USA > Vermont > Windham County > Rockingham > History of the town of Rockingham, Vermont, including the villages of Bellows Falls, Saxtons River, Rockingham, Cambridgeport and Bartonsville, 1753-1907, with family genealogies > Part 26
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It appears from letters laid before the committee, from Boston and New York, that the stock of said company had been there advertised for sale, but that no sales could be effected in consequence of the provisions contained in
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First Mills on the Canal
the 2d section of the act of the last session. The petitioners ask for a repeal or modification of the 2d section of said act.
Against the prayer of the petitioners, memorials were referred to your committee, signed by 390 individuals purporting to live in the valley of Con- necticut River, with other memorials of the same import, have been referred to your committee since we had the subject under consideration. These memorialists state among other things that the act of last session was the result of compromise and therefore ought not to be repealed or altered.
The petitioners also ask the privilege of altering the name of their com- pany (from " Company for Rendering Connecticut River Navigable by Bel- lows Falls" to " Bellows Falls Canal Company")-to increase the number of their shares-to direct the mode of conveying real estate, and to make an . uniformity in the mode of advertising. To granting the prayer of the peti- tioners in these particulars there is no objection.
In view of the facts stated in this report, your committee are of the opinion that relief can be granted to the petitioners without injury to the public or the rights of individuals residing in the valley of Connecticut River. For that purpose we would recommend the accompanying bill. All of which is respectfully submitted by
JOHN S. PETTIBONE, for Committee.
3d November, 1831."
During 1802, the same year that boats first passed hrough the canal, it is evident there were mills in operation using water taken from it. Advertisements in the Farmers' Museum, published at Walpole, N. H., August 9, 1802, show a carding mill owned by Page & Atkinson, and evi- dently operated by Gookins & Sanderson. These firms were dissolved October 1, 1802, the business to be continued by the "Bellows Falls Co." with William Page, Jr., as agent, and a store was to be started by the company.
In 1812 the mills had increased upon the canal to two paper-mills, two saw-mills, two grist-mills and a cotton fac- tory, all of which were destroyed by fire during the night of May II of that year, as described elsewhere under the head of serious fires.
The records of the Company for Rendering Connecticut River Navigable by Bellows Falls commence with the first meeting of the stockholders, held in the "Tontine Coffee House" in the city of New York, November 8, 1802. There were "present John Atkinson and James Carey."
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William Page, Jr., was chosen clerk and authorized to act in certain capacities for the company. Charles Storer and William Page, Jr. were appointed joint agents, "with full powers to transact all business relative to the interest and concern" of the company. The meeting January 7, 1803, was held at the "Store of William Page Jr., in Rockingham," and subsequent meetings were held either at the coffee house mentioned, at William Page, Jr.'s store, the store of John Atkinson & Sons in Bellows Falls, or at the hotel of Quartus Morgan, now the old Frost block on Rockingham street. January 2, 1804, Charles Storer was chosen clerk in place of William Page, Jr. From this time until the meeting of September 1, 1823, the record was each time, "Present John Atkinson" or "John Atkinson, by his attorney." At a meeting September 21, 1823, the record was changed to "Present, John Atkinson, Jr., Administrator of the estate of John Atkin- son, deceased." January 15, 1814, Charles Storer resigned as clerk and William Atkinson, was chosen to the office, which he held until 1816. In December, 1816, William Hall, Jr., and Henry A. Green were appointed agents and Mr. Green was chosen clerk of the corporation.
May 8, 1819, Alexander Fleming was appointed agent and clerk for the company. Mr. Fleming remained clerk of the company and signed all the records of meetings until Septem- ber 22, 1866, when he resigned, terminating an unusual record of service covering a period of forty-seven years.
Until January, 1832, the company owned but little, if any real estate in the village, except what was necessary for canal purposes. On the ninth of that month the record shows the authorization of the purchase of large amounts of real estate in nearly all parts of the village, parcels of which have been sold within the past few years to great advantage to the cor- poration. At that meeting the sale was authorized of the lot on which stood the "large double brick store" now known as Mammoth block, located on the south side of the square, to William Hall and Samuel W. Goodridge, the price being $560. "Also the agreement for the sale of a Water Privilege and
Early Real Estate Transactions of the Canal Co. 287
Land for a Grist Mill to John Carey for one thousand dollars" (now Frank Adams & Co.'s mill) "and of a building lot to Stephen J. Mellish for three hundred and fifty dollars" was confirmed. The last named was the lot for the frame tene- ment house which stands just west of the Conant brick build- ing on the south side of Bridge street.
