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 36
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About 7,000 cubic yards of earth and stone were washed away.
SATURDAY, APRIL 19, 1862.
The highest water ever recorded in the Connecticut at Bellows Falls, was that of Saturday, April 19, 1862. It was said at the time that "All the high water marks were sub- merged in the early part of Saturday and the river must have risen at least six feet higher than was ever known before." There was no ice in the river, it having gone out earlier, and there was no rain at this time. The snow lay upon the
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ground to quite a depth and a sudden thaw with bright sun for a few days caused the trouble. Had there been ice in addition to the great volume of water, the disaster would have been much greater.
The river began rising very rapidly on Friday and by evening had risen so high as to occasion considerable anxiety. Saturday morning the alarm became general and increased during the day with the constant rise of water. As early as Friday evening, the peg shop of W. & J. G. Flint, standing northeast of the present location of the five-story coating-mill of the Intertational Paper company, was cleared out, expect- ing that the building would be washed away. Saturday morning the water poured with great force over the canal guard gates on Bridge street and lacked but a few inches of running through the Vermont Valley railroad tunnel under the Square. The headquarters of that road was then in Bellows Falls, as well as their machine shop.
Early in the day, Saturday, Superintendent Sloat saw the necessity, for the first time since the tunnel and railroad were constructed in 1850, of building a dam across the upper end of the tunnel, and he began the work with a large force of men. Here, and at the bridge over the guard gates, the con- test raged the entire day and until after midnight. The earth had begun to give way on each side of the gates and a num- ber of pairs of oxen with carts were continuously engaged in bringing gravel to replace that washed out. For a number of hours it was generally conceded that the gates would give way. At dark the water at the tunnel dam stood about two feet above the rails, and it continued to rise nearly all night. Old inhabitants estimate that at its highest point it stood six feet above the rails. Late in the afternoon it worked its way around the dam there and began running with a mad rush through the wall of the sides of the tunnel. Cartload after cartload of gravel was hurried into the hole, and at a little after I o'clock the next morning the danger was considered to be over. Some weeks later a large portion of the street in the Square, in front of the O. D. Gray block, caved in and it was
WYMAN FLINT. 1824-1906.
Connecticut River Highest in 1862 401
found necessary to use a large amount of gravel to fill the opening. This had been caused by the water's working its way through the embankment at the side of the tunnel wall, and shows probably the narrowest escape from serious dis- aster that ever came to Bellows Falls.
So great was the fear in relation to the tunnel's being washed out that on Saturday afternoon a number of the stores and offices above the tunnel were cleared out, the contents being taken to places considered more safe. This was partic- ularly noticeable in the occupants of each story of Mammoth block and of the Times building, in which were the town clerk's records at that time. Some of the families in Harris block on Canal street removed their goods. A small dwell- ing occupied by a Mrs. Fifield on the bank of the canal, just south of the Depot street bridge, was abandoned and the goods removed. The house on the island, just north of the Depot street bridge, then occupied by Josiah Bowtell, the veteran conductor, was undermined and partially settled into the canal. The covered wooden bridge from Canal street to the depot was raised from its abutment and Capt. Walter Taylor, having procured a boat and strong cable, fastened it to trees, thus preventing it from floating off. The water was two feet deep on Canal street just above the bridge. Of nine small dwellings on the New Hampshire side of the eddy five were entirely carried away and the other four so washed out as to be useless. The highway and railroad in North Walpole were entirely washed out above the Cheshire bridge near what was then Walker's grocery store.
At that time there was a high water mark on the abut- ments of the bridge across the canal on Bridge street, made with red paint, in 1828 and at this time the water rose five and one-half feet higher than this mark. The railroads in all this vicinity were discontinued for from one to three weeks and mails were sent over the hill roads to Brattleboro, Wind- sor and Rutland by team.
The damage in all parts of the town by this flood was great. The meadows of the Connecticut river were flooded
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History of Rockingham
and great damage done to land. Sheep, cattle and horses were lost. The toll house at the bridge in Brattleboro was carried away, as were the farm buildings on the island opposite, as well as the bridge to the mainland on the New Hampshire side and the West river bridge two miles north. It was estimated that the damage in the Connecticut valley between Bellows Falls and Brattleboro, including both those towns, exceeded $50,000.
