USA > Vermont > Caledonia County > St Johnsbury > The town of St. Johnsbury, Vt. ; a review of one hundred twenty-five years to the anniversary pageant 1912 > Part 42
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Someone in Brattleboro one time sent Judge Poland a pair of white poplars. "They were about as large as my walking stick," said the Judge, "and about as dry." But they made a lusty growing pair of twins front of Squire Belden's house, and till this year the big survivor with triple trunk invited attention in Squire Nichols' dooryard. Probably the largest tree now flourishing in the township is the willow on the west side of Rabbit Plain above Goss Hollow. Once a brown ash was growing near the swamp where the Pinehurst lily ponds are now; that ash is today the only tree among the groves of that estate that has the distinction of being a native, "and to the manner born." It may have been during the Polk and Clay campaign that a pair of elm seeds flew down under the edge of the high tight fence which then enclosed the Academy grounds. The soil was rich, the fence was shelter- ing; in the course of years the saplings twisted themselves into a double elm that took on stalwart proportions and ways of its own; stretched out arms that were angular and not unshapely ; by its striking contour and willowy droop and broad outspread of nigh a hundred feet won its place as the queenliest elm on our bowered Plain.
"Again I see the huge Old Pine with patriarchal air
Spreading wide his arms as if to guard the forest there."
THE OLD PINE on the hilltop above the golf links, now the vanishing ghost of a tree, was for a hundred years the most dis-
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PARKS AND TREES
tinguished tree in the town, not only as sole survivor of the primeval forest, but as the most conspicuous landmark on the horizon. From the time the pioneers' axes first broke into the wilderness till down past 1890, it was flourishing as in the vigor of youth ; then one day it was hurt by a lightning stroke. Col. Fairbanks re-assured it with the modern device of a lightning rod. But the mischief had been done, its vitality was sapped. We looked anxiously up at the old sentinel, sorry to see that decline and fall must surely come ; if the Old Pine should go, there never could be another. It seemed as if the old fellow thought so too ; he surprised his admirers by holding on with grim determination. And now for some fourteen years since being shorn of his greenery, his gaunt trunk has stood up against the sky like a spectre from former ages-to which in 1912 the grand finale march of the Pageant wound its way, as if to pay homage to the venerable Patriarch of the town.
"Towering high above all other trees Thou giant Pine of many centuries, With thy dead limbs outstretched against the sky, Storm-tossed and stricken by the lightning's blast, What canst thou tell us of the days long past ?"
Some answer to this was overheard by a woman who had personally known the veteran almost a hundred years, and she translated what the Old Pine Tree said-"Here I have stood three centuries or more, head and shoulders above my neighbors-in my early days I saw nothing but wild beasts and birds-bears, wolves, deer, panthers, and the moose with broad horns-the loon and wild geese went screaming over my head-next I saw Indians clothed in fur with their bows and arrows-I could see the smoke of their wigwams curling up through the forest-then the white men came-they cut down my big neighbors and built them houses to live in-they cleared the forest and burned trees to make potash which they sold for groceries, and I fear too for whiskey sometimes-then they sowed the cleared fields with grain, and built roads and bridges, and after a long time they had a church-now I can see a dozen churches, and many fine resi- dences-I hear the whistles and see long trains of cars-the gong
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down to the right of me calls hundreds of men together to manu- facture the wonderful scales known the wide world over-now I am old-one day I got an electric shock which gave me my death blow-I am only waiting now for the north wind's blast to lay me low, to be remembered no more forever."
C. B. S. 1898
After waiting seven years longer, the Old Pine, still erect on the hilltop, was in a reminiscent mood one day; heard again the harp of the winds and felt the grapple of the storm :-
"Under my gray-green mantle, Jewelled with sleet or rain, Was hid a harp that murmured Forever of the main.
The breeze from Newark mountain Bore down a song to me ; I sang it to Moosehillock And he sang it to the sea.
Down Sleeper's River valley And up the woodlands dim, The summer twilight hearkened The holy thrush's hymn.
* * * *
All the sinews that sustained me, All the sap that kept me warm, I had sucked from sand and snow heap, Or had wrested from the storm.
Rain and snow and hail were welcome, All the gales were loud with glee ; All the strain and stress of winter Was but ecstasy to me.
When the big wind of December Blustered down from Walden height, I rubbed all my hands together Knit my muscles for the fight.
