iili)c iTarmcr's iHoutl)In bkiitcir. 



109 



coiiiury, Mrs. Diistin perfortne*! tlie heroic ex- 

 ])loit of killing the Imlians who had eiicampeil 

 with lier for the iiiijht ns their prisoner. Per- 

 rorining this feut upon some eight or ten of these 

 men of grent muscular strength, the Aniiizonian 

 heroine, with all suitahle nonchalance returned 

 down the river near one huM<lre(l miles counting 

 its sinuosities mainly in one of their hark ca- 

 noes, conveying it hy the several falls with her 

 own unassisted strength. 



Passing the Dustin island and the channel on 

 either side, the railroad seems here to encounter 

 n more trying position than any other we have 

 observed ; yet whsn we come to it, the works 

 have heen constructed with an eye to resistance 

 of the ice and water power liahle to assail them, 

 that they look to he quite as secure as any other 

 part of the road. 



The railway encounters the whole length of 

 the town of Boscawen, son)0 seven or eight 

 miles, on t\ie margin either of the river or the 

 first steep embankment. The excavations of the 

 emhankment b^ the way disclose to the geologist 

 and man of science, in the layers of successive 

 deposites, matters of great curiosity and interest. 

 For ourselves we look upon these layers as more 

 interesting from the liict of their containing 

 abundance of all the elements necessary to con- 

 stitute a rich soil. Natwre performs the whole 

 operation of converting these elements to their 

 great agricultiiral use when they are brought 

 down in minute particles hy the action of water 

 U|>on them and constitute tim rich sediment 

 which makes the overflowed soil more fertile 

 than all other ground. Why may not man imi- 

 itute nature, hy bringing into action that sid)soil 

 which only requires tiine and a due atmospheric 

 exposure to become of equal, if not greater val- 

 ue than our best and richest surface soils that 

 have heen long in use .' 



There are some intervals of more or less 

 width on one or both sides of the Merrimack in 

 the whole distance to Franklin. To the beauty 

 of these the wild abruptness of the excavated 

 banks, the thick forest foilage skirting the succes- 

 sive ravines, the suddenness of egress to the 

 view of some well cultivated field or house and 

 buildings, all lend their enchantment to the view. 

 The turn of rich intervale, first on the one hand 

 and then upon the other, is ever ready to meet 

 you. 



Passing the first a brick house of the Hon. 

 Isaac Hale, of Franklin, who has brought his in- 

 tervale land within the last six years to greatly 

 increased and increasing crops siin|>ly hy cart- 

 ing clay upon a light sand loam, we come to the 

 more extensive fariri of Henry Burleigh, Esq., 

 formerly known as the Thompson farm. Thence 

 upon the same intervale land the railroad passes 

 diaffonally over the magnificent farm of Hon. 

 Daniel Webster, all re-purchased from the heirs of 

 his elder brother who nearly twenty years ago 

 although seeming to be hut yesterday, fell dead 

 in the county court room of this town while en- 

 gaged in pleading a case before the jury. That 

 man was among the men of high eloquence and 

 talent who have most Iwjnored the Granite State: 

 at the time of his death it would be difficult per- 

 haps to name any one his superior in all those 

 points which constitute the effective orator.— 

 The father of these brothers, we believe a na- 

 tive of old Hampton, and certainly descended 

 from the first settlers of that town nearly two 

 himdred years ago — an officer of the revolution- 

 ary army — a man who without education was 

 strong enough, in intellect to become a popular 



judge in the trial of eases in our county 

 courts ; Ehenezer Webster settled down upon 

 aixl inq)roved until the day of his death the farm 

 which his eminent son has continued in the fam- 

 ily name out of respect to his parents and the 

 place of his nativity. Upon this farm Ik; has prob- 

 ably the most expensive, hut not, wo think, the 

 most valuable barn accoiding to its cost, in New 

 Hampshire. This barn cost fifteen hundred dol- 

 lars. Mr. Webster sometimes comes to this 

 f'lrm : upon it he has introduced breeds of cattle 

 and sheep which have been of great benefit to 

 the smrounding neighborhood. The railroad 

 passes directly through an<l over the spot where 

 the ancient Webster house stood, rendering a re- 

 moval of it necessary. 



Near the intervale farm and premises of Mr. 

 Wel)Ster formerly resided the late Hon. Thomas 

 W. Thompson, who, after one (dection to Con- 

 gress, removed to this town, about the year 1809' 

 and died some twenty-five years ago, lingering 

 from the eflects of naked exposure upon lake 

 Champlain at the firing and destruction of the 

 first steamboat upon that lake with the loss of 

 several lives. Hon. Parker Noyes, the student 

 and afterwards law partner of Mr. Thompson, 

 for many subsequent years kept his ofiicc and 

 pursued a successful law practice at the same 

 place : it was long of that part of Salisbury up- 

 on the river which then had no considerable vil- 

 lage. Mr. Noyes long and honorably pursued a 

 lucrative law practice at this place — we believe 

 his sign in a fair copy hand still remains u|)on 

 the discolored office standing upon the old road. 

 But Mr. Noyes several yeais since found his 

 health declining in a too sedejitary occupation 

 of the mere lawyer: he deserted his office and 

 went to work upon his land with his own hands. 