WEDNESDAY, APRIL 23, 1869
The second time in the experience of the Vermont Valley railroad when it became necessary to dam the upper end of the tunnel at Bellows Falls was Wednesday, April 23, 1869. The height of the water at the tunnel was greatest at 9 P. M., and was within eighteen inches of the record of 1862. The dam across the tunnel became necessary at noon, and the water had receded from the level of the tunnel so it was removed just before noon of Thursday. Trains were again tied up for a number of days on most of the roads centering here. The damage was not as great as in 1862, but the mills and low farms suffered somewhat. Nearly $1,000 worth of logs and lumber, owned by Tarbell & Tolman, a short distance north of here were carried away, the scythe snath manu- factory of Frost, Derby & Co., under the hill, and a number of small dwellings near the eddy were destroyed. The Satur- day before, an express train ran into a landslide back of the Drislane farm, south of the mouth of Saxtons river, and did considerable damage, while Tuesday morning the Montreal express ran into a culvert near the Hartland station, a portion of the train going down thirty feet, and Conductor Alfred Dow of this village had a thumb broken and was otherwise bruised, while other employees and passengers were injured. Work had just been commenced by William A. Russell on his first paper-mill, on the site of the old mill burned in 1846 and some damage was done to that foundation besides a suspension of the work for a week or more, the location being submerged. An excursion train from Keene Thursday brought about
The Most Disastrous Freshet, 1869 403
seven hundred people to see the grand sights at the falls here, and Friday over one hundred came from there for the same purpose.
MONDAY, OCTOBER 4, 1869.
For the second time during the year 1869, disaster came to this section of New England from serious high water on October 4. At this time, the damage throughout the town of Rockingham, the state of Vermont, and a large part of New England was probably more extended, and the loss greater than during any flood since the settlement of this town. The number of lives lost in Vermont alone reached thirteen, and millions of dollars of damage was caused to property throughout the state. It is a conservative estimate to say that in the town of Rockingham alone $200,000 dam- age was caused by this flood.
This freshet was more severe upon the smaller rivers and streams of the town than upon the Connecticut, the latter not reaching the height of previous times, the storm being a sudden and heavy one, affecting the smaller streams, but it had passed before the Connecticut had reached the height or caused the damage of previous floods.
The storm commenced early Sunday morning, continuing through the day and night, but no alarm was felt until about noon Monday. At about II o'clock, an unprecedentedly heavy shower prevailed, the rain falling in torrents a number of hours. The Connecticut rose rapidly, but its tributary streams early rose beyond all previously known high-water marks. The highest point reached by the Connecticut was three feet below that of the previous April and five feet below that of 1862. In Bellows Falls, the damage was compara- tively light. A boom above the dam containing a lot of logs owned by Tarbell, Tolman & Co., broke away early in the day, and about $500 worth of logs were lost. Many farmers above and below Bellows Falls suffered severely, losing their crops still in the fields, it being estimated that over a thousand bushels of corn were carried from the meadows of
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the Webbs, S. F. Allbee and the old Bellows farm, just north of Bellows Falls. For eighteen hours the river was covered with corn, pumpkins, sides of buildings, windows, lumber, carriages, logs, carts, and other debris.
An extensive and valuable trout pond, owned by J. D. Bridgman in North Walpole, was destroyed with over $2,000 damage, the loss being caused by the giving away of a mill dam on the side of Fall Mountain. The flood of water over- flowed the trout ponds, liberating the fish and spoiling the ponds themselves. A tame bear, kept in a cage building near Mr. Bridgman's trout ponds, was carried down by the flood and into the Connecticut. He struggled bravely for life, some of the time under water, and excited the sym- pathies of the large crowd who made unsuccessful attempts to save him. Frank A. George got a pole with a hook on the end, which he caught in the chain around the bear's neck, and pulled him to the bank, thus saving him.
Charles Towns, then proprietor of the Island House, had a pair of colts on an island pasture a few miles up the river. The water became so high it was not deemed safe to attempt to go over after them with a flat boat. They were watched till the island was covered with water, and finally till nothing but the noses of the colts could be seen above water, when, it becoming dark, the watchers left them to what was sup- posed to be their inevitable fate. Next morning, the colts were found happily feeding on the meadow below, having escaped by swimming ashore. "The basin," as it is called, near the mouth of Saxtons river was covered over its entire extent, varying from ten to twenty feet in depth, Henry W. Sabin and Seth Hapgood losing practically their whole year's crops.
