66 



THE FARMER'S MONTHLY VISITOR. 



acres, and is apportioned willi adjacent upland in- 

 to several farms. Near the top of Krarsarge a 

 brook commences runii'U^r d<)Wii a little to the ritrht 

 of the crnlre of t!ie first cavity westerly of liie 

 hijThest point. Ui>on llie brook at the lieiglit of 

 nearly three-fourtiis of the wiiole extent, of the 

 mountain, tliere has been ereclcd by tlie proprie- 

 tors of the land a saw mill : poised tluis high in llu- 

 air, there is probably a snlBciency of water at any 

 season for the use of the mill. Tlie foct of tiiis 

 brook near its union witii the Blackwater is the 

 area of the Meloon meadow, wh:cli probably owes 

 its fertility to the sediment from tlie disintegrntion 

 of rftcks aiid the soil continually fl..wing down from 

 the mountain. For more tlinn seventy-Hve years 

 has tliat portion ofthis meadow which is overflowed 

 yielded its annual burden of bay without sensible 

 diminution. 



This meadow derived its name from Nathaniel 

 Meloon, who was amonff tlie first settlers of the 

 town in 1750. The fertile alluvion lands upon our 

 rivers tempted new settlers from below, whon 

 nothing else would induce thnm to venture into the 

 forest. Concord, tlien called fenacook, was occu- 

 pied in advance of olJier towns on account of its 

 extensive intervales : so was the cast pnrt of Sal- 

 isbury, now Franklin, cmbraciiifr the Web;;tcr and 

 Burley farms — so was Plymoulh and Holderness. 

 The Meloon meadow on the Blackwater is proba- 

 bly eight miles from tiie easterly settlement in the 

 same town on the Merrimack. In 1753, Nathaniel 

 Meloon, living at this meadow with his v/lfe and 

 three children, viz : Sarah, Rachel and Daniel, 

 were captured by the Indians, carried to Canada, 

 and sold to the French at Montreal. Another son 

 was added to the family during its residence with 

 the French, who was baptised Joseph Marie : at^ter 

 four years and a half residence with the Frencli, 

 Mr. Meloon returned to his farm in Salisbury. One 

 daughter died with the Indians. The other d?aigh- 

 ter (Rachel) who was nine years old when slie was 

 captured, returned after nine years, having acquir- 

 ed their habits and manners, and become mucli at- 

 tached to them. In the same year the wife of Ralph 

 Call, one of the firjt settlers, was killed by the In- 

 dians; and Samuel i-'cribner and Robert Barber of 

 Salisbury and Ents Bishop of Boscawen, were 

 captured, carried to Canada and ' old to the French. 



The summit of Kearsarge is now to appearance 

 a bald rock : within the recollection of many oftlie 

 inhabitants it was covered witii a rrrowth of timber 

 under which there must nrcessnrily have been soil 

 to a considerable depth. From twenty rfive to tliir- 

 ty years ago the fire run over the top or the moun- 

 tain, increasing in intensit}' for several days, con- 

 BUming not only the dead and living trees, but 

 burning up the greater portion of the soil itself. 

 There is still left, where the land has not been 

 cleared for pasture ground, atlilcl; growth of heavy 

 wood, maple, beech, birch, liemJock, ash, &c. on 

 the sides of the mountain. As an indication of 

 rain and storm, the settling of a cloud on the top 

 of the mountain is sure. In the liaylng season tlie 

 farmers look to the top of Kearsarge as to their al- 

 manack. The artist who drew tlie view now pre- 

 sented has placed a cloud horizontally below tlic 

 high point of the inountain on tlie soutlioasterly 

 side. That cloud r.-sts on another projecting moun- 

 tain whicli with the naked eye of a stranger cannot 

 be distinguished from the main mountain itself; it 

 is called Bald hill ; its ape.x is some five hundred 

 feet below the point of the blgliei- mountain, and 

 there is a valley between the two. The s-'uthorn 

 side of Bald hill is for many/iiuudred feet nearly of 

 perpendicular descent, fn the spring of Idl!), a 

 large mass of rocks and eartli of many thousand 

 tons was precipitated from the t.>p of Bald liill, 

 carrying trees, rocks and soil before it for the space 

 of more than forty rods. The concussion of tlie 

 falling materials was felt for a great distance around 

 like an earthquake ; and the track of the avalanche 

 is visible for several miles to the southeast. Tlu- 

 view either from the top of Bald hill or from tlio 

 highest point of Kearsarge to t!ie east and south is 

 highly magnificent. With the exception of the 

 steep ledges and tlie bare rock, the surface of tiit- 

 mountain is all fit for pasture grounds. The land 

 with the southern and eastern declivity is most val- 

 uable, because it has the best advantage of the sun. 

 The crops of rye, v/heat and potatoes, which were 

 raised last year on Kenrsarge, suffered neitlier 

 from drought or blight, although they were in most 

 parts of New England on less elevated lands mate- 

 rially injured. 