February 6, 1832, it was "resolved that the New Seal of the Corporation be composed of the following device-A Guard Gate surrounded with the words 'Bellows Falls Canal Co.' and that such Seal remain in the Custody of the Clerk of the company for the time being."
February 28, 1832, it was "Resolved, that James I. Cutler and Henry F. Green be added to Alexander Fleming, as agents of the company."
March 14, 1832, a resolution was passed confirming the sale of the building lot on which the Walker block now stands, on the south side of Bridge street, the price being $400.
June 30, 1832, the sale of a lot to William Conant for $150 was confirmed, it being the lot on Bridge street now occupied by the building in which are the offices of the Bellows Falls Canal Co. and the Fall Mountain Electric Light and Power Co.
October 31, 1833, a rule was adopted that " Whenever any person having direction or care of any boat, raft or lumber approaching the entrance of said Canal at either extremity thereof shall be desirous of entering the same with such lumber, raft, or boat, he shall first give notice at the office of the Agency and not be permitted to moor and enter such raft or boat in the canal until permission is obtained for that purpose. All sticks and boxes coming into the Canal from above must be entered with the smaller end foremost and all boats with the stern foremost in all Cases and every person infringing this regulation or by-law or the one immediately preceding shall forfeit to the corporation the sum of fifteen dollars for every offense to be sued for in the name of the corporation."
Notices of this were to be posted near each entrance of the canal and in other public places in the village of Bellows Falls.
One of these signs with large letters "ALL ENTER STERN FOREMOST" stood many years at the head of the
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History of Rockingham
canal. One Friday night some of the practical jokers, for whom the town was noted, removed the sign from its place and nailed it over the door of a tenement on Westminster street occupied by two maiden ladies. The public efforts of these worthy ladies Saturday morning to remove it by pulling down with spike poles were ludicrous. Worshippers at Immanuel church the next morning smiled broadly as they approached the church and discovered the sign nailed high over the door of that edifice. Men who in after years were among the most sedate and sober of our citizens often admitted with a sly wink that they were responsible for the trans- positions.
In the year 1856, a writ of Scire Facias was served on the Canal Co. by John N. Baxter, then state's attorney of Windham Co., alleging that for the past three years or more the locks had been "out of repair and going to decay, render- ing them dangerous and unsafe to the great damage and det- riment of the public and those having occasion to use said locks." The complainant further alleged "that by reason of the premises and consequent neglect to render Connecticut river navigable by Bellows Falls, the company had forfeited their rights," and he therefore prayed that the court would adjudge the charter forfeited and annul all their rights given by the act of incorporation. This suit was before the courts for some years and caused the company much complication and expense, but was settled by the legislature's relieving them of the obligation to keep the locks in repair, as the railroads had taken away the necessity of navigation of the river.
When the canal ceased to be used for navigation there were the following mills using power from it :- The present grist mill : one paper mill ; the machine-shop of the Vermont Valley railroad ; a cabinet shop ; a saw-mill and a fulling mill.
April 15, 1857, all the property of the Bellows Falls Canal Company was deeded to "George Atkinson, Esq., of London, in trust" for the payment of the debts of the corpor- ation.
Scals of Two Canal Companies 289
The first corporate seal of the "Com- S CA pany for Rendering Connecticut River Navigable by Bellows Falls," which has not been used for many years, was a representation of the old "guard- WS C ON F gates" that stood in the canal just where the present stone highway bridge is on Bridge street. At that time the highway bridge across the canal was about twenty feet farther south, so that the guard gates were about that distance above the old bridge. The bridge was a primitive one of round log stringers, planked over, and with a large log on each end of the planks to keep teams from running off the sides. The guard gates were double doors opening from the centre by means of a purchase gained by long poles attached to the tops, and the same device was used to open the gates of each of the nine locks, except the third one from the upper end, which had a windlass to open it. The accompanying cut is made from impressions of the seal found upon some old deeds. The seal itself has been lost many years, and the cut accompany- ing this is thus of peculiar interest.