Year by year I flung my banner For a standard seen of all; Stood, a king above my fellows Like a crowned and sceptered Saul.
Then, unwarned, the lightning smote me, And I stand, discrowned and blind. Waiting for my strength to leave me, Or the tempest to be kind." W. P. S. 1905
Another seven years, and the Old Pine is still waiting. 1912
XXXVIII
COSMIC EVENTS AND DISASTERS
ECLIPSE-COMET-COLD-HEAT - AURORA -SNOW -DROUGHT - STORMS-FLOODS-FIRES
THE WEATHER
"What an invaluable piece of good luck to have the weather always with us-always ready to be talked about when a body meets a body, and never anybody embarrassed by not knowing anything about it."
Some metereological occurrences are here noted which occa- sioned comment and went on record in the former days. Local reference is found to two phenomena of a century ago. In 1810 there was a solar eclipse; "hens went to roost, cattle appeared dumbfoundered, a solemn and anxious suspense prevailed as if ex- pecting some great calamity." In 1811 the great comet illumined the heavens for ninety days, "Its prodigious tail swept 50 de- grees of the skies; threads of light from the nucleus streamed down its immense length and curved at the end into a vast luminous arch."
The cold summer of 1816. Apparently this town was not so great a sufferer as some others during that extraordinary season. It stands on record that "snow was ten inches deep in Vermont in June, ice thick as window glass in July, and an inch thick in August." But Henry Little says that in St. Johnsbury he trained with his Company on Major Butler's green, the first Tuesday in
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June, and found the day too warm for the required military ac- coutrements ; and the day after was decidedly hot. The change was sudden, for Chauncey Spaulding clad in tow trousers and cotton shirt, while planting potatoes with James Works, was driven from the field by the wild snow squall.
The following days, June 7 to 11, were gloomy, dark and cold with snow flying and the ground frozen. Later in the month however corn, potatoes, peas, buckwheat, beans and turnips were planted, but the continuous cold prevented the maturing of any crops, except a very little poor corn and potatoes. Wheat and corn were brought into town and sold at $2.50 a bushel. James Works brought up a lot of corn on flatboats from Charlestown No. 4, which sold at $3.00 cash down. A few small unripe potatoes could be had in Waterford for 75 cents a bushel. "Oatmeal, rice and boiled beech leaves (nuts?) were in use as food."
For the next planting in June 1817, seed corn of 1815 was used at $5.00 a bushel and little to be had even at that price. This condition of things that our fathers then went through is a reminder of the year 1204, of which the Fabyan Chronycle says :-
"in this yeare, that is to saye, ye Vth yere of Kyng John, by reason of ye unreasonable weder, whete was solde for XV shilling a quarter."
1829 The last week in December was soft and mild; there was no frost, grass was green as if growing; men were doing out door work without gloves. During this pleasant week the large building for the new hemp works was put up at the Fair- banks Mills ; it was in the operating of the hemp works that the first platform scale was afterward devised and constructed.
1834 May 15 Heavy snow fall today. "I was sent to look up some sheep that had strayed far up Saddle Back; snow there . was nearly a foot deep."
1842 June 17 A snow fall of several inches ; but corn and beans in the garden came thro all right. On the 20th of October, 18 inches of snow fell and remained till the next spring. Potatoes caught in the ground by this snow came out sound and good in the spring. Between November 9 and
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COSMIC EVENTS
February 1 there were 30 snow storms which deposited 12 feet of snow. This was the season of the fatal erysipelas.
1851 A very distinct lunar rainbow was seen at nine o'clock September 5, spanning the sky in the west opposite the rising moon.
1852 During the past winter there were 35 big snow storms in St. Johnsbury ; 7 in November, in December, in March ; 8 in Jan- uary, and 6 in February.
1854 The comet now in view is so amiable and modest that none of the Millerites have ventured to predict the end of the world from any antics it may perform.
1855 Jan. 14 Earthquake, with explosions in the skies like the bursting of balls with fire inside.
1856 July 12 A fierce hail storm, with high north wind. All the north windows in the Center Village reported broken, hail stones from six to ten inches in circumference. The hail stones lay in deep windrows under fences where they might have been shoveled up by the cartload. Acres of timber were blown down and crops destroyed ; the damage in this town was reckoned at $20,000.
1858 Donati's comet reproduced the splendor of the comet of 1811 referred to on page 513.
1861 April 5 The brilliant aurora threw a belt of light from one horizon to the other, making a perfect arch at an eleva- tion of 90 degrees.
