^l)e JTarmcr's illontl)l|) Visitor. 



121 



huf^o. i-ofks of the cliiinnel. Not readily nntici- 

 piuiiig wlint the rnihoad could do there, we in- 

 quired of the oveilooking "boss" whiit was to 

 he done. "Find room for the old road, that the 

 railroad tiiny pass." But if the road comes here, 

 what is to he done witli the mountain ledfje on 

 this .side directly in front, or the greater ledfje 

 further on upon the other side, which cannot he 

 avoided? "Cut both of them down, and pass 

 on," was the answer. Upon nearly a level here 

 of the railroad with the running stream in the 

 narrow pas.sajc, greater wonders crowded upon 

 us lis we proceeded downward. Soon was it 

 explained how room was to be found for the wa- 

 ter to (low, and for both the old road tuid the 

 railroad. The latter by degrees began to perch 

 itself upon the rocky ledge, higher and higher 

 up the mountain side, as we proceeded down 

 the ravine. Now and then the travelleil road 

 u'ould entirely .shut the railroad out of view ; — 

 but it w;is evidently not far off, inasmuch as at 

 several of these dark ])oints on the road was a 

 painted guide-board with the sentence, " Look 

 out for a blast when the horn blows." Room for 

 the numerous workinen employed was found by 

 the erection of numerous shanties, wherever the 

 ravine opened in suflicient width. These shnn 

 lies inhabited, present the Irish laborers, in 

 their real character — none but the Irish woidd 

 have the patience and the perseverance to ac- 

 coni|)lish, piece-meal, a work so difficult and of 

 such magnitude. At the door of most of the 

 shanties, was seated upon a low block or stool, 

 with bare feet exposed, some rosy-cheeked, fair 

 and healthy-faced Irish female, generally young, 

 either nt work with her needle, and the childers 

 all around, the weemost either in the lap or at 

 the feet, or trottin:; the infant. Dirty and dark 

 as ap|)eared the temporary buildings, without a 

 glass window, and the naked ground for a (bot- 

 stool, these people must have some regard for 

 cleanliness, since at almost every shanty, was ex- 

 posed hanging out to dry on Tuesday, the week's 

 washing of the pievious Monday, consisting of 

 shirts and other apparel, while enough for the 

 wearing of descendants of the Anglo-Saxons. 



But greater than the Irish and their crowded 

 villages of shanties in this mountain glen, is the 

 railroad itself, now finding the material for deep 

 filling from the rocky excavations of the ledge 

 alone, now filled over some sudden gorge in the 

 rocky mountain side, now touching the slanting 

 rock, and seeming to be momentarily exposed to 

 a sliding ofl^ now casting off from the mountain 

 to rest on something appearing as an " airy no- 

 thing " very far below — again diving through a 

 hard ledge of rock, which as a protuberance 

 stands in the way ; and a great part of the way, 

 at the giddy height of many feet, making the 

 traveller in the old road below, appear diminish- 

 ed to a pigmy size. 



We are scarcely more surprised that it has 

 been'fonnd practicable to build a road through 

 this glen or ravine, than we are that the people 

 of Keene should have ever looked to this place 

 as the way for a railroad. We will suppose a 

 miniature picture of inoiinlain and valley, pass- 

 ing down which, there is no level of feasible 

 soil: as would be natural, the course of the val- 

 ley would be crooked and indirect in projiortion 

 to the hardness of the rocky matter broken into 

 by the waters, which, in a succession of ages, 

 have worn deeper and deeper the channel. Let 

 us suppose tlie miniature model of such a moun- 

 tain pass. A common road may be laid over 

 such a route without difliculty, because the de- 



gree of elevation may vary at every step — on 

 this wc may either rise or fall. But here wo 

 have the maximum elevation of fifty-eight feet 

 to the mile, tieccssary the whole distance for a 

 railroad — wo cannot fiirther elevate or det)ress. 

 We must lay the rule upon a direct line of the 

 mountain side or so near direct as to admit of 

 no sudden course. The rule is laid, and to per- 

 fect and complete the road, every thing must be 

 brought to the precise point of horizontal and 

 perpendicular position. The difJicnlty of laying 

 a railroad over such a route would seem to he 

 almost as great as the poising of a passage way 

 to the moon. 