PRIETORS The seal of the company which built THE PROPR ANALS & SIC TRANSIT the canal at South Hadley Falls, Mass., the first canal constructed on the Con- necticut river, showed an unique contri- TYor HAMPSHIRE. MASS OF LOCKS vance for raising and lowering boats the PUBLIC & PRIVATE GOOD. fifty-five feet necessary at that point in UN the river. It was used from 1795 to 1805, after which regular locks were in operation. The contrivance was fully described in the American Universal Geography by Jedediah Morse, D. D., published in 1805. There was an inclined plane connecting the two levels. On it was a track for a car. Two water-wheels, one on each side of the canal, at the head of the inclined plane, were turned by water of the canal and made to draw up and lower this car. The raft or boat was floated into the submerged car :
20
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History of Rockingham
then the water-wheels were set in motion and drew the car and its load out of the water up the track on the inclined plane into the higher level, or reversing the process, passed the car and its load to the lower level.
In Bellows Falls, near the south end of Canal street. where now stands the three story "Brown Block," used to stand a one and a half story frame dwelling which in boating days was used for an extensive bakery by Mrs. Alvah Pierce. The back door of the ell of this dwelling reached close to the canal near where the Vermont Valley railroad bridge now is. Boats and rafts passing up and down the canal made a prac- tice of stopping at the back door of the basement, and hundreds of loaves of bread and other products of the culinary art were there daily procured in the busy season by the river-men.
The late Edward H. Green in 1898 told the writer :
"As a boy, I was one day watching a raft passing through the canal, handled by old Jack Adams, one of the best known river-men of his dav. I stood on the old wooden bridge, first built across the canal just below where the present stone arch is on Bridge street. There was a log on each side of the bridge to keep teams from running off, and in my eagerness I leaned over the log too far and fell into the water twenty feet below, but Jack fished me out safely, and with no injury except a thorough ducking and great fright."
The investment made by the English capitalists who built the canal, was a losing one. Although the figures named as the first cost of cutting the canal and building the locks, $105,338.13, was in paper currency which, between 1792 and 1802, the period of construction, had a greatly depreciated value, the same was true at the time when they disposed of their holdings in 1866. The above legislative report shows that from 1805 to 1830, the net annual profit of the canal was about three per cent. on $100,000. The records of the canal company from 1830 to 1853 inclusive, show the net income to have averaged only $1, 513.37 annually or only about 1 1-2 per cent. Of the last twenty-four years mentioned, there were seven during which the balance of expense was on the
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First Sale of the Canal Property
wrong side. In the year 1851 the loss was $801.09; in 1852, $786.20 : and in 1855, it was $776.25.
June 16, 1866, the English capitalists made a sale of the whole property, which had been largely in the ownership of the Atkinson family since it was started in 1792, to Ex .- Gov. S. W. Hale and E. F. Lane of Keene, N. II. There is evidence to indicate the total amount received by the origina- tors for all the property, including a large amount of valuable land, building lots and buildings, in addition to the water rights, dam, locks and canal, was not far from $65,000. In 1858 a statement made by the owners showed that an amount "probably nearly equal, with the value of the land, to the original outlay, has from time to time been since expended by the Company in the erection of Mills, Buildings, Repairs and Improvements, and in the purchase of additional Land," making the total outlay by the Atkinsons and their English friends not far from $200,000, an important amount for those days.
By the original charter there was no limit to the amount of the capital stock, but the proprietors were at liberty to raise and expend any amount they found necessary or deemed wise. There were originally only eighteen shares. These were sub-divided in 1831 into two hundred and sixteen, and in 1852 these were again divided into three shares each, making the total number of shares six hundred and forty- eight when the property was sold in 1866.
Gov. Hale and Mr. Lane owned the property from 1866 until 1871 when a large majority of the stock was purchased by the late Hon. William A. Russell. He associated with him other enterprising and aggressive men and from that time to this the ultilization of the water of the canal for power, largely for paper and pulp-mills, has each year increased, and consequently the village of Bellows Falls and its suburbs, to-day have more than five times the population of that date.
About 1875, the canal was widened from an average of twenty-two feet to seventy-five feet at its narrowest point, and deepened from its old depth of four feet to a minimum of
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History of Rockingham
seventeen feet. Very substantial and expensive head gates were built with steam power for raising and lowering the them. A new dam was built higher than the old one, and many other changes made, the whole amount expended in improvements at about that time reaching the generous figure of $300,000.
The present officers and active managers are Richard S. Russell (son of Hon. William A. Russell), president ; James H. Williams, clerk and treasurer, and Leland J. Royce, sup- erintendent.
The company has sold mill sites enough to fully use the power afforded by the river, at its minimum capacity, and to these purchasers the company lease the water privileges at an annual rental per "mill power" of eighty-five horse power each. The International Paper company rent one hundred and thirty-five mill-powers, and the smaller mills lesser amounts. The aggregate number of the mill-powers at this time is one hundred and sixty three, making a total of 13,855 horse-power now utilized here.
CHAPTER XX.
NAVIGATION OF THE CONNECTICUT
The era of river transportation, which extended from the close of the Revolution to a few years after the completion of the railroads through the Connecticut valley, or until about 1858, is one of deep interest, and the details of boating have always had a fascination to the dwellers of the valley that has steadily increased as its day has receded into the obscurity of distant years. Not many are now living who remember the methods of boating or rafting, as carried on in those days, and when such an one is found he is always sure of attract- ing an interested audience as he rehearses the stories of the days when the boatmen were as important personages as were ever the old stage drivers, or the early railroad conductors.
There is record of the floating of logs down the river to be used for masts in the English navy as early as 1732. A few rafts of boards were made up and passed down the river from below Bellows Falls as early as 1735, but not many until the close of the French and Indian war in 1763.
The earliest navigators were the Indians, who with their bark canoes, or dug-outs, passed up and down upon their warlike and murderous excursions, either upon other tribes or upon the early settlers.
The first settlers in the Connecticut river valley, and points reached from this valley in all. the northern country, came up the river with their families and scanty supply of household and farming utensils in the primitive boats then used.
In later years when the venturesome white man had set- tled along the banks in large numbers and the question of transportation to and from the markets of Springfield and Hartford had become a perplexing problem, larger flat boats came into use, built and run between the different important
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History of Rockingham
falls of the river. At each of these places the boats were unloaded and the freight transported by the falls on teams, there to be reloaded, thus furnishing definite and remunera- tive employment at each place for dwellers near the falls. This was the occupation of the very first citizens of Bellows Falls, in addition to salmon and shad fishing.
Between the years 1795, when the first canal was opened at South Hadley Falls, and 1829, when the last river canal was completed at Enfield, Ct., navigation received a great impetus from the improvements made by dredging the river and by the construction of canals which made it possible for boats to pass the different falls without unloading.
The citizens of Fairlee, Vt., still treasure the model of what is claimed to have been the first boat ever successfully propelled by steam. It was put on the Connecticut river opposite that town by Capt. Samuel Morey a number of years before 1807 when Robert Fulton was credited with the invention.
From 1824 to 1835 steam was used to a great extent in transportation upon the Connecticut, both in towing flat boats and in freight steamers. The high water mark of steam navigation on the Connecticut was reached in 1831, during which season a fleet of steamers plied the river more or less at all points between Hartford, Ct., and Wells River, Vt.
Bellows Falls, during all these years of navigation, was an important point in the transportation problem, as the falls here were the most precipitous, and the descent in the river the greatest in its entire course.