Note. This was surpassed by the aurora of February 7, 1902, when the northern, southern and western heavens were an aerial sea of flame as if an entire city were on fire; the colors slowly fading from red to brown, to violet, to purple, to blue, to a pale ashen hue.
1862 On New Year's Day fourteen inches of snow with driving wind. A St. Johnsbury farmer had to tunnel thro a drift as big as his barn to get at his cattle.
1868 On the twelfth of March a good sized grasshopper was hopping contentedly over H. N. Roberts' farm, and a frisky but- terfly flew into an open window on Summer street.
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1868 The Fourth of July was celebrated with warmth. On this and the following day the temperature ranged from 100 to 103 degrees. In the Fairbanks foundry mercury stood at 135 de- grees and all work was suspended. Masons who were laying the foundations of the Athenaeum quit work. In Goss Hollow a man died in the hay field. This heat was followed by an electric storm. Two balls of electric fire were seen to fall on Frank Brown's store, doing considerable damage. No such heat had been known by the oldest resident of the town.
Note. Similar conditions prevailed July 4-12, 1911, during which period the mercury averaged about 100° at mid-day for nine days, on one of which it registered 115° in the forenoon. Work was suspended at the foundries for two days.
1869 Three days heavy rains, October 3, 4 and 5, with six inches rain fall, resulting in the great flood of 1869, an account of which is given farther on.
1870 Three inches of dirty snow fell on the twelfth day of February. This snow contained three grains of meteoric dust to the square foot; equal to 360 1bs. to the square mile. The storm covered 400 square miles, and is computed to have laid 7200 pounds of meteoric dust on the surface of the earth.
1870 During the summer there were thunder showers nearly every day. On the twentieth of July mercury stood at 100 degrees in the shade-133 degrees in the sunlight.
1870 At eleven o'clock A. M. of October 20, the community was startled by an earthquake, the most violent shake ever known in the town. There was alarm everywhere; consternation in the Union School from which the children swarmed out as the heavy brick building rocked on its foundations. The South Church steeple was seen to sway to and fro as if it were a reed shaken by the wind. Door bells rang, crockery rattled and crashed; no serious damage however was done.
1871 The month of February, this year, recorded tempera- ture at 40 degrees below zero ; also thunderstorms, grasshoppers and butterflies.
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COSMIC EVENTS
1872-1873 The snow fall this winter was fourteen feet, lack- ing one inch. Hiram Cutting reckoned the average snow fall of this region to be from three to fourteen feet; not all on the ground at one time.
1873 There was less than half the usual rainfall during the warm season. Pastures and fields were dried up and barren; Passumpsic River never so low before ; Moose River was only a small brook; the worst drought ever known.
1874 On the twenty-fourth of April, a blizzard of 36 hours and eight inches of snow. Nearly three feet of snow remained on the ground till the first of May.
1875 During the second week in February the mercury ranged on successive days at 20, 30, 24, 23, 30, 34 degrees below zero. On the first day of May, this year, the ground was frozen to the depth of seven feet and three inches on Main street.
1878 New Year's Day. Pansies blossoming in gardens on the Plain, pussy willows in fur coats on the meadow, sap running in maple trees on the hillside. Before the middle of the month, mercury at 22 degrees, 30 degrees, 40 degrees below zero.
1878 Nov. 29 At four o'clock in the afternoon a notable Sun Dog appeared, 20 degrees from the zenith; a bright and perfect circle.
"Walking forth this frosty morning on an errand in the town
I came aware of ice upon the sidewalk by unexpectedly sitting down."
Jan. 28, 1886
1887 Jan. 6 A particularly luminous Sun Dog appeared today, attracting much attention and many prophecies of storms and dire disasters.
1888 June 7 A cyclone swept across the Plain and Rail- road street. Two heavily charged clouds met directly overhead at 4.30 in the afternoon. First darkness, then hurricane winds from east and west which grappled each other over the village. Some roofs were torn off; the granite sheds were collapsed ; win- dows were blown in; trees blown down; William Clement lost 350 full grown trees. On Portland street a blacksmith shop was
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demolished, killing and burying a horse that was waiting to be shod. On Summer street A. E. Sanborn's hen house was laid low, but the hen inside, engaged in sitting, continued to sit, the hailstones did not drive her from the post of duty.