Despite of all obstacles the Cheshire railroad, 

 encountering three successive high elevations 

 and depressions between Fitchburg and Bellows 

 Falls, to an extent that makes much of the dis- 

 tance of the road either way to be at a grade of 

 elevation or depression from fifty to sixty (eet to 

 the mile, is going on towards completion in a 

 manner creditable to the energy of its board of 

 direction and managers. Its elevation and de- 

 pression cannot be more diflicult than that of the 

 great Western railway, from Boston to Albany, 

 in which is realized mucii more than was expec- 

 ted, and which this summer exhibits more than 

 the usual increase of business. The Fitchburg 

 railroad and its branches, that of the Cheshire 

 branch being of more importance, probably, than 

 the main stem itself, passing westerly to Con- 

 necticut river, can never compete to the injury 

 of the railway through the centre of New Hamp- 

 shire to Lebanon. Those interested in the lat- 

 ter have rested at perfect ease, although said to 

 be shut out of the Vermont Central railroad, by 

 carrying the travel, by law, down Connecticut 

 river, through Windsor and Cliarlestown, by the 

 act of the State of Vermont. The long travel 

 from northern Vermont, as far south as Burling- 

 ton, on Champlain, and the greater jiart, if not 

 the whole of the Canada travel towards Boston, 

 must strike and come down the Merrimack val- 

 ley, which in the distance of ninety-five miles 

 from Boston, no where presents an elevation or 

 riepression exceeding seventeen feet to the mile, 

 and above that to Connecticut river, has in all its 

 undulations combined, less rise and fall than is 

 presented in either of the three undulations in 

 the short distance of the (Cheshire road within 

 the limits of New Ilanipshire. The same mo- 

 tive power that will carry empty cars over the 

 Fitchburg road, will carry the train of loaded 

 merchundizB over the Concord road. The time 

 gained over the latter road will always secure it 

 the preference of the long travel and heavy mer- 

 chandize : the difference in the two roads would 

 be greater than many miles distance. 



W^e cannot omit again the commendation and 

 public spirit of the men of old Cheshire, for 

 pushing through their road against natural ob- 

 stacles more appalling than can be presented on 

 any other route through the State. Connected 

 with a roail through Vermont, by way of Rut- 

 land, said to be in progress, the business of this 

 road will open to some of the best interior towns 

 of New Hampshire and Vermont, securing for- 

 ever a sufficient support to the road. 



There is no inteiior town of New Hampshire 

 more beautiful than Keene. It lies upon an ex- 

 tended plain, in an area surrounded by hills on 

 all sides, saving that of the outlet of the Ashue 

 lot, which winds its cours5 down southerly, until 

 it unites with Connecticut river at the southwest 

 corner of the Stale. Going to or from Keene 

 in almost any direction, we must encounter tedi- 



ous, long or abrupt hills. At the lowest points 

 of these hills the railroad runs either way in 

 and out of the amphitheatre of which the vil- 

 lage of Keene is the focus. This village was 

 laid out some hundred years since, like the vil- 

 lages of Northfield, IJadley, anil some other 

 towns similarly situate<l, based upon an avenue 



nearly a mile in length, of ten rods in width. 



Manufactures in Keene, for several years past, 

 havt! silently contributed to the wealth of indi- 

 viduals, without reference to government protec- 

 tion. A single woolen flannel factory, in all vi- 

 cissitudes, has for many years been profitable to 

 its owners — so, we believe, have invariably been 

 two or more glass manufacturing establishments, 

 which have built up fortunes to several individu- 

 als. Many years since, one of its ingenious me- 

 chanics, erected a large brick block upon the 

 profits of patent spinning-wheel heads. The 

 luiihiings in Keene are more substantial, and 

 have been arranged on the several streets in bet- 

 ter taste than in any interior town within our 

 knowledge. The neat dwelling-houses are not 

 in so near contact as to endanger much of the 

 town in any one conflagration. There are four 

 large school-houses, erected at diflferent pointsof 

 the village, each with accomtnodations for two 

 extensive schools. Three of these are sixty feet 

 by thirty-six, with two school-rooms thirty feet 

 square, and suitable halls of entrance. Probably 

 no town in New England has better regulated 

 common schools than those now found in this 

 village. The reflection is surely unpleasant, that 

 in most of the schools of the close villages of 

 our State, the police is wretched, and the money 

 expended little better than thrown away : in 

 Keene the reverse is now the fact. A school- 

 house, arranged by the Hon. B. Cooke, who has 

 taken a great interest in the improvement of 

 common schools, leaving in the outer halls ani 

 entrances, ample space for the range and ac- 

 commodation of the scholars out of school hours, 

 excludes them from the rooins at all times when 

 the instructor is not present. The best regulated 

 schools, even our academies and high schools, 

 are put out of order, the seats mutilated, the 

 books and apparatus torn or otherwise injured or 

 misplaced, by the habits of indiscriminate play 

 in school rooms during the recess. In Mr. 

 Cooke's school-house, which might he adopted 

 as a model, each scholar, large or small, has an 

 appropriate chair-seat and table, not to be annoy- 

 ed by the contiguity ofxithers. All is arranged 

 for the convenience of the student, who may be" 

 expected to work while in his room, and recreate 

 when abroad. The Keene school-houses are of 

 brick, with all the rooms on the lower story : — 

 they are neat edifices, and in no instance, have 

 exceeded the cost of two thousand dollars — a 

 sum much less than has been the cost of school- 

 houses in other places, of not equal permanence 

 and durability. 



The short time spent at Keene, a few hours 

 only, as it was in every other place, during an 

 absence of only five days, was very pleasant as 

 reviewing face to face, the recollection of the 

 individuals of former years. A lapse of twenty- 

 seven years since our first visit to Keene, pre- 

 sents still many of the same faces, pursuing still 

 the .same steady avocations, not carried away by 

 every wind of doctrine, nor so "studious of 

 change, and pleased with novelty" as to leave a 

 certain good condition for an uncertain better 

 anticipation. We found at once around us the 

 "auld acquaintance" — now all alike to us — as 

 well those who had been constant political 



