138 



m)t laxxmx's Mon^u faisttor. 



with their owners and operators, have now passed in- 

 to the "sere and yellow leaf;" but if the habits of 

 the day have shortened the usefulness of some of 

 them, who with us long ago mingled in the scenes of 

 busy life, we are not one of those who would utter a 

 reproach. 



The paper-mills at Suncook are no more; but since 

 our day of business with that village, an establish- 

 ment for the manufacture of glass has been erected, 

 doing more business than all the former manufactories 

 of the village put together. To this establishment we 

 are indebted for some of those magnificent squares of 

 glass to be seen as the fronts of some of the stores and 

 fancy shops in Concord. The glass works were erec- 

 ted at this position as one where the forests in Aliens- 

 town and that part of Hooksett formerly the north- 

 east point of old Chester might famish cany and cheap 

 fuel, and where that peculiar sand, brought sometimes 

 from long distances for makingglass, might come near- 

 er, gathered from the shores of the lake Massabesic. 



Suncook river divides Pembroke from Alleustown, 

 the smallest in population of any town in the county 

 of Merrimack. The largest body of this town is east- 

 wardly entirely of Pembroke; but a strip runs up all 

 the way of the south side of Pembroke from which 

 AUenstown is parted by the Suncook river till it touch- 

 es the Jlerrimack. The width of the town on the 

 west end is not over a mile ; but there are indications 

 already which show that this part of AUenstown is to 

 grow into a compact village, whenever the water pow- 

 er comes again into use, as it soon must, in extended 

 manufactures. Upon tliis road north there are some 

 fine firms, both in AUenstown and Hooksett, on which 

 •^several of our most respectable family names have 

 been reared. Along the river is an imbedded bank of 

 pure blue clay, excellent for malung the best brick. — 

 The brick-making has been pursued by a few for many 

 years : the yards lately have been enlarged, and will 

 hereafter be greatly increased by the call for bricks, as 

 fast as they can be made, all along the river at the 

 manufacturing villages above and below. A new road 

 nearer to the Jlerrimack cuts off a considerable dis- 

 tance to the factory village at the Hooksett lalls. Just 

 below these falls the railroad, on a bridge constructed 

 of piers of granite, passes from the east to the west 

 side of the Merrimack. The road we travejled keeps 

 at the distance on its way down nearly a mile from 

 the river, until it strikes, one mile below the two 

 Hooksett bridges, the old Londonderry turnpike. 



That turnpike from Hooksett to Andover bridge 

 took nearly an air line, without regarding the hills. — 

 Connected with the Andover turnpike through Read- 

 ing and Medford to Boston, it brought the distance 

 from Concord main street to Fanueil Hall in Boston, 

 down to sixty-two miles and some odd rods, rjjon these 

 roads, without remuneration, a single public spirited 

 citizen, the late John Phillips of Andover, (son of the 

 principal patron of her literary institutions) expended 

 one hundred thousand dollars. These turnpikes were 

 long kept ilp as roads paying toll. Without much 

 increasing the distance it was found that a free road 

 might be made in the same direction a few miles west- 

 w.irdly. This new road would put on end to tho 

 prosperity of gome villages and tavern and store cor- 

 ners; and a war between towns and individuals, for 

 soverid years kept up in the courts of two of the coun- 

 ties, teriiiiiiated in llic establishment of the " Jlam- 

 moth road," commencing about three miles below 

 Hooksett bridge. This new road, as might be supposed , 

 rendered almost enlirely useless the okl turnpike, over 

 much of which, not immediately connected with cross 

 roads, the grass has grown for lack of travel. And 

 now the Mammoth road itself, since the new city of 

 IVIanchcater draws every thing to and through it on its 

 way up and down, seems to be falling much mto the 

 condition of the predecessor it bus supplanted. 



'l"ho little moimtain at Hooksett, which appears like 

 a rude, isolated pile of rocks- at tho higher points of 

 the valley up and down tho river, is a geological phe- 

 nomenon worthy the attention of the curious. Before 



we at all appreciated the language of Scripture, which 

 represcBts the "upheaved mountains" and the 

 "mountains brought forth "— as many as twenty 

 years ago, when the true system of the earth's forma- 

 tion was scarcely broached among the most learned 

 men in the United States— we formed the opinion that 

 this Hooksett mountain was the effect of the power of 

 subterranean fires; and we came to this conclusion be- 

 cause we saw rocks gathered from its base which had 

 evidently been fused by the action of fire. It is re- 

 markable that near the base of this little mountain, on 

 the opposite side from the river at a point higher than 

 the bed of the river, is a deep pool or pond of water 

 containing fish; and this pool is of that exact shape 

 which indicates that the mountam came from the bow- 

 els of the earth at that particular spot. We have ob- 

 served other high hills and rock protuberances in this 

 State near rivers and streams, in many instances ac- 

 companied by consort pools or sunken swamps in their 

 close vicuiily. 



At the base of the Hooksett mountain below the 

 falls, the first stream and gully to the river's bank has 

 disclosed a bed of the most perfect blue clay to be 

 found in the United States. It lies in regular strata, 

 resembling when exposed, and breakmg in the shape 

 of, the perfect slate rock. From this clay bed have 

 been manufactured a large portion of the excellent 

 bricks which constitute the immense piles and tiers of 

 fiictory buildings erected by the corporations at Amos- 

 keag, more permanent if possible, if not not equally 

 beautifnl with the best finished granite blocks to be 

 found in the country. On the very shore of the Mer- 

 rimack, and within a stone's throw of the boats along 

 side its banks, lies this inexhaustible bed of perfect 

 clay, where millions of bricks can be furnished for the 

 city of Manchester, at a gain in the transport alone 

 over every other position of from fifty cents to a dollar 

 in each thousand. The clay mortar is tempered with 

 pure sand found in close contact with it. 



The clay bank formed by the deposite of successive 

 overflows of water at a time and times long distant, 

 with the overlaying deposite of intermixed clay and 

 sand or gravel, and smooth-worn pebbles, was evi- 

 dently placed here long since the volcanic action which 

 brought up the mountain and ridge which obstructed 

 the water before it found its way over by wearing 

 away the rocky ledge. For the first time, in passing 

 upon the east side opposite the falls, we observed that 

 the upper plain or steppe preserves a level all along 

 the river between fall and fall, and this on either side, 

 extended directly below the fall at the base of the 

 mountain. From these several positions, we may ar- 

 rive at the conclusion, not only that the little moun- 

 tain was upheaved myriads of ages before the waters 

 had subsided so as to form a running stream in any 

 particular direction, but that subsequent other myriads 

 of ages followed in the fornuition of the clay and sand 

 strata before the stream hud ascertained tho place of a 

 fall in the wtiler similar to that which now exists. For 

 a thousand ages has the river been seeking its way 

 deeper and deeper in the rock. 



Of the large area of old Chester, now constituting all 

 of Hooksett east of the ftlorrimack and the entire 

 new town of Auburn, embracing Massjbesic lake, 

 with more than thirty miles of shore within that town 

 —the greater portion being rocky and rough, has been 

 covered with a growth of wood and timber. The an- 

 cient pines and the sturdy white oaks have been cut 

 down and carried off or wasted. Still the growth re- 

 maining, increasing and growing more valuable every 

 year, is worth far more than the soil itself 



Over this part of oar travel we remarked little 

 change for the bettor until we turned off upon tho oUI 

 and long travelled road to Chester and Haverhill, Mass. 

 whi.h pisses by West Chester (now Auburn). At 

 tho upper part of this new town, we discovered tho 

 clearing and grubbing up tho low and hitherto useless 

 swamp groumls, which is becoming conntion every 

 where in our State, and which we believe has increas- 

 ed within the last six years the production of hay m 

 many lo^vns full iwonty-fivo per *cnt. 



f 

 The new town of .Aiuburn has mills upon the falls o 



a stream which unites with the lake of extended 

 shores and many islands. At one point of the lake it 

 was bridged for a pa.ssage of the Londonderry turn- 

 pike with a widened and extended body of water on 

 either h md east and west : further east is another ex- 

 tended body, on the north shore of which is the busi- 

 ness village and meeting-house of Auburn. Near this 

 village is that wonder of New England, immortalized 

 fifty years ago by the veteran geographer. Rev. Dr. 

 Morse, called the " Devil's Den," a cave running far 

 under ground in the steep side of a rocky prominence. 

 This hill at present is mainly covered with a second 

 growth of white pine. The best we would say of 

 what appears of the new town which has assumed the 

 name of the " loveliest of the vale," immortalized by 

 Dr. Goldsmith, on that part which the old road travels 

 —rough and hard as is its surface— if the example of 

 the owner of the splendid barn a little way out of the 

 west village shall be followed by the other owners and 

 occupants of her territory, she may yet be among the 

 most thriving and prosperous towns of the State. 



The ample houses, erected from fifty to a hundred 

 years ago in this older part of Rockingham, show that 



they once enjoyed a profitable agriculture. The first 

 clearing of that land brought forth abundance, as the 

 the actogen irians still living will inform us. The piles 

 of gathered rocks in the by-places, large and small, 

 show the industry and perseverance of the hard bauds 

 which in times past were employed upon this ground. 

 The public spirit of these hard workers has a standing 

 monument in the smooth narrowed road over which 

 the traveller now passes, almost with the ease, in a 

 light carrii.ge, of a l(?Velled hard plam, where even 

 the ridged rock itself has had an excavation similar to 

 that of the blown-out path-way for a railroad. 



Here it may be proper to present an idea which wc 

 have before advanced in the Visitor, ajiplicable as well 

 to all the town of old Chester and to Hawke and San- 

 down, as to many other rocky towns and regions else- 

 where in New England; and ibis is, that in the ci-ono- 

 my of Providence the numerous small rounded rocks 

 covering many fields and coming in the way of tho im- 

 plements of the farmer have not been made without 

 the chance of some useful application. We cannot 

 pass a pasture or grass field on which water stands or 

 lies upon the surface to the constant detriment of the 

 crop, and perhaps fields of higher arable land surround- 

 ing it on wliioh small stones arc piled, without desiring 

 that those rocks shall fill the place of a stiffer and rich- 

 er soil dug out below the surlace so as to cut off and 

 carry away tli- surplus water. 



The principle of under-draining is yet but little im- 

 derstood in this country ; but practice must bring it to- 

 wards greater perfection and show its greater value. 

 Where the water can be made to fall olf, the most un- 

 sightly and useless mud-hole may be converted into 

 tlfe most valu,.l.le land. The bottom of drauis which cut 

 off cold springs coming in from surrounding hills should 

 be kept so near a level as not to endanger the water 

 course by undcrdraiuing : where there is an inclined 

 plane, the bottom of the drain shoidd be hardened by 

 paving or the use of plank. It is easy so to dispose of 

 rocks as to leave a channel for the water course- tlje 

 laying of the rocks should bo careful so that they he not 

 disturbed l.y the mass thrown in afterwards. 'I he whole 

 slioiUd be covered below where Uie plough will ever 

 reach by shavings, straw or turned turfs, so there can 

 be no direct inlet from the surface. 



Drains upon dead meadows are made successively 

 without regarding a particular passage of water by 

 tin owing in the rocks indiscriminately. The swamp 

 muck lin- making manure is taken out in successive 

 dilcbes. If there arc surrounding hills with small rocks, 

 thesp may very conveniently be disposed of by carting 

 or sledding thorn and filling the places of the muck 

 taken away. The more of such ditches arc made m 

 any soil bog moaaow tho belter will the land be pre- 

 pared to produce crops. Drains under the heaviest 

 clayey soils will convert all above them into a rich mn- 



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