Reports of this storm having reached Minnesota, the St. Paul News remarked: "Last week a cyclone passed over St. Johns- bury, Vt., which makes all western tornadoes appear tame as gentle breezes whispering to the young spring leaves. Trees were rooted up, huge beams crashed thro the roofs of houses, in- numerable buildings were totally destroyed. Small boys were lifted like kites on a windy day and carried over hill and dale, till catching hold of high tree tops they managed to bring their aerial transportation to a termination" ? ? ?
FLOODS AND FIRES
"Wherein I spake of most disastrous chances Of moving accidents by flood and fire."
Flood of 1828 On Friday, September 5, heavy rains swelled the West Branch and washed away five bridges and sev- eral mills on the stream, including the works of the Fairbanks Brothers, which only a few months before had been rebuilt after a disastrous fire. The violence of the waters was so great at this time that a clothier's screw press weighing four hundred pounds, was swept down the stream and lodged on the meadow nearly half a mile below : see page 186.
Flood of 1866 The high water of April 25, flooded the streets and swept off the lower bridge across the Passumpsic at Center Village, two Moose River bridges and one on Sleeper's River. It also tore away the mill dam on Passumpsic River, east of the railroad station, which had been rebuilt only seven years before. This shut down the Miller Carriage factory, Thompson's foundry and machine shop, Carpenter's wood shop, Warner's mowing machine shop and the Nutt file works.
Flood of 1869 A storm of thirty hours' duration, October 2 and 3, proved the most disastrous ever known in the town. Pas-
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FLOODS AND FIRES
sumpsic River at the Center Village was two and a half feet higher than any former record ; streets and houses were flooded ; railroad tracks were washed away ; trains were stopped ; for five days there was no mail from the south; on the fifth day Post- master Fleetwood set out with a mail of 1600 letters which he proposed in some way to get delivered at White River Junction.
On Sleepers River "the turbid waters were floating timbers, trees, logs, wagons, horse powers and endless other miscellany ; soon the cry was heard: 'the bridge is coming !' and like a duck on the water, came sailing down the lumber yard bridge; it broke thro the highway bridge, pitched over the dam, took out the next bridge with a crash and hurried on; for a time it was held at the foundry bridge till a broadside of the castings' shop struck it and all went down the stream. In the new brick engine house, the engine was submerged; east of this was the scale packing shop, originally the grist mill built by Joseph Fairbanks in 1815, and the only survivor of early times ; under the force of the flood it tottered and fell with a terrific crash and was carried off. Startling events were following each other with fearful rapidity, while hundreds of men stood powerless to avert further calamity. The power of the waters was seen in the floating down stream of a 600 pound lot of iron gearing. The work of cleaning up next day was a sorry spectacle, tools and machinery full of mud which lay in places two feet deep on the floor." Loss was $50,000.
"When the flood was at its highest, amusement was created by an old breeding sow that came floating down the current, stern first, but paddling as for dear life, up the stream, her nose resting on a plank. She went over the dam and out of sight; supposed to be drowned. Toward night a Frenchman came driving her home, as lively as ever and a good deal cleaner ; he had found her down on the meadow, pulled her out, shaken her hind legs till finally she came to, a soberer and cleaner hog."
Floods of 1896 On the eleventh of May meadows and fields along the Passumpsic valley were turned into wide spreading ponds. As the train was coming in from the east the locomotive St. Johnsbury sagged and finally rolled over into Moose River on the Hovey meadow. For nearly a week, owing to a serious
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break in the dump, trains from the south were not able to run above Passumpsic Village.
On the first day of March this year was the biggest ice pack ever known in the town. Forty acres of ice covered the Butler meadows, in some places several layers deep; the highway to the Center Village was blocked, and the road commissioner had a passage cut thro; the ice stood four to six feet high as a wall on either side. Houses in the Center Village were flooded, five families were turned outdoors ; one woman was brought out in a boat over four feet of water. The same conditions of ice and flood and the drowning out of families on Elm street near Moose River, inspired some versifying a la habitant:
"Ma golly ! You otter see de ice come float him down On de reever dis mornin' rat in to de town. Gret beeg cake come float him in here, An' make awful noise mos' like I never did hear."
