I 9reaerLc5.9%oa I Bit*) THE TURNPIKES OF NEW ENGLAND "When the Indian trail gets widened, graded, and bridged to a good road, there is a benefac- tor, there is a missionary, a pacificator, a wealth bringer, a maker of markets, a vent for industry." Ralph Waldo Emerson. " So, if there is any kind of advancement going on, if new ideas are abroad and new hopes arising, then you will see it by the roads that are building." Horace Bushnell. "Dipping into the valley and then rising over successive hills" Plate I — Norfolk and Bristol Turnpike in Wrentham, Massachusetts THE TURNPIKES OF NEW ENGLAND AND EVOLUTION OF THE SAME THROUGH ENGLAND, VIRGINIA, AND MARYLAND BY FREDERIC I. WOOD MEMBER AMERICAN SOCIETY OF CIVIL ENGINEERS MEMBER BOSTON SOCIETY OF CIVIL ENGINEERS MEMBER NEW ENGLAND HISTORIC GENEALOGICAL SOCIETY AND LATELY MAJOR OF ENGINEERS, UNITED STATES ARMY BOSTON MARSHALL JONES COMPANY MDCCCCXIX COPYRICHT, I 9 19, BY MARSHALL JONES COMPANY All rights reserved First printing, 191 9 THE UNIVERSITY PRESS, CAMBRIDGE, U. S. A. 2De&icate& TO CHARLES A. STONE, EDWIN S. WEBSTER AND RUSSELL ROBB M. I. T. '88 IN APPRECIATION OF THE CONTINUANCE OF THE FRIENDSHIP OF COLLEGE DAYS 816574 f PREFACE MAJOR WOOD, who labors under the impression that I have some general knowledge regarding turnpikes and toll bridges, has asked me to write a brief introduction to the present work. The task is an agreeable one, though I am fully conscious of my limitations. Turnpikes and toll bridges are hardly more than names to the pres- ent generation, more especially as the economic historians have had neither the time nor, apparently, the inclination to make a careful in- vestigation of the subject. The task of compiling the data necessary for such an investigation was an exceptionally arduous one. Here and there an effort was made to do the subject some sort of justice, as, for example, in the chapter on toll bridges and turnpike companies in Mr. Joseph Stancliff Davis' valuable " Essays in the Earlier History of American Corporations." Personally I am convinced that no real understanding of the trans- portation problem now exercising the people of the United States is possible without an understanding of the facts attending the origin and development of our earlier and practically forgotten transportation facilities. Our public utilities, as we now construe that term, have no past to speak of. The telephone, electric light, and electric traction are all the product of the last half-century. The telegraph antedates this period by a few years. The railroads date back to 1829 and gas to 18 16. Back of that was the period of turnpikes and toll bridges. The last mentioned, with the waterworks dating from about the same period, were our earliest public utilities. Many persons now alive can recall the toll bridges, and some have had experience with the toll road, though the latter saw its palmy days around 1830, and the former almost immediately after. Within a few years of the close of the Civil War both were virtually things of the past, though traces of them can still be found in rural communities. These facts remind us that we are still a new country with limited economic experience. The private corporation is but a thing of yester- day. This country had practically no knowledge of it before the Revo- lutionary War. Its beginning was purely tentative and its early methods were largely fortuitous. It was created to meet real needs, for the satisfaction of which there were only limited supplies of capital. The attitude of the public toward private corporations furnishing [vii] PREFACE public utilities is highly critical to-day, but it was not less so a century ago. The capital supplying the turnpikes and toll bridges, like that supplying railroads, telegraph, and telephone, was, in fact, subjected to two risks: first, the ordinary business risk; and secondly, a risk inci- dental to the fear of arbitrary interference by a public whose precon- ceptions were of an unfriendly nature. It is quite possible that if the experience of the turnpikes and toll bridges had been a matter of common knowledge in the last half-century, many of the problems aris- ing in connection with our transportation facilities would have been avoided. The present work is exceptional among productions of its class, inasmuch as the author approaches his subject from at least three very different points of view, and with equal success. There is a fine balance in the treatment of the engineering, the economic and the archaeological aspects of the turnpikes and toll bridges, and for this reason the work may be safely commended to the general reader, who may be assured that in this case at least an interesting narrative does not imply super- ficial knowledge. So far as my own knowledge of the subject goes, Major Wood has compiled the first exhaustive and authoritative work on American turnpikes. The title he has chosen would seem to limit his discussion to the turnpikes of New England, yet in reality he affords us a general survey of the entire country. Major Wood has devoted ten years to his task. As a civil engineer, with his long experience in railroad field work, he has possessed excep- tional facilities for investigating his subject in its geographical, its engineering, and its economic aspects. But the turnpike is more than an engineering or an economic concept to Major Wood. His interest in far-off forgotten days impregnates every part of the present work, vitalizing the conclusions arising from a study of the engineering and economic data. Frederic J. Whiting. [via] AUTHOR'S PREFACE IN 1908, in connection with a report on certain transportation facili- ties which I was preparing, I ventured into the historical side of the question, and soon ran into references to this and that turnpike. My efforts to gather data on that subject were fruitless; the extensive public library to which I had access yielding nothing but a work of fiction under the word "turnpike," and our most comprehensive index giving only five references, three of which were purely local. Gradually the search became a habit, no opportunity to learn more on the subject being neglected, and, as the data accumulated, the idea grew : first to prepare a brief magazine article, next a full story of some special road, then to cover Massachusetts, and finally all New England. Here and there in local histories brief articles were found; but in the main the facts pre- sented in the following pages were gleaned from old records, in the perusal of which I soon acquired the habit of blowing the dust from each volume top as I took it from its long-undisturbed resting place. The labor has been long but full of interest. May its presentation prove interesting as well. My employment in civil life taking me well over New England, and my subsequent two years in army service requiring travel over the entire eastern section of the United States, I was enabled to secure most of the pictures which are reproduced herein myself; but acknowledgment is due to George R. Groesbeck, official photographer at the Hog Island Shipyard, for the more than professional interest which he took in devel- oping the same. Others to whom I am indebted for photographs are Miss Cora S. Cobb of Newton, Mass., for the artistic picture of the old Cook Tavern; A. Hutton Vignolles of Newton, for the views in Craw- ford Notch; Miss Ellen A. Webster of Cambridge, Mass., for the pic- tures of the Webster Tavern; I. Chester Horton of Canton, Mass., for the snow scene on the Stoughton Turnpike; Martin Baker of Marshfield, Mass.; William H. Blood, Jr., of Wellesley, Mass.; Professor Frederic W. Brown of Bowdoin College; Mrs. Irwin C. Cromack, Dorchester, Mass.; Allan W. Crowell, Washington, D. C; Howard P. Fessenden, Newton, Mass.; C. Elmer Gane, Allston, Mass.; Jerome F. Hale, Wells River, Vt. ; Miss Martha E. Knight, Camden, Maine; Arthur J. Shea, Dorchester, Mass.; Dana M. Wood, Belmont, Mass.; Walter S. Wood, Concord, Mass. ; A. Stuart Pratt, manager of the Blue Hill Street Rail- way; Fairbanks Museum of Natural Science, St. Johnsbury, Vt. ; Na- tional Museum, Washington, D. C.; Shorey Studio, Gorham, N. H. ; and the Stone and Webster Engineering Department, Boston. [ix] AUTHOR'S PREFACE To Messrs. Edward W. Baird of Roslindale, Mass., William H. Blood, Jr., Wellesley, Mass., William A. Buck, Willimantic, Conn., George A. Carter, Jr., Brockton, Mass., Nelson H. Daniels, Bedford, Mass., Arthur W. Gates, Willimantic, Conn., Dr. Byron G. Ingalls and Francis M. Perry, Foxboro, Mass., George H. Wetherbee, Jr., Brain- tree, Mass., and Walter S. Wood, Concord, Mass., is due my personal acquaintance with many old turnpikes which I was enabled to acquire by the kind contribution of their time and automobiles. Valued assistance has been had from Philip H. Borden, city engineer of Fall River, George A. Carpenter, M. Am. Soc. C. E., city engineer of Pawtucket, Samuel Hartshorn, town clerk of Franklin, Conn., William J. McClellan, historian, Baltimore, Howard G. Philbrook, Boston, Her- bert E. Sherman, M. Am. Soc. C. E., Providence, Arthur C. Sprague, Wollaston, Mass., Irwin C. Cromack of the Boston Street Department, and a host of others, among whom I must include the officials of the many state, county, and town offices, especially the present clerk of Nor- folk courts, Robert B. Worthington, whose patience was always proof against my attacks. And, lastly, to my own home surroundings, to the two whose faith and confidence in my ability to pilot unknown fields always upheld me, whose sympathy and encouragement ever spurred me, is due the greatest debt of all. Frederic J. Wood. Brookline, Mass., October 15, 1919. [x] CONTENTS PAGE Preliminary and General 3 The Lancaster Turnpike 1 1 Gallatin's Report 14 Efforts of the United States Government 18 The Cumberland or Old National Road 19 The Maysville Pike 23 New England Roads of the Colonial Period 24 The First Public-Service Corporations 31 How the Work was done 37 Plank Roads 38 The Vehicles that used the Turnpikes 43 The Turnpikes of Massachusetts 57 The Turnpikes of Maine 211 The Turnpikes of New Hampshire 215 The Turnpikes of Vermont' 249 The Turnpikes of Rhode Island 287 The Turnpikes of Connecticut 331 Ending as it began 4 11 Bibliography 4 J 5 Index 427 ILLUSTRATIONS Plate I II III IV V VI VII VIII IX X XI XII XIII XIV XV XVI XVII XVIII XIX XX XXI XXII XXIII XXIV XXV FULL-PAGE ILLUSTRATIONS Facing Page Norfolk and Bristol Turnpike in Wrentham, Mass. Frontispiece Views of Little River Turnpike, Va 4 Views of Little River Turnpike, Va 5 Views of Little River Turnpike, Va 6 Views of Reisterstown Turnpike, Md 7 Views of Baltimore and York Turnpike, Md 10 Views of Baltimore and Frederick Turnpike, Md. . . 11 Views of Hagerstown and Conococheague Turnpike, Md 12 Locks on the Chesapeake and Ohio Canal 13 A. Wooden Plow 3 6 B. Digging and Removing Beacon Hill, Boston ... 36 A. Dr. Brown's Chaise 37 B. Wagon made by Thaddeus Fairbanks 37 A. Concord Coach . 44 B. Egg-shaped Coach 44 C. Primitive Sledge 44 D. Conestoga Wagon 44 E. First Train on Mohawk and Hudson Railroad, 1831 44 Views of First Massachusetts Turnpike 64 Views of Fifth Massachusetts Turnpike 68 Views of Ninth Massachusetts Turnpike 69 Views of Salem Turnpike 76 Views of Salem Turnpike 77 Views of Norfolk and Bristol Turnpike 86 Views of Norfolk and Bristol Turnpike 87 Views of Norfolk and Bristol Turnpike 90 Views of Norfolk and Bristol Turnpike 91 Broadside of the Bangor and Waterville Stage Line . 106 Broadside of Boston, Plymouth, and Sandwich Mail Stage 114 Views of Cambridge and Concord Turnpike 118 Views of Cambridge and Concord Turnpike 119 [xiii] ILLUSTRATIONS Plate XXVI XXVII XXVIII XXIX XXX XXXI XXXII XXXIII XXXIV XXXV XXXVI XXXVII XXXVIII XXXIX XL XLI XLII XLIII XLIV XLV XLVI XLVII XLVIII XLIX L LI LII LIII LIV LV Facing Page Views of Newburyport Turnpike 122 Views of Essex Turnpike 123 Views of Essex Turnpike 130 Views of Essex Turnpike 131 Old Church, Bridge, and View of New Bedford and Bridgewater Turnpike 132 Views of Union Turnpike 133 Views of Union Turnpike 140 Views of Blue Hill Turnpike 141 Views of Hartford and Dedham Turnpike .... 142 Views of Brush Hill and Plum Island Turnpikes . . . 143 Views of Andover and Medford Turnpike .... 146 Views of Andover and Medford Turnpike .... 147 Views of Middlesex Turnpike 150 Views of Middlesex Turnpike 151 Views of Middlesex Turnpike 154 Views of Worcester and Stafford Turnpike 155 Views of Worcester Turnpike 158 Views of Worcester Turnpike 159 Views of Worcester Turnpike 162 Northerly end, Stoughton Turnpike 163 Views of Stoughton Turnpike and Douglas, Sutton, and Oxford Turnpike 174 Views of Taunton and South Boston Turnpike . . . 175 A. Hingham and Quincy Bridge and Turnpike . . . 178 B. Projected Route of the Boston Neck Turnpike . . 178 Map of Boston at the Beginning of the Turnpike Era, 1795 • • '. I79 Boston and Roxbury Mill Corporation 190 A. Beacon Street, Boston 190 B. Boston Back Bay in 1858, from the State House Dome 190 Views of Watertown Turnpike and Cambridge to Watertown Turnpike 191 Views of Taunton and Providence Turnpike .... 202 Granite Bridge and Granite Railway, Milton .... 206 Views of Camden Turnpike and First Cumberland Turnpike 210 Views of Bath Turnpike and Camden Turnpike . . . 211 [xiv] ILLUSTRATIONS Plate Facing Page LVI Views of the New Hampshire Turnpike 218 LVII Views of Second and Third New Hampshire Turn- pikes 219 LVIII Through the Crawford Notch, Tenth New Hamp- shire Turnpike 222 LIX Scenes in the Crawford Notch, Tenth New Hamp- shire Turnpike 223 LX Webster Tavern, Bridgewater, N. H 226 LXI Lyman Toll Bridge, Mclndoe Falls, N. H., and Vt 227 LXII A. Dalton Ferry, Dalton, N. H 230 B. First Littleton Toll Bridge, Upper Waterford, Vt 230 LXIII Views of Londonderry and Mount Washington Turn- pike 231 LXIV Views of Mount Washington Summit Road .... 238 LXV Tollhouse. at the Foot of Mount Washington .... 239 LXVI Views of Bayley-Hazen Military Road and Wells River Bridge 250 LXVII Bellows Falls Bridge 260 LXVIII Taverns and River Scene in Waterford, Vt 261 LXIX Views of Passumpsic Turnpike 268 LXX Views of Passumpsic Turnpike 269 LXXI Views of Passumpsic Turnpike 274 LXXII Scenes along Stratton Turnpike 275 LXXIII Scenes along Peru Turnpike 276 LXXIV Map. Turnpikes of Greater Providence 290 LXXV Views of West Glocester Turnpike 291 LXXVI Views of Rhode Island Turnpikes .'. . . . . . . 292 LXXVII Views of Glocester Turnpike 293 LXXVIII Views of Providence and Douglas Turnpike .... 300 LXXIX Views of Powder Mill Turnpike 302 LXXX Anthony's Map of Providence, 1803 303 LXXXI Views of Rhode Island Turnpikes 311 LXXXII Views of Mohegan Road in Montville, Conn. . . . 334 LXXXIII Views of Hartford to Norwich Turnpike 338 LXXXIV A. Views of Windham and Brooklyn Turnpike . . . 339 B. Views of Hartford to Norwich Turnpike .... 339 LXXXV Views of Boston Turnpike 342 [xv] ILLUSTRATIONS Plate • Facing Page LXXXVI Views of Boston Turnpike 343 LXXXVII A. Tollgate in Norfolk, Conn., on Greenwoods Turnpike 346 B. Views of Hartford and New Haven Turnpike . 346 LXXXVIII Views of Windham Turnpike 347 LXXXIX Views of Windham Turnpike 354 XC Views of Windham and Mansfield Turnpike . . . 355 XCI Views of Hartford and New London Turnpike . . 358 XCII Views of Norwich and Woodstock Turnpike . . . 362 XCIII Views of Hartford and Tolland Turnpike .... 366 XCIV Views of Colchester and Norwich and Warren Turn- pikes : .... 367 XCV Views of Columbia Turnpike 406 XCVI Views of Hop River Turnpike 407 XCVII Views of Spotsylvania County Turnpike, Va. . . . 410 ILLUSTRATIONS IN THE TEXT Page Norfolk and Bristol Corporation Stock Certificate 60 Third Massachusetts Turnpike Corporation financial chart ... 68 Fifth Massachusetts Turnpike Corporation financial chart ... 72 Ninth Massachusetts Turnpike Corporation financial chart . . 77 Salem Turnpike financial chart 82 Chelsea Bridge financial chart 83 Norfolk and Bristol Turnpike Corporation financial chart ... 93 Neponset Bridge financial chart 102 First Cumberland Turnpike Corporation financial chart 107 Page from the treasurer's book, First Cumberland Turnpike Cor- poration 108 Page from the treasurer's book, First Cumberland Turnpike Cor- poration 109 Belchertown and Greenwich Turnpike Corporation financial chart 112 Braintree and Weymouth Turnpike Corporation financial chart . 116 Blue Hill Turnpike Corporation financial chart 139 Dorchester Turnpike Corporation financial chart 143 The Arch in Brookline 164 Taunton and South Boston Turnpike Corporation financial chart . 174 Hingham and Quincy Bridge and Turnpike Corporation financial chart 180 Granite Bridge financial chart 210 [xvi] ILLUSTRATIONS MAPS Facing Page Turnpikes of Massachusetts 57 Boston in 1795 (Plate xlix) 179 Turnpikes of New Hampshire and Vermont 215 Turnpikes of Rhode Island 287 Turnpikes of Greater Providence (Plate lxxiv) 290 Providence in 1803 (Plate lxxx) 303 Turnpikes of Connecticut 331 [xvii] THE TURNPIKES OF NEW ENGLAND THE TURNPIKES OF NEW ENGLAND IN many New England towns will be found an old road locally known as " the turnpike," or the " old turnpike," over which are hovering romantic traditions of the glory of stage-coach days, while perhaps a dilapidated old building, standing close beside its now grass- grown pathway, is reverently pointed out as having occasionally been the temporary resting place of men great in our country's annals. But aside from the charm of such old stories the inquirer will be able to learn but little for, strange to say, those old roads have not found their place in history, and what little is known about them seems to be fast departing with an older generation. In the hope of saving some of this information an effort has been made to compile such as is still available, and the result appears in the following pages. Turnpikes, as distinguished from the ordinary roads of the same time, were those on which gates barred the progress of the traveler, at which payments were demanded for the privilege of using the road. Such payment was called " toll " and the gates were known as " toll- gates." The privilege of building such " turnpikes " and of collecting toll thereon was conferred by the legislatures of the several states upon various individuals under the form of turnpike corporations, and the roads were constructed by private capital, were privately owned, and were operated for the revenue derived from the collection of the tolls. In the eighteenth century the name " pike " seems to have been ap- plied to anything terminating in a point and the form of gate now called a " turnstile," being made of four crossed bars sharpened at their outer ends and turning on a center, was called a " turnpike." As this was about the only form of gate in use the name was readily applied to the tollgates when they first appeared. 1 A reversion to ancient form is thus found in the entrances to our elevated and subway systems and many places of amusement where we enter through such " turnpikes " or " turnstiles " paying our toll as we pass. The dictionaries still define " turnpike " as a gate, and the early charters allowed the building of " turnpike-roads " and the erection of " turnpikes " across them. But the longer word soon became shortened and as " turnpikes " the roads themselves were commonly known. The earliest form of tolls was that levied by organized bands of robbers, which often took the form of stated sums for various circum- 1 Skeat's " Etymological Dictionary of the English Language." [3] THE TURNPIKES OF NEW ENGLAND stances. Strabo, the ancient geographer, tells that the Scenitae, a tribe of robbers and shepherds occupying the desert region between Babylon and Syria, exacted a moderate tribute from the merchants traveling over the road through their territory but did not further molest them. As the boldness of robber bands increased the expense of protection against their assaults grew heavier and the earliest form of legal tolls was im- posed for that purpose. As Mary Bateson recites in " Mediaeval Eng- land " murage grants by which towns were allowed to collect toll from those passing in and out, to provide funds for the building of protecting walls, were of great antiquity. For example, in 1235 Oxford was granted by Henry III the right to levy toll, once a week for three years, on all entering the city. Every cart from the same county loaded with vendibles paid y 2 d., or id. if from out of the county. Each horse load, except brushwood, paid %d., and y 2 d. was assessed on every horse, mare, ox, or cow brought to sell, while every ten sheep, goats, or pigs cost the owner id. and proportionally for five. The first turnpike of which we have record dates from 1346, when Edward III granted the privilege of levying toll on all passing from St. Giles's to Temple Bar, and toward Portpool, now Gray's Inn Lane, London, the roads in those places having become impassable for want of other provision for their maintenance. 1 In 1364 William Philippe, a hermit at St. Anthony's Chapel on Highgate Hill, having means, devoted himself and his fortune to improving the road between " Hegh- gate and Smethfelde," for which he was allowed to establish a tollgate. 