof the dead, but merely a catalogue. For my part, I like the old way best. It used to be an art to write an epitaph, and to engrave it properly, and then it was something worth while for one to read, walking in the cemetery of a Sunday afternoon.
This is the Protestant cemetery. That of the Roman Catholic church fies not far west of it, behind the pret- ty church, and is full of interest. There is another graveyard in the village, but it is only the old people who can tell you much about it, as it has been long un- used. It is spoken of as the "South burying ground." It lies just northeast of the old Arsenal, and back of Mrs. Gregory's house, on land now owned by the West- port Inn. It is a neglected corner, overgrown with briars and burdocks in the late summer. Here lie Tillinghast Cole, and some of the Havenses and Reynoldses and a number ofgraves unmarked by stones. These unmarked graves are always found in the old- est cemeteries, often outnumbering those whose cames have been preserved.
At Wadhams Falls there is a very pretty cemetery, on the high river bank, across the road from the M. E. church. Here are the old names of this section, -Felt, and Braman and Whitney, Hardy and Dunster and Brown and Sherman, Woodruff and Payne and many more. The earliest cemetery at Wadhams was on the flat lower down the river, but was soon abandoned, and no stones were left to mark the spot. The Wadhams
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family were buried in a private ground back of Com. A. V. Wadhams' residence, but were removed and placed in the large cemetery within a few years.
All our cemeteries are in spots of natural beauty. At Merriam's Forge is a small private ground, where all the Merriams lie buried. It is not far from the former residence of William P. Merriam, across the road, and on much higher ground, with a fine view of the river.
On the road to Elizabethtown, near the Black river, is what the old people call "the Newcomb burying ground." This ha's received the remains of all the old families of this region.
As old as any of them all must be the graveyard at Hoisington's. The earliest date is 1805, at the grave of Datus, son of Enos and Anna Loveland. What a dear, romantic bit it is, this little square fenced in among the mountains ! Here you get no water view at all, only the dark mountains with their folded valleys, pressing close around. This lies on the highest ground of any of our resting places for the dead, as here it is six hundred feet above sea level, with mountains tower- ing far above it. There are very few family names represented, mainly Lovelands, Nichols and Sloughters. On the lake road to Port Henry is a small private cemetery on the land of Hinkley Coll, where all the names are Coll by birth or marriage.
Without doubt the most ancient burial place in town is on the wooded point which runs out north of the mouth of Raymond brook, close to the island.
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Very near this spot was the first settlement of white men on our soil. The oldest date of burial to be read is that of Levi Alexander, 1816, but we know that. many graves here must be older than that. There are not half a dozen stones now standing in the little enclos- ure, but all around are signs of a large cemetery. Many of the graves were marked only with that most pathetic thing in old graveyards,-rough, unout, unshaped and unmarked stones, selected from hillside or door yard or any where they could be found. They were set up carefully at the head and the foot of the grave, many of them marking only a baby's length between them, and for the lifetime of one generation we may be sure that these graves were not nameless as they now must be to us. These rough stones are found in all our old cemeteries, and indicate a time when the stone cutter had not yet reached the place, and out marble must be brought long distances. Indeed, many of the stones with the oldest dates were set up years after the body beneath was laid to rest.
We have a right to claim the cemetery just over the line in Moriah, as it belonged to Westport until after the first generation of settlers must have been buried.
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ROADS.
To attempt a description of all the roads of a town- ship would be very tedious. Only a study of the map can give an adequate idea of them. To a person com- ing from one of the southern counties of New York, where highways and railroads are constantly crossing in a network, and there is never one house built out of sight of another, our town looks like a mere wilderness, threaded here and there with a slender, solitary, trail, often without human habitation to pass for long dis- tances. To the same person, coming direct from any of the "back towns" of the county, namely, North Hud- son, or Keene, or North Elba, where an immense town- ship sometimes is traversed by a single road, with one or two branches, Westport seems thickly settled, and very comfortably supplied with roads. The highways, of course, as in every place, indicate perfectly the needs of the population by their direction and extent, and their resources and enterprise by their condition.
Taking the village of Westport as a center, the main roads running from it are those to Whallonsburgh, Wad- hams Mills, Elizabethtown and Port Henry. Going to the first place, you may take the river road or the lake road. The river road goes north until it comes to the bank of the Boquet, then follows it closely, after cross- ing it near the town line, into the township of Essex. The lake road takes you northeast, over many hills, with beautiful views of lake and mountains. At the top of Angier Hill you look down upon the valley of
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the Boquet. At what is called "the forest gate," after you pass through the wonderful gateway in the rocks, of such interest to geologists, a private road leads some two miles to Hunter's Bay, Partridge Harbor and Rock Harbor.
The road to Wadhams Mills, runs to the north- west, crossing the railroad and the river. Here are the beautiful falls and the busy mills. If you are very lucky you may find the river full of logs, and a gang of picturesque "loggers" with red shirts, high rubber boots and pike poles, trying to break a log jam. The river road will take you to Mount Discovery and to Lewis. Thence, if you are so minded, you go northward to the place which we call the "Poke o' Moonshine." A road to the west goes to Brainard's Forge, and there are many cross roads, En this region of rolling farms, con- necting the main roads.
If you wish to go to the county seat you must go to the station and then along the only turnpike in the county. This is the stage route for the mountains, and altogeth- er the most constantly travelled road iu town. You must stop at the toll-gate and pay toll, which you will not begrudge when you see that your money goes to keep the road both smooth and wide. Beautiful mountain views you will find, and when you come to the Black river and cross the bridge, then you have left Westport and are in Elizabethtown.
To go to Port Henry you may take either the "back road" or the lake road. The first follows the railroad most of the way, and runs not far from the high bank
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which indicates the last slope of the mountains of the Iron Ore Tract, in their nearest approach to the shore of the lake. The lake road, (called a part of the way the "middle road,") runs parallel with the back road, and joins it just beyond the town line, so that you are obliged, in any case, if it is your will to go to Port Henry, to cross Mullein Brook and climb "Bigelow hill" beyond, This brook was undoubtedly named after a person, but at the present day the hill just south of the bridge is so covered with the withered, woolly green of the unesteemed mullein that one feels that the reason of the name might not be far to seek. About two miles from Port Henry you will pass through "the Cheever," meaning the ruins of the mining village which sprang up so suddenly in the prosperity of the great Cheever ore bed, and fell into ruins so deliber- ately when fortune frowned upon the God of Iron. You are in what was once Westport territory until within two miles of Port Henry, although it has be- longed to Moriah for fifty years. 1758049
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