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 30
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For several years previous to 1824 statistics showed the average rate of freight upon salt and other common merchan- dise between Boston and Bellows Falls had been $13.50 per ton, "never less than $10 in the best of sleighing."
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History of Rockingham
Because of the fact of the Rutland road's having seven or eight miles of its line built through the town of Rockingham, that line has always been more closely identified with this town than the others, which only barely touch the village of Bellows Falls. In the early days of railroads, this road was advertised as extending " from Burlington to Rockingham," and Bellows Falls was hardly known as even a station on the road. This probably arose from the charter's granting the right to build a road from Burlington to "some point in the town of Rockingham on the Connecticut river."
In the summer of 1849, it was opened for traffic from Burlington to Rutland, and from Bellows Falls to Ludlow where connection was made by stages over the mountain. When the road was opened through in December, 1849, a train from Burlington and one from Boston, with the presi- dent, directors and other officials and friends on board, met at the summit in Mount Holly, and bottles of water from Lake Champlain and from the Atlantic ocean were broken and the waters mingled together. Other and different bottles were not broken, but uncorked and served to make the occasion more joyous. For the free use of the accumulated crowd, a barrel of New England rum was rolled out, one head broken in, and a number of tin dippers put into use.
Before the two roads were opened over the mountain, and while there were several miles of staging on each line, a three days' race with mails and messengers was run between Bos- ton and Burlington over the Rutland & Burlington, and Ver- mont Central roads. The mail agent over the Rutland road at that time, and the one who had charge of the mails on this route during these three days, was Henry H. Howe of Lud- low, afterward a passenger conductor for several years. The locomotive used was the "Rutland," it being the fastest one then on the road. The engineer was Silas Pierce, later master mechanic at Bellows Falls. This engine went as far as Ludlow, then the mails were taken on horse-back, with relays of fresh horses each four miles as far as Cuttingsville, then by train again to Burlington. The Rutland & Burling-
33I
Early Days of the Rutland Railroad
ton road, as it was then known, won the race by two hours the last day, and as the victory resulted in the securing of the bulk of the mails over this route, it was a pronounced "scoop" over the Vermont Central.
The mail agent and his pouch were carried over the Cheshire and Rutland roads on empty engines with instruc- tions to "get through just as quick as possible." The late Niles Aldrich of Bellows Falls was the engineer who brought the mail over the Cheshire road, and in after years he often made the remark "I ran her so fast that as we came up around the south end of Mount Kilburn I kept picking out the spots where we should probably land if she left the iron."
In the first days of the Rutland road eighteen ton "wood- burner " locomotives were used on the passenger trains, and it was necessary to "wood-up" twice between Rutland and Summit and four times between Bellows Falls and Summit, at which times all train men, including express messengers and mail agents, lent a hand and were often assisted by the passengers themselves. .
The first agent at Bellows Falls of the R. & B. R. R. was Joel Hammond, and the two freight clerks were Ira and Henry Russell. Of Joel Hammond it was said that he was a capable official, a good talker but a very poor speller, and his correspondence shows he would write " Car No. - has not arrived yecht."
During the building of the Rutland road, September 15, 1847, a peculiar accident occurred which in all the interven- ing years has been considered the most remarkable in its results of any recorded in the medical world. A workman named Phineas Gage had a long iron bar blown entirely through his head and brain, by a premature discharge of a blast while making the rock cut a mile east of Cavendish station. The strange thing was that the man recovered and was able to work about nineteen years thereafter. It was such a marvellous thing to relate that it was doubted by physicians everywhere and close investigation was made by surgeons from other states. The "tamping bar " was three
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History of Rockingham
feet and a half long and tapered at the upper end a distance of eight inches to half an inch in diameter at the lower end. It was very smooth like a spindle to a spinning wheel. The bar entered the head on the lower part of the left cheek, passed through the brain and through the skull at the top of the head. In later years, the man expressed a desire that after his death his skull, as well as the bar that passed through it, should be preserved, and the two are now in the museum of the Massachusetts Medical College in Boston.