Our mountains undoubtedly contribute to the 

 greater severity of climate ofthis over other covin- 

 tries under the same parallel of latitude. The cold 

 north and northwest winds come as from the moun- 

 tains, where tlie east winds from the icy ocean in 

 Acril, May and sometimes into June, are arrested, 



and their course changed. Winds and storms prob- 

 ably proceed aot in a direct line, but nearly in a 

 circle, so that what in the interior is^. wind from 

 the north and northwest, nearer to the sea comes 

 from the east. Our cold in the fall is soonest dis- 

 covered upon the mountins : peeple living in the 

 valleys will perceive n storm commence on the 

 mountains h'uirs before it begins with them. The 

 mountains attract vrhatever innteriol of water, or 

 air,or heat, thnt contrllmtes to make the storm. We 

 find the clevatpd country attracting and retaining 

 i^juch more humidity than extended valleys and 

 plains. Extraordinary as it may appear there are 

 probablv two acres of pond and morass in the tov/us 

 ofthis State hav-ng the Ii-ghest elevation, espe- 

 cially the back-bone towns between Merrimack and 

 Connecticut rivers, where there is one acre in the 

 towns of less elevation. The town of Stoddard in 

 Cheshire county, has no less tlian fourteen ponds, 

 some of which are of considerable magnitude — the 

 town of Rindge, tv/enty m'.les south upon the same 

 height of land with Stoddard, has thirteen ponds ; 

 each of these tov/ns has permanent water of more 

 than a thousand acres, wltli probably a greater 

 number of acres of fresh meadow which was form- 

 erly covered with water. 



As onr mountains from tJielr elevation attract 

 more humidity, so they are more peculiarly the re- 

 gion of thunder, lightning -nnd Imrrlcane. Front- 

 ing the iialf circle of the White Mountains, near 

 the middle of wliich is Mount Washington elevat- 

 ed nearly six thousand feet above the sea, is an am- 

 phitheatre from three to five miles over — in some 

 places a dense forest — in otliers partially cleared by 

 the proslrntioa of the trees. Here it is a matter of 

 wonder to observe the effects of hurricanes. At 

 one time you will pass the track with the trees ly- 

 ing in one direction; very near you will perceive 

 the prostrated trees lying in an entirely different 

 direction : in the same place you v.'ill find tlie rot- 

 ten trees pointing one way, and trees which have 

 more recently fallen lying the other. Whether 

 these violent convulsions are pecnlrcrto the moun- 

 tains of this region we have not the means of as- 

 certain in £?. 



Kearsrtrge mountain is less than half tlie height 

 of the White Mountain.? range. Yet she is sutli- 

 clently elevated to become the parent of the thun- 

 der and hurricane. In a heated atmosphere soon 

 after the sun lias dispersed the mistS of the morn- 

 ing elsewhere, you will frequently see the cloud 

 resting upon tlie top of the mpuntaln, when about 

 midday it will begin to gatJu'r blackness and take 

 its course like the inflated balloon towards the 

 southeast. East July we were at Flanover — the 

 fog of the morning partially cleared ot^", leaving a 

 cap upon Ascutney and soTiie of tlie higher moun- 

 tains. Towards noon a blank cloud had gathered 

 in tlie soutlieast. Returning home tiirough War- 

 ner tlie next d;iy, we were informed that this cloud 

 burst upon K(iars:jrge, passing over its westerlj' 

 end, and for several miles between that and Merri- 

 mack river did great d-unage. The farm of Mr. 

 Colby situated in Warner, on one of the swells in- 

 dicated in our picture, sutTered an injury of several 

 hundred d'i]la.rs h'y the complete prostration of the 

 crops of wlieat and other grains : about one mile 

 further east in Boscawcn, t!ic farm of Col. Moses 

 Gerrish, sltuattd on another elevation, suffered a 

 similar injury. The course of the hurricane was 

 about half a mile in width. At the moment, it 

 seemed to cut down and destroy every thing it 

 touched. 'l"he wind took up the trees with a pow- 

 er that was almost incredible. 



But the mr.st appallng hurricane or whirlwind 

 on record in this State was that which, commenc- 

 ing westwardly near Ascutney, pasr-ed tiirough 

 Cornish, Croyd^.n, Wendell, over Sunapce Lake, 

 by New London and Sutton, V-reaking w.th its ut- 

 most force up'>n Kearsarge, a little to tiie left of the 

 first prom iicnce v.'estward of the highest point. 

 From tlic rrV'.u:Ttain there is a rapid descent into 

 what was formerly tlie Gore : in a valley upcn the 

 sou*h, betv.*een the mountain and a high hill, there 

 were seven dwelling houses occupied by as many 

 families. These liouses and the outbuildings at- 

 tached to them were all- more or less injured, and 

 some of them prostrated. The whirlwind next 

 took the house of Mr. Daniel Savary : the bouse 

 seemed to whirl and instantly rose above their 

 heads, while the timbers, bracks, Ac. left behind 

 nearly buried the family in the, ruins. Samuel 

 Savary, father f^f tiie owner, was found dead, his 

 brains dashed out against a stone, at the distance 

 of six rods from the house ; an infant in the arms 

 of its mother was killed in the same house. The 

 house of Robert Savary in tlie same neighborhood, 

 was also torn up, and the family, buried in the ru- 

 ins, almost miraculously escaped. Such was the 

 power of the wind near the Savarys that stones 



weighing hundreds of pounds were moved from 

 their places. The whirlwind was spcQdlJy out of 

 the Gore and entered neir the southwesterly bound 

 of Salisbury, where it struck the buildings of Dea, 

 Joseph True, and entirely prostrated every thing, 

 without taking the life or materially injuring any 

 one of the nutnerous inmates: an infant seven 

 weeks old was carried more than a hundred feet 

 and found covered with the bottom of a sleigh 

 which had been moved to the same place. So great 

 was the power of the wind near Dea. Trne's that a 

 hemlock log two and a half feet through and thirty- 

 six feet long, half buried in tlie ground, was moved 

 more than a rod out of its place. From this (Corner 

 of Salisbury the tornado again passed into the 

 northeast corner of Warner, over a pond, the wa- 

 ters of wliicii it seemed to draw up to its centre, 

 and finally rose and left the ground soon after it 

 reached Boscawen. Afterwards articles of furni- 

 ture, which must have been taken up many miles 

 to the west, were found several miles to the east of 

 Merrimaclt river. 



Many buildings were destroyed and much dam- 

 age sustained in Wendell, New London and Sut- 

 ton, before the tornado reached Kearsarge. It is 

 now about eighteen years since it took place; but 

 the track ofthis hurricane, wherever it touched the 

 \vood.s, is plainly to be seen between Sunapee lake 

 and Boscjwen. It passed with the appearance of 

 an inverted pyramidical column, drawing up in it3 

 bosom vast quantities of water. In Wendell a 

 child was carried with the house in which it 

 was asleep and thrown into tlie lake at the dis- 

 tance of one hundred and fifty rods: the bedstead 

 on which the child v.'as asleep was afterwards found 

 eighty rods in another dlrcctlo:i. A bureau was 

 blown across the lake, two miles wide at that place, 

 artd, exceptintr the drawers, was found half a mile 

 from the lakff, the whole distance being two miles 

 and iliree quarters. The facts respecting this tre- 

 u^endous tornado belong in part to the history of 

 Kearsarge : they are not exaggeration, having been 

 sought ouijht and taken down at tlie tune by a per- 

 son who made it his business to inquire. A more 

 full history ofthis tornado will be found in the first 

 volume of collections of the New Hampshire His- 

 torical Socletv. 



The valne of v. ihl find roiiijh lands* 



There are luindreds and thousands of acres of 

 land considered hitherto of little value that are a 

 mine of wealth to its owners. Within the last 

 twenty .years, lots of land within half a dozen miles 

 of the Merrimack have been purchased for a price 

 merely nominal, and all this price was paid exclu- 

 sively for the standing timber upon it. During tlie 

 last fifty years the most shocking waste has been 

 made of the original trees : the woodman's axe has 

 selected tlie faiiest, the larirestand the most comely, 

 leaving all else as mere refuse to be girdled, blown 

 down and rot upon the ground. Now if the earth 

 remained stationary — if it continued in the condi- 

 tion in which man v-'ould sometimes place it — sure- 

 ly tlie calcu ations of man might be taken in earn- 

 est, and it would be good for nothing. But a be- 

 neficent Providence has ])rovided a better state of 

 things. While man destroys, a miglitier Power 

 renovates — what is marred by artifice is restored by 

 nature. 



Thirty years ago on tlie s'xth of April, having 

 served an apprenticeship of nearlv seven years, at 

 tlie precise age of twenty-one, the edltt>r of the 

 Visitor commenced business foi himself in thl.* vil- 

 lage. If tiie pine timber then stan-i-ng in the val- 

 leys of the Merrimack and its tributaries in New 

 ilampshire were now standing, it wt^uld be worth 

 milliona of dollars. For twenty years, from ]80t> 

 to 1.^2!', the lumber transported down the iMerri- 

 mack very little more than paid for the labor of 

 preparation and transportation : the laborers en- 

 gaged in tlrs imslness hinily did as v.'cll for them- 

 selves as those who labored on their farms with the 

 then poor encouragement of being unable at all 

 timrs to dispose of most kinds cf surplus produce 

 for cash. The lumber itself, wlien carried to mar- 

 ket, was disposed of in barter trade for West India 

 goods, the most prominent item of which was the 

 article of rum; and tiiese goods were brought into 

 the country to be consumed by the population that 

 had earned them, giving sometimes a profit to the 

 shrewd trader who deali them out, and to him a- 

 lone. 



For tlie Inst ten years, Irom 1820 to ],S30, tJic bu- 

 sines.-i has been better conducted : the stand>ng 

 trees liave been of value to the owner of tlie soil — 

 both the laborer and the contractor have made mon- 

 ey : money has been brought into the country as 

 the avails of the lumbering business. The princi- 

 pal business lias been done in tliat part of the stand- 

 ing forest which before was considered refuse. 