Two buildings were washed away at Gage's Mills, one above the main basket factory, and one below, with their entire contents. Several workmen in Mr. Gage's factory were caught in the building, so rapid was the rise of water, until the building was entirely surrounded. They were rescued by a ladder placed to the second story windows, but
Great Damage Done in 1869 405
before they were safely ashore three were in the current and were saved by life-lines.
The village of Saxtons River, alone, suffered a loss of nearly $100,000. Farnsworth & Co.'s office and storehouse building containing 34,000 pounds of wool, the boiler house and another building occupied for the storage of machinery were washed away. The boiler was carried nearly a half mile down stream by the force of the current. The whole river ran through a new channel between the factory and the boarding house, the factory itself being undermined. L. C. Hubbard's pullery building was carried off with a large stock of wool and pelts. Farther up the river, in the village, the .covered bridge leading to Westminster West was destroyed, the saw and cider-mill just below owned by Ransom Farns- worth, a dwelling-house of Mr. Conklin, and many other smaller buildings.
At Cambridgeport the water was very high, carrying off the bridge in the village, and it threatened the stone factory, doing considerable injury to it. The water rose so rapidly at the dwelling of Charles Smith that he had to carry his wife out of the house on his back, through several feet of water.
The little village of Bartonsville was entirely ruined dur- ing this freshet by the change in the course of the river whereby the two valuable paper-mills, then being operated there, were left over a quarter of a mile from the new location of the river. Six families were suddenly deprived of their houses without time to save their goods, a number barely having time to save themselves. Where the present bed of the river is, formerly stood four dwellings and the railroad depot.
Large damage to the highways was done in all parts of the town, and probably one-half of all the bridges in town were carried away. In this respect, as well as the general damage, Rockingham was no exception to all the other towns in this part of New England, it being a blow to business and finances from which it took many years to recover. No lives were lost in Rockingham, although there
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were many hairbreadth escapes. There were six different severe storms within two weeks, and ten days later than the date mentioned above the Connecticut itself was much higher than at the time of the greatest damage on the 4th.
IN LATER YEARS
Since 1869, although each year more or less high water has been experienced, no serious or extensive damages have occurred beyond the loss of crops from the meadows and minor losses. The water in the Connecticut has been high enough two or three times to necessitate the putting of the dam across the upper end of the tunnel, as a precaution only.
THE GREAT BLIZZARD OF MARCH 12, 1888
The most serious snow blockade, and possibly the greatest fall of snow, that ever occurred in this vicinity took place Monday, March 12, 1888. There was not a large body of snow upon the ground at the time it commenced, the spring weather having previously melted it. The storm commenced in the morning, but was not considered serious until during the afternoon when a severe gale set in, amounting at times almost to a tornado, and the fast falling snow was piled in many places to a great height. The snow continued to fall during the night, and by Tuesday morning, in many parts of the town, the drifts ranged from twenty to thirty feet in depth, while upon different streets of Bellows Falls they measured all the way from ten to twenty feet. The closest measure- ment that could be made showed the actual fall of snow to have been twenty-nine inches. The temperature throughout the day Monday, and Tuesday morning, ranged from ten to fifteen degrees above zero. The force of the wind was such that trees in many places were broken down and damage was reported in many parts of New England from the unroofing of houses. The damage done in New England, aside from the delay of traffic, and inconvenience, amounted to a number of millions of dollars.
THE SQUARE IN BELLOWS FALLS, AFTER THE BLIZZARD OF MARCH 12, ISSS.
The Great Blizzard, 1888 407
Few people who looked out upon the wild scene of Tues- day morning will ever forget the impression then made. In Bellows Falls upon the west side of the Square the snow was blown clean from the ground. It was piled in a drift extend- ing from the building at the corner of Westminster street and the Square to Towns' Hotel, and along the east side of the Square and up through Rockingham street, over a quarter of a mile, averaging from fifteen to twenty feet in depth. The same depth accumulated along the west side of Westminster street, between it and Church street. The drifts were piled between houses, and against them, well up upon the second story windows at many places all over the village. In a num- ber of instances it was necessary for people to tunnel their way out of their houses. Especially was this the case at the residence of George B. Wheeler on Rockingham street, and in the Square in front of Towns' Hotel. At the latter place guests arriving and departing for two days had to pass through a tunnel fifteen or twenty feet long to reach the front door. The streets of the village were a complicated system of canals for some days thereafter, persons passing through them being unable at many points to see the buildings on either side.