A short time after the completion of the road through to Rutland, a work train from Bellows Falls to the summit had a heavily loaded flat car of rails on the rear end. Going up the steep grade below Healdville the car of rails broke away and running back gained such velocity that it left the track and pitched down a bank into the woods. One rail went entirely through the trunk of a large tree leaving a hole such as a ball from a cannon would make. Many curious sight- seers from this town visited the place.
A few years later a singular accident occured just this side of the summit of the mountains between here and Rutland. During a severe snow and wind storm, three engines were attached and sent out from Rutland to plow the drifts and clear the track to Bellows Falls. The forward engine was the "Chester," well remembered by older resi- dents and run that day by H. R. Dyer. Next came the "General Strong " run by George Dennis, and the third was the " New Haven " with " Dad " Foster at the throttle. While descending the steep grade, the General Strong left the rails because of a hard crust in a deep drift and went down a steep bank landing upon a stone wall. The other engines did not leave the iron and the snow was flying so thickly the men on them did not notice the loss of Dyer's engine until they were near the next station. They went back and found it, with the engineer and fireman unhurt but not caring to repeat the experiment.
A number of important accidents have occurred upon this road within the limits of this town.
Important Railroad Accidents 333
In January, 1861, a freight train became derailed on the bridge across the Williams river just above Lawrence Mills, at that time known as "Brockway's Mills." The bridge broke down and fell to the river below carrying with it five cars. On these cars were two trainmen who also fell the whole distance but miraculously escaped injury. Part of the cars were loaded with live-stock and about seventy cattle and sheep were killed.
Another hair-breadth escape from loss of life occurred on the high bridge across the rocky chasm at the mills above mentioned, July 24, 1869. The mail train coming south about noon ran off an open switch just at the north end of the bridge. The train was running at a very rapid rate and it went on to the bridge on the ties. The locomotive went entirely across the bridge before it tipped over and rolled down the bank. Edward Foss was the engineer, George W. Kenney fireman, Starkey conductor and Whitney brake- man. There was also on the engine Mr. MeIntyre of Chester, and the three went down with the engine but received no serious injury. When the cars of the train stopped, one of the passenger cars was just tilting over the side of the bridge lying partly on its side, and the passengers in crawling out feared that their weight would tip the car over on to the rocks eighty feet below.
December 10, 1878 the evening passenger train leaving here for Rutland about seven o'clock in charge of Conductor Josiah } Bowtell and Engineer Albert Pratt, with Fireman Edward Davis and Baggage-master Kittredge Rice, ran into a washed-out culvert, the first one south of the bridge above mentioned. A heavy rain storm of the day had washed out the embankment leaving frozen earth adhering to the ties and rails so all appeared safe to the engineer. The whole train, locomotive, baggage and passenger car, went into the chasm and the engine was left standing on end leaning against the opposite bank on the tender. Frank A. Kemp of Bellows Falls, the express messenger, and Edward Davis of Rutland, the fireman, were both instantly killed. Engineer Pratt had
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History of Rockingham
his collar bone broken, E. W. Horner, roadmaster, of Rut- land, had a broken nose, and Baggage-master Rice was severely injured. Conductor Bowtell was painfully bruised, as was nearly every passenger in the train.
April 6, 1888, the passenger train leaving Bellows Falls about 7 P. M. in charge of conductor S. M. Whitney, Moses Pratt engineer and John Pratt fireman, met with an accident about half a mile above Rockingham station, by which both the engineer and fireman were instantly killed and nearly all of the passengers injured. The melting of the winter's snow, aided by warm weather and a severe rain, had loosened the shelf of earth upon which the roadbed was laid so that when the train reached that point the roadbed and train were pre- cipitated down the hill nearly one hundred feet upon the meadow below. Large trees which then stood on the embankment below the railroad slid with the moving earth nearly to the river bank, and are still growing in their new location. The whole train went down and the baggage car with the cab of the engine were destroyed by fire.
January 14, 1887, the night express north, leaving Bellows Falls at 11.05, was derailed at Williams' rock, about three miles north of the station. Every wheel of the train except the front truck of the engine left the track, but no car went down the bank, and no one was hurt.