 Taking him sometimes afterwards by the hand 

 and feeling the thickened skin of the palm pecu- 

 liar to the farmer of hard work, Mr. iVoyes sur- 

 prised us with a new face indicating the cumplax- 

 ion and strength of the healthy juan. His fields 

 of corn, every time we have passed, have appear- 

 ed a little better than those of many who account 

 themselves neat farmers. We are confident from 

 the appearance of the premises of Mr. Noyes, 

 that he loses no money by his improvements. — 

 His son, a gentleman enjoying the benefits of a 

 liberal education, also takes pride in his occupa- 

 tion as a farmer. He has well succeeded in rais- 

 ing and improving the breeds of cattle. 



The example of somebody is followed hy im- 

 provements U|ion the river all the way between 

 the lower and upper villages of Franklin in the 

 renovation and improvement of a light sandy 

 soil. We have no knowledge ofllie present oc- 

 ciq)ants and owners of these farms. The |)rem- 

 is(!s of George W. Nesmith,Esq., on the east side 

 of the river, first after passing the bridge, reclaim- 

 ed entirely since the erection of his fine house 

 and buildings a few years ago, would he the mod- 

 el of a farm for the whole region round about. 

 James Clark, Esq., further on in the sauje neigh- 

 borhood, we are told not having personally ex- 

 amined his premises, is also a farmer pursuing 

 the true principle. If it is not in the power of 

 all tnen to do as the pattern farmers of Franklin 

 have done from want ol the means, every man 

 who grasps at the cullivalioii of nioie lanil than 

 can be well cidlivated, will find that eipial labor 

 and ex[)ense bestowed on a less number of acres 

 will lay the foundation for a more successful ex- 

 perience. 



The enjoyment of the privilege of a railroad 

 de|)0l from wlii'!h some ilozen or more fully load- 



ed stage coaches depart, and to which an equal 

 number arrive daily, has pi*t a new face upon 

 Franklin as a place of business. The water- 

 power and the meeting of the waters at this time 

 tnnst make it grow and flourish after the railroad 

 passes through it. The last mile of the road bo- 

 fore entering the village of Franklin encounters 

 a considerable rise fiom the river: probably the 

 depot (or entry and departiue stands full fifty feet 

 above the street fronting the larger hotel of the 

 [)lace. Crowded as were both the stage houses 

 at the time of our departure and return, we find 

 no where in our travels better dinners than those 

 given by the two landlords of Franklin. 



It was truly a strange spectacle to witness the 

 passage over the narrow road which winds its 

 way out of Franklin near the line of the North- 

 ern railroad, of five stages each with triple pairs 

 of horses bearing off with an enormous amount 

 of baggage some twenty passengers each, filling 

 the inside and covering the top of the outsi<le of 

 Downing and Abbot's light but strong coaches, 

 which are the crack carriages on every consid- 

 erable route through the United States and the 

 Canadas. Not only were the teams doubled to 

 carry off the burden of passengers brought up 

 hy the railroad cars fleeing northward from the 

 hot weather of the city, hut all the horses of the 

 two lines each way, doubling the doubled lines, 

 were put in requisition for the <lay of our journey 

 to Norwich. The cars, due before twelve o'clock, 

 did not arrive at Franklin until half past two; 

 and here there was a waiting in the jam of some 

 three hundred passengers to dine and adjust the 

 extra teams for departure in different directions 

 until four o'clock, P. M. 



Our passage was in day-light in a procession 

 silent and slow, with dust rising in clouds, near 

 the line of the railway which departs from the 

 the Merrimack river through a narrow defile 

 bringing down the stream fiom a heaiiiifiil body 

 of water called "Chance pond" which lies with- 

 in some two miles of the river into which it emp- 

 ties. The greatest rise between Merrimack and 

 Comiecticut river is encountered in the first five 

 miles of the railway from Franklin : the maxi- 

 imim rise in this distance is from 50 to 60 feet to 

 the mile. In a space of time as but for a moment 

 has a work heen done in constructing giant em- 

 bankments along the ravine, straitening the way 

 hy cutting through hills and filling up valleys, now 

 carrying the track below the travelled road, and 

 now moimting into the air overhead high enough 

 for a frightfiil fall if the cars should lose the 

 track. A portion of the necessary excavation, 

 not rock, was even more diflicult to remove than 

 rock, and could be pierced only hy successive 

 charges of gunpowder. A work has here been 

 conq.leled in little more than one year which in 

 the infancy of railroads, if not deemed an impos- 

 sible work, would have required four times the 

 length of time to be performed. 



The slock has been a great gainer hy putting 

 on at once a force to complete the road in the 

 shortest possible time: the imexpected reve- 

 nue immediately resulting from the use of the 

 first twenty miles, raising the value of the stock, 

 has induced the directors to press forward in the 

 completion of more of the road. Over these 

 four miles and some eight miles beyond have 

 the rails been laid down so that another consid- 

 erable step fin-ther into the country has been la- 

 ken since the first of the last month. Presently 

 w ill the rails be extended further to the foot of 

 llii; ledge at the highest point of the backbone 

 ridge in Orange. Winter and summer since the 