Great hardships were experienced by many citizens, and some narrow escapes from death during Monday afternoon and evening. A number of deaths were occasioned in other towns. In and about Bellows Falls locomotion was suspended early Monday evening, many people being unable to reach their homes and remaining where the storm found them, much to the anxiety of friends.
The different railroads out of Bellows Falls gave up their efforts to run trains early Monday afternoon. The last train to leave here was the noon mail for Rutland at about I o'clock. It reached Gassetts late in the afternoon and remained there for two days, the passengers being quartered at farm-houses. The first train to reach Bellows Falls was one from Windsor during the early part of Tuesday night which brought the first mail that came here from any direction after Monday
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History of Rockingham
noon. No other reached here until late Wednesday after-
noon. The first one to leave Bellows Falls was a passenger train about II A. M. Wednesday. No regular train service was established until Thursday, and not upon all roads even then.
No stage or team passed between Saxtons River and Bellows Falls, or Alstead and Bellows Falls, from Monday until late Wednesday. The first daily papers to reach here were Monday's Boston papers, reaching here Friday after- noon at about the time that the previous Saturday's New York papers arrived.
Of course, all business was suspended on Tuesday, little progress being made by different citizens in shoveling their way to their nearest neighbor. Not a team passed through the Square, or for any distance upon any street of the village during Tuesday. No milkman reached Bellows Falls from outside the village until late Wednesday afternoon and many of them not until Friday.
The Times, printed Thursday forenoon, said, " No paths, no streets, no sidewalks, no lights, no roads, no guests, no calls, no teams, no hacks, no trains, no moon, no meat, no milk, no paper, no mail, no news, no thing-but snow."
Individual stories of personal experiences would fill a large volume, and the experiences have passed into history as among the interesting and exciting events of a lifetime.
SMALL-POX
During the years following the first settlement of this vicinity small-pox was considered a necessarily fatal disease, and many instances occurred of those stricken with the loathsome disease, being left by their friends to suffer and die alone. The bodies of those who died with this disease were not usually interred in regular burying-grounds of the town but hastily disposed of in the most unceremonious manner. There are a number of graves in a small enclosure near the former village of La Grange of a family by the name of Walker who died of the disease and were buried
THE SQUARE IN BELLOWS FALLS AFTER THE BLIZZARD OF MARCH 12, ISSS.
R.T.
Small-pox and Spotted Fever 409
within sight of the regular burying-ground. In 1776 a man named Nathaniel Hatch was a victim of the disease just north of Bellows Falls on the east side of the river. The body was buried beside the turnpike, and found in 1810 by his son. It was removed to the cemetery at Norwich, Vt.
The town records have frequent reference to the early aversion to vaccination, and the efforts of the advocates of this method of treatment to get permission to practice it.
September 2, 1776, the town " Voted on the same article of the Warrant Not to have the Small-pox Set up here by anockalation at present." After the record of this meeting is this :
by Leave of the
Committee and Inhabitants
Memerandom Doctor Stevens Requested that he might be permitted to bring Into Latons house 4 or 5 who ware anoculated till they ware Got well - the Same was Complied with by giving bonds for his Good Conduct In the affare"
October 17, 1776, it was,-
"Voted and Resolved that the Smallpox be Not Brought Into this town by Inoculation Nor Any Other way if possible Can be prevented."
