USA > Vermont > Orange County > Gazetteer of Orange County, Vt., 1762-1888 > Part 22
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The Passumpsic railroad repair shops were located at St. Johnsbury until destroyed by fire early in the year 1866. This event caused the manage- ment to look about for a new location, where they could have room to grow as their needs increased, and the plains of Lyndon having been selected, the several farms comprising the present site of Lyndonville were purchased by the corporation. July 4, 1866, preparation for the new shops was begun. The ground where they stand was then covered with a grove of sugar maples. These were "pulled up by the roots " by means of a hawser attached to a locomotive. The tall chimney was the first structure erected. About it the brick walls of the shops were soon completed, and in March, 1867, the machinery was set in motion. In the spring of 1868 the railroad offices were removed to Lyndonville, which has since been their headquarters.
Some forty men are employed in the shops upon repairs and building freight cars, while the total number regularly employed upon the line is 550.
From the annual report for the year ending June 30, 1886, we condense the following statement: The gross earnings for the year were $758,930.47 ;. running expenses $47 1,984.75 ; passengers carried one mile 7,732,331 ; tons of freight carried one mile 32,228,849 ; passenger trains ran 241,012 miles ;. other trains 412,898 miles. The equipment consists of thirty-three locomo- tives, eighteen passenger cars, one parlor car, twelve baggage, mail and smoking cars, one mail and postoffice car, ten saloon cars, 1, 110 freight cars
16016
INTERNAL IMPROVEMENTS.
of various kinds, two boarding cars, three crane cars, besides the necessary equipment for road repairs. The company also owns five double houses, twelve cottages, one farm house, and 200 acres of land at Lyndonville, eighteen dwelling houses, two stores, the Memphremagog House, at Newport, and 2,000 acres of wood and timber land along the line of the road.
The entire length of the road is now laid with all steel rails. The author- ized capital of the company is $3,000,000, of which $2,500,000 of stock has been issued, leaving $500,000 to be issued. On April 1, 1887, the road was leased to the Boston & Lowell railroad for a term of ninety-nine years.
The present officers are A. B. Harris, of Springfield, Mass., president ; W. K. Blodgett, of Boston, Mass., vice-president ; James H. Williams, of Bellows Falls, Vt., treasurer ; H. C. Cleveland, of Coventry, Vt., secretary ; H. E. Folsom, of Lyndonville, superintendent. The directors are Emmons Raymond, of Cambridge, Mass .; W. K. Blodgett and Amos Barnes, Boston ; Alden Spear, Newton, Mass .; A. B. Harris, Springfield, Mass .; Oscar Ed- wards, Northampton, Mass .; Frederick Billings, Woodstock, Vt .; S. S. Thomp- son, Lyndonville, Vt .; and W. D. Bishop, Bridgeport, Conn. The road has lately come under the management of the Boston & Maine railroad.
In 1849 a charter was obtained for a railroad from Montpelier to Connec- ticut river, in the town of Newbury, under the name of the " Montpelier & Connecticut River R. R. Co." Prominent names in the act of incorporation were R. R. Keith, I. A. Wing, I. N. Hall, Joseph Potts, Daniel Baldwin, O. H. Smith and Jacob Kent, Jr., and others. A preliminary survey, called the " Kennedy survey," was made in 1850, with the maximum grade not to ex- ceed sixty-five feet to the mile. To follow this grade would have ruined all the incorporators and their friends, and the charter failed by default. In 1867 another charter was obtained under the name of the " Montpelier & Wells River Railroad Co." Prominent men named in this act of incorpora- tion were Roderick Richardson, J. R. Langdon, E. P. Walton, David Bald- win, of Montpelier, I. N. Hall and J. R. Darling, of Groton, and including names from the towns of East Montpelier, Plainfield, Marshfield, Cabot, Ryegate and Newbury. The incorporators met and partially organized in 1868, completing the organization in 1869 and 1870. The organization when completed was as follows : Directors, Roderick Richardson, I. N. Hall, C. H. Heath, George B. Fesenden, J. G. French, Jacob Smith, Joel Foster, Jr., George Wooster and I. W. Brown. Roderick Richardson was elected presi- dent. In 1872 I. N. Hall was elected president, and a change in four of the directors was made. N. C. Munson built the road by contract. The first through mail train passed over the line November 30, 1873. The company became embarrassed, and January 1, 1877, the stockholders surrendered the road and the franchise to the bondholders with the conditions that they (the bondholders) pay the debts of the company, and it was so arranged. The bondholders, organizing as the " Montpelier & Wells River railroad," elected for their first directors D. R. Sortwell, of Cambridge, Mass .; S. S. Thomp-
16018
ORANGE COUNTY.
son, Lyndonville, Vt .; W. H. H. Bingham, Stowe, Vt .; E. C. Sherman, Bos- ton ; and Joel Foster, Montpelier, Vt. Daniel R. Sortwell was elected presi- dent, and Joel Foster, treasurer and clerk. The present officers of the com- pany are D. R. Sortwell, president ; S. S. Thompson, vice-president ; Joel Foster, secretary and treasurer ; W. A. Stowell, general superintendent ; F. W. Morse, cashier and general freight and passenger agent.
