USA > Rhode Island > Providence County > Woonsocket > History of Woonsocket > Part 5
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53
HISTORY OF WOONSOCKET.
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CHAPTER IV. THE SETTLEMENT AT WOONSOCKET, AND THE PATHS WHICH LED TO IT.
I THINK that a while since we came up from the river a little too abruptly. It was hardly respectful. Let us return then to the river, for to this Woonsocket owes its existence, and but for this, you would have been denied the ecstacy of buying and applauding these delightful pages. We may smile at the superstition of the Hindoos for their worship of the sluggish Ganges ; but surely a tribute of respect is due to the bright and sparkling waters of the Blackstone, which, for so many generations, have furnished enjoyment and pros- perity to the inhabitants of these parts. Let us return to. the river, and while gazing upon its beautiful cascades, or watching its placid bosom as it rolls on to the sea, let us uncover our heads, for we are in the presence of our kindest benefactor !
The first wheel in this region that was turned by its waters was that of a saw-mill, which stood where now stands the tower of the Ballou Manufacturing Company's Cotton Mill, near the dam. There are many now living who remember the ancient mill, but none can tell when the edifice was erected. If this could be told, the time could be nearly approximated when the axe and the plow of the pioneer first broke the solitudes of Northern Rhode Island. From documentary evidence which I have given, I have fixed the date at about the year 1666, and the reader may dispute my conclusions at his leisure.
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HISTORY OF WOONSOCKET.
The next establishment which the river supplied with power was a " eorn and fulling mill." This was built by John Arnold about the year 1712. It was situated upon the "island " on the up-stream side of the present bridge at the " Falls." It was furnished with two water-wheels. These were placed one before the other, on the outside of the mill, towards the Smithfield shore, and in a narrow trench cut out of the rock, which is still visible.
The next concern to which the waters of the river were diverted, was what is called by aged people " The Old Forge," but which is spoken of in ancient documents as the " Bloomery," the " Refinery," the " Winsokett Iron Mill," etc. It was, in fact, an iron-mill, where iron was manufac- tured from the crude ore, which was chiefly obtained at a place called " Sea Patch River, in Glocester."* It was built sometime between the years 1712 and 1720. In 1720 William Hopkins was one of the proprietors. An original deed is now in the possession of Moses Roberts, Esq., which conveyed one-fourth of the concern from Hopkins to Thomas Smith. (The grantor was the father of Gov. Stephen Hopkins ; the grantee was the original owner of the land upon which stands the Quaker meeting-house.) Among the proprietors of the establishment from time to time were Judge Thomas Lapham, Silvanus Scott, Daniel Jenckes, Moses Aldrich (the celebrated Quaker preacher), his sons, Judge Caleb and Robert Aldrich (who were ancestors of many of our most respected citizens), Judge Thomas Arnold and Arnold Pain (the grandson of John Arnold) .;
*See Cumb. Ree., Book 3, page 287.
+In 1739 the proprietors were : Thomas Lapham, who owned 9-12; Silvanus Scott, who owned 2-12; Daniel Jenekes, who owned 1-12. In 1742 the proprietors were : Thomas Lap- hamn, who owned 9-24; Silvanus Scott, who owned 4-24; Moses Aldrich, who owned 3.24; Thomas Smith, who owned 6-24; Thomas Arnold, who owned 2-24. In 1747 Robert Aldrich had purchased the right of Thomas Lapham. In 1750 the proprietors were : Robert Aldrich, who owned 3-24; Silvanus Scott, who owned 4-24; Caleb Aldrich, who owned 9-24; Thomas Arnold, who owned 8-24. In 1766 the proprietors were: Robert Aldrich, who owned 3.8; Caleb Aldrich, who owned 3-8; Arnold Pain, who owned 2.8.
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HISTORY OF WOONSOCKET.