All dese time de water rose him high An' beeg cakes ice come float him by, An' strike him hard on Peet pig pen An' hees pig make loud sqneel-" * * *
*
Flood of 1897 At noon, July 24, looking up North Danville road, one saw a wide lake of water ; broken bridges, dams, logs, and other debris swept down upon the highway bridge. There was liability of a repetition of the flood of 1869, which did $50,000 dam- age to the scale works. But the bridge withstood the shock; tho the foundry bridge was swept off and water ran four feet deep thro the blacksmith and machine shops and the foundries, depositing generous layers of mud. Four bridges went off on the Sleeper's. River, and a strip of land was gullied out from the south side of the Academy Campus. Similar results on this river followed the flood of June 1902, with damages of $1500 at the scale works.
FIRES
The old Hezekiah Martin house was burned in September 1858, with a loss of $5700 to Moses Kittredge, the owner and
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FLOODS AND FIRES
occupant at that time. This was a serious loss to the village as well as to the family, sweeping off one of the finest residences on upper Main street, a stately brick building of Colonial style similar to the Judge Paddock house and erected in 1825 by the same builder. The hall attached to this house was the home of the St. Johnsbury Female Academy during the seventeen years of its existence. The entire wiping out of this interesting land- mark is a matter of lasting regret; the more so, if, as believed at the time, it was the work of an incendiary.
In 1859, the old red mill belonging to what was then called Elyville on Moose River was destroyed by fire. This structure, said to have been built by the Fairbanks Company, was used by the Ely Hoe and Fork Works, an old and conspicuous landmark. In July of the next year fire again broke out at midnight and destroyed property valued at $5500 at these Works. To reach the place, the fire companies had to drag their engines across the Plain, down Sand Hill, thro Paddock Village, but they arrived in time to save three important buildings, and won applause for their prompt and effective performance. The Ely Works met with almost total loss again by fire at midnight, in July, 1895 ; considerable damage was done by the flames in 1912.
The Railroad Repair Shops were burned March 23, 1866, with a loss of $75,000. Machine shop, blacksmith and wood shops, with machinery and tools a total loss. The old "Cale- donia," one of the first locomotives on the road, escaped tho badly burnt. For a time the freight and passenger stations were in extreme danger.
April 16, 1870 Fire broke out at midnight that destroyed the Colby, Burnham and Woodbury buildings on Railroad street, north of Randall's block. Loss, $17,000. The wind was strong from the south and burning cinders fired roofs on Maple street and dry grass and leaves in Paddock Village.
The Scale Factory Fire, Jan. 21, 1876 At five o'clock, after- noon, a cinder dropped into the vat of japan; the result was a raging fire that threatened destruction to the entire works, the wind blowing a gale from the west. All the hydrants, two steam
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TOWN OF ST. JOHNSBURY
pumps and two engines played streams of water; hundreds of yards of new carpeting from the store were spread over the saw shop, boiler and engine house; on the roof of the benzine maga- zine hosemen stood five hours battling the flames inch by inch. A special train from Lyndonville brought relays of firemen who took the places of those who succumbed to cold, smoke or exhaus- tion; coffee was served to the men from the store and bean soup from an adjourned church social. A lull of the wind made it pos- sible at last to check the flames at one of the fire walls that ran high above the roof, but streams were kept playing all night over the buildings. Loss $40,000. Seven weeks later new shops were opened, having four brick fire walls from sixteen to twenty inches thick, with iron doors and casings. In November, 1889, the Fairbanks store and Counting Room were entirely destroyed by fire.
The Old Steam Mill opposite the Railroad Station was burned March 20, 1876. This was a large building erected in 1851, by a stock company, capable of housing several different industries. At the time of this fire it held the sash and door manufactory, the St. Johnsbury Tool Company, the Nutt File Works and the Miller Carriage Factory. The loss was $14,000. The building erected on its site, occupied by Jones and Shields and others was destroyed by fire in December, 1910, total loss $30,000.
The Center Village Fire, July 1, 1876 On the morning of that day this village consisted of 80 dwellings, three churches several stores and mills or shops. At noon 27 buildings were in ashes, including the straw board mill, grist mill, flour mill, two stores, one church and the school house -- taking out a third of the village, nearly the entire business center. As there was no tele- graph station, a messenger had to drive his horse to the Plain ; then the engines were dragged up three miles in the hot sun, the only local apparatus being water pails and wet blankets. The old Armington Hotel and the Universalist Church opposite were wrapped in flames; it seemed impossible to reach the upper end of the street where help was most needed, except roundaboutly by the burning school house and the swamp. But with a daring
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