SPOTTED FEVER
During the spring of the years 1812 and 1813 Rocking- ham, as well as other near-by sections of New England, witnessed the rise and spread of what was then considered a singular disease, called "spotted fever," but afterwards it took the name of "malignant fever." The disease is supposed to be the same as that now known as cerebro-spinal menin- gitis and was not thought to be contagious. The number of cases in the town of Rockingham cannot be ascertained. During the time the epidemic raged there were seventy deaths in Bennington ; Pomfret and Reading each forty-four, and Shrewsbury about thirty. In Vermont the number of deaths during the winter of 1812-13 reached six thousand, or about one death in every forty inhabitants. In the month of March, 1813, seven persons died of the disease in as many days in the town of Walpole. Among the papers of Capt. Charles Church, a prominent resident of this vicinity, was found the
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History of Rockingham-
following receipt, which it is understood was one of the most efficacious used at that time. Certainly if the patients sur- vived the medicine, they surely ought to have survived the disease.
"Cure for the spotted fever. To 1 quart of Lime add 1 Gallon of Water. To 1 Quart of tar add two Quarts of Water. Let these stand in separate ves- sels until they froth, skim the froth, pour them together. To this mixture add 8 oz. Salt Peter, 4 oz. Opium, take a glass when going to bed and repeat the same in 4 or 5 hours."
The following account of this epidemic in the neighbor- ing town of Alstead, N, 11., was published in an historical sermon delivered in Alstead in 1826 by Rev. Seth S. Arnold, A. M. :
" In 1812 and 1814, the spotted fever made its appearance in the place, and spread terror and anxiety among the inhabitants. Its ravages were alarming and filled every heart with dismay. The disease was uncommon, and the subjects of it were suddenly attacked, greatly distressed and soon called from time to eternity. At first the physicians were unacquainted with it and gen- erally had but little time to make any application. Some families were almost entirely cut off. Mr. Gary was bereft of his wife and all his children, four or five in number, in a very short time. Sylvester Partridge had four children carried from his house to the grave in one day. About ninety deaths were occasioned by this disease in the two years above mentioned. And the same epidemic extended into the neighboring towns.
In 1813, a malignant fever also prevailed, which swept off sixteen per- sons, besides those that died with other complaints."
A "POVERTY YEAR" IN 1816.
In Rockingham, the same as through all New England, the year 1816 was an extremely cold season. There was frost every month in the year. Snow fell to some depth in the month of June and severe frosts cut down the growing corn and other crops.
The result of this was that this whole vicinity suffered many hardships from failure of the crops, and it was gener- ally known as the "cold year" or "poverty year." Bread- stuffs commanded almost prohibitive prices throughout the town, and most of the farmers lost even their seed for the succeeding season.
During this year "Squire" Thomas Bellows, who resided on the old Bellows homestead farm two miles south of Bel-
4II
The Peculiar Winter of 1826-7
lows Falls in Walpole, increased a former very favorable reputation in the vicinity by selling his large stock of grain, in small quantities only, to his neighbors who needed it, without charging the advanced prices. His action in refus- ing offers of large prices made by speculators was perpetu- ated a few years later in a poem that became popular throughout the valley, telling as it did the story of a good man's action in time of great need.
THE OPEN WINTER OF 1826-7
William Hale of Essex Junction, Vt., who was born here in 1805, a grandson of Col. Enoch Hale and who resided in this vicinity a large portion of his life, wrote as follows during the winter of 1875-6, that season having also been a remarkably open one :
" My father moved from Grafton to Rockingham (one mile below Bartonsville) the first of March, 1826. About the 10th we had the biggest freshet ever known in that region, earrying away Parker's new grist-mill at Bartonsville also Blake's paper-mill at Saxtons river. The spring was an average forward one with plenty of rain up to the first of June. after that time we had no rain till about the 10th of September. The summer was very hot, and will long be known as the grasshopper season. In many places the crops were nearly destroyed making it necessary to harvest crops before ripe. The meadows and pastures looked as if a fire had scorched them. About the 10th of September it eame on to rain slowly and being warm, grass started up and grew rapidly, and we had as good and fresh feed the 8th of January, 1827, as we had in June, with no frost to kill the grass, everything died of old age. About the ioth of January, 1827, there came about fifteen-inches of snow the ground not being frozen at all. In a few days there came about as much more and the first of February there was about three feet. The 20th of February (which is my birthday) Ira Gowing was plowing with two yoke of oxen on Petty place, so called, in sight of my father's house. The snow was all gone except the drifts and no frost was in the ground. During my residence in Windham county I have seen two other Christmas and New Years as warm and pleasant as the Christmas and New Years of 1826-7 with however a much colder fall and winter."
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