Early in the history of the Rutland & Burlington railroad, the corporation became financially embarrassed, and in Jan- uary, 1855, Sheriff George Slate of this village sold at auction here 22,000 shares of stock of the corporation for $22, it being at the rate of one mill per share of $100 face value. The purchasers of the road at this price were Hon. William Henry, Jabez D. Bridgeman, and Peyton R. Chand- ler of this place, who became owners and directors of the corporation. They managed it but a short time when a thorough reorganization was effected.
A curious fact is that although great improvements in road-bed, locomotives and cars, as well as numerous safety appliances have been made since the first days of railroading
1
335
The First Locomotive
in Vermont, a time table of the road issued in 1852 shows that the principal passenger train between Burlington and Bellows Falls ran the distance of one hundred and twenty miles as quickly as the time table of this year makes it, lack- ing only twenty minutes. In 1852 the morning mail train left Burlington at 7.30 and reached Bellows Falls at 12.30. By its present time the train leaves Burlington at 8.30 reach- ing Bellows Falls at 1. 10.
The first passenger conductors of the road between here and Rutland were the late Josiah Bowtell and Daniel Arms of Bellows Falls, both of whom had been engaged in staging along the line previous to the construction of the road. Elisha P. Reed and Henry H. Howe both of Bellows Falls, were other early conductors.
In the building of the south end of the Sullivan County railroad in what is now the village of North Walpole, opposite the village of Bellows Falls, several interesting incidents occurred. The end of the road, and the north end of the Cheshire road, is a few feet from the second crossing north of the toll bridge and at the north end of the Cheshire yard.
The first locomotive to pass over the Sullivan road in the fall of 1848 was named the "Charlestown." It was run up over the Cheshire road as far as it was completed to West- moreland, and two teams were sent down from here to draw it in pieces by the incompleted section. A. P. Crossett, still living here, drove one four-horse team. It was set up just over the line in the town for which it was named. It was a small machine, a primitive affair, having one small drive wheel on each side, but one who was a witness of the event said "when it came rushing down the track one evening, breathing fire and smoke, ringing its bell and whistling, every one looked upon it as a monster."
The first section of the Sullivan road was constructed as far north as "Governor's brook," which runs through North Walpole near Pine street, under a foreman named Thompson, while the north section of the Cheshire was being constructed at the same time under the Grandfield brothers.
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History of Rockingham
These were built entirely by Irish emigrants and those laboring on the adjoining sectious were by a mischance from different counties in the old country, the residents of which counties were at a deep and lasting enmity with each other. Desperate fights occurred between these two factions at numerous times while the work was in progress. Some blood was shed, and it was currently reported the results were in one or two instances fatal to the belligerents. At one time all the men working for the Grandfields were driven from their homes in the temporary shanties and with their families sought shelter on "Fall Mountain," as it was then called.
The work on Thompson's section did not progress rapidly because the deep cut through the ledge east of the falls was of a peculiarly hard rock and the drift in such a direction that the powder used in those days would blow out only a small portion at a time. It was said to be by far the hardest piece of railroad to build in this vicinity. Thompson was succeeded by the Larkin Brothers, but still the work lagged and was behind. The Cheshire road was completed and the Sullivan only lacked this section to connect the two roads in the winter of 1848-49.
Work had just begun on a deep sand cut in the hill on which Mrs. A. F. Nims' residence now stands. The high sand hill on the west side of the track, corresponding with the Nims' terrace, has since been removed. A Mr. Belknap was the head contractor under the Larkin Brothers, and he attempted to take matters into his own hands. Whether he disagreed with the Larkin Brothers as to hours of work, or the amount of pay of the workmen is unknown, but he went to Boston and brought a trainload of men to take the places of those who had been employed.