2 In the early days in England the local obligation resting on the parishes to maintain the roads within their limits was not felt to be a heavy burden, as proper roads were wanted for the convenience of the inhabitants themselves, and the rare occasions on which members of the royal family journeyed over them did not add noticeably to the wear and tear. But as trade developed and travel increased, in consequence, the effect was seen in the frequent need of repairs and a demand arose that those responsible for the injury to the roads should bear the burden, and that the parishes should not be obliged to maintain roads for the use of outsiders. As a result of this feeling the " Great North Road to York and Scotland," which was " an ancient highway and post road " and which had fallen into very bad order in consequence of the great amount of alien travel over it, was the subject of the first English turnpike act in 1663 in the reign of Charles II. Under this act the justices of each of the counties traversed were to appoint surveyors, who were to provide road material and call for labor under the highway laws for the purpose of putting the road into complete repair. That accomplished, the sur- veyors were further authorized to erect tollgates and appoint toll gatherers for the collection of tolls from which the road was thence- forth to be kept in repair. For a quarter of a century this was the only 1 Chambers' "Cyclopedia." ' Cornhill Magazine, 1864. [4] N ~i a 5 o < 9 as < z o > z m 5 H et w > w w < J PL, *o J to "Q rt ■ u 1 1 c ,5 o > *F"> 5 s < OS u h as w h o THE TURNPIKES OF NEW ENGLAND road thus maintained, but later a few acts at a time were passed until about 1760. Practically all of the gates at that date were within one hundred miles of London. In the fourteen years following 1760 four hundred and fifty-three acts creating turnpikes were passed by Parliament, but a departure from the principle of Charles II was made. Instead of requiring that the desig- nated road should first be put in thorough repair by the parish in which it lay, a turnpike trust was created with jurisdiction over such road and having authority to borrow money on the security of the tolls which it was thereafter to collect. Edwin A. Pratt has written: 1 Under the conditions actually brought about it was left for any group of land- owners and others in any particular district where better roads were needed to apply to Parliament for an act authorizing them to raise a loan in order to meet the initial cost of making or repairing a road, and to set up gates or bars where they could enforce payment of tolls out of which to recoup themselves for their ex- penditure and meet the cost of maintenance. Theoretically these were temporary expedients, and the turnpike trustees, having once provided a good road and got their money back, would take down the tollgates and leave the road for the free use of the public. Hence every turnpike act was granted only for a limited period, generally about twenty years, and had to be renewed at the end of that term if, as invariably happened, the debt on the road had not been cleared off and the need for toll collecting still remained. There was no general arrangement or comprehensive scheme in the allotment of these trusts, but they were granted indiscriminately, form- ing separate units not part of a connected plan. Many abuses grew up in their operation, as there was no check on their financial operations and the trustees were too carelessly selected. One responsible officer was required, the surveyor, but no trusts were in receipt of sufficient revenue to enable them to employ a competent man for the position. The receipts were never sufficient to pay the interest on the loans and meet the extravagant costs of mismanagement, and when the railroads began to reduce the incomes the situation became desperate. By 1838 Parliament had passed thirty-eight hundred private and local turnpike acts, and had created in England and Wales eleven hundred and sixteen trusts controlling twenty-two thousand miles of roads. The money borrowed under authority of these acts amounted, in 1839, to over nine million pounds with unpaid interest of more than a million pounds additional. In their frantic efforts to meet the increasing ex- penses the trustees not only sought authority to collect an increased rate of tolls but, of their own accord, erected additional gates to the maxi- mum allowance. Thus, in 1864, a traveler over the twenty-one miles between Ledbury and Kingston was halted at eight gates : four barred the way on the eight miles from Ledbury to Newent; and Ledbury to Worcester, thirteen miles, had six interruptions. On the Middlesex side of London there were one hundred gates within a radius of four miles. 1 "A History of Inland Transport and Communication in England." [5] THE TURNPIKES OF NEW ENGLAND Although the fundamental principle on which the turnpike trust sys- tem was based, was that of transferring the cost from the parishes to the users of the roads, the parishes did not escape their obligations and, in addition to their citizens having to pay toll for the use of the roads, were obliged to meet the deficiencies and help keep up the repairs. Fur- ther the bondholders had a right of foreclosure under which many of them actually seized the roads and appropriated all the collections to their own use, leaving all the expense of maintenance on the parishes. The oppressive burden of paying excessive tolls and the required taxes to maintain the roads produced great discontent, and riots resulted in many sections. The most serious were in Wales in 1843 and 1844, where a band of rioters calling themselves " Rebeccaites " (in allusion to Genesis xxiv. 60) carried on the systematic demolition of tollgates and houses for nearly a year. The inquiry resulting from these disturbances showed that a real and serious grievance existed, and steps were at once taken to relieve the distressing conditions. An appropriation of two hundred thousand pounds was made to reduce the turnpike debt in that section, by which it was made possible to consolidate many of the trusts and reduce the number of the gates. In 1864 the systematic reduction of the trusts was commenced in England and from one thousand to eighteen hundred miles of turnpikes were made free each year, Parliament making appropriations to help in the maintenance and authorizing local borrowings to pay off the debts of the trusts. From the annual reports of the local government board it is seen that at the close of 1864 there were in existence ten hundred and forty- eight trusts controlling 20,589 miles of turnpikes. By 1886 the number of trusts had been reduced to twenty with seven hundred miles of roads, and in 1890 seventy-seven miles were controlled by five trusts. By the end of 1896 the last turnpike had vanished from English soil. To the evils of the English turnpike system, however, the world owes the greatest improvements in road making, as both Telford and Macadam developed their systems in efforts to improve the English roads. It is said that many of the trusts which were benefited by Macadam's personal services never even paid his expenses, for which he was subsequently partially reimbursed by Parliament. Originally the maintenance of roads was an obligation entirely on the local community. Later it was sought to collect the cost of the neces- sary repairs from those using the roads, from which effort the turnpikes resulted. In their turn the turnpikes fell from popular favor and again the entire burden of maintenance came upon the communities. Now we are once more approaching the principles of 1663, when, with the imposition of license fees upon automobile operators and the applica- tion of the proceeds to the maintenance of state highways, in accordance with the laws of Massachusetts and several other states, we are seek- [6] ■ "A? /l ''Ml) lil ^^ wf v^^ o a o ■H "5 -6 2 3 s ^ T3 O «* « o -O — ! 5 « o *- U S o o D w > u ►3 w < J PL, ^clS? • • 4ft$ ft , J ' "A i ■ ■ s ■« tic BQ < c -) Dh ■MB ■'#.-# z «! S h O H CO «: w H € a > o s ~BB C B-, THE TURNPIKES OF NEW ENGLAND ing, and with as little success as in ancient days, to place the burden upon those responsible for the destruction of the roads. The first American turnpike efforts in Virginia, Maryland, and Con- necticut followed the precedent established by Charles II and sought to provide for the needed repairs of roads already built by local com- munities, by collecting tolls from those using them. Virginia led the way by the enactment of chapter xxx of the Acts of 1785. Because of the great amount of travel over the roads lead- ing from the town of Alexandria to the northwestern parts of the state, extensive repairs had been found necessary for which the re- sources of the territory traversed were inadequate. Hence nine com- missioners were appointed and instructed to erect, or cause to be set up and erected, one or more gates or turnpikes across the roads, or any of them, leading into the town of Alexandria from Snigger's and Vesta's Gaps. The receipts from tolls were to be applied in clearing and repairing the roads described and the road between Georgetown and Alexandria. A special tax was levied on the counties through which the roads passed in addition to the usual obligations to work on the roads, which still remained in force. Snigger's or Snicker's Gap is one of the passes through the Blue Ridge Mountains, by which travelers can go from eastern Virginia to the valley of the Shenandoah River, over which passage was formerly had by means of Castleman's Ferry. At its eastern end lies the little village of Bluemont, about twenty miles southerly from the Potomac. As an existing road was thus taken and made subject to toll, the only construction required being the erection of the gates, it is safe to say that the Virginia turnpike, or turnpikes, were in operation by the begin- ning of the year 1786. January 1, 1793, the following appeared in the Baltimore newspaper. A MILL FOR SALE. A valuable mill, built within the last year, situated on Tide Water, within one mile of Alexandria by land, and less than two by water, and within call of the Turnpike Road, down which all the wheat, from an extensive and fertile Country, intended for the Alexandria Market, is conveyed. A heavy travel passed over this road for several years and the lenient tolls which the legislature saw fit to impose were insufficient to properly maintain the surface. In 1795 certain parties represented to the legis- lature that the heavy traffic had worn out the old turnpike and that it was necessary to provide " an artificial bed of pounded or broken stone," the expense of which was too great to be met by the usual methods and should only be assumed by private enterprise. So the " Fairfax and Loudon turnpike-road company " was incorporated on the twenty-sixth of December, 1795, and given the privilege of reconstructing the old [7] THE TURNPIKES OF NEW ENGLAND turnpike from " Little River, where the present turnpike crosses it, to Alexandria," along a route which should " combine shortness of dis- tance with the most convenient and practicable ground." This most satisfactory specification for a location first appeared in the incorpora- tion of the Lancaster company in Pennsylvania and was later copied in the acts of New Hampshire and Kentucky. But the Fairfax and Loudon company found the task too great and nothing was accom- plished under that charter. January 28, 1802, a charter was granted to the " President, Directors, and Company of the Little River Turnpike Company " to build from " the intersection of Duke Street, in Alexan- dria, with the District of Columbia line, to the ford of Little River where the turnpike road now crosses it." Under this charter, with the help of the state of Virginia, which appropriated the " muster fines " in 1805 to the purchase of one hundred shares of stock, the old road was rebuilt and operated as a toll road for over ninety years. Little River crossed the old turnpike in the very center of the village of Aldie, and there the new company ended its labors. From Aldie to Fairfax the new road was laid out in almost a single straight stretch and there are but few and slight angles between Fairfax and Alexandria. To-day it is known as the " Little River Turnpike." Commencing in Alexandria it follows the present Duke Street and its extension, until, approaching Fairfax, it has degenerated into a road poorly maintained and only for the use of residents along its borders. Through Fairfax it is the main street and passes between the old brick tavern and the courthouse, in which is kept the will of George Washington. Westerly from the courthouse, the Washington trolley cars follow its edge for three quarters of a mile, after which the old turnpike again becomes the neglected country road. At the foot of the hill it splashes in a ford across the brook where ducks swim peacefully within the limits of the road. At different places where the road passes over steep hills, narrow cuts sufficient for only one vehicle have been dug in the side, often fifteen feet deep. Collection of tolls ceased on this first American turnpike May II, 1896, on which date the board of supervisors of Fairfax County ac- cepted the deed of the road. In April, 1787, the general assembly of Maryland, by chapter xxiii, appointed various commissioners to lay out and make roads from Baltimore to Reisters-town, from Reisters-town to Winchester-town, from Reisters-town toward Hanover-town as far as the line of Balti- more County, and from Baltimore to York-town. This procedure was entitled " An Act for Laying-out Several Turnpike-roads in Balti- more County " and was a most voluminous document, providing in all details for procedure and protection of the road when finished. Within certain limits the commissioners were to be allowed to fix the rates of toll to be collected at the gates authorized in the act, but a peculiar provision appeared that no one should be liable, more than once in [8] THE TURNPIKES OF NEW ENGLAND twenty-four hours, to toll at the Baltimore gate, nor oftener than once in twelve hours at the others. Very little seems to have been done under this act, and in November, 1790, a new board of commissioners was appointed by legislative act. The new men went to work with more vigor and, under date of March 18, 1791, published their first ac- count, as required under the act of 1787, in the Maryland Journal. They showed the collection of £4467 7s. 1 id., none of which came from tollgates, and the expenditure of over £4570. In March, 1793, their account showed the expenditure of £4682 12s. 6d., more than £1286 in excess of the collections from the counties. Still no report appeared of collections at tollgates. But September 25, 1793, the following advertisement was prepared for publication and duly appeared in the Maryland Journal: Notice The Commissioners of Review of the Turnpike-Roads of Baltimore County give this public notice, that, in virtue of the powers vested in them by an Act of the Gen- eral Assembly of Maryland, passed at Spring Session, 1787, entitled "An Act to layout several Turnpike Roads in Baltimore County," they have ordered to be erected and set up, at the intersection (nearly opposite Mr. Lawson's seat) of the road leading from Ridgely's-Cove and the Turnpike Road from Baltimore and Reisters-town, the second Monday in October next, one turnpike-gate, for the pur- poses in said Act mentioned, under the rules and regulations following: For every Coach, Chariot, or Phaeton 2 Pence Every Wagon, Stage Wagon or Stage Coach 5^/2 " Every two-wheeled Carriage 3 Every horse or horse and rider 1 Every score of hogs or sheep (and at the same rate for a greater or less number) H-/4 Every score of cattle (and at the same rate for a greater or less number) 22^ " Every Wagon with wheels of the breadth of nine inches . . . . O OO Baltimore, September 25, 1793. After this the published accounts showed collections at the gate or gates, the one appearing in 1801 naming the "Middle Gate," the "York. Gate," and the " Frederick Gate." The foregoing plainly shows that the first tollgate in Maryland was put in operation in October, 1793, by which time Connecticut had had two gates in operation for a year and more. In 1795, 1796, 1797, and 1798 efforts were made to stimulate the work of the commissioners but with indifferent success, and in 1804 the state abandoned all efforts to follow the lead of' Charles II and gave over the building of turnpikes to private capital. A previous unsuccessful effort to do this had been made in 1797, when corporations were formed to build the Reisters-town and Frederick roads. Three corporations for turnpike building were formed by an act passed in November, 1804, the preamble of which said: [9] THE TURNPIKES OF NEW ENGLAND Whereas it is represented to this General Assembly that by the several laws here- tofore passed, on this subject, the desirable object contemplated by the legislature has not been obtained, and the public expectation almost entirely frustrated: There- fore, etc. The routes allowed were: (i) from Baltimore to Boonsboro, through Frederick-town; (2) Baltimore through Reisters-town to the Pennsyl- vania line in the direction of Hanover, or through Westminster to the Pennsylvania line in the direction of Petersburg; and (3) from Balti- more to the Pennsylvania line in the direction of York-town. By these corporations the road-building program was carried to completion although several years were required to do it. The Reisters-town Turn- pike was completed January 8, 18 10, at a cost of " the enormous sum of $638,000," or nearly $11,000 a mile. According to an executive communication from Governor Goldsborough to the legislature in December, 1818, its business had been as follows: Year . . . 1813 1814 1815 i8i6(i4mos.) 1817 Receipts . . $46,533.91 $27,326.06 $38,486.96 $68,464.81 $60,515.65 Expenses . . 12,580.96 I5.097-52 9,509.67 23,898.36 20,890.29 Dividends . 3% 2% 6% 6% 6% On the construction of the Baltimore and York Turnpike, Baltimore County imposed its convict labor, for which it assessed the corporation $25,000 payable in stock. The management advised the governor of its belief that it derived less than one fifth of that value. The turnpike from Baltimore to Frederick-town is to be noted as it later formed the easterly end of the Great National Turnpike from Baltimore to Ohio, of which more will appear in subsequent pages. An extensive turnpike development followed all over Maryland and many gates are collecting in this year, 19 19. Within the city limits of Baltimore, gates existed as late as 19 12, about which time the last one in the city was abolished. The second and third turnpikes in America were in Connecticut, where the Mohegan Road, between New London and Norwich, was made subject to toll in the early part of 1792, and the Old Post Road, in Greenwich, which was similarly treated in the fall of the same year. But the Virginia and Connecticut proceedings just noted were govern- ment affairs, as commissioners were appointed to manage them in behalf of the counties in which each lay, and the gross receipts were to be devoted to the maintenance and repair of the roads. Similar pro- cedure has been noted in Tennessee, where, in 1801, a gate was estab- lished on the old road through Cumberland Gap. In 1804 North Carolina provided for a fourteen-mile road through the Cherokee lands, payment for building the same to be made by a fifteen-year privi- lege of collecting tolls. Aside from the instances mentioned, the Ameri- can practice was to allow the building of turnpikes to be done by private capital, which took its own risks and derived its own profits, leaving [10] Govans, Maryland, site of Tollgate Just out of Baltimore Old York Road in Baltimore Plate VI — Baltimore and York Turnpike 3 JS a ~ S s < e _^ •— ,a is a < W 4_t J £ o >• tf "^ 3 <: — <3 J-? c ~ •— 4> u u M rt c ^ '04 E z * D H M u B w a w a! fe a z _o w H R« fc •< CJ "o £ ?J .