The " Forge Lot " covered an area of one quarter of an acre. The building stood end to the Cumberland side of the river, on land now occupied by the boiler-house of the Ballou Manufacturing Company. It was shaped neither like a barn or a hay-stack, and yet it resembled either. From descriptions which I have heard of it and its surroundings, I imagine that it resembled as much an iron-mill, or an entrance to a region forty or fifty miles below an iron-mill, as anything. Its roof pitched to the north and to the south, reaching nearly to the rocks from whence its sides arose. It was furnished with three water-wheels. One of these was an overshot wheel, to which the water was conveyed by a large pen stock from the saw-mill pond. During the Revolutionary War the business of this concern was quite lucrative, and its proprietors accumulated what were then considered large fortunes. At its close the business de- clined, and about the beginning of the present century had ceased altogether. Among the tenements connected with the " Old Forge," was a small house which stood on lands now occupied by the Rubber Works. It was a very small house, but it furnished shelter to Judge Caleb Aldrich and his young wife during their honeymoon, and for many suc- ceeding years. This building was afterwards removed to where the Globe Bank building now stands, and was known in the last generation as the " Cruff House."
The next establishment which owed its existence to the water-power of the river was a " Scythe Manufactory." This stood on the island below the grist-mill and the bridge.
These were all the manufacturing concerns which existed at the " Falls " previous to the great freshet of 1807,* when those which were not washed away thereby, were so disabled
*The freshet of 1807 occurred in the month February. It was undoubtedly the greatest flood that ever swept down the valley of the river since the settlement of Northern Rhode Island. One of equal magnitude to-day would submerge Market Square. The freshet of last March (1876) excited us somewhat, but the water lacked two and a half feet in coming up to the hole in the rock, drilled at the Globe to mark the height to which the waters arose in 1807.
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HISTORY OF WOONSOCKET.
that business therein was never afterwards resumed. It may be well, however, to say in this connection, that the Seythe Manufactory was afterwards fitted up and used as a black- smith's shop.
There were no streets in the days of John Arnold. These were left for the intelligence and the wealth of subsequent generations to create. In the appendix I give an account of the highways of Old Smithfield in his day, and the names of those who lived beside them. I reserve the remainder of this chapter for the purpose of endeavoring to show you how his " corn-mill at the Falls " might have been reached with- out trespassing upon private property. The grand northern routes which went up on the right and the left banks of the river were known-the one as the Smithfield Mendon Road, and the other as the Cumberland Mendon Road.
In relation to the former, which was more particularly designated the Great Road, I have been able to ascertain but little. Indeed, I could hardly be expected to do more than Judge Peleg Arnold, Henry Jenekes and John Man, who, May 20, 1792, were chosen a committee by the Town Council of Smithfield to look up the matter. In their report, made the following June, they say : " That for a consider- able distance no surveys were to be found; that it began at the Mendon line, near Jedediah Wilson's : and that, in their opinion, it was originally much wider than at that time." I can only add, that it is frequently alluded to in ancient documents, and that I have seen a reference thereto in a paper dated 1666-a period near enough, I reckon, to the landing of the Pilgrims for all practical purposes. At that time it was simply a footpath, indicated by marked trees leading from cabin to cabin. November 26, 1733, it had developed into a cart path. It then went over Sayles Hill. At that time Thomas Steere petitioned to have it relaid. His petition was not granted ; and not until December 7, 8
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HISTORY OF WOONSOCKET.
1741, was the great discovery made, that it was no farther and much easier to go around a hill than to go over it, and a committee was chosen by the Town Council-consisting of Dexter Aldrich, Joseph Arnold, Job Arnold and Israel Wil- kinson-to turn the " great road " around Sayles Hill, or in the language of their commission, " to lay out a highway, beginning where the house of John Balkcolm, deceased,* formerly stood, there to turn out of the old highway to the eastward, and to come into it again before it comes to John Man's." This relay, to reverse the order of the " lay out," started from its intersection with the old road just north of John (now Stafford) Mann's, and proceeded through the lands of Lieutenant Stephen Sly, who lived and kept tavern where Mr. David S. Wilkinson now resides ; of Henry Mowry, ; who lived on the old Nathaniel Mowry homestead, where the late Miss Sarah Ann Mowry last dwelt; and of the heirs of John Balkcolm, who was an innkeeper on lands now owned and occupied by Dwight Hammond, Esq. From this point the road pursued nearly its present course, by the Quaker meeting-house, through the Union Village, and to " the Mendon line near Jedediah Wilson's."