On the morning the train load of workmen arrived, the Larkins and their men appeared all dressed in their best suits, but bareheaded, coatless and with their sleeves rolled above their elbows. The women joined them in holiday caps and aprons each carrying a long white stocking filled with
Incidents of Railroad Construction 337
cobblestones. The hill where the work was stopped then extended west to the highway. Along the brink of the deep cut they had made in its side, these men and women quietly took their places. Mr. Belknap marched his recruits from the end of the Cheshire road to the cut, drew a sword cane and walked into the pit saying to the men behind him "go to work boys." A deep voice from the bank above answered him, "Be Jabers, the first man who strikes a blow is a dead man sure." None of the workmen would face this challenge and follow Belknap, so he was obliged to walk out of the pit as he had walked into it, alone. The men from Massachu- setts demanded that they be taken back, saying they had been hired under a misrepresentation, which was done. Some agreement was reached with the Larkins whereby they relinquished their contract from that time. Fifty teams were put to work, and the earth was rapidly drawn from the cut and used in making the fill, which extends from just above this point to the north end of the section at Governor's brook.
The crossing at the north end of the village of North Walpole which for the past fifty-five years has been known as the "Dutchman's crossing" (recently abolished), was so called because the section of railroad from the Charlestown line south to the "Governor's brook" was built by a large party of emigrants from Holland. They were mostly young married men who brought their wives with them. The women were comely, and, as they wore their national cos- tumes, they attracted considerable attention among the citi- zens in all this vicinity. They were a genial and fun-loving class of people. The dances held at the "Dutchman's" were attended by many young people from Bellows Falls and all the surrounding country. They were enjoyable events in the busy life of those days. They were held in the larger of the temporarily constructed huts furnished for them.
In 1851 the Sullivan railroad secured a lease of lands from Jonathan and Levi Chapin and built what was then known as the "branch track," extending from Chapin's switch to the location of the present Sullivan railroad bridge.
23
338
History of Rockingham
The first frame bridge, which was replaced in the spring of 1882 by the present iron structure, was erected during that year to connect with the Rutland railroad yards on the island.
When the earth was removed from the top of the ledges east of the falls a remarkable human skeleton, unmistakably that of an Indian, was found. Those who saw it tell the writer the jaw bone was of such size that a large man could easily slip it over his face, and the teeth, which were all double, were perfect. It was supposed at the time, and is still so held, that this was the skeleton of the tall Indian chief named Philip, whom John Kilburn saw fall before his rifle during his noted fight August 17, 1755, a mile and a half further down the river. This skeleton was kept for many years deposited in the attic of a small building on the north side of the Square. This building was then occupied by Dr. John H. Wells' office and drug store, and stood where the Italian fruit store now does. When the building was rebuilt a decade or more ago the bones disappeared.
A number of years after this skeleton was found a man travelling in New York state met an Indian who gave an account of the Kilburn fight in which his father took part. He stated that " Philip's body was carried to the Great Falls and buried under a flat rock that the white men might not discover it."
The charter of the Bellows Falls & Saxtons River Street Railway company was granted by an act of the legislature approved by the governor November 22, 1892, naming as incorporators : A. N. Swain, James H. Williams, L. M. Read, Wyman Flint. J. T. Moore, John A. Farnsworth, John F. Alexander, E. H. Pettingill, Zina H. Allbee, Clark Chase and their associates, successors and assigns. The work of building the road was not commenced until October 5, 1899. It was built by contractors C. W. Blakeslee & Brother of New Haven, Conn., who still own a large part of the stock. The first superintendent and general manager, who also took a leading part in the arrangements for the building, was Joel
339
Electric Road and Telegraph Lines Established
H. Holton, a native of Westminster, Vt. Power was first turned on and a car moved June 13, 1900, it going as far as the residence of the late C. L. Barber at the corner of Atkin- son and Henry streets. Mr. Barber had been deeply inter- ested in the enterprise from its inception, and had presented the corporation with the land now known as Barber Park, the only restrictions placed upon it being that no intoxicating liquors should ever be sold therein and if at any time aban- doned by the road it should revert to his heirs. Mr. Barber was ill, and his death hourly expected. He had expressed a desire to see the cars running, and it was thus gratified. On June 20, another car was run as far as the Barber farm, carrying Mr. Barber's body thus far toward its final resting place at Saxtons River, the bridge at the farm not then being in place.