=! S S 4J 3 s 5 •~ 3 3 "O w o THE TURNPIKES OF NEW ENGLAND no obligations nor contingencies on the local governments. For the first instance of such provision we have to turn to Pennsylvania. THE LANCASTER TURNPIKE This road is generally and properly mentioned as the first extensive turnpike that was completed in the United States. It was built by the Philadelphia and Lancaster Turnpike Company, which was incorporated by the governor of Pennsylvania April 9, 1792. A road had existed previous to the year 17 14 by which the early settlements in the Conestoga and Susquehanna valleys were reached from Philadelphia. This was known as the " Great Canastoga Road " and ran considerably south of the present location of the city of Lan- caster, which had not, at that early date, been settled. In the old days a distinction seems to have been drawn between certain classes of roads, the higher grade being known as " King's Highways." These were roads which were laid out by the governor and provincial council instead of by the county authorities, to whom was left the layout of the more common roads. On January 29, 1730-31, a petition was made for a king's highway from Philadelphia to the new town of Lancaster. After many delays and much legal proceedings this road was completed about 1 74 1. In 1767 an attempt was made to straighten this road on the true turnpike principles of later days. A survey of the old road was made and then an absolutely straight line was run from one end to the other, and studies were made as to the feasibility of constructing a new road on that direct alignment. The committee to whom this question was submitted concluded that it was not practicable to build on an absolutely straight line, on account of the steep grades which would be met on the various hills, but they recommended the location of a new road with but little variation from it. Nothing appears to have been done in consequence of this report and the old king's high- way remained a very poor road, for we have records that in 1773 it was dangerous on account of the stumps still in it. Agitation was re- newed soon after the close of the Revolutionary War and a resolution was introduced in the assembly of Pennsylvania about 1786 looking to the opening of the new and improved road. The first result of the agitation was authority granted September 22, 1787, to Albert Witmer to build a toll bridge over Canastoga Creek on the old king's highway. This bridge, promptly erected, was of wood. It later be- came part of the turnpike and soon proved inadequate. A stone bridge 540 feet long and 19 feet wide was erected in 1800. This bridge, con- sisting of nine semicircular arches with the roadway rising to the middle of the stream, is still standing. The early travel was very heavy, the tolls frequently reaching twenty-five to thirty dollars a day, while the collections from July, 1818, to August, 1827, when the bridge became free, amounted to $22,060.98^. ["J THE TURNPIKES OF NEW ENGLAND Financing the construction of the road was the puzzle, but it was finally solved by leaving the matter for private investment by a business corporation. As will be found in a subsequent page, business corpora- tions were unknown at that time and in the newly formed national and state governments no power existed possessing the prerogatives of the Crown for issuing charters for such purposes. It is interesting to note in the case of the Philadelphia and Lancaster Turnpike Company that an act of the assembly gave the governor power to incorporate the company. As already stated, the charter was issued April 9, 1792. The corporation was formally organized on July 24 of the same year and subscriptions for the stock were called for from the public. The stock was largely oversubscribed. One witness writing at the close of the day said that he had " never seen men so wet with sweat in the harvest field as some were in the crowd to-day who subscribed to the turnpike road." Great enthusiasm was recorded by other people, one of whom wrote that his office had been deserted all day, as all his clerks and apprentices had absented themselves to subscribe for stock and watch the later developments. The road was practically finished in 1794 and open for travel, al- though work continued through 1796, in which year it was necessary to raise additional capital. An advertisement appeared in the Lancaster Journal February 5, 1796, giving notice for subscriptions for one hundred additional shares of stock at $300 each. Payment of $100 down was to be made, and $66^ at thirty, sixty, and ninety days with interest. No one was to be allowed to subscribe for more than one share on the same day. 1 The road occupied, when completed, sections of the old highway rich in colonial history, the rest of which still runs parallel to the turn- pike for quite a distance but loses its identity at the terminal points. Nine tollgates were erected from three to ten miles apart at which tolls were assessed by the mile. The last gate was on Witmer's Bridge, in Lancaster, at which the toll allowed for sixty-one miles of road was collected from all but through travelers. The list of tolls was very complete, containing forty-six items, empty wagons passing at one half the rate of loaded ones of the same size. Disputes were evidently anticipated, as the toll list went into detail regarding mixed teams and provided that two oxen should be considered as equivalent to one horse and that a mule and a horse should pay equal toll. A percentage was added to all tolls during the winter months. The rates of toll are especially interesting for the scientific graduation established for the various widths of wagon tires, and consideration given to cases in which the wheels did not track. This is shown in the table on the following page. 1 "The Old Turnpike," paper read before the Lancaster County Historical Society by A. E. Witmer, November 5, 1897. [12] Old Tollhouse Big Conococheague Bridge Plate VIII — Hagerstown and Conococheague Turnpike Lock and Feeder above Chain Bridge Lock near Georgetown, D. C. Lock near Sharpesburg, Maryland Plate IX — Chesapeake and Ohio Canal T HE TURNPIKES OF NEW ENGLAND Philadelphia and Lancaster Turnpike Rates of Toll in Cents per Mile for Different Widths of Tires Every Cart or Wagon other than Market Cart or wagon with wheels: Number of Horses I 2 3 4 5 6 i. Not exceeding four inches 2% 4V2 &% 9 H% J 3V2 2. Exceeding four inches and not exceeding seven, or which being four shall roll seven inches 1 2 3 4 5 6 3. Exceeding seven inches and not exceed- ing ten or which being seven shall roll ten inches lV 2 2% 3 3% 4I/2 4. Exceeding ten inches and not exceeding twelve, or which being ten shall roll twelve inches 1 1% 2 2 Vu 3 5. Exceeding twelve inches or which being twelve shall roll fifteen inches ... 0.6 0.9 1.2 1.5 1.8 In a letter written by the president of the corporation in 1797 it was stated that the road had then cost $444,753.72, to which should be added certain unliquidated contracts estimated at $8000 and the cost of the bridge over Brandywine Creek. The final cost of the road ap- pears to have been as follows: Original issue of stock 1000 shares @ $300.00 $300,000.00 Second " " " 200 " " 300.00 60,000.00 Third " " " 100 " " 300.00 30,000.00 Tolls collected and applied to construction , . . . . 75,000.00 $465,000.00 or about $7450 a mile, the length of the turnpike being 62 miles, 135.95 perches. The road originally was more direct than it is at the present day. The Pennsylvania Railroad closely parallels it and near Philadelphia occupies its site in one or two places. It was macadamized for its whole length with stones broken to pass through a two-inch ring. It seems that paving was given a practical test on this road, for at a point six miles east of Lancaster the turnpike was paved for its entire width for a length of one hundred feet, but such construction proved too expensive and was not continued. 1 On October 1, 1867, the first three miles of the Lancaster Turnpike, being the present Market Street, west of the Schuylkill River, in Phila- delphia, was given to that city. An act of 1871 is interesting, as it provides the usual list of exemptions found in the early New England turnpike acts. It seems incredible, but apparently no free list had ex- isted up to that date. In 1872, under authority of an act passed in 1866, the corporation divided its road into three sections for the pur- pose of selling the same, and in March, 1873, the section between 1 "The Old Turnpike," Witmer. [13] THE TURNPIKES OF NEW ENGLAND Lancaster and Newport was sold for $10,000 to parties who later formed the Lancaster and Williamsburg Turnpike Company to con- tinue turnpike operations. This company seems to have operated but a short time. In 1876 all of the turnpike within the limits of Coates- ville was sold to that borough for one dollar. In March, 1880, all east of Paoli was bought by the Lancaster Improvement Company for $8000 and in November of the same year a considerable portion east from the twenty-sixth milestone was abandoned. The last section of the old road remaining subject to toll and under control of the corporation was that between Coatesville and Exton, and that was sold to the Philadelphia and Chester Valley Street Railway Company by whom it was made free about 1 90 1. Having no more road to operate and no further reason for its existence the corporation, upon its own petition dated February 25, 1902, was dissolved. 1 In 1905 York Road, in Philadelphia, was still a turnpike with three tollgates within the city limits, but at the close of that year the gates were abolished and the road became free. In the latter part of 1909 seven hundred and eighteen miles of turnpike were in operation in twenty-one of Pennsylvania's sixty-seven counties, the same being owned by one hundred and seven different corporations. In response to a resolution of the United States senate, adopted March 2, 1807, Albert Gallatin, secretary of the treasury, caused to be made a thorough investigation of the works of internal improvement, contemplated and completed, throughout the country. His report, 2 transmitted on the fourth of April, 1808, contained much interesting data on the turnpikes which were then serving the public needs. The section is here reproduced. Turnpike, or Artificial Roads A great number of artificial roads have been completed in the eastern and middle States, at an expense varying from less than $1,000 to $14,000 a mile. The labor bestowed on the least expensive species consists in shortening the distance, diminish- ing the ascent of hills, removing rocks, levelling, raising, and giving a proper shape to the bed of the roads, draining them by ditches, and erecting bridges over the inter- vening streams. But the natural soi} of the road is used, instead of covering it with a stratum of gravel or pounded stones. It appears, by one of the papers marked D., under which letter will be found all the information which has been obtained respecting roads, that fifty turnpike com- panies have been incorporated since the year 1803, in the State of Connecticut alone; and that the roads undertaken by those companies are all of that description. Thirty-nine of those roads, extending together 770 miles, are completed. The most expensive is that from New Haven to Hartford, which has cost $79,261 ; or, the dis- tance being 34% miles, at the rate of $2,280 a mile ; but about $18,000 of the capital have been expended in the purchase of the land through which the road is carried. The nett income on this road, deducting the annual repairs and expenses, from the annual tolls, does not exceed $3,000. Of six of the roads which, together, extend 120 miles, no account has been received. The other thirty-two extend, together, 615 1 "The First Long Turnpike in the United States," Landis. 2 State Paper No. 250, 10th Congress, 1st Session, reprinted as Document No. 499, 6lst Con- gress, 2d Session. [14] THE TURNPIKES OF NEW ENGLAND miles, and have cost only $340,000; or, on an average, at the rate of $550 a mile; and it seems that the aggregate of annual tolls on the whole is $86,000; from which, deducting the annual repairs and expenses, amounting to $48,000, leaves a nett in- come of $38,000, or of about 1 1 per cent, on the capital expended. No particular account has been received of the roads in the other eastern States, but it is known that besides some of a similar description with those of the State of Connecticut, several of a more expensive kind have been completed, particularly in Massachusetts. The cost has varied from $3,000 to $14,000 a mile, and amongst artificial roads of the first grade may be mentioned those from Boston to Providence, to Salem and to Newburyport. These are all covered with an artificial stratum of gravel or pounded stones, and finished in the most substantial manner. Great ex- pense has also been incurred, in order to shorten the distance without exceeding the angle of ascent, which is fixed at five degrees ; and it is stated that the road to New- buryport, thirty-two miles in length, and in which marshes and rocks presented con- siderable obstacles, has cost $400,000, or at the rate of $12,500 a mile. Those expensive roads, however useful and permanent, appear to be much less profitable than those of Connecticut. The Salem road is said to yield six per cent. ; another road has been stated as yielding eight per cent. The income of all the others in the State of Massachusetts is said not to exceed on an average three per cent. ; and that of the road from Boston to Newburyport amounts to no more than two per cent. A greater capital has been vested in turnpike roads in the State of New York than in any other. In less than seven years sixty-seven companies have been incor- porated, with a nominal capital of near $5,000,000, for the purpose of making more than three thousand miles of artificial roads ; and twenty-one other companies have also been incorporated with a capital of $400,000, for the purpose of erecting twenty- one toll bridges. Although no particular account has been received either of the capital actually expended or of the annual amount of tolls, or of the materi- als of the roads, it is known that great progress has been made ; and it has been stated that nine hundred miles of road were already completed by twenty-eight com- panies, whose capital amounted to $1,800,000, and who had two hundred miles more of road to finish. Those roads extend in every direction, but particularly from every town or vil- lage on the North river, westwardly and northwestwardly towards the waters of the Susquehannah and those of the great lakes. The most expensive is that from Albany to Schenectady, fourteen miles long, and which has cost at the rate of $10,000 a mile. Near one hundred and forty miles of roads extending westwardly from Albany and Schenectady, appear to have cost at the rate of $2,500 or $3,000 a mile. Trie ex- pense of all the others does not seem, on an average, to exceed $1,250 a mile. More detailed information has been obtained respecting the roads in New Jersey, Pennsylvania, and Maryland. In New Jersey a turnpike road has lately been completed from Trenton to Brunswick. The distance is twenty-five miles ; the greatest angle of ascent, three degrees; and the road is nearly in a straight line, the only considerable obstruction being the " sand hills," through which it was necessary to dig at the depth of thirty feet, in order not to exceed the angle of ascent. The road is thirty-six feet wide, fifteen feet of which are covered with about six inches of gravel. A few wooden bridges, with stone abutments, and piers have been erected across the intervening streams. The whole expense is stated at $2,500 a mile. From Brunswick the road will be extended to Elizabethtown, and the work is now progressing. Another road has been undertaken in the same State from Brunswick to Easton on the river Dela- ware. The distance is forty-three miles, of which eleven have been completed at an expense of $40,000. This road will be more expensive than the preceding, both on account of the ground, the bridges being more numerous, and the Blue Ridge (Mus- conekong mountain) intervening, and because a more substantial facing or greater thickness of gravel is requisite. The funds of the company are exhausted. [15] THE TURNPIKES OF NEW ENGLAND In Pennsylvania artificial roads of the most substantial kind have been completed or are progressing from Philadelphia in sundry directions. The principal are to Bristol and Trenton, twelve miles of which are completed ; to Germantown and Perkioman, with two branches to Willow Grove and to Chest- nut Hill ; and to Lancaster and Columbia, with a branch to Harrisburg. The distance from Philadelphia to Perkioman is twenty-five miles and a quarter ; the two branches extend one ten miles, and the other seven miles and a half ; making together near forty-three miles. The angle of ascent is four degrees; the breadth of the road fifty feet, of which twenty-eight feet, having a convexity of fifteen inches, are covered with a stratum either of gravel eighteen inches thick, or of pounded stones twelve inches thick. One-half of the stones forming the lower part of the stratum are broken into pieces not more than five inches in diameter ; the other half, or upper part of the stratum consists of stones broken into pieces not more than two inches and a half in diameter, and this difference in the size of the stones is repre- sented as a considerable defect. Side or summer roads extend on each side of the gravel or stone road. The five miles next to Philadelphia have cost at the rate of $14,517 a mile ; the other twenty miles and a half at the rate of $10,490 a mile. Yet there were no natural impediments, and only small bridges or culverts were neces- sary. The capital expended on these twenty-five miles and a half is $285,000; the tolls amount to $19,000; the annual repairs and expenses to $10,000; the nett income to about $9,000, or little more than three per cent, on the capital expended. The distance from the Schuylkill at Philadelphia to Lancaster is sixty-two miles and a quarter; exclusively of the side or summer roads. Twenty-four feet of the bed of the road are covered with a stratum of pounded stones, eighteen inches thick in the middle of the road, and decreasing each way to twelve inches. The valley hills are the most elevated and steep on the road ; but the angle of ascent nowhere exceeds four degrees. Stone bridges have been erected across all the intervening streams. That across the river Conestogo, consisting of nine arches, is private property ; and the most expensive built by the company is that across the Brandywine, consisting of three arches of solid masonry, and which cost $12,000. The capital of the company amounted to $360,000 ; but this being insufficient, it became necessary to apply a con- siderable portion of the tolls to the completion of the work. The whole expense amounts to $465,000, or at the rate of about $7,500 a mile. The annual tolls have not yet exceeded $25,000, and the annual repairs and expenses are estimated at $13,000, leaving a net income of about $12,000. The prospect of an increased profit, derived from the proposed extension of the road has, however, raised the price of that stock nearly to par. The Lancaster road, the first extensive turnpike that was completed in the United States, is the first link of the great Western communication from Philadelphia. It has been extended ten miles westwardly to Columbia on the Susquehannah, and another branch is now progressing northwestwardly to Harrisburg, also on the Sus- quehannah, and thirty-six miles from Lancaster. The State of Pennsylvania has also incorporated two companies in order to extend the road by two different routes as far as Pittsburg on the Ohio, and near three hundred miles from Philadelphia. The southern route following the main post road passes by Bedford and Somerset. The northern route passes by Huntingdon and Frankstown, the highest point to which the Juniata branch of the Susquehannah is navigable. To this route the State has authorized a subscription of $100,000. Other roads in a northwest direction from Philadelphia towards the Genesee, and Presque Isle on Lake Erie, are also progressing, and have been encouraged by the subscriptions or donations of the Legislature. They are generally on a much less expensive plan than those in the direction of Pittsburg. A section of thirty miles from Lausanne on the Lehigh to Nescopeck on the Susquehannah has been com- pleted at the expense of $36,000 by a company ; and it is intended to extend it sev- enty miles further to Newton on the Tioga branch of the Susquehannah. [16] THE TURNPIKES OF NEW ENGLAND In Maryland, roads extending from Baltimore in various directions have lately been undertaken by several companies, and are rapidly progressing. On the Falls Turnpike, which extends, in a northerly direction, about four miles of a road twenty- two feet wide, covered with a stratum of pounded stones ten inches thick, and having an ascent not exceeding four degrees, have been completed at the rate of $7,500 a mile. The " Reistertown " turnpike, in a northwestwardly direction, extends sixteen miles to that village, whence two branches, extending one nineteen and the other twenty-nine miles further, will enter Pennsylvania at two different places. The road, twenty-four feet wide, is covered with a stratum twelve inches thick of pounded stones not more than three inches in diameter. The angle of ascent does not exceed three degrees and a half. Ten miles have been completed at the expense of $10,000 a mile, and the work is progressing. The capital of the company amounts to $420,000. The capital of the " Fredericktown " turnpike company amounts to $500,000, and the company is authorized to open the great western road as far as Boons- borough, beyond the Blue Ridge, and sixty-two miles from Baltimore. The angle of ascent will not exceed four degrees ; the road has a convexity of nine inches ; and on a breadth of twenty-two feet is covered with a stratum ten inches thick of pounded stones not exceeding three inches in diameter, over which are spread two inches of gravel or coarse sand. The first twenty miles next to Baltimore have cost at the rate of $9,000, and the next seventeen miles are contracted for at the rate of $7,000 a mile. The distance from Boonsborough to Cumberland, at the foot of the Allegheny mountains, following the present road, is seventy-three miles; and, although the company is not yet authorized to extend the turnpike to that place, the ground has been surveyed, and it is ascertained that the road may be continued with an angle of ascent not exceeding four degrees. The ascent of the road laid out by the United States from Cumberland to Brownsville on the Monongahela does not exceed five degrees, and the distance is seventy-two miles; making the whole distance of a turn- pike road from Baltimore to the navigable waters of the Ohio two hundred and seven miles. The distance from the city of Washington to the same spot on the Monongahela is some miles shorter, being, as has already been stated, the shortest communication between tide water and the navigable Western waters. South of the Potomac, few artificial roads have been undertaken. From Alex- andria one is now progressing, in a northwestwardly direction, towards Middleburg. Another has lately been commenced from Richmond to Ross's coal mine; but the only one which, so far as any accounts have been received, is completed, extends twelve miles from Manchester, opposite to Richmond, in a westwardly direction, to the coal mines of Falling creek. This road, thirty-six feet wide, is gravelled, and has cost $50,000; but the last four miles did not cost more than at the rate of $3,000 a mile. Yet it is sufficiently substantial, the route being very level, to admit wagons carrying four tons. The greater progress made in the improvement of roads in the northern parts of the Union must be principally ascribed to a more compact population, which renders those improvements more necessary, and at the same time supplies with greater facility the means of effecting them. The same difference is perceptible in the num- ber of bridges erected in the several States. In the Eastern States, and particularly Massachusetts, wooden bridges, uniting boldness to elegance, and having no defect but want of durability, have been erected over the broadest and