Before the building of the canal was commenced in 1792 a number of residents made a business of carting freight between the "Lower Landing" and the "Upper Landing," making the business remunerative. The Lower Landing was a few rods east of the lower lock that was located where the five story coating mill of the International Paper company now is, and the Upper Landing was five or six rods above the present north entrance to the canal. By the terms of the charter of the Canal company the road between these two
4
295
The Boat Landings
landings must be kept open so that freight could still be transported by team if the toll charges were too severe. November 7, 1792, the Vermont legislature passed an act . granting to David Sanderson of Bellows Falls the exclusive right to transport this freight by the falls until the canal was completed, the charges to be the same as the canal tolls had been fixed. Mr. Sanderson at that time owned the larger part of all the land now covered by the village of Bellows Falls. He was to be fined £5 if he caused any unnecessary delay, and if any person infringed upon his rights by trans- porting freight themselves they were to be fined five shillings per ton for all so transported.
For a time after the canal was completed larger boats came up to this point than could pass the locks, and the freight still had to be transferred that was destined north of here. Landings were maintained at the different towns north and south where local freight was delivered.
At Westminster the landing was located nearly opposite "Court House hill," while for the accommodation of Walpole freight, a landing was used just south of the present location of the east end of the long bridge. For Rockingham, Chester and other points in the Williams river valley, the landing was nearly half a mile north of the mouth of that river, just below the west end of the bridge across the Connecticut, which later stood there until swept away by a flood in the spring of 1839. At Charlestown there were two landings, one located at the lower end of the village, and the other at the upper end, and, Charlestown being at that time a distributing point for a large territory, these were busy places. There was a building for temporarily storing goods at the lower landing, but none at the upper.
At Claremont the landing was at the mouth of Sugar river ; at Windsor south of the west end of the present toll bridge on River street ; at Hartland it was known as "Shorts Landing," a few rods north of the present railroad station, while at White River Junction it was located on "The Point" a short distance north of the mouth of White river. These
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History of Rockingham
landings were all important rendezvous for loungers and others to see the "boats come in" filling the want now met by the railway stations of the country places at train times.
By far the larger part of the transportation of freight was always done by flat boats propelled principally by poles, and, when the wind was right by large square sails, and assisted by the current on the downward trip. Large amounts of lumber were rafted down the river, made up into rafts, and on these rafts there were often piled shingles, clapboards, and many kinds of heavy freight and produce that would not be damaged by wetting. The details of these crafts, their uses and management, are best told in the personal stories which follow of men who were actually engaged on them. They know how to tell them better than can be described by the pen of one who never saw the cumbrous floating vehicles of seventy-five and one hundred years ago.
A search of many months for a picture showing these early boats has been rewarded by finding one shown upon another page that very correctly represents the construction of these flat boats. The picture was taken further down the river where it was wider, but Mr. Howard whose description follows says it is exactly like the boat upon which he worked except that his boat had a top-s'l eight feet square above the main-s'l of the boat shown.
THE FLAT BOATS.,
One of the few men now living who worked on the canal here during boating days, and on the flat boats that ran out of Bellows Falls, is L. S. Howard, who has for the past twenty years or more been sexton of Oak Hill cemetery. His story shows very minutely the methods and practices of those days when the " Long-River " was an important artery in the commerce of New England, connecting its interior with the wider world. Mr. Howard was born in Grafton, Vt., March 16, 1823, and came to Bellows Falls in 1848. He worked on the locks of the canal here, under S. R. B. Wales, and on the river boats and rafts for a number of years.
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A FLAT BOAT ON THE CONNECTICUT RIVER IN THE FIRST HALF OF THE 19TH CENTURY.
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Flat Boating on the River
His memory is clear as to the conditions and occurrences of the last years of locking boats through the canal. He says :
" In the years when I was employed on the locks here the main guard gates stood just where the stone arch highway bridge now stands on Bridge street. Below this was a section known as the 'Stone hole' in which were two locks, the lower gate being opened by a windlass, and the others by long levers. Below this first section of locks, was a large mill pond extending to the grist-mill now owned by Frank Adams & Co., and below that, along where the sulphite and coating mills are now, there was a succession of six more locks, the lower one opening into the eddy at the point where the race- way of the coating mill is. My brother, Harrison Howard, and Jesse Brock- way worked in the canal company's saw-mill standing where the Robertson Paper company's mill is. When the locks were being used by boats it took all the water so the mill could not work. At such times my brother and Mr. Brockway assisted in handling the locks. Four men were needed to open and close the locks below the grist-mill, and three men those at the ‘Stone hole.'
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