The Cumberland Mendon Road, or a portion of it, was originally laid out by the proprietors of Rehoboth. The lower portion thereof is known to this day as the "old Rehoboth road." December 10, 1650, the Rehoboth pro- prietors voted "to have a convenient way, four rods wide, to be made by Edward Smith, to be for the town's use, or any that shall have occasion to pass from town (Seekonk Plain) to Providence or to Mr. Blackstone's." It came up the east side of the river, crossed the Abbott Run River at Valley Falls, passed the "park" of Mr. Blackstone at Lonsdale, went through the lands of the Whipples, Pecks, Bartletts, and others, over Cumberland Hill, and so on by
*John Balkcom died in 1740.
¡Henry Mowry was the brother of John Arnold's first wife.
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HISTORY OF WOONSOCKET.
" Crook's " to the Mendon line. But neither the Smithfield nor the Cumberland Mendon roads came to the corn-mill of John Arnold.
There were two publie routes by which the Cumberland Mendon road could be reached. 1. A portion of one of these has developed into Main and North Main streets, and is sometimes called the "Old Mendon Road." 2. A portion of the other is now Social street. There were four public routes on the other side of the river which intersected with the "Smithfield Mendon," alias the " Great Road," namely : 3. South Main street. 4. Logee street and the "river road" to the lower Quaker meeting-house. 5. Providence street, from its intersection with South Main street to the " Great Road " at Daily Hole. 6. A road which has been aban- cloned for nearly or quite a century, and which came up from the " wading place," passed through the fields on the rear of the Willing Vose farm, and united with the Great Road at Daily Hole.
Of the above-mentioned six roads, three formed a portion of a very ancient highway from Boston to the Connecticut settlements, which, crossing the Great Road at the Union Village, made the " Cross Roads," which was one of the causes of the increase of population at Woonsocket. These three roads were: 1. Social and Main streets. 2. North Main and Main streets. 3. South Main street.
Both Social and North Main streets, which unite at Monu- ment Square, are very ancient. Either might have formed part of the Boston highway, for both entered the Cumber- land Mendon Road-the one at Crooks's, and the other a short distance north. I have seen an allusion to the former*
*In 1735 Ebenezer Cook was paid £40 by the town of Mendon, for building a bridge across Mill River.
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HISTORY OF WOONSOCKET.
as early as 1735; to the latter,* February 2, 1750; and to the road in the vicinity of the Falls, ; in 1710.
In the most ancient times there were two ways of crossing the river at Woonsocket. One was at the " rafting place,"# which was near where the Clinton Mill now is; the other was at the " wading place," which was near where the new mill of the Ballon Manufacturing Company now is.
3. The first move towards laying out what is known in these days as South Main street was made September 13, 1731. On this day the Town Council of Smithfield voted to lay out a " Highway from John Arnold's corn-mill, south- west by Charles Shearlock's to Woodward Arnold's (who lived near Woonsocket Hill, afterwards known as the Nathan Staples place), with the reservation that Jolin Arnold " have the liberty to keep up the gate where it now stands, until there be a cart-bridge erected across the river at the Falls." August 9, 1738, this road was extended to the western limits of the town.§
4. The road-a portion of which is known in these days as Logee street, and the remainder as the River road, or in more ancient times as the East road-in the beginning went over Logee Hill and down the right bank of the river, inter- secting with the "Great Road" in the Moshassuck valley,
* At this time the town of Cumberland appointed a committee, consisting of Samuel Bart- lett, John Cass and Elijah Newell; Job Bartlett, Justice of the Peace; and Jeremiah Inman, Constable. This Committee reported as follows : That they began work at a small brook that rnnneth in a pond called Sprague's Pond. (The dwelling house of Sprague was where HIarris's new mill now stands). Thence to Arnold's Saw Mill at Winsokett. They were also empowered to lay out another road from the saw mill, through the "Forge Lot" to the foot of the bridge-and also to lay out a road from the road described, to the "Wading Place " below the Falls,
tAn allusion to this is in the deed from Chapin to Arnold, which I have given in a previ- ons chapter.
#See Deed from John Arnold to his son Anthony, in Smithfield. Rec. of Deeds Book 1, page 72.
§The language of the lay-out is as follows : Laid out a highway from the northerly side of Nathan Staples, his farm he bought of Woodward Arnold (Staples purchased the farm July 4, 1737), and it runs away southwesterly by Gideon Comstock's, and so goes along, until it meeteth with the "Seven mile line."
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HISTORY OF WOONSOCKET.
near the lower Quaker meeting-house. It was laid out* in 1732.
5. The next connection, in the order which I have enum- erated, with the "Great Road" was by the way of a road which has since developed into Providence street. This was laid out May 23, 1752, " across Mr. John Arnold's farm, where he now dwelleth, and close to ye west end of the house," and " begins adjoining to ye northerly side yt high- way yt leads to Pawtucket river below ye Falls, yn north to ye other highway (South Main street) yt goes some distance northward from ye said Mr. Arnold's house." Since its first lay-out it has been changed in its course some- what. The residence of Hon. Thomas Steere is in the old road, and the front side of John Arnold's house, now oc- cupied by A. C. Munroe, is on the back side. The drive- way across the brook is still visible, and a ridge across the fields beyond reveals the ancient path.
6. The highway from which the above highway started has been abandoned for nearly or quite a century. Indeed, the establishment of Providence street deprived it of its use- fulness. Its courset has been previously described.
THE BRIDGES AT THE FALLS.
The first bridge at the Falls was built about the year 1736.
*The petition for this road was presented to the Council JJanuary 10, 1731-2. Aug. 7, fol- lowing, a committee was chosen to lay out the road from the late residence of James Dexter, jr., deceased, " to begin at the country road, by Justice Sprague's, and against the Lower Meet- ing House, and so up along by - Whipple and by David Wilkinson, and so up as far as the mills at Wansoket, and join to that highway that goes by Justice Arnold's NEW HOUSE. The Committee reported the following October, but the Council accepted only that portion which was north of Crook Falls Brook. May 13, 1745, the southern portion was accepted, but as no record had been made thereof, a Committee was chosen the following February to revise the bounds. This Committee but partially accomplished the work, as was also the case with another Committee appointed in 1753. The whole of the road was not satisfactorily laid out until November, 1796. It was then laid ont the entire distance from the "South side of the Woonsocket highway that leads over the Falls," to the " highway from Woonsocket to Provi denee, near the old meeting house."
The following is a description thereof: Sept. 13, 1731, it was voted that " there be a high- way from the road that goes by Danl. Matthewson's to the Pawtucket River, a little below Arnold's Corn Mill, where the way now crosses the river-also to complete the same to the " Seven mile line." This road went through the lands of John Arnold, Thomas Smith, Thomas Smith, jr., John Smith, Col. Joseph Whipple and John Mowry.
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HISTORY OF WOONSOCKET.
Towards its erection the Legislature* appropriated £128, and an additional sum was raised by private subscription.
The second bridge was built in 1762, the funds therefor being supplied by a lottery, authorized by the General Assembly .; The year previous the mile-stone, which now stands near the store of John Currier, was placed in position.
The third bridget was built in 1787, the Legislature legalizing a lottery for the purpose, by which £900 were raised. Up to this time the bridge from the Smithfield shore to the "island " was nearly in a direct line with the Cumberland shore. The mortices cut in the rock on the Smithfield shore near the present dam, and on the "island," which are now plainly visible, reveal its position. It was now built a few rods down stream, and occupied nearly its present site. In other words, the bridge of 1762 was above the grist-mill of John Arnold, and the bridge of 1787 was placed below it.
About twenty years subsequent to the erection of this third bridge at the Falls, two remarkable events occurred. One was the passage of a bridge at Lodi, which is often referred to in cotemporaneous history ; the other was a passage of the bridge at Woonsocket Falls, which has hitherto escaped the notice of the poet and the historian. As the courage and heroism displayed in these two passages bore a striking resemblance to each other, it will not be out of order for me to give the heroes of the Woonsocket Bridge a niche in the Temple of Fame, as has been done by the hero of the bridge of Lodi. I must say, however, at the outset, that the reader will lack the sober and matter-of-fact expres- sion, as well as the dry humor of Mr. Stafford Mann, who related to me the incident, which is as follows: "Col. Simon
*See R. I. Col. Rec., Vol. IV., pp. 514 and 552.
+This Lottery consisted of 1,375 tickets at ES old Tenor each. There were 459 Prizes, rang- ing from £16 to £500 and 916 Blanks. The net to be applied towards the erection of the Bridge was £1,002.
#R. I. Col. Rec., Vol. X., page 266.
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HISTORY OF WOONSOCKET.
Whipple and Mr. James Arnold, at that time young men, had been or were going somewhere. The precise point of their destination or their departure is immaterial. At all events, they had tarried at Judge Peleg Arnold's inn a sufficient length of time to undertake almost any journey. They had but one horse upon which to perform their trip, but as it was the custom in those days to ride " double," the Colonel mounted the steed and James took position behind him. On their way from the inn to the bridge, James re- quested that he might be allowed to dismount at the bank of the river, to which, of course, the Colonel, with the true politeness of the soldier, assented. But upon arriving at the bridge, heedless or forgetful in his military ardor of the re- quest of his friend James, he put spurs to his horse, and over they went." As an illustration of the opposite effects produced upon different organizations by a visit to Judge Peleg's, and also of the condition of the bridge at the time, it is said that the Colonel felt, as his steed flew over the titling planks, as though he was astride the charger of Napoleon ; while to James, the perilons passage had all the horrors of a hideous nightmare. This bridge was swept away by the great freshet of 1807. In August of that year the town of Smithfield appropriated two hundred dollars towards rebuilding the " westermost or Capital Bridge " and the middle bridge. The amount which Cumberland appro- priated towards completing the connection with its shores I have not taken the trouble to ascertain. These bridges were wooden structures.
In 1825 Dexter Ballou and David Wilkinson, acting under the authorities of the town, erected a stone arch bridge from the Smithfield shore to the island. This bridge is now standing.
In 1833 Aaron Rathbun and Cephas Holbrook replaced the middle bridge with a stone arch bridge. This was
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HISTORY OF WOONSOCKET.
poorly constructed, and in 1861 it was replaced by another stone arch bridge, built from plans furnished by the late S. B. Cushing, which will doubtless remain for many years, as one of the many monuments to the skill of this gentleman which adorn the valley of the Blackstone.
In 1843 Mr. Eugene Martin constructed a stone arch bridge from the Cumberland shore to the eastern end of the middle arch bridge. This was imperfectly built, and has been recently replaced by a substantial wooden structure.
APPENDIX TO CHAPTER IV.
A LIST OF THE HIGHWAYS OF OLD SMITHIFIELD IN 1748, AND THE NAMES OF THOSE WHO WERE OBLIGED, BY LAW, TO KEEP THEM IN REPAIR.
The reader will be hereby introduced to "every male person of sound body and 21 years of age, except apprentices, slaves and idiots," who were citizens of the town at that time. In the year 1748 the town was divided into 16 Highway districts.
District No. 1 began at Patience Arnold's (who kept tavern at the Union village, on the estate now owned by Mrs. Eliza Osborne) so to extend northwesterly over the Branch River, and all the roads west and northwest of said river. The citizens therein were:
Daniel Comstock, jr., Benjamin Buxton, Jonathan Read,
Hezadiah Comstock, Isaac Buxton, Thomas Cruff,
Ichabod Comstock,
Isaac Buffum, Thomas Cruff, jr.,
Richard Sprague,
Isaac Kelley,
Samuel Cruff,
Amos Sprague,
Providence Williams, Jacob Read,
Benjamin Buffum, John Sprague, Benj. Buffum, jr.,
Samuel Goldthwaite, Daniel Comstock,
Daniel Sprague,
Israel Phillips, Benjamin Boyce, Nathaniel Staples,
Benjamin Thompson, Adam Harkness,
Samuel Buxton, Azarialı Comstock,
Samuel Buxton, jr.
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HISTORY OF WOONSOCKET.
District No. 2, began at Samuel Aldrich (near Union village), so down to where the new road turns out of the old, and then the new and the old road to where they intersect on the Hill, a little southeast from the Little River Bridge-also, the cross road by Benjamin Paino and Uriah Mowry (on Sayles's Hill):
John Sayles, Daniel Sayles,
Henry Mowry,
Uriah Mowry, Joshua Phillips,
Edward Mitchell,
Benjamin Paine, David Herrendeen,
Capt. Richard Sayles, Jonathan Phillips,
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