deepest rivers. In the lower counties of Pennsylvania, stone bridges are generally found across all the small streams. Both in that State and at some distance eastwardly, bridges with stone piers and abutments, and a wooden superstructure, are common over wide rivers. Of these, the most expensive, and [17] THE TURNPIKES OF NEW ENGLAND which may be considered as the first in the United States, is the permanent Schuyl- kill bridge near Philadelphia, erected by a company at an expense of $300,000. Its length, including the abutments, does not exceed 750 feet, and it is supported only by two piers and the abutments; but those piers, 195 feet apart, are of the most solid workmanship, and one of them was sunk at a depth of more than 24 feet below low water. The bridge is 42 feet wide, and the wooden superstructure is enclosed and covered with a single roof. The want of bridges south of Pennsylvania, even on the main post road, is sen- sibly felt. One lately thrown across the Potomac, three miles above the city of Washington, and which, without any intervening piers, is wholly suspended to iron chains, extending from bank to bank, deserves notice on account of the boldness of its construction, and of its comparative cheapness. The principle of this new plan, derived from the tenacity of iron, seems applicable to all rapid streams of a moderate breadth. The movement continued long after the date of the above-quoted report, four hundred and one companies in all being incorporated in New York State alone, and nearly the entire territory east of the Mississippi became subject to some demands for toll before the rail- roads took up the burden of meeting the transportation requirements. On many Civil War maps, and in the accounts of many battles, will be found references to this or that turnpike, so the lone road, south of the Potomac, soon had company. EFFORTS OF THE UNITED STATES GOVERNMENT As the early settlers penetrated farther into the western wilds, leav- ing friends and relatives in the older districts, the government of the new republic found itself under obligations to maintain postal service with the new regions, and in that connection, faced the problem of providing sufficient roads in the districts where there was no state or county authority, nor inhabitants enough to provide the routes. So early in the nineteenth century we find the congressional records full of references to post routes and means of supplying the same. The road cut out by the army under General Braddock to the site of Pittsburgh, in 1755, for sixty years remained the only route through southwestern Pennsylvania, and continuations of it through south- eastern Ohio and Kentucky reached as far as New Orleans. Brad- dock's Road was indeed a spacious avenue of twelve feet in width, but farther west the routes were but Indian trails, and at the most, the few residents of the regions traversed could only keep the same clear of fallen trees. And as travel increased, the road cut by the ill-fated ex- pedition grew worse and worse each year, until it could no longer be considered a road at all. Before the admission of Ohio as a state the need of better roads from the coast to the western region was keenly realized, and, in the act of Congress conferring statehood on that territory, a proposition was submitted to the people for their acceptance, which provided for the application of a certain portion of the money received from the sale [18] THE TURNPIKES OF NEW ENGLAND of public lands in that state to the construction of roads connecting the navigable waters emptying into the Atlantic with the Ohio River, and for further roads through the new state. THE CUMBERLAND OR OLD NATIONAL ROAD The Cumberland Road first appears in the national senate in 1806, when Senator Uriah Tracy of Connecticut reported that the proceeds of land sales in Ohio had amounted to over six hundred and thirty thousand dollars, and recommended an appropriation of fifty thousand dollars for the building of a road from Cumberland, on the north bank, of the Potomac, to the Ohio River, a little below Wheeling. The measure at once secured the hearty support of Henry Clay, then just admitted to the senate to fill out an unexpired term, who, from that time on, was known as the warmest friend of the Cumberland Road. For the full consideration of the subject Mr. Clay introduced a resolution, which was adopted, calling on the secretary of the treasury for a full report of all works of internal improvement in contemplation, under construction, or completed within the United States. In compli- ance Secretary Gallatin submitted to the senate under date of April 4, 1808, the report from which we have already quoted at length. An appropriation of thirty thousand dollars for the purpose of having a survey and layout of the route made received President Jefferson's signature on the twenty-ninth of March, 1806. By the provisions of the bill the President was to appoint a commission of three to lay out the road, which was to be four rods wide; was to have a raised carriage-way in the middle of stone, earth, gravel, or sand, with ditches along the sides; while the inclinations of grade were in no case to exceed five degrees. Nothing more than the work of these commissioners was accomplished at this time, and for a few years the matter languished. A bitter controversy raged meanwhile over the constitutional right of the United States to build roads within the jurisdiction of any of its subordinate states, those finally in the minority claiming that such pro- cedure was a violation of states' rights. But for a time, at least, it became settled that the general government had a constitutional right to build and maintain roads where such were needed for the carrying of the mails. So, commencing in 18 10, a series of appropriations totaling $5,794,919.33 was commended, and construction of the road was soon under way. A contract covering the first ten miles was let in the spring of 181 1, at an average price of $7500 a mile, 1 and the further portions followed as fast as the successive appropriations would allow, until the road was finally completed to Wheeling in December, 1820, and to the Mississippi River in the early thirties. With the eastern terminus of 1 Richmond Stone, United States Department of Agriculture, Bulletin No. 17. [19] THE TURNPIKES OF NEW ENGLAND this road at Cumberland, on the Potomac River, the traffic was left to find its own way to the seacoast, which it naturally did down the river. With the growth of business over the road Baltimore awoke to the desirability of securing the trade for itself. Already the Baltimore and Frederick Turnpike offered its services as far west as Boones- boro, and its owners were willing to extend a little farther, but the rough unopened country west of the Big Conococheague Creek pre- sented too many difficulties. The opportunity came in 1812 when the charters of many of the Maryland state banks expired and renewal was sought. Opposition to the renewal was made until a compromise was effected, by which the banks of Baltimore, the Hagerstown Bank, the Conococheague, and the Cumberland Bank of Allegany secured their charter extensions to November 1, 1835, provided that they should form a corporation under the name of the " President, Managers, and Company of the Cumber- land Turnpike Road," and should build a turnpike from Cumberland to the west bank of Big Conococheague. The corporation was finally formed and a contract was made with John Davis to build the road for $460,000, or about $7930 a mile. In 18 17 the road was under con- struction and it was believed that the contractor was losing money. This left a gap between Big Conococheague Creek and Boonesboro and several efforts were made to provide the desired improved road across the interval. The Baltimore Liberty and Hagerstown Turnpike- Road Company which was incorporated in January, 181 6, to build from the Reisters-town Turnpike, at liberty, to Hagerstown, secured an ex- tension of its charter during the same month by which it was allowed to make its road from Hagerstown to the eastern terminus of proposed road of the Cumberland Company, but all this company was able to do in the next three years was to open about six and a half miles of road adjacent to Liberty, on which it was allowed to set up one gate. Although the Baltimore and Frederick Company secured authority, in 1 8 16, to extend its road to Big Conococheague, it is clear that it did not do so, as the heavy expense of the bridge over Monocasy Creek, for which bridge tolls had been refused by the assembly, had exhausted the company funds. At the December session of 18 16 a corporation was created under the name of Hagerstown and Conococheague Turnpike Company with power to build from " The Market Space in Hagerstown to the west bank of Conococheague." This was the corporation which Governor Goldsborough reported in 181 8 had built a bridge over Big Conoco- cheague and a turnpike thence to Hagerstown, but the governor evi- dently anticipated the completion of the bridge, for according to a tablet inserted in the parapet wall, it was built by Silas Harry in 18 19. The Big Conococheague bridge is crossed about halfway from Hagerstown to Clear Spring and is an imposing structure of five arches, which must have cost at least seventy-five thousand dollars by compari- [20] THE TURNPIKES OF NEW ENGLAND son with that over the Monocasy, which was built at an expense of fifty-six thousand. At its westerly end the road makes a most abrupt turn, almost square, to the left, and many serious accidents have oc- curred there since the old road has seen the high speed of automobiles. But improved through roads from Hagerstown to Baltimore were still incomplete, and it remained most desirable to connect with the Baltimore and Frederick at Boonesboro. All other efforts failing, the holdup of the banks was again perpetrated. January 30, 1822, the Boonesboro Turnpike Company was incor- porated to be composed of the banks of Hagerstown and all the Balti- more banks except the City Bank, in return for which the bank charters were extended to January 1, 1845. Not content with loading all this on the banks, a tax of two tenths of one per cent was levied on the paid-in capital of the turnpike corporation for school purposes. The road of this company was to extend from Boonesboro to Hagerstown, and was completed within two or three years. So the great Cumberland Road as finally built consisted first of the turnpike of the Baltimore and Frederick Corporation, reaching from Baltimore to Boonesboro, second of the bank-owned section from Boonesboro to Hagerstown, third of the turnpike and bridge of the Hagerstown and Conococheague Corporation from Hagerstown to Big Conococheague, fourth of the portion built by the banks to Cumber- land, and last of the great National Road itself. The portion east of Cumberland remained subject to toll until about 191 2. The enormous traffic which passed over the road from Cumberland to Wheeling, almost from the day of its opening, soon wore out the original surface, and heavy repairs became necessary. Congress, tiring of the large appropriations required for that purpose, sought to make the road self-sustaining and, in 1822, passed a bill by which tolls were established. This was promptly vetoed by President Monroe as being unconstitutional. The central government might build and maintain roads, but the imposition of tolls, involving the power to enforce collec- tion of the same, with various necessary protecting laws, he conceived as clearly illegal, although the several states concerned had previously passed acts ceding such rights to Congress. By 1834 the road was in dire need of repair, and the act of Congress of that year, which appropriated $300,000 to put it in order, also pro- vided that, when in good condition, the ownership of that portion east of the Ohio River should be transferred to the states of Virginia, Penn- sylvania, and Maryland, each having previously agreed to accept the same. It was later provided that as fast as the western extension was completed and put in good order it too should be surrendered to the respective states through which it lay. Each of the states, as it came into possession of the road, erected gates and enacted rates of toll to be collected, and tolls were collected in Ohio during the early years of the twentieth century. The last tolls on the eastern section were gath- t2i] THE TURNPIKES OF NEW ENGLAND ered in Maryland in 1878, after which the counties of Allegany and Garrett acquired that portion of the road and made it free. The last section under United States control was surrendered to the state of Illinois in 1856. The mail stages frequently covered the distance of twenty-six miles between Frederick and Hagerstown in two hours, and the through freight wagons from Baltimore to Wheeling made nearly as good time. The largest of the latter were mammoth affairs, capable of carrying ten tons, and drawn by twelve horses; the rear wheels, ten feet high, had tires a foot broad. The traffic was like a frieze, with an endless procession of figures. There were sometimes sixteen gaily painted coaches each way a day, and one could never look along the road with- out seeing a drove of cattle or sheep, while the canvas-covered wagons, with bows of bells over their horses' collars, traveled in groups which were seldom out of sight of each other. Some of the passes through the Alleghanies were as precipitous as any in the Sierra Nevada, and the mountains were as wild. Within a mile of the road the country was a wilderness, but on the highway the traffic was as dense and as con- tinuous as in the main street of a large town. 1 With the completion of the Baltimore and Ohio Railway to Cumber- land, the section of the old road east of that point lost most of its business, but the increased travel over the new railroad gave a great additional traffic over the portion to the west, which for four years, or until the railroad reached Wheeling in 1853, did an enormous business. The assistance which the Cumberland Road gave in opening the western territories for settlement is beyond computation, and it is fur- ther notable as the first recipient of government assistance to enter- prises of transportation. In Hulbert's " Historic Highways of Amer- ica " one entire volume is devoted to this road, its history being given in detail in most interesting manner. Many other roads were built, wholly or in large part, by the United States government, $3,200,000 being spent in this way prior to the Civil War. Among such were roads in Florida, one between Chicago and Detroit, and one leading into Arkansas from Memphis, all of which were of military necessity or needed for post routes, and from none of which was any profit derived. Only from canal companies' stocks did the national government ever seek to derive any dividends. Between 1825 and 1829, $1,800,000 was appropriated by Congress for the purchase of stock in the Chesapeake and Delaware Canal Com- pany; $1,000,000 for investment in that of the Chesapeake and Ohio Canal Company; $200,000 for the Dismal Swamp, and $233,500 for the Louisville, and Portland, Canal companies; and the United States seemed definitely committed to the policy of encouraging internal de- velopment in that manner. But $1,683,500 of the above-named ap- 1 "The Old National Pike," Harper's Monthly for November, 1879. [22] THE TURNPIKES OF NEW ENGLAND propriations were passed on the second of March, 1829, two days before John Quincy Adams gave up the seat of the President to Andrew Jackson and a reversal of many national policies occurred. The Baltimore and Ohio Railway was then under construction and meeting many difficulties in securing the needed money; and its pro- moters were fondly reciting the list of canal investments and hoping for equally good luck for themselves. But to the " Maysville Pike " in Kentucky was given the honor of making the test case under the new administration, by which it was settled that no more government money should be placed in private enterprises. THE MAYSVILLE PIKE In the effort to maintain communications with the infant settlements in Kentucky, Congress, in 1796, authorized Ebenezer Zane to cut out, and develop into a passable path, an old buffalo trail which passed from Wheeling through the sites of Zanesville, Lancaster, and Chillicothe to Aberdeen on the Ohio, opposite the little town of Maysville in Ken- tucky. From that place a pioneer road, also developed from buffalo trails, led through Kentucky and Tennessee to the lower Mississippi valley and to New Orleans. This path had never been a road, and with the earliest increase of passage over it, its condition soon became almost impassable. The Kentucky legislature sought in vain to have the general government improve its condition and made all the appro- priations it could afford itself for that purpose. In 1828 a bill was introduced in Congress to provide for the build- ing of a branch of the Cumberland Road from Zanesville through Maysville, to New Orleans, but it was defeated in the senate. In 1830 Kentucky created the Maysville, Washington, Paris, and Lexington Turnpike Road Company for the purpose of building a turn- pike through those towns, along the old route to New Orleans. As this was a route of much more than state importance, and was to serve the southern territory as the Cumberland Road had the western, its advocates did not easily abandon the hope of assistance from the na- tional treasury. The capital stock of the corporation was fixed at $300,000, of which the United States was to be allowed to subscribe for $150,000, while Kentucky pledged itself to take $25,000 of the same. An appropriation of $150,000 by the house of representa- tives, with which the secretary of the treasury was to subscribe for such stock for the benefit of the United States, was concurred in by the senate on May 15, 1830, but twelve days later was returned with an emphatic veto by President Jackson. He was opposed, he wrote, to any such expenditures until after the payment of the national debt, and even then he would have doubts of the constitutionality of the proceeding. The road was objected to as a local affair and not a mat- ter of national concern, but, since we have found it to be a part of a great [23] THE TURNPIKES OF NEW ENGLAND thoroughfare to the south and southwest, that objection does not seem to have been well founded. But the veto held and ended all hopes of government aid for such improvements, and the Maysville Pike became a household word throughout the United States if it did not derive the financial benefit which it had sought. But the Kentuckians were not to be entirely put down. If the United States would not help they would build their road anyway, so the turn- pike was built for the entire sixty-four miles from Maysville to Lexing- ton, with six covered bridges and thirteen tollhouses, and opened for travel in 1835. The cost per mile is said to have been $6662.50. Towns, counties, and state contributed each their part, Fayette County taking one hundred shares. The Maysville Pike again became famous through litigation and for settling a much-vexed question. One Dickey, a contractor for carry- ing the mails, conceived that he was entitled to travel free wheresoever his contract required and, being obliged to pay the regular tolls upon this road, brought suit against the corporation. The decision very properly held that the tolls were a part of his proper expense and that he was not entitled to wear out private property without compensating therefor. Especially did the court take such a view as the United States had refused to bear any part of the expense of building the road. On the Cumberland Road, under state operation, the mail stages were passed free, although payment was required for passengers riding on them, but that road was built in whole by the government which main- tained the postal routes, and it was but equitable to allow such a discrimination. 