The road was completed and opened for traffic its entire length during the month of July, 1900.
A charter for the extension of the road through Cam- bridgeport to Grafton under the name of the "Grafton & Saxtons River Railway company," was procured at the session of the legislature of 1902, but no movement toward construcing this road has yet been made.
When the Cheshire railroad was completed to Bellows Falls in 1849 there was no telegraph line, and for some months there was no arrangement whereby if trains were late they could be reached by telegraph. Trains going in the opposite direction had to wait until those delayed came. or take the chances of a collision. About the time of the completion of the Vermont Valley railroad, in 1851, tele- graph service was established.
Among the first operators here was the young boy, Levi K. Fuller, whose parents lived at the north end of Green street, and who later became governor of Vermont : Fid Ran- dall, who later became general train despatcher of the Ver- mont Central lines ; a young man named Mott who was suc- ceeded in the '6os by William Batchelder at present at attor- ney at White River Junction. Mr. Batchelder says "Mr.
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History of Rockingham
Mott's office was in the northeast corner of the railroad wait- ing room and in addition to delivering all his own messages he sold paper collars and cuffs which were then just invented and popular."
The telegraph company's records show that the Vermont & Boston Telegraph company was incorporated November II, 1848. The line through here from White River Junction to Springfield, Mass., was completed in October, 1851, under Jesse C. Rowe, superintendent. This was a line built and operated under what was known as the "Bain" patents. October 28, 1851, F. O. J. Smith conveyed to C. C. Wyman the "Morse" patents for the operation of a line between Bos- ton and Rutland via Bellows Falls, and the "Northern Tele- graph company" contracted with the Cheshire road to place a line upon their right of way between Bellows Falls and South Ashburnham. In 1853 the two ownerships existed, and the Bellows Falls operator had to understand two dis- tinct systems, and use both Bain and Morse alphabets. This was continued at many offices as late as 1868, when the Morse system was universally adoped after the consolidation of the different companies.
Tuesday morning, August 17, 1858, when the first tele- graphic information was received at Bellows Falls of the successful working the evening before of the first sub-marine cable under the Atlantic ocean connecting the two continents, the eighth annual meeting of the Vermont Teachers' Associa- tion was in session at the Congregational church. A boy entered the meeting about ten o'clock in the morning and distributed a few copies of a Bellows Falls Times extra giving information of the event. Immediately J. S. Adams, Esq. of Burlington, arose and moved that business be sus- pended, that a portion of the Scripture be read, that prayer should be offered by the president of the convention, Rev. Calvin Pease, D. D., and that Old Hundred be sung in the words, "Be Thou O God Exalted High." These exercises, as was afterward described by Gov. Ryland Fletcher who was present, "were performed in a very appropriate and
341
First Telephone Exchange Built
impressive manner." Church bells were rung and many evidences of joy manifested here and in surrounding towns.
The first magnetic telephones used here were put in dur- ing the month of March, 1881, for the American Bell Tele- phone company by F. W. Childs & Co., of Brattleboro. The first instruments installed (they being on private lines and with no thought of a general exchange by a switch board) were those upon lines between the National Bank of Bellows Falls and the residence of its president, James H. Williams ; the office of the Fall Mountain Paper company, connecting with the machine shop of Osgood & Barker and the freight office of the Cheshire railroad : and a little later a line was built connecting the office of Walker, Dewey, Blake & Co.'s brew- ery, near Cold river, with the office of E. E. Dewey, located where the store of George B. Allbee is on Bridge street.
During the month of April of the same year, a stock company was formed and a line constructed between Bellows Falls and Saxtons River under the name of the Saxtons River Telephone company. The Saxtons River instrument was at first in the shoe store of M. J. Amsden on Main street and the Bellows Falls' one was placed in the dry goods store of George O. Guild.
The device was then in its experimental stage and a great wonder to residents. Many amusing incidents are told of the surprise and awe with which the farmers and others first heard voices at a distance. The distance between these two villages was then supposed to be about the limit of the power of the instruments. Few, if any, other instruments were installed until April, 1882.
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