The Boston, Concord & Montreal railroad extends from Wells River to Con- cord, N. H., a distance of 93.5 miles, thence to Groveton Junction, on the Grand Trunk railroad, 51.95 miles, its branches being from Wing Road sta- tion, in New Hampshire, to the base of Mt. Washington, 20.4 miles, and from Plymouth to North Woodstock, N. H., 21 miles. The following re- marks relative to this railroad we quote from the manuscript "Personal Recollections " of Dr. Phineas Spalding, of Haverhill, N. H .: "After the railroad had been built from Boston to Concord, N. H., for some years, it was thought it would not be extended any farther into the country. The citizens of Concord were not desirous that it should be, and the Democratic party, which had control of the state, were opposed to granting any more charters. There was no movement made until one evening Harry Stevens, Esq., of Barnet, Vt., while at my house, suggested to me that we get up a railroad meeting at Haverhill. I drew up a call, which was signed by Harry Stevens, myself and many others. The meeting was very fully attended by prominent men from Canada, Northern Vermont and Grafton county, N. H. The subject of building a railroad from Concord to Montreal was fully dis- cussed, and a petition for a charter for a road from Concord to Wells River was drawn up. I was chosen to appoint efficient men in the towns along the proposed route to circulate the petition, and the work was most thoroughly done. The charter was granted to the B., C. & M. R. R., December 27, 1844. The corporation was immediately organized, subscription papers for stock circulated, and the survey made.
"The people of Canada and along the line of the Passumpsic united in the enterprise, giving assurance that they would continue the road from Wells River to Montreal. About the same time another charter was granted, for a road to extend from Concord to the mouth of White river, and there connect with the Vermont Central. These last two roads endeavored to defeat the building of the Boston, Concord & Montreal road by the pledge of $750,000 to the Passumpsic to induce this corporation to retract its promises and join with them, and together they threw every obstacle in the way of the success of the B., C. & M. enterprise. One scheme to defeat the enterprise was a proposition to form a junction at Canaan, N. H., on the Northern, thence extend a railroad through Lyme, Orford, Piermont and Haverhill to Wells River, and this route was surveyed, but no further work was done."
In consequence of all this opposition the building of the B., C. & M. road was retarded and it was not opened to Wells River until May 10, 1853.
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1601
NEWSPAPERS.
The whole line was leased to the Boston & Lowell road, June 1, 1884. for a term of ninety-nine years. The Vermont Central Railroad Company, subsequently changed to the Central Vermont Railroad Company, was in- corporated November 1, 1843, for the purpose, and with the right, of build- ing a railroad " from some point on the eastern shore of Lake Champlain, up the valley of Onion river and extending to a point on Connecticut river most convenient to meet a railroad either from Concord. N. H., or Fitch- burgh, Mass." The route decided upon was up the Connecticut river from Windsor to the mouth of White river, thence up that stream to the source of its third branch, passing through the towns of Randolph and Braintree, in Orange county, thence, reaching the summit in Roxbury, and passing down the valley of Dog river, it enters the Winooski valley near Montpelier. and thence, continuing in the Winooski valley, its terminus is reached at Burlington, a distance of 117 miles. Charles Paine was chosen president of the company, and ground was broken at Windsor, December 15. 1845, on the farm formerly occupied by Judge Elijah Paine, father of Charles Paine, where the latter was born, the first ground broken for a railroad in Vermont. The contract was let to Sewal F. Belknap, to whose great energy, perse- verance and fortune, the early success of the enterprise is mainly due.
Regular passenger trains first passed over the road from White River Junction to Bethel, a distance of twenty-seven miles, the first train, and the first regular passenger train in Vermont, running over the route Monday, June 26, 1848. June 20, 1849, the road was opened through for business.
The following are the present officers of the Central Vermont Company, with their offices at St. Albans: Hon. J. G. Smith, president ; J. W. Hobart, general manager ; J. M. Foss, general superintendent ; I. B. Futvoi, super- intendent Northern division ; Jesse Burdett, superintendent Rutland divi- sion; E. A. Chittenden, superintendent of local freight traffic ; S. W. Cum- mings, general passenger agent.
NEWSPAPERS.
The following is a sketch of the newspapers of the county, the names of the live papers being printed in SMALL CAPITALS.
BRADFORD .-- The American Protector was the first newspaper published in Bradford. It was commenced in 1843, with A. B. F. Hildreth, editor and proprietor, was Whig in politics for the first four or five years, when it became rather neutral on that subject, and its name was changed to the Vermont Family Gazette, which was continued to October Ist, when it was removed to White River Junction and published under the title of the White River Advertiser. While Mr. Hildreth published his paper in Bradford he inade up from its miscellaneous matter a semi-monthly magazine, The Green Mount- ain Gem, which ceased to exist with the Vermont Family Gazette.
10*b
16018
ORANGE COUNTY.
The Northern Enquirer, Dr. L. W. Bliss, publisher, and R. McK. Ormsby, editor, was commenced in 1851. The editor was a Webster and Clay Whig, and advocated the nomination of Mr. Webster for the Presidency. Mr. Webster failed to receive the nomination, and the paper was in other hands for a while. From October, 1852, till March, 1853, it was published by Messrs. Brown & Grow, Mr. A. C. Brown, editor, and was an advocate of General Scott's election to the Presidency, after which Mr. Ormsby again took charge of it until about December 1, 1854. This paper was strongly opposed to the formation of the Republican party in Vermont, and soon after the dissolution of the old Whig party Mr. Ormsby sold it to Mr. O. A. Bowe, and the name was changed to Bradford Inquirer. Mr. Bowe published but few numbers, and early in 1855 he sold to Mr. L. J. McIndoe, who continued it under the title of the Orange County Journal, Republican in politics, and advocated the election of John C. Freemont. In November, 1867, Mr. McIndoe changed the name of the paper to the Aurora of the Valley, and, having also purchased the Windsor Journal, united the two papers in one, but with different names. The Aurora was only nominally published in Bradford, the editorial and local matters of that town were furnished by ex-Gov. R. Farnham, associate editor. The Aurora was decidedly Republican, and was published at Windsor, and most of its secular matter appeared contemporaneous in the Windsor Journal and Vermont Chronicle.
The National Telegraph was commenced at Bradford by Rev. William M. Mann, a Methodist minister, in 1856, and continued by him till his decease, in 1858. The publication was then suspended for a while, when the press was bought by Dr. Lucius C. Butler, and a Democratic paper, styled the Telegraph, was published by him, but was not of long duration.
The Green Mountain Farmer, a semi-monthly paper, devoted to agricul- ture, by L. R. Morris, was commenced in March, 1852, but discontinued within the year for want of support.
The National Opinion, another decidedly Republican paper, A. A. Earle, editor, issued its first number in June, 1866. In about six months Mr. Earle sold it to D. W. Cobb, and it was continued by him for the ensuing seven years. This paper strongly advocated the election of Gen. Grant to the Presidency, and the principles and policy of the Republican party. In the spring of 1874 Mr. Cobb transferred his interests in this paper to the Orange County Publishing Association, which employed Mr. Benjamin F. Stanton as publisher and editor, the general character of the paper remaining unchanged. In 1878 Mr. Stanton was dismissed, and Mr. Cobb was called by the association to fill the editorial chair. Mr. Stanton immediately com- menced the publication of a rival paper, entitled Stanton's Bradford Opinion. Harry E. Parker, in the early part of the fall of 1881, bought the two papers, consolidated them, and October 4, 1881, issued his first number, under the appropriate title, THE UNITED OPINION. At this time the two papers had a circulation of less than 1,400. Now Mr. Parker has a subscription list of
16012
NEWSPAPERS.
2,000. The paper is nicely printed, in very convenient form, contains eight six-column pages, and is devoted to general news and the interests of Orange county, with a generous patronage in the adjacent towns in New Hampshire.
CHELSEA .- It is extremely difficult to obtain any information relating to the newspapers published in this town many years ago. We doubt if there are any copies of them in existence, or at least our inquiries have failed to discover any. The only information we have of such papers is derived from the his- torical sketchs of Chelsea compiled by Mr. Thomas Hale. In the " Centen- nial Book," under the same heading as this article, Mr. Hale says : " Wyman Spooner started a weekly newspaper at Royalton, somewhere about 1830, called the Vermont Advocate. After publishing it there a short time he re- moved with it to Chelsea, where he published it several years. It was con- servative and Whig in its political tone. Mr. Spooner finally gave up its publication and began the study of law here, but soon moved to the west,- Wisconsin, I believe,-where he became quite prominent as a lawyer and citi- zen. He was promoted to the bench of some court, and was sent to the leg- islature of his state.
" After the suspension of the Advocate, Mr. William Hewes started, in 1837, the Tuesday News, Whig in politics, which was succeeded by the Orange County Democrat, which was published and edited by a Mr. Smith. It had a very short life. Mr. Hewes, after abandoning his newspaper enter- prise, entered the ministry of the Methodist Episcopal church. He is still living at Lawrence, Mass."
A monthly magazine called the Mothers' and Ladies' Book was begun here in 1839, and was continued several years. It was edited by Miss Sophia A. Hewes.
No other paper was published in town, of which we have any knowledge, until 1886, during the session of the Vermont conference of the M. E. church at this place, a daily paper entitled The Itinerant was printed in the village under the editorial management of Revs. A. J. Hough and J. R. Bartlett. Its circulation was so large that six persons, besides the editors, were constantly employed in its publication during conference week.
In the fall of 1887 H. O. Bixby and Hale K. Darling conceived the idea of purchasing a press and publishing a local paper to be called The Orange County Advertiser. This, however, was found to be impracticable, and, as there was no printer in town, arrangements were made with Mr. Lewis P. Thayer, publisher of the West Randolph HERALD AND NEWS, by which an edi- tion of that paper, called THE CHELSEA HERALD, could be published under their management. The first number appeared November 10, 1887. It is an eight-page, nominally independent paper, and is published weekly at $1.00 per year. It has a circulation of about 500.
RANDOLPH .- In 1801 a newspaper was established at Randolph called the Weekly Wanderer, by Sereno Wright, who was afterwards printer to the state.
The first newspaper in West Randolph was called the Green Mountain
16000
ORANGE COUNTY.
.Egis, and was issued December 3, 1851, by William H. Dunham, publisher and proprietor. March 3, 1852, a half interest was purchased by William Hutchinson, who became its editor from that date. In January, 1853, the name of the paper was changed to Green Mountain Herald, and for a few months D. F. Hunton was assistant editor. May 11, 1853, Abner Morse, formerly of Bethel, became an associate publisher, and the firm from that date was Hutchinson & Morse. There was also a Bethel edition of the paper published during the time that Mr. Morse was a partner. Mr. Hutchinson remained the nominal editor until the last of October, 1854, when the Herald . office was sold to Daniel Tarbell, who removed it to "Sandusky" and started a World's Paper, an organ of the Spiritualists. There was then no newspaper published at West Randolph until December, 1865, when P. P. Ripley estab- lished the Orange County Eagle, Republican, which he conducted until 1871, when he was succeeded by Carpenter & Willey for two years, and advocated Greeley for the Presidency, when the office reverted to Mr. Ripley, who im- mediately sold it to Rev. Elbridge Gerry, in September, 1873. Mr. Gerry returned the name to the Green Mountain Herald, and as a Republican paper. It was sold to L. P. Thayer & Co. in December, 1873, and to Thayer & Upham in April, 1876. L. P. Thayer again purchased the whole interest in 1881, and has since run it. Its circulation in 1873 was 275, and is now 2,910, which is a fair epitome of the growth of the village in which it is pub- lished. The paper is now known as the HERALD AND NEWS.
Buck's Monthly was established in West Randolph in January, 1875, by W. S. S. Buck. It was a four-page, twenty-column literary paper. In 1876 Mr. Buck opened an office in Jericho, Vt., in company with Mr. K. C. Butler, and the paper was changed to Buck's Monthly Magazine, and consisted of twenty-four pages, with a handsome cover. This was the first magazine pub- lished in Vermont, it is said. In about a year Mr. Buck sold his printing business to his partner and returned to West Randolph, retaining the pro- prietorship of the Monthly, however. He then published an eight-page, forty- column paper devoted to "agents, dealers, and the public, generally." Mr. Buck also printed several editions of this paper for persons in Passumpsic, Vt., Dover, Del., New Cumberland, Pa., Spring Mills, Pa., Kankakee, Ill., Good- rich, Mich., Lynchburg, Tenn., and Fort Myers, Fla. January 1, 1888, the name was changed to VERMONT MONTHLY, and it is now a sixteen-page, forty- eight-column paper, " devoted principally to Vermont matters and booming the state."
The Nonpareil, a students' paper, was published at Randolph, and was edited by Henry and George Partridge, brothers, assisted by Gustavus Maxim and W. H. Safford. The paper had quite a successful career, and was published some time previous to 1855. It was printed on a wooden press, which is thought to be still in existence.
160"
ABORIGINAL OCCUPANCY-WHEN FIRST SETTLED BY THE WHIIFS
ABORIGINAL OCCUPANCY.
Of the aborginal inhabitants of that part of Vermont which borders the banks of the Connecticut, very little is known. The Iroquois Indians, whose hunting-grounds comprehended the whole of the western portion of the state, seldom extended their wanderings across the mountains, and have left but few vestiges of their presence, even in the places which were most frequented by them. The country in the neighborhood of Lunenburgh and Newbury, and on the side of the river opposite the latter place, was called by the Indians "Coos," which word, in the Abenaqui language, is said to signify " The Pines." At these localities, and at other points on the upper Connecticut, formerly resided a branch of the Abenaqui tribe. Numerous arrow heads, spear points, and other Indian relics have been found in Windsor county, and in Windham . and Orange counties are left several specimens of Indian hieroglyphics engraved upon the rocks, pointing to the probability of an extensive Indian population in the southeastern part of the state at some remote period. But the history of these dusky denizens and the tales of their savage wars and wild wooings must ever remain a secret. Like the origin of the redman, they are sealed in an oblivion that the pen of the historian can never break.
WHEN FIRST SETTLED BY THE WHITES.
From about the year 1665 down to 1760, with a few brief intervals of peace, a constant war was waged between the French and their Indian allies of Canada against the English colonists and the Indians who espoused their cause-an echo of the jealousies rife in the old world. In 1748 the peace of Aux-La-Chapelle was signed, between France and England, ushering in the last of those brief periods of quiet in America. It was during this compara- tively quiet period, in 1752, that Gov. Benning Wentworth was first sustained by the Assembly of New Hampshire, in adopting measures to secure to the colony of New Hampshire that tract of the rich meadows of Coos on both sides of the Connecticut river above No. 4 (now Charlestown).
The original design was to cut a road from " No. 4" to the Coos meadows, and to lay out two townships opposite, on each side of the river, where Haverhill and Newbury now are. The plan was to erect stockades inclosing fifteen acres, and in the center erect a citadel with graneries and public buildings large enough to house the settlers, their families and household effects in times of danger. A court of judicature and other civil privileges were to be established, and they were to be under strict military discipline and protection. A party was sent up in the spring of 1752 to lay out the two townships. This party proceeded as far as "No. 4," but it is doubtful whether they proceeded further. The enterprise was broken up by the remon- strance of the St. Francis Indians, who had a claim to these meadows, and came to " No. 4," and made their prohibition and threats.
16022
ORANGE COUNTY.
In the spring of this year John Stark (afterwards General Stark), Amos Eastman, Daniel Stinson and William Stark were hunting upon Baker's river, in the present town of Rumney, N. H., when they were surprised by a party of ten Indians. John Stark and Amos Eastman were taken prisoners, Stinson was killed, and William Stark escaped by flight. John Stark and Eastman were carried into captivity to the headquarters of the St. Francis tribe in Canada, and were led directly through the " meadows" so much talked of in Massachussets and New Hampshire. The captives returned the following summer, and their excellent account of the territory further stimulated the desire for exploring and securing possession of the locality. In consequence of this desire the Governor and General Court of New Hampshire, expectant of the renewal of the French and Indian war, and that the French would be desirous of taking the Coös country for a military post, decided to send a company, who from " No. 4" should follow the trail of the Indians by the way that they had conducted their prisoners ; and in the spring of 1754 Col. Lovewell, Major Tolford, and Capt. Page were sent out with an exploring party, John Stark acting as guide. The party left Concord on the 10th of March, and on the 17th reached the Connecticut river at Piermont, where they spent but one night in the valley and beat a hasty retreat, probably fearing the Indians, and reached Concord on the 23d.
But the government was not discouraged by this failure, and the same season, 1754, Capt. Peter Powers, of Hollis, N. H., Lieut. James Stevens and Ensign Ephraim Hall, both of Townsend, Mass., were appointed to march at the head of a company to effect, if possible, what had hitherto been attempted in vain. The company rendezvoused at Concord, which was then called Rumford, and commenced their tour on Saturday, June 15, 1754.' There was never any official report, however, niade of this expedition ; but from a journal kept by one of the party we learn that they went by way of Conto- cook up the Merrimac to the mouth of the Pemigewasset, and then followed the latter stream to Baker's river, then up Baker's river across by Baker's pond and on to Oliverian river at the falls, where they arrived June 25th, ten days after their departure from Concord.
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