1 Zane's Trace, as the path opened by Ebenezer Zane from Wheeling to Maysville was called, became a turnpike for much of its length. From Wheeling to Zanesville it was incorporated into the Cumberland Road, and other turnpike corporations improved the balance of the route. Turnpike extensions were also provided beyond Lexington, reaching well down into Tennessee, but the railroads came before the entire route had been thus improved, and the day of the turnpike was over. NEW ENGLAND ROADS OF THE COLONIAL PERIOD For generations untold before the settlements at Plymouth and Bos- ton, the Indians followed certain trails which were later adopted by the white men for their early roads. Many predecessors of Mas- sasoit and King Philip had led their tribes along these trails on warlike expeditions or on annual trips to lakes and ocean to secure their sup- plies of fish and game, and consequently such paths, worn by the feet of countless braves and their Indian ponies, were well denned, often 1 Acknowledgment is due for much of the foregoing to an article, "The Maysville Pike," by Samuel M. Wilson, in the Ohio Archaeological and Historical Society's publications for 1909. [24] THE TURNPIKES OF NEW ENGLAND being depressed a foot or two below the adjoining ground. Many may be followed to-day, sometimes in comfort by automobile, but more often with jolting and shaking over little used country roads. The " Coast Path " between Boston and Plymouth; the " Kennebunk Road" following the coast northerly; the " Bay Road" from Boston through Stoughton to Taunton; the "Old Connecticut Path," through Wayland, Marlboro, Worcester, Oxford, and Springfield, to Albany and thence over the " Iriquois Trail" to Lake Erie; and the "Old Roebuck Road " through Dedham, East Walpole, Foxboro, North Attleboro, and Pawtucket, to Providence, were the principal routes of through travel which centered in Boston. The last, connecting with the " Pequot Path " which connected Providence with Westerly, formed a link in the chain of paths which reached from Boston to New York, over which a monthly post was established about 1690. That it was a rough and narrow road we know from Madam Knight who, in 1704, made the trip overland from Boston to New York, and recorded all her trials and discomforts for future generations to read. At the site of South Attleboro Village, on the " Old Roebuck Road," an- other trail branched off, following down the easterly shore of the See- konk and Providence rivers to the point where Bristol is now situated. This trail, with the " Old Roebuck Road," was one of the early colonial roads, a primitive ferry from Bristol completing the journey from Bos- ton to Newport. The restrictive policy of Great Britain toward her American colo- nies, by which she sought to prevent all intercolonial trade, reserving for her merchants at home the profits of such intercourse, almost en- tirely prevented the improvement and development of those early routes, and down to the outbreak of the American Revolution facilities for travel parallel to the seacoast were sadly lacking. The early settlements were naturally on the coast, and water com- munication, being most convenient, was generally used. As the fertile fields of the inland districts gradually drew settlers away from the ocean it obviously became necessary to have roads or paths connecting the new homes with the older settlements, and a " hit or miss " arrange- ment of rough roads, radiating from central points on the coast, resulted. Until well into the nineteenth century each village was an independent community, having its own church, blacksmith, shoemaker, gristmill, and country store. The farmer's clothing for the day and his bedding for the night were spun and woven by the women of his own family from the wool of his own sheep. The grain of the fields was harvested into barns on the same premises, or ground into meal or flour at the mill but a few miles distant. From the cattle of his own raising he laid away his winter's supply of meat, and the hides, dressed near-by, were made into shoes by the local artisan, who boarded with his patrons as he performed their work. Little need was there then for many roads. The one fixed journey was the weekly trip to church, [25] THE TURNPIKES OF NEW ENGLAND and the road which provided the facility for that generally led also to the gristmill and to the country store, where were kept the few articles needed in the farmer's daily life, which his own labor did not produce, and where also he could dispose of the surplus which his farm might yield. Long distance freight movement was absolutely impossible. The charge for hauling a cord of wood twenty miles was three dollars. For hauling a barrel of flour one hundred and fifty miles it was five dollars. Either of these charges was sufficient to double the price of the article and set a practical limit to its conveyance. Salt, which cost one cent a pound at the shore, would sometimes cost six cents a pound three hundred miles inland, the difference representing the bare cost of trans- portation. It was on these cheap articles of common use that the charge bore most heavily. It forced every community to live within itself. 1 Such were the facilities of transportation in the new United States of America about the year 1 800. Each of the thirteen original colonies was still sufficient unto itself and contained within itself, but a new era was dawning, and such conditions were fast becoming intolerable. The ambitious growth of our country made men realize that duplication of labor, whereby each little community did everything that was done in all of the others, was wasteful, and that a geographical division, by which each section would perform the part assigned to it by nature, was inevitable. Manufactures were just commencing on a larger scale, and the mills and factories were locating in situations convenient for the new methods of doing business, and the transportation requirements were far in ex- cess of the existing conveniences. Ohio, just freed by " Mad Anthony " Wayne from the perils of Indian warfare, was open for settlement, and a host of emigrants was hastening westward, bearing with them all their worldly possessions with which to furnish and maintain their new homes. What facilities were offered to these factories and travelers by the older communities, many of which were, by that time, approaching their bi-centennial? This question can best be answered by a brief recital of conditions of traveling and quality of roads previous to that time. The Boston News-Letter, in its issue of April 4, 1720, contained the following : These are to give notice that the stage coach between Boston and Bristol Ferry, for once a fortnight the six ensuing months, Intends to set out the first time from Boston at Five o'clock on Tuesday Morning the 1 2th currant, and be at the said Ferry on Wednesday Noon, when those from New Port may then there arrive, and be brought hither on Friday Night. Such as have a mind to go for Bristol or Rhode Island, may agree with John Blake at his house on Sudbury-street, Boston, for their passage to the said Ferry, at 25s. each person, with 14 Pounds weight of carriage and 3d. for every pound over. The route of that stage was over the " Old Roebuck Road," as previously described, as far as South Attleboro, and thence down the 1 " Railroad Transportation," Hadley. [26] THE TURNPIKES OF NEW ENGLAND easterly side of the Seekonk and Providence rivers to what is now the city of Bristol; and the comfort of the ride and condition of the roads may be deduced from the time required: from 5 A.M. Tuesday to 12 M. Wednesday, for a journey of fifty-five miles. That was the route to Newport, at that time the largest town in Rhode Island, and destined a few years later to overshadow New York as a commercial port. The first regular stage between Boston and Providence was es- tablished by Thomas Sabin of Providence in 1767. This ran weekly through Pawtucket and South Attleboro to North Attleboro, whence it followed the route of the present state highway through Wrentham and Walpole to Dedham, and on to Boston over the " Neck." The section of road between North Attleboro and Wrentham was publicly laid out about 175 1. Connecting with an old road which led from Dedham through Walpole and Wrentham toward Woonsocket, it soon replaced the " Old Roebuck Road," held its own against turnpike com- petition, and is to-day the favorite automobile route. The time con- sumed by Sabin's stage is not known, but an advertisement of a stage over the same route in 1800 gives us the running time then as ten hours. A weekly stage from Boston to Portsmouth appears to have been established in 1761, making the trip in two days. McMasters tells us that the first stage between New York and Philadelphia was not " set up " until 1756, and made the run then in three days. June 25, 1772, this advertisement appeared in the New York Journal: THE STAGE COACH between NEW YORK AND BOSTON Which for the first time sets out this day from Mr Fowler's Tavern (formerly kept by Mr Stout) at Fresh Water in New York will continue to go the course be- tween Boston and New York so as to be at each of those places once a fortnight coming in on Saturday evening and setting out to return by way of Hartford on Monday morning. The price to passengers will be 4d. New York or 3d. lawful Money per Mile and Baggage at a reasonable price. Gentlemen and Ladies who choose to encourage this useful new and expensive Undertaking, may depend upon good Usage, and that the Coach will always put up at Houses on the Road where the best Entertainment is provided. If on Trial, the Subscribers find Encourage- ment they will perform the Stage once a week, only altering the Day of setting out from New York and Boston to Thursday instead of Monday morning. Jonathan and Nicholas Brown. These dates plainly show us that communication, by land at least, between the colonies was very infrequent down to the outbreak of the Revolution, and the conclusion is readily reached that neither roads nor vehicles were such as to produce comfort. The large number of pleasure carriages in use in Boston in 1753 is accepted by some as evidence of the excellence of American roads at [27] THE TURNPIKES OF NEW ENGLAND that time, but the author is inclined to make the deduction as local as the reason. Undoubtedly the roads in Boston and immediate vicinity were good although, as we realize to this day, very crooked, but the effective radius of the horses, handicapped by the crude old-time carriages, must have been short, and the evidence is strongly to the effect that the interior roads were very bad. The moderate requirement as to width, found in the old Lancaster (Massachusetts) records, wherein it is stipulated that the proposed road shall be wide enough to make it " feasible to carry comfortably four oxen with four barrels of cider at once," suggests that it was necessary to spread the money out pretty thin. In his " Development of Transportation Systems " in the United States J. L. Ringwalt wrote : The general condition of transportation facilities up to the time of the Revolu- tion may be summarized in the statement that over the main portion of the territory now belonging to the United States, no improvement whatever had been effected except in the addition of the horse to the list of aids that might possibly be obtained ; that in all important and thickly settled portions of the country a marked improve- ment in available water craft was secured by the use of ships and the gradual or partial substitution of batteaux and boats of various descriptions for canoes ; and that a few sections had tolerably fair common roads. Permanent bridges over streams of considerable size were wholly unknown. The best substitute, at points of greatest importance, such as the Schuylkill at Philadelphia, were floating bridges, sustained by boats. Land travel was almost universally on horseback. The present century [19th] was well advanced before travelling in carriages became at all common, ladies as well as gentlemen making all their ordinary journeys on horseback, or in heavy farm wagons. And A. B. Hulbert, author of " The Historic Highways of America," says: Up to the time of the Revolutionary War, it can almost be said that nothing had been done toward what we to-day know as road building. During that war the interior roads were much improved as a matter of military necessity, and because the safety of water travel was men- aced by the British war vessels, but we have abundant testimony that our country started with a deplorable system of highways. Then the triweekly postriders between New York and Boston required six days in summer and nine in winter for the trip. During Washington's first term two stages and twelve horses were all that the business between those cities required, and they jogged along, covering forty miles a day in summer and twenty-five in winter. There were no bridges over the larger streams or many of the smaller ones, and the stage was " set over " by ferries propelled by oars or sails. In McMasters' " History of the United States," under the heading " The State of America in 1784," we read: Much of the delay in land travelling was caused by the wretched condition of the highways. On the best lines of communication the ruts were deep, the descents [28] THE TURNPIKES OF NEW ENGLAND precipitous. Travellers by coach were often compelled to alight and assist the driver to tug the vehicle out of the slough. Nor were such accidents limited to the desolate tracts of country. Near the great cities the state of the roads was so bad as to render all approach difficult and- dangerous. Out of Philadelphia a quagmire of black mud covered a long stretch of road near the village of Rising Sun. 1 There horses were often seen floundering in mud up to their bellies. On the York road long lines of wagons were every day to be met with, drawn up near Logan's Hill, while the wagoners unhitched their teams to assist each other in pulling through the mire. From the files of the New York Daily Advertiser for 1833 we glean the following: About 1786, a great many of the passengers between Boston and New York took sloops at New Haven for New York, and vice versa. Along the shore of the Sound, a considerable part of the road between New Haven and New York was extremely rough, rocky and uncomfortable, and in fact, in some places impassable for wheeled vehicles. So we will answer our question by saying that the facilities offered to the new factories and to the westward-bound travelers were prac- tically none, and that extensive additions, amounting to practically the creation of a new system, were demanded. But a country which had successfully waged an eight years' war for independence against the strongest power in the world, which had over- come the difficulties causing the Shay's Rebellion and the Whisky In- surrection, and had suppressed an instigated Indian uprising on its western frontier, was not to be daunted by any difficulties. When Alexander Hamilton made his investigation of the manufac- tures of the United States in 1791, he found a small but creditable number of industries all eager to expand. Of cotton he found but few factories, one of which was at Beverly, for which the first Massachusetts act of incorporation for manufacturing was passed on February 3, 1789. That industry, however, owing to the then recent inventions of Har- greaves and Arkwright, was about to make phenomenal advances. Watt's steam engine was invented about seven years prior to Hamilton's census, and the tubular boiler was only a year younger than the engine; but the mechanic arts had not then sufficiently advanced to render the commercial production of either practicable, so the new factories were obliged to derive their power from the precipitous rivers such as abound in New England. Such powers being found only at suitable falls of the rivers, it obviously followed that the mill locations were often remote from any of the existing roads or, if near them, accessible by highways used previously for neighborhood communication only and utterly unsuited for the heavy teaming of raw and finished materials of manu- facture. Then, too, the sale of the products demanded outlets to more than one of the small centers of that time, and roads of other destinations were required. But who was to pay for all these needed improvements ? 1 This was on the main road to New York. [29] THE TURNPIKES OF NEW ENGLAND Francis H. Kendall, writing in the New England Magazine, 1 says : To go back to the year 1800, we must imagine scattered villages within the terri- torial limits of most of the towns of to-day, with but little manufacturing, the in- habitants being usually farmers, depending largely on the products of their own acres for their sustenance and comforts. Very seldom indeed was a journey of much distance undertaken by these rural inhabitants to obtain things of a different sort to add to their comforts, and to barter and trade the products of their labor for " wet and dry goods," such as molasses, sugar, tea, rum, and cloths other than homespun woven. And to those of us who have attended the New England country town meetings, it is not hard to go further and imagine the difficulty of persuading those same " rural inhabitants " to vote appropriations for the building of roads to accommodate those " new-fangled factory people," for the towns on which fell the burden of providing those pub- lic necessities were too poor to stand the necessary expense. All of them were impoverished by their contributions of men, money, and sup- plies in the war for independence, and by the struggle of the next decade to maintain themselves against the commercial warfare waged by Eng- lish merchants. The states were in no better condition, and it was simply out of the question for the public funds to provide for the in- creased transportation. In this dilemma relief was found by the will- ingness of private citizens to invest their funds and energies in the construction of the roads, provided the same might be done as a con- servative business investment. How was this to be accomplished? As individuals they possessed no power by which they could lay their roads in the best locations; they could not take over or improve any portion of an old road, nor even cross one. Their collection of tolls, if they built a road, could not be enforced and, what was of more vital importance to them, any one of them would be personally liable for injuries or damages consequent upon any defect in the road, or action of their servants. Only from the state could they obtain such rights and desired immunity, and under conditions which would assure to the public the rights and privileges to it belonging. Such undertakings required combinations of capital in excess of any- thing then known in private affairs, and a permanent form of organiza- tion was necessary for the maintenance of such roads. Out of these difficulties grew the turnpike corporations, organized to construct the roads and to derive revenue from the collection of tolls. " Though the ownership is private the use is public," said one learned judge in deciding a turnpike case, and such public use involved the indiscriminate right of all individuals who paid the toll to travel over the roads in comfort and security at all times. On the other hand, in return for the tolls collected, the private owners were under obligations to maintain their roads constantly in proper and sufficient repair. 1 " Turnpike Roads of Middlesex County," August, 1903. [SO] THE TURNPIKES OF NEW ENGLAND THE FIRST PUBLIC-SERVICE CORPORATIONS In earliest English law we find special obligations imposed on those engaged in occupations on which the welfare of the public depended. The surgeon, from the scarcity of men qualified for that position, had to serve a large number and enjoyed a monopoly in his territory. The consequences, should he discriminate against any individual and refuse to attend him, would be far too serious, and hence he was obliged by law to serve alike all who stood ready to pay him. In similar relations to the public stood the tailor, smith, victualler, baker, innkeeper, miller, carrier, ferryman, and wharfinger. By competition and increased num- bers engaged in the occupations most of the above trades have been removed from the class of public service, but the obligation still rests upon the victualler and innkeeper; the carrier has been succeeded by the railroads, and the ferryman by the publicly maintained bridges. The organization of corporations for business purposes began about this time, having been unknown previous to the Revolution, and by far the larger part of the first twenty years of such productions were for the purposes of turnpikes and toll bridges. In old English law a cor- poration could only be formed by charter from the Crown or by a special act of Parliament. Upon the severance of the ties to the mother country such powers of the monarch ceased and they were never be- stowed upon any individual officer of the new government. General laws, by which corporations could be organized by complying with certain requirements and without a dispensation from some supreme authority, originated in New York in 1811, at which time laws for the formation of manufacturing companies were enacted, but it was many years before such privileges were extended to corporations for other purposes. So, at the opening of the turnpike era, there was but one power, — the legislature or assembly of the state, — which could grant a charter for a corporation; and as long as turnpikes were projected this condition continued in New England. The charters for turnpike purposes thus granted bore a general resemblance to each other; in fact many paragraphs were exactly copied and in but few were special features contained. To avoid the weary repetition involved in the duplicate recital of routine sections of turn- pike charters, the Massachusetts legislature, on March 16, 1805, en- acted them all into a general law and provided that such should be the rights, powers, and privileges of all turnpike corporations thereafter created. By this procedure Massachusetts anticipated by forty years the famous " Companies' Clauses Consolidation Act " of Great Britain. The other New England states, however, continued the long-drawn-out repetition with each company formed, although Vermont, in 1808, formed eight corporations in one act with the routine sections enacted once for all of them. Otherwise throughout the turnpike history of [31] THE TURNPIKES OF NEW ENGLAND New England we find a special act of a legislature creating each corporation. As the turnpike corporations relieved the local governments of their obligations to maintain certain highways, it was but proper that, some of the governmental powers should be conferred upon them. Hence they were granted the rights under the principle of eminent domain, that an obstinate landowner could not, by refusing to sell, block the great enterprise of such value to the public. They were further allowed to take over and incorporate into their roads various sections of what had long been public highways, freely open to all classes of travel but which, under the control of the turnpike corporation, became subject to the interruption of a gate and the demand for toll. Although the occasion for the last privilege was provided by the neglect or inability of the communities to keep the roads in proper repair, and the com- panies, in consideration, were bound to maintain properly such sections of road, the diversion from public to private control caused much hos- tility on the part of the local population, and was the cause of much litigation, and several times, of acts of violence. Many acts of the legislatures have been found, usually in behalf of a special corporation, providing penalties for damages done to the road or its gates. A popu- lar form of road was the " Shunpike," which was a short section leav- ing the turnpike on one side of a gate and joining it again on the other. Special and general laws were enacted to discourage such enterprises, and penalties were provided for evasions of toll by other means. What now seem pretty severe restrictions were also imposed upon the corporations. They were limited strictly to the building and main- taining of a road, and were not allowed to do any other act or thing. The Rhode Island acts generally permitted the companies to acquire and dispose of a reasonable amount of land, but in the other New England states the acquisition of a few acres, that the keeper of a re- mote tollhouse might cultivate a garden, was only allowed by special legislative act. When the Torrington Turnpike was laid out in Con- necticut, it entered the road of the Talcott Mountain Turnpike Corpora- tion at a flat angle, and the locating committee saw fit to include the little triangle in the layout of the road. But the assembly of 1805 declared that the road was only authorized to be four rods in width, that the taking of such additional land was illegal, and that the land was still owned by the party from whom the committee had sought to take it. Rates of toll were fixed in the charter, and the number of gates which the company was to be allowed to erect was also specified. The location of the gates was determined by the committee which was appointed to inspect the road after completion, and gates once located by such committee could only be moved by legislative consent. The location of the road was not intrusted to the judgment of those who were in- vesting their money and who could best be depended upon to act con- [32] THE TURNPIKES OF NEW ENGLAND scientiously, but was delegated to a committee appointed either by the legislature or by the judge of the county court. Since the turnpike was to be for the public service, the representatives of the public fixed its location, as had previously been done in the laying out of public roads. Corporations formed in the northern New England states did not have a charter provision fixing the amount of their capital stock. As the company was to be allowed to do only certain definite things, there seemed to be no need of limiting the amount of money which it might raise, and considering the difficulty experienced by nearly all the projects in getting financed there was no need. The later Vermont companies were chartered with a nominal capital which they were at liberty to increase to " any necessary amount." There were two forms of turnpike franchises in New England. One form, that most commonly found in Connecticut, was that in which an existing old road, badly in need of repairs and beyond the resources of the local authorities, was declared no longer a public highway and was presented to a turnpike corporation organized for the purpose of put- ting it in good order and thereafter maintaining it so. In the early Rhode Island corporations we find the same method, notably in the case of the first franchise granted there. In the petition for a charter for that company it was recited that the petitioners had raised a certain sum which they would expend in specified repairs, if they might have a desig- nated highway to be by them maintained as a turnpike. The second form of franchise was that in which the intention was to have an entirely new road built, cutting across fields and through forests hitherto untouched and shortening the distance between the terminal points. Naturally such a road often ran into some old road and not infrequently followed the course of one for a little way, but it was seldom that a deflection to one side was made to secure such a result. The Connecticut practice in providing for such a road was for the assembly to pass an act describing in more or less detail the location, or route of the proposed road, to declare that a road was thereby laid out along such described route, and to decree that the same should be a public highway. Then the newly established public character of the road would be stripped from it, and a corporation would be formed for the purpose of building the road and operating it as a turnpike. Under this method the towns were required to acquire and pay for the land and to build the bridges, the corporation merely building the road itself, unless a bridge of considerable size was necessary, in which case the franchise might require the corporation to build it. Naturally such procedure, putting heavy burdens on the towns which they were not willing to assume, for conveniences which they themselves had not desired, caused much dissatisfaction, and in 1803 New Milford, at a town meeting, appointed a committee to confer with other towns in an effort to have the granting of such turnpike franchises stopped. But the effort did [33] THE TURNPIKES OF NEW ENGLAND not succeed and many more such turnpikes were established. It can easily be conceived that after a lapse of several years some confusion arose as to the responsibility for different bridges, and a general act of the Connecticut assembly was needed to straighten out the difficulty. In most of the early Massachusetts charters for roads of this class it was directed that the turnpike should be built in as straight a line as possible, and this was nearly always done with unfortunate results, as the resultant location led up and down hill regardless of grades, and, disregarding centers of population, usually rendered the road of little practical use. It does not appear, however, that this condition was imposed without the consent of the persons incorporated, for the one idea pervading the minds of turnpike promoters seemed to be to build in a straight line whenever possible. In fact the crookedness of existing roads was the chief argument used by petitioners for turnpike fran- chises, and hence they were more or less bound to build straight roads. A quaint old book, published in 1806, entitled " Rural Economy," by S. W. Johnson, contains some ambitious sections on turnpikes. Of their layout it says : The shortest line is a straight one and can not be rivalled, and as such merits the first consideration. The author advised laying out the route on the ground by that principle, and that it be abandoned only in the face of " innumerable obstruc- tions." The maximum angle of ascent should be exceeded if thereby the straight line could be maintained. Nearly all the Massachusetts turnpikes were of this latter class, of which the Newburyport, the Norfolk and Bristol, and the New Bedford and Bridgewater furnish striking illustrations. Only two types of road were ever specified in the New England charters. There was the " turnpike-road," with no attempt to describe its character or quality, and the " plank road." In the former case the corporation was left free to choose whether it would build a high-grade macadam road or just clear away the trees and sod and make a common dirt road. Where plank-road franchises were granted some very simple specifications were generally included in the charter, requiring that the " track of the road " should be laid with plank " or some other hard material," and that it should present a smooth and even surface. Only about a half-dozen plank roads were ever built in New England, and those were in Vermont and Connecticut. The modern public-service commissions were anticipated by Con- necticut as early as 1803, when an act was passed providing that two commissioners should be appointed annually for each turnpike in the state, with powers to inspect and compel repairs. Vermont enacted a more practical law in 1806 by providing for the appointment of three turnpike inspectors for each county, with authority over all roads within their territory. In Massachusetts a provision by which a justice of the [34] THE TURNPIKES OF NEW ENGLAND court of common pleas could order repairs and enforce his order ap- pears in 1805, and in 1840 such powers were conferred upon the county commissioners. In all the states the turnpikes were liable to indictment for being in bad order, which rendered the corporation liable to a fine, the same as in the case of the towns. But it would seem that it was often cheaper to pay a fine than to make repairs, so the officials men- tioned above were given power to throw open the tollgates when their orders were not obeyed. Rosy hopes were entertained in all the New England states of the financial success of turnpikes. No limit to the life of the franchises was thought necessary, other than the provision that, when the investors had been repaid their original investment plus interest at the rate of twelve per cent, the road should revert to the public. With the possible ex- ception of the turnpike between Providence and Pawtucket, not one New England road ever came within gunshot of realizing such expec- tations, the best Massachusetts road, that of the Salem Turnpike Corporation, reporting an average net earning of three and one tenth per cent over a period of sixty years. Under authority of these turnpike charters roads were built all over New England, except in Maine, where few obtained a footing. Every town of any importance, and many of none, had its turnpike connections, often radiating in all directions, while the routes leading from the more populous centers were frequently paralleled and but a short distance apart. The turnpike era began in New England in 1792, when the first turnpike was established between New London and Norwich, and it may be said to have ended about 1850, although at the opening of the year 19 17 there were four companies still doing business in New Hampshire, and one in Vermont. Contrary to the general impression the railroads were not usually responsible for the cessation of turnpike operation. In the few cases where favorable conditions had kept the old toll roads alive until the invasion of their territory by the locomotive, it was but natural that the competition should relegate the old-fashioned methods to the past; but in the majority of cases the turnpikes had given up the. struggle before the appearance of the rival. It was simply a case of not enough business to make the investment pay. There were three grades of turnpike roads as constructed in America but, owing to the rigors of the New England winters, one of them was not adapted for this section. Hence we had two grades within the scope of this volume : First, those where the only improvement consisted in the reduction of hills, and in the formation of a convex roadbed with ditches on the sides, using the natural soil for making the road. By cutting the hills to a determined grade the angle of ascent was made much easier, en- abling the horses to draw larger and heavier loads; and by the shaping and ditching of the roadway standing water was prevented and the [35] THE TURNPIKES OF NEW ENGLAND road kept dry. Such roads cost, in Massachusetts, from six hundred to a thousand dollars a mile, but were expensive to maintain, as the wheels of passing vehicles made ruts in the soft material, in which the water would stand, softening the entire structure. The second class, of which there were but few, comprised those roads where a substantial surface of gravel was provided, supposedly of suf- ficient depth to withstand the action of the frost. Such were known as " artificial roads " on account of the material for the surfacing being brought from some other place, and in distinction from the " natural roads," where the surface was made from the soil on the spot or thrown out in digging the ditches. The only roads in Massachusetts surely of this class were the Newburyport, the Salem, and the Norfolk and Bristol, or the Providence Road. One of the great points gained by the construction of turnpikes was the establishment of easier grades than those previously maintained. The advantage thus obtained was thus expressed in the old days: It is found that, upon a slope of one in forty-four or one hundred and twenty feet to the mile, a horse can draw three quarters as much as he can upon a level. On a slope of one in twenty-four or two hundred and twenty feet to the mile, one half as much, and on a slope of one in ten or five hundred and twenty-eight feet to the mile, one quarter as much. But these proportions vary with the condition of the road, the grade being virtually increased by its softness. The comparative advantages of different kinds of surfacing was expressed in rather a back-handed way, for they said: The greatest estimated inclination down which a horse can safely trot is one in fifteen on a gravel or dirt road, one in thirty-five or forty on a macadamized road, and one in sixty on roads paved with blocks. In a report made in 1 83 1 by the canal commissioners of Pennsyl- vania, the increased efficiency of teams resulting from turnpike construc- tion was stated to be sufficient to enable four horses which would draw on a common road, in addition to the weight of the wagon containing the load, one ton a distance of twelve miles, to move on a turnpike with grades not exceeding five degrees (eight and seven tenths per cent) one and one half tons a distance of eighteen miles. In other words, the energy which was necessary to move one ton twelve miles on the old roads was sufficient to move the same ton twenty-seven miles on a turn- pike, — an increased efficiency of one hundred and twenty-five per cent. In his efforts to compile all available information for his report to the senate, to which reference was had on our earlier pages, Secretary Gallatin sought a report from Robert Fulton, the distinguished inventor. In his reply, which was really an extended argument against turnpikes and in favor of canals, Fulton gave figures on the cost of transportation over turnpikes, from which it is figured that the toll charges amounted to slightly over 1.35 cents per ton per mile, and that the entire cost, including wages, feed, tolls, wear and tear, etc., of moving flour from [36] THE TURNPIKES OF NEW ENGLAND Columbia to Philadelphia was 13.51 cents per ton-mile. A load ranged from five to seven thousand pounds and traveled about eighteen miles per day. The freight rate from Philadelphia to Pittsburgh was from two to two and a half dollars a hundred pounds; and from Philadelphia "to Columbia, a distance of seventy-four miles, the rate was from thirty- seven and a half to fifty cents. In 1794, previous to turnpike improvements, the cost of shipping goods to Pittsburgh by wagon ranged from five to ten dollars a hundred pounds. The price of salt in that remote frontier town was five dollars a bushel, and iron and steel sold for fifteen to twenty cents a pound owing to the expense of transportation, the source of the iron of the country being then near the coast. HOW THE WORK WAS DONE In these days of labor-saving machinery and devices for performing enormous amounts of work, it is difficult to imagine the difficulties under which the turnpike constructors labored. There were no factories in which the ordinary tools of daily life were manufactured in quantities, and they were not to be found in larger amounts than probably half a dozen in the stores. If a man wanted a shovel, a pick, rake, or hoe, he might find one in a store, but more likely he would have to wait the convenience of the local blacksmith, who would hammer them out one at a time on his order. From Bishop's " History of Manufacturing " we learn that the great shovel factory of the Ames Company, in North Easton, Massachu- setts, was founded in the most primitive manner in 1804 by Oliver Ames, Sr. Procuring the material for about a dozen shovels, he would proceed to fashion them in his shop, after which he would journey to the town for the purpose of selling them. With the proceeds, stock for another dozen would be bought. So we can see that, during the period of turnpike construction, few shovels were to be had at short notice. Oziel Wilkinson, who had the contract for building thirteen miles of the Norfolk and Bristol Turnpike in 1805-06, was obliged to set up a shop of his own in Pawtucket, in which he manufactured the shovels and picks needed for his work. Carts and wagons were no more easily obtained, each one being " custom made " by a local smith, who probably made no more than three or four in a prosperous year. Had it not been possible to hire as laborers the farmers along the route, with their horses, carts, and tools, it is doubtful if the work could have been accomplished at all. The grading of the roadbed was accomplished, as it would be to-day, by shoveling the earth into carts and hauling it to its destination and shaping it to finished form by rakes or hoes. Ledges were drilled by hand with locally made drills. The time fuse was unknown then, and the old method of laying a train of powder was [37] THE TURNPIKES OF NEW ENGLAND used to explode the blasting charges of powder. The hole having been drilled and loaded, a long hollow quill was inserted in the powder with its upper end above the surface of the rock. The tamping was then placed around the quill which, filled with powder and connected with the train, carried the fire to the charge. The line was staked out by means of a surveyor's compass like those in use to-day, or with a circumferentor, an instrument long forgotten. For work of the most exacting character there was available an instru- ment of greater precision, including a telescope with cross hairs; but such instruments were few and only to be had at great expense. The engineer's transit did not appear until after 1830. In Robert Gibson's "The Theory and Practice of Surveying," published in 181 1, the cir- cumferentor is thus described: This instrument is composed of a brass circular box, about five or six inches in diameter, within which is a brass ring, divided on the top into 360 degrees, and num- bered 10, 20, 30, etc. to 360: in the center of the box is fixed a steel pin, finely pointed, called a center pin, on which is placed a needle touched by a loadstone, which always retains the same situation ; that is, it always points to the North and South points of the horizon nearly, when the instrument is horizontal and the needle at rest. . . . This box is fixed by screws, to a brass index or ruler, of about 14 or 15 inches in length, to the ends whereof are fixed brass sights, which are screwed to the index, and stand perpendicular thereto; in each sight is a large and small aper- ture, or slit, one over the other. . . . Set on ball and socket and on the head of a three legged staff, whose legs, when extended, support the instrument whilst it is used. These instruments were operated by " mearsmen," and anyone who has motored over the Newburyport, Salem, Norfolk and Bristol, or New Bedford and Bridgewater turnpikes will join in a tribute to the skill with which those crude old-time instruments were made to project long straight lines. Johnson said, in his " Rural Economy," that when the extreme points of a long line cannot be taken at one operation, that is, when the straight section is so long that its entire length cannot be seen from one position of the instrument, more accuracy than that of a quarter compass or circumferentor will be needed. Then would be required the use of a " telescope with intersecting hairs." An anticipation of the present-day wye level, " a telescope with a spirit level," was used in connection with " station staves " in running the levels and determining the grades. Horizontal measurements were taken with a " Gunter's chain of four poles or perches, which consists of one hundred links." Thanks to old deeds any modern surveyor knows about Gunter's chain — that it was sixty-six feet long and each link, consequently, 7.92 inches. PLANK ROADS When the pioneer road builders had occasion to cross a swampy piece of ground they made a bed of tree trunks set transversely to the [38] THE TURNPIKES OF NEW ENGLAND road and closely adjacent to each other. This form of road was called " corduroy," and over it the vehicles went in a succession of bumps, painful to the traveler and destructive to the running gear. Of such a piece of road, encountered between Columbus and Sandusky, Dickens wrote : A great portion of the way was over what is called a corduroy road which is made by throwing trunks of trees into a marsh, and leaving them to settle there. The very slightest of the jolts with which the ponderous carriage fell from log to log, was enough it seemed, to have dislocated all the bones in the human body. . . . Never, never once that day, was the coach in any position, attitude, or kind of motion to which we are accustomed in coaches. But crude and pain-productive as those old corduroy roads were, they were founded on scientific principles of economy and stable foundation in insecure places, and it is but natural that their use should have been continued after sawmills had made it possible to lay timbers of uni- form thickness. Of the same class were the plank roads so popular in the interior states, but refined and made more endurable by the ad- vance in mechanic arts. From a small book with a large title, — " The History, Structure, and Statistics of Plank Roads," — published in 1850 by W. Kingsford, much regarding such roads is learned. They were in nearly all cases of single track, laid on the right side of the road as one faced the large town to which it led. In the prairie regions the planking lay on the original surface of the ground, but in some places a small amount of grading was needed to avoid short steep ascents. The subgrade once established, longitudinal trenches were dug in which sills consisting of three-inch plank four and eight inches wide were placed, and on them were laid the planks, three inches thick and eight feet long, at right angles to the direction of the road. The sills were set slightly below the surface of the ground, and the planks were pounded down to rest upon them by means of a large wooden mallet known as a " com- mander." No nails or pins were then needed to hold the planks down, and it is reported that it was hard work to take one of them up. After the planks were laid the earth was packed against their ends and soundly tamped into place. The portion of the highway not occupied by the plank road was usually maintained as a common dirt road and was locally known as the " turn-off," because light loads had to leave the planks and follow it when passing a team proceeding the other way. In order that a wagon might regain the planked surface without its wheels sliding along the edges, the planks were staggered, that is, one half of them had their ends in a line straight with each other, while the other half were alternately advanced to a line six inches farther out, producing a border effect like the battlements of a castle. Ordinarily two stringers were used but occasionally three. Over the completed planking a layer of sand was spread and maintained, which preserved the road by reduc- ing the cutting by the calks of the horseshoes. It was claimed for this [39] THE TURNPIKES OF NEW ENGLAND coating that a saving of forty to fifty per cent was secured in the wear of the road. Very few double-track roads were ever laid, and in the few cases it was preferred to lay two single tracks, apart from each other and supposedly on opposite sides of the " turn-out." Yellow pine was preferred for the planking in central New York, on account of its durability and freedom from knots, but hemlock and white pine were extensively used, while beech, maple, and elm were employed in some places. It can readily be understood that timber laid in such positions was subject to early decay unless extra precautions were taken to avoid wetting. A ditch was usually required along one side of the road at a depth of two feet below the surface of the planking, and the roadbed itself was given a side pitch of one inch in all places where the longi- tudinal inclination was not sufficient for drainage of the surface. The first application of the plank principle in the western continent, and probably in the world, occurred in Toronto in 1835, when the north- erly extension of Yonge Street was built in that way. The cost of the planks and labor of laying them was reported as five hundred and twenty-five pounds for one mile, besides which was the cost of ditching and the application of a coat of sand. During the next ten years about four hundred and forty-two miles df plank roads were laid in Canada. Commencing about 1846 that form of construction was begun in New York, and in 1850 twenty-one hundred and six miles were either completed or in process of construction. They seem to have been built in radiating clusters around various important towns. One hundred and sixty-three miles centered in Utica, one hundred and forty-eight miles in Rome, ninety-nine miles in Syracuse, while Rochester, in 1850, had only two roads with a mileage of eleven and one half completed, but seven other roads, with a mileage of one hundred and thirty were being built. Fifty per cent additional tractive efficiency was claimed for plank roads over the type of macadam road then in use, and a great saving in first cost and maintenance was shown. Of course the planks would rapidly decay, and it was considered necessary to figure that a road would have to be rebuilt at the end of every seven years. Nineteen New York roads cost from $1150 to $2555, or an average of $1575 per mile. Some of them are still in existence, and anyone having occasion to appraise them at replacement value should note that the hemlock plank wac bought at a price of from five to seven dollars per thousand, while beech and maple cost as much as nine dol- lars and fifty cents. The land had generally been given for the purposes of a road, without cost. Tolls in New York were limited so as not to exceed one and one- half cents a mile for a vehicle drawn by two animals, with other rates in proportion. Kingsford stated that there was not a case known of plank-road stock selling at a discount, and he noted several companies [40] THE TURNPIKES OF NEW ENGLAND which, after setting aside enough to provide for relaying at the end of seven years, had declared dividends of from ten to twenty per cent. New Jersey had several plank roads, among the most notable of which was the one across the marshes between Newark and Jersey City. In response to a petition from the inhabitants of the district the New Jersey legislature of 1765 provided for the building of a road from Newark, in Essex County, to the road from Bergen Point to Paulus Hook, on Hudson River, with the privilege of maintaining ferries at the crossings of the Hacken- sack and Passaic rivers. The act formed nine commissioners into " a Body Politick and Corporate in Fact and Name to all Intents and Purposes fore-ever " under the name of " The Trustees of the Road and Ferries from Newark to the road leading from Bergen Point to Paulus Hook." These trustees were to construct the road and estab- lish the ferries by means of voluntary contributions up to five thousand pounds. No tolls were to be collected for traveling on the road, but ferriage was to be exacted from all except the governor and his at- tendants, it apparently being expected that the proceeds of such collec- tions would be sufficient to maintain the road and ferries when once established. The portion of the road between the two ferries was over the marshes sometimes called the Newark marshes, and there the road builders were called upon to exercise all their ingenuity to maintain a road upon the shaky and insecure soil. The difficulty was solved by the primitive corduroy road, and a causeway of that form was laid soon after 1765. Over this causeway the brilliant but ill-fated Girondist leader, Brissot de Warville, traveled soon after the American Revolu- tion, and of it he wrote : Built wholly of wood, with much labor and perseverance, in the midst of water, on a soil that trembles under your feet, it proves to what point may be carried the patience of man, who is determined to conquer nature. This old road, with frequent repairs and leveling of its roughest places, served the traveling public for about eighty-five years, at the end of which time an up-to-date plank road assumed its burdens. That the rough corduroy was not satisfactory is seen from the in- corporation of a turnpike company in 1828, to which was to be given the old road with the privilege of tolls upon it, if a new macadam roadbed was built in place of the bed of logs. This venture, the Pas- saic and Hackensack Road and Ferry Company, was too far in advance of the times. No means being then known of constructing a firm road on such a bottom, the company failed to fulfill its mission. One feature in the charter of this company is to be noted. It was forbidden to erect bridges at the crossings of the large rivers and was only to be allowed to maintain the long-established ferries. Under authority of an act passed in 1790 bridges had been built across the Passaic and [41] THE TURNPIKES OF NEW ENGLAND Hackensack, at another location, by certain parties who claimed for their charter an interpretation by which they were given exclusive rights to bridge those streams. For many years they maintained their posi- tion, but the courts finally decided the matter more consistently with the public interests. This highway entered upon its plank-road era soon after the in- corporation of the Newark Plank Road and Ferry Company in 1849. This company was allowed to take over the old road and rebuild it with a planked surface not less than twenty-four nor more than sixty feet wide, using the old ferries for passage over the rivers. Evidently the lack of modern means of crossing the waters proved too much of a handicap, for in 1852 the company secured authority to build a bridge over the Hackensack on line of the " plank road to be made." This proved sufficient bait for capital and the road was completed, and, three years later, permission to bridge the Passaic was granted. The travel must have been very heavy between Newark and Jersey City at this time to give encouragement for so much work, when there were already in existence two turnpikes between the same places, of which one at least was provided with suitable bridges. The Gazetteer of New Jersey, published in 1834, records a steamboat twice a day from Newark to New York, averaging seventy-five passengers a trip, and two lines of stages, " almost hourly," carrying about eight hundred passengers a week. Across the Hudson two steamboats plied at fifteen-minute intervals from New York to Jersey City. Under authority, granted in 1859, to replace its planks with a gravel roadway, the company rebuilt all of its road except the two miles be- tween the two rivers, which section remained a plank road until its final reconstruction in 191 2. In 191 1 this road was said to be the most heavily traveled in the country, on account of the large exports of manufactured goods which centered at the Jersey City docks. A traffic census taken at that time showed an average of two thousand seven hundred vehicles a day, the average weight being estimated at three and a half tons each. Many large pieces of heavy machinery, loads of castings, oilcloth, linoleum, and beer in kegs, products of Newark's industries, passed over the planks with such destructive effect that a permanent force of fifty men was maintained to make repairs. The average life of a plank was only sixty days, and the annual expense of renewals was about ten thousand dollars a mile. The planked section was rebuilt in 19 10— 12 with two twenty-nine- foot roadways, two ten-foot sidewalks, and a twenty-two-foot reserva- tion for a double-track electric-car line. A heavy fill was laid to a grade eight feet above the marsh level, and the roadways were paved, one with granite blocks, as it had to carry a heavier tonnage than the other, and the contra-bound, with creosoted wood blocks. 1 In Massachusetts the Plum Island Turnpike was at one time laid 1 Engineering Record, Volume 65, page 182. [42] THE TURNPIKES OF NEW ENGLAND with plank. One corporation was formed in New Hampshire to build a plank road, but no reason has been found to believe that its purpose ever was realized. Vermont created fourteen companies, and Con- necticut, during the years 1851, 1852, and 1853, granted incorporation to seven companies for that purpose. Plank roads were particularly well adapted to the needs of regions possessing rich soils with a deficiency of gravel, and they are still found to be economical in the Central States. There the planked surface will be frequently met, but the tollgate has now become a part of the un- regretted past. THE VEHICLES THAT USED THE TURNPIKES Although some form of wagon or cart was in use in very early days, no marked improvement in its form or construction was effected until the day of the turnpike, when a greater demand for wheeled convey- ances arose. The earliest form of vehicle of which we have evidence is the sledge, which is pictured in ancient Egyptian sculpture found in the Temple of Luxor in Thebes. This crude form of conveyance consisted merely of two long runners slightly turned up in front, to which were attached several crosspieces on which the load was carried. As practically no region possessed any roads worthy of the name, it was in the countries of flat wastes and level plains, such as Egypt and Philistia, that the earliest form of wheeled cart was seen, a form that is said to be still in use in parts of Chili. Wheeled vehicles are frequently mentioned in the Bible under vari- ous names, which do not necessarily indicate as many forms. We are told that Jacob's family was sent to him in a wagon, and again we learn that Joseph had the distinction of riding in Pharaoh's second chariot. Pharaoh had many war chariots, and such weapons were very numerous in a battle fought about 1500 b. c. Some wheels, very much like our modern ones, were dug out of the ruins of Pompeii, and some wall decorations uncovered there pictured a wheeled vehicle which looked like the modern conveyance on which dishes are conveyed in dining rooms. But under the Romans the de- velopment of carriages was almost entirely confined to war chariots, and it was many centuries before any industrial use was made of wheels or pleasure derived by their means. Gradually, however, between the twelfth and fifteenth centuries, several forms of crude carriages and coaches appeared, all supported on the axles, until about the year 1600, when the idea of slinging the body between the axles by means of leather straps was advanced. Such an acme of comfort and ease was good enough for the travelers of the next hundred years, and it was not until about 1700 that the advantage [43] THE TURNPIKES OF NEW ENGLAND of steel springs began to be utilized. But it cannot be imagined that at that early date steel springs could be produced cheaply enough for general use, and it is doubtful if any were used by those of other than royal blood for the next seventy-five years. The springs were not of the style to which we are now accustomed, but were upright bars mounted rigidly on each axle at the base and inclining slightly inward. From the top of the forward to the upper end of the backward spring leather straps extended in which the body of the vehicle was hung, thus deriving easy motion from the bending tendency of the steel members. But that such springs were either unsatisfactory or that the cost was prohibitive is plainly to be seen from the fact that litters in which horses' bodies took the place of wheels continued in popular and fashion- able use until the middle of the eighteenth century. In " Coaches and Carriages," by Ralph Straus, we read that stage- coaches first appeared on English roads about 1640, and that twenty- two years later there were less than a dozen in operation. But even that limited service had called forth denunciations from some who fore- saw ruin to the nation on account of the ease with which " simple country wives " could visit London and there acquire habits of indolence and vice. Stages increased more in numbers than in quality, and by 1734 there was a considerable business being done over a large part of the kingdom. Sir Walter Scott has left us a description of the coaches of that date. It reads: They were " constructed principally of a dull black leather thickly studded by way of ornament with black headed nails tracing out the panels in the upper tier of which were four oval windows with heavy red wooden frames and green stuff or leathern curtains. Upon the doors also there appeared but little of that gay blazonry which shines upon the numerous quadrigae of the present time ; but there were dis- played in large characters the names of the places whence the coach started and whither it went, stated in quaint and ancient language. The vehicles themselves varied in shape. Sometimes they were like a distiller's vat ; sometimes flattened and hung equally balanced between the immense front and back springs; in other in- stances they resembled a violoncello case which was past all comparison the most fashionable form; and they hung in a more genteel posture, namely inclining onto the back springs and giving to those who sat within the appearance of a stiff Guy Faux uneasily seated. The roofs of the coaches in most cases, rose into a swelling curve which was sometimes surrounded by a high iron guard. Behind the coach was the immense basket stretching far and wide behind the body to which it was attached by long iron bars or supports passing beneath it; though even these seemed scarcely equal to the enormous weight with which they were frequently loaded. The post chaises, of which we read so much in English literature, appeared in England in 1743 after they had been in use in France for over eighty years. At first they were two-wheeled affairs with a door in front, which was hinged at the bottom and fell forward on a small dasher. The wheels were lofty and the body was in front of them, supported on the long shafts, suspended at first in leather braces but later from upright springs. By 1753 the bodies had been enlarged [44] THE TURNPIKES OF NEW ENGLAND to more resemblance of a coach, having a high coachman's box, while the running gear had been enlarged to four wheels. The turnpike era was preceded in England by the " War of the Wheels " in the early seventeen hundreds. The wear of the surface of the poor roads of that time had become so serious and the expense of repairs so heavy that efforts were made to compel the wagoners to use wheels with rims wide enough to practically form road rollers. A few acts of Parliament were passed requiring an excessive width of rim and that the rear wheels should not follow in the track of those forward, but it was soon recognized that such demands obliged the carrier to carry an excessive weight and to perform physical labor far in excess of that required to move his loads. It was next sought to solve the difficulty by means of turnpikes. An old coach builder, William Felton, wrote his reminiscences in 1790 and said: In the year 1790 the art of coach building had been in a gradual state of im- provement for half a century- past and had now arrived at a very high degree of perfection with respect to the beauty, strength, and elegance of our English carriages. The half-century which Mr. Felton noted covers the period of early turnpike development in England, and the date 1790 is interesting as the opening of the turnpike era in America. So the improvements due to turnpikes in England bring us to the vehicles which were available for importation and copying in America when the turnpikes of this country called for better means of transportation over them. Chauncey Thomas has written * that the volume of business done by American carriage manufacturers in 1795 was exceedingly small. Technical knowledge was not wanting, for there were many shops which had been established in colonial days where fine carriages were occa- sionally built and many imported vehicles repaired. But business languished for lack of customers. The hard times which followed the Revolution made simplicity a virtue, and the luxury of a carriage was not suited to the democratic habits which then prevailed. All parts of the largest towns were within walking distance of each other, and there was but little occasion to visit neighboring places. But as the country grew prosperous a demand arose for vehicles for business, pleasure, and travel, and several varieties developed. Among them the principal were the chaise, curricle, chair, chariot, phaeton, whisky or gig, coach, landau, and many types of wagons and carts for working purposes. The chaise was early in great demand, and down to 1840 it seemed that nothing could ever supplant it in popular favor. The earlier forms had enormously high wheels and the tops were stationary, being sup- ported on iron posts. Curtains of painted canvas or leather covered the sides and back, and the vehicle was often unprovided with dasher ] "American Carriage and Wagon Works," in "One Hundred Years of American Commerce." [45] THE TURNPIKES OF NEW ENGLAND or apron. In later years they were provided with folding tops which, with the dasher and cushioned seats, made it a carriage of luxury. The accompanying illustration clearly shows the details of such a car- riage. The one pictured, now in the Fairbanks Museum of Natural Science in St. Johnsbury, Vermont, was long in service in and around Providence, carrying the well-known Doctor Brown on his visits. The curricle was an ancient form of vehicle, having been in use in Italy for many years, where it was suspended on leather braces. Springs were added by the French, and the English altered the shape, giving the back a graceful ogee curve, improving the hood, and adding a spring bar across the horses' backs. It was a vehicle of easy draft and could be driven at great speed, but it was rather dangerous if the horse shied or stumbled. In Europe the horses were usually attached in a span, but in America they were driven tandem. It seems to have been an equipage of less luxury than a chaise, although generally closely resembling one. In the toll rates the curricle was commonly allowed to pass for a smaller sum. The curricle was drawn by two horses, the chaise by one. The chair, commonly pronounced " cheer," was the only traveling vehicle seen in the rural regions in 1800, according to Stratton in " The World on Wheels," and the cost of one was no inconsiderable sum. It was hung upon springs made of wood, generally with rude bow or standing-tops of round iron, hung around with painted cloth curtains. The linings and cushions stuffed with " swingling-tow," sometimes with salt hay, were, in those primitive times of simplicity and innocence, deemed good enough for any American sovereign. The chariot was really half a coach, having only one seat, while the coach had two. Each was hung high above the ground in order to clear the heavy wooden timbers which connected the two axles, which were far apart on account of the large size of the wheels. The bodies were inclosed and were hung by leather braces from scroll-shaped steel springs which inclined upward at an angle of about fifteen degrees from the perpendicular. The rear spring was called a " whip spring " and the front an " elbow spring." Of phaetons there were many varieties, none of which were driven by coachmen. Young England in those days delighted in very lofty phaetons and fast driving. The style continued to develop until it culminated in an excessively high type which the witty Irish dubbed a " suicide." These were four-wheeled carriages. The one-horse phaeton had the body over the hind axle, where it was hung on grass- hopper springs which were bolted to the axle and connected with the body by scroll irons. The body was joined to the front wheels, where there were no springs, by wooden stays, which were slightly goosenecked to allow the front wheels to cut-under. Naturally with all that space between the axles, and with the body set back far enough to clear the turning of the front wheels, the horse was a considerable dis- tance in advance of its driver. [46] THE TURNPIKES OF NEW ENGLAND The whisky, or gig, has been perpetuated in the gig or racing sulky of the present day. The landau was an improved form of coach in which the roof parted in the middle and folded back each way to an angle of forty- five degrees, making a more agreeable carriage for pleasant weather. Of the vehicles in use in 1790 Thrupp says in his " History of Coaches," that the woodwork was heavier and the ironwork lighter than in later days. The iron frequently broke both on account of its insufficient proportions and its poor quality, but the axles being more carefully made gave little trouble. The wheels were very high and appeared light. The extreme height was five feet and eight inches, which size was made with fourteen spokes, and the smallest size, three feet and six inches, had eight. All bodies hung high in order to clear the perch, which was the name given to the heavy connection between the two axles. The larger wheeled vehicles were hung upon framed carriages which supported the upright springs. In 1804 Obadiah Elliot invented the elliptic spring which, with the reduction in the size of the wheels, brought the bodies much nearer the ground. This was the most pronounced advance which had been made in carriage development. In the early years of the century business in the old carriage towns was done on what was called the " dicker " system, wrote Thomas. Woodworkers, blacksmiths, trimmers, and painters each did business on his own account and swapped parts, as they termed it, the final settle- ments being made in finished carriages. The dealer in materials also took carriages in payment. The workmen were paid in orders for goods, and money was almost unknown. The old operators used to say that this plan was much safer than the cash system, there being fewer failures and less danger of getting involved in debt. But those old customs had their day, and gradually the business became concentrated, until now we have the enormous factories with their constant outpouring of finished products. The romantic interest of the old turnpikes centers about the stage- coaches, and of them we have several accounts, of which we will repeat the three quoted by Professor Kittredge in " The Old Farmer and his Almanack." The first is from the pen of Thomas Twining and refers to his jour- ney from Philadelphia to Baltimore in 1795: The vehicle was a long car with four benches. Three of these in the interior held nine passengers, and a tenth passenger was seated by the side of the driver on the front bench. A light roof was supported by eight slender pillars, four on each side. Three large leather curtains suspended to the roof, one at each side and one behind, were rolled up or lowered at the pleasure of the passengers. There was no space nor place for luggage, each person being expected to stow his things as he could ■ under his seat or legs. The entrance was in front, over the driver's bench. Of course the three passengers on the back seat were obliged to crawl across all the other benches to get to their places. There were no backs to the benches to support [47] THE TURNPIKES OF NEW ENGLAND and relieve us during a rough and fatiguing journey over a newly and ill-made road. It would be unreasonable to expect perfection in the arrangements of a new country ; but though this rude conveyance was not without its advantages, and was really more suitable to the existing state of American roads than an English stage coach would have been, it might have been rendered more convenient in some respects without much additional expense. Thus a mere strap behind the seats would have been a great comfort, and the ponderous leather curtains, which extended the whole length of the wagon, would have been much more convenient divided into two or three parts, and with a glass, however small, in each division to give light to the pas- sengers in bad weather, and enable them to have a glimpse of the country. The dis- posal of the luggage also was extremely incommodious, not only to the owner but to his neighbors. We were quite full, having ten passengers besides the driver. 1 The second example is from Melish's " Travels," and has to do with intercourse between Boston and New York in 1806: The mail stages here are altogether different in construction from the mail coaches in Britain. They are long machines, hung upon leather braces, with three seats across, of a sufficient length to accommodate three persons each, who all sit with their faces towards the horses. The driver sits under cover, without any division between him and the passengers; and there is room for a person to sit on each side of him. The driver, by the post-office regulations, must be a white man, and he has the charge of the mail, which is placed in a box below his seat. There is no guard. The passengers' luggage is put below the seats, or tied on behind the stage. They put nothing on the top, and they take no outside passengers. The stages are slightly built, and the roof suspended on pillars; with a curtain, to be let down or folded up at pleasure. The conveyance is easy, and in summer very agree- able ; but it must be excessively cold in winter. 2 For our third description we are indebted to Abdy, the Oxonian, who is telling what happened to him in New England in 1833 : An English coachman would have been somewhat amused with the appearance of the stage and the costume of the driver. The former was similar to some that are common enough in France, though not known on our side of the channel. It was on leathern springs; the boot and the hind part being appropriated to the luggage, while the box was occupied by two passengers in addition to the " conducteur," and as many on the roof. On the top, secured by an iron rail, were some of the trunks and boxes, and inside were places for nine; two seats being affixed to the ends, and one, parallel to them, across the middle of the carriage. Our driver sat between two of the outsides, and when there was but one on the box, over the near wheeler; and holding the reins, or lines, as he called them, in such a manner as to separate his team into couples, not a-breast, but in a line or tandem fashion, drove along with considerable skill and dexterity. When he got down, he fastened the ribbons to a ring or a post in front of the house where he had occasion to pull up. 3 The primitive form of stage described as in use in 1806 was soon superseded by the egg-shaped coach, which is the form commonly pic- tured on the old stage-coach bills. In this type the body was hung in leather braces high above the ground in order to clear the connection between the front pin and the rear axle, which was high on account of 1 "Travels in America One Hundred Years Ago, being Notes and Reminiscences by Thomas Twining." 2 "Travels in the United States of America," John Melish. 3 "Journal of a Residence and Tour in the United States from April, 1833, to October, 1834," E. S. Abdy. [48] THE TURNPIKES OF NEW ENGLAND the large size of the wheels. There were three seats inside, as described by Abdy, with a seat and footboard in front on the outside. The base of the body and the roof curved symmetrically forming an oval from which the resemblance to an egg was fancied, while the boot for bag- gage on the rear was inclosed by curtains which made a tangent to the roof curve and fell behind the rear wheels. Such were the stages during the teens and twenties of the nineteenth century. With the easy en- trance and exit by means of a side door, the easy motion due to the leather hangers, and the three large windows by which the entire upper half of the side was open to daylight, such a vehicle must have seemed the climax of luxurious traveling to those who had been accustomed to the crude " machines " described by Melish. The well-known Concord coach was introduced about 1828 by Lewis Downing who, about fifteen years earlier, had founded the now well- known house of Abbot, Downing, and Company in Concord, New Hampshire. It seems that the full measure of success was attained in the design of these coaches, for hardly an improvement has been made in them since their first appearance, and those in use to-day are prac- tically built on the same lines as were those of ninety years ago. The Concord coach at once leaped into popularity both on account of its excellence in workmanship and from its ease in riding and, wherever such vehicles are needed to-day, may be found still in service. They are too well known to need describing. In the construction of our first railroad cars the builders could think of nothing better, and Concord coach bodies, mounted on railway trucks, followed the first locomotive over the Mohawk and Hudson Railroad in 1831. We show here a picture of a wagon made by Thaddeus Fairbanks, the inventor of the Fairbanks scales, when he was about twenty years of age. This wagon doubtless traveled many miles over the Passumpsic and Danville turnpikes which led from St. Johnsbury, Vermont, and may safely be taken for a type of the wagons in use at that time. No attempt was made to provide springs for the body of the vehicle, but by mounting the seat on the end of wooden bows comfort for the passen- gers was sought. Various forms of sleds and sleighs were in use, although it was an old saying that there was never any snow on a turnpike. The sleighs were of the pattern still to be found in northern New England and called " board runners " on account of a single piece of board being used for the runner, the same being shaped to a suitable form for running over the road. Probably all such sleighs and the sleds, too, were homemade or of local manufacture, as they could easily be made by one familiar with carpenter's tools. Further romantic interest is found in the old wagons in which the large shipments of freight were carried, and all accounts of the Cumber- land Road or of any of the turnpikes leading to the west, teem with references to the white-topped wagons with their strings of horses. [49] THE TURNPIKES OF NEW ENGLAND These splendid wagons were developed in Pennsylvania by topo- graphical conditions, by the soft soil, by trade requirements, and by native wit. They were the highest type of a commodious freight carrier by horsepower that this or any other country has ever known; they were known as Conestoga wagons from the vicinity in which they were first in common use, as is told by Alice Morse Earle in " Stage Coach and Tavern Days." These wagons had a boat-shaped body with a curved bottom, which fitted them specially for mountain use, for in them freight remained firmly in place at whatever angle the body might be. The rear end could be lifted from the sockets; on it hung the feed trough for the horses. On one side of the body was a small tool chest with a slanting lid. This held hammer, wrench, hatchet, pincers, and other simple tools. Under the rear axle-tree were suspended a tar bucket and water pail. The wheels had tires sometimes a foot broad. The wagon bodies were arched over with six or eight bows, of which the middle ones were the lowest. These were covered with a strong, pure white hempen cover corded down strongly at the sides and ends. These wagons could be loaded up to the top of the bows, which was the object attained by having them high at the ends. Four to six tons was the usual load for such a vehicle. The driver rode on the nigh-wheel horse or walked, no seat being provided for him. A board projecting from the side between the wheels afforded a precarious seat for the helper, who generally worked his way by such employment. In 1783 Levi Pease, in company with Joseph Sykes, established a stage line between Boston and New York over the rough and crooked roads which then constituted the northern route, passing through Worcester, Palmer, and Hartford, and making the trip in a week. In later years Josiah Quincy described his experiences on a journey over the line in 1784 as follows: I set out from Boston on the line of stage lately established by an enterprising Yankee, Pease by name, which at that day was considered a method of transporta- tion of wonderful expedition. The journey to New York took up a week. The carriages were old and shackling and much of the harness was made of ropes. One pair of horses carried the stage eighteen miles. We generally reached our resting place for the night, if no accident intervened, at ten o'clock and after a frugal sup- per went to bed with a notice that we should be called at three the next morning, which generally proved to be half past two. Then, whether it snowed or rained, the traveller must rise and make ready by the help of a horn lantern and a farthing candle, and proceed on his way over bad roads, sometimes with a driver showing no doubtful symptoms of drunkenness, which good-hearted passengers never fail to improve at every stopping place by urging upon him another glass of toddy. Thus we travelled eighteen miles a stage, sometimes obliged to get out and help the coach- man lift the coach out of a quagmire or rut, and arrived at New York after a week's hard travelling, wondering at the ease as well as the expedition of our journey. 1 1 As Josiah Quincy was but twelve years old in 1784, it is possible that this was written by some other traveler, but the account is creditable. [50] THE TURNPIKES OF NEW ENGLAND We have already noted the starting of a stage line over the same route in 1772, but it did not continue long. After Pease's effort continuous service between Boston and New York was maintained by increasing numbers of coaches and then by trains. Prior to 1806 such stages journeyed over two hundred and fifty-four miles of roads, the distance being reduced by road improvements in that year to two hundred and forty-six miles, and by 1821 a total re- duction of forty-four miles had been made, leaving two hundred and ten miles to be covered between Boston and New York. Such savings in mileage were the prime objects sought by turnpike construction, but it was too often attained at the expense of steep grades over hills which lay in the direct line. Still stage routes increased with the development of turnpikes and, as a rule, followed them over the hills. One feature of the Old Farmer's Almanac was the publication of a list of the stages running from Boston, and from the issue of 1801 we note that one hundred and sixteen coaches arrived at and departed from that town weekly, there being twenty-six separate lines to as many places. Pease's stage by that time had two rivals, one going by way of Providence, and the running time had been reduced to thirty-nine hours, due doubtless to running all night instead of stopping for sleep at taverns by the way. These lines ran three times each week. There were two daily stages to Providence and the trip was made in eight hours. The service to Portsmouth had been improved from the weekly two-day trip in 1761 to a fifteen-hour journey three times a week, and a new route to Albany ran through Worcester, Brookfield, and North- ampton twice a week, making the trip in thirty-eight hours. All this was before the turnpikes had become factors of influence. When the Boston Traveller was founded by Badger and Porter, in 1825, its issue was accompanied once in every two months by a supple- ment called the Stage Register, in which it was sought to give a com- plete list of all the stage lines in New England, with distances, routes followed, and rates of fare. The issue of September 6, 1825, shows sixty-eight lines leaving Boston, with three hundred and seventeen stages in and out each week, and a total of one hundred and twenty-five lines in New England. From Boston there were seven lines to Albany, each running three times a week. By way of Greenfield the trip was made in thirty-five hours, through Northampton in forty-one, with the same time by way of Springfield. Another route was through Brattleboro and Bennington, and forty-three hours were occupied on that journey. New York was reached by way of Worcester, Stafford, Hartford, and New Haven in forty hours, while the traveler who staged it to Norwich and voyaged thence to New York by the steamer Fanny spent the same length of time. Travelers to Bristol Ferry had a much happier time than in 1720, for in 1825 the route was through Taunton, and the required time had been cut down from thirty-one to eleven hours. The Portsmouth line [51] THE TURNPIKES OF NEW ENGLAND had disappeared, at least by that name, and those desirous of going there embarked on the Pordand stage. That took nine hours to reach Portsmouth, gave its passengers fifteen hours for rest, and completed the journey in nine hours more. Fares from Boston were as follows : Albany, N. Y. . . U ti Amesbury, Mass. . Beverly, Mass. Brandon, Vt. . . Bristol, R. I. . . Burlington, Vt. . ii ii Cambridge, Mass. Chelmsford, Mass. Chester, Vt. . . . Concord, Mass. . Concord, N. H. . Dover, N. H. . . «( ii E. Bridgewater, Mass Exeter, N. H. . , Fitchburg, Mass. . Greenfield, Mass. Groton, Mass. . - Hartford, Conn. , Harvard, Mass. Haverhill, Mass. $8.75 7-75 2.25 1. 00 8.75 3-50 11.25 12.00 .25 1.50 5-75 1. 00 3-50 3-oo 3-25 1.25 2.25 2.00 3-75 2.00 5.50 1.50 1.50 Dispatch Line. Jaffrey, N. H. . . Lunenburg, Mass. . Middlebury, Vt. Mt. Holly, Vt. . . New Bedford, Mass. Newburyport, Mass. New Haven, Conn. New Ipswich, N. H. New York, N. V. . Northampton, Mass. Portland, Maine Portsmouth, N. H. Providence, R. I. . Dispatch Line. Rutland, Vt. . . Southbridge, Mass South Bridgewater Springfield, Mass. . Taunton, Mass. . . Winchendon, Mass. Windsor, Vt. . . . Worcester, Mass. . M $3-25 1-75 9-75 6.75 3-50 2.00 7.50 2.50 11.00 4.50 6.00 3-oo 2.00 1.50 7-75 3-oo 1,50 4.50 2.00 2.75 6.00 2.00 The Eastern Mail Stage, an anticipation of the modern limited train service, carried its passengers to Portland for eight dollars, with pro- portionate rates for way stations, requiring but eight hours to reach Portsmouth. The regular time of departure for long-distance stages was 2 A. M., which was the hour for resuming the journey from resting places also. A study of the routes followed by the different lines of stages shows that generally the turnpikes were followed, but it is seen that the Cam- bridge and Concord and the Union turnpikes were scrupulously avoided. The Union was not badly located, but it suffered from its associations, for the Cambridge and Concord was built straight without regard to centers along the route, and in one case, at least, with a fatal disregard for grades. The local stage from Concord could not afford to spurn the business of Lexington and West Cambridge (Arlington), so it kept off the turnpike and went over the public roads. And the stages from the northwestern part of the state, reaching the western end of the Union Turnpike, diverted over the short Lancaster and Bolton Turn- pike and proceeded thence to Boston over the " Great Road " through Sudbury and Waltham. The Union and the Cambridge and Concord seem to have had little other business either, for each was very short- lived. [52] THE TURNPIKES OF NEW ENGLAND Between 1825 and 1832 the number of stage lines in New England was more than doubled, there being two hundred and sixty separate routes in operation in the latter year, with a proportionate increase in the lines from Boston. The New York Mail then left Boston at 10 P. M., reaching Worcester at 3.30 A. M. ; Hartford by way of Staf- ford at 1.30 p^m. ; New Haven at 8.30 p. M. ; and New York at 10 A. M. the second day. T53] THE TURNPIKES OF MASSACHUSETTS AND MAINE ■ i«a ■ i~ J I O 3 83>liq/IJRlJT ef-TaeuHDAeeAM MDU 1 / I WALES ><*°, » ( <^_ jgrj I CONN U TURNPIKES OF MASSACHUSETTS SCALE - MILES H M /' *« t*3 I 1 ^s- , ASHBURNHAM/ ASHBY | T0** S ' '/•' >£/ ipswich^ ^^/ N PRINCETON ** | | "«SSsS* V ^ /COhCMD^fc, ' \v < Cj UEL " oss L */&/? v' N X-' J i-~ J BOLTON I ^<. / ^^J.«IN6T0l\v r- ' I ^ /T^ TO ,*//* SSsJCtfUSETTS r - — AUBURN i Providenc< M '0„ 5 IREHOBOTM DIGHTON / 5 \ t JRIVER | ;■% \ >erton .WESTPORT / A ♦ •A e "^' . itu' r o o i) THE TURNPIKES OF MASSACHUSETTS IN Massachusetts the custom was almost general, in providing for turnpikes, to require the construction of an entirely new road, although there were some notable exceptions in which the corpo- ration was allowed to take over an old established highway and in- corporate the same as a part of its toll road. The English custom was never followed in this state, but each turnpike was the outcome of financial confidence in it as an investment, or projected for the collateral benefits which were expected to follow. Each was authorized by a special act of the legislature, and down to 1805 each act of incorpora- tion went at length and in full detail into all phases of the corporate formation, and the same was repeated, at what must have been dreary length, with each successive company. The stereotyped form of act was about as follows: 1 . Certain persons incorporated under the specified name " for the purpose of lay- ing out and making a turnpike-road." 2. Course of the road described. 3. Width of the same specified. 4. Number of gates to be erected when approved. 5. Rates of toll. 6. Exemptions from liability for toll. 7- Power given to commute tolls. 8. Sign to be erected displaying rates of toll. 9. Right to take land conferred. 10. Penalties provided for avoidance of toll. 11. Penalty on corporation for delaying travelers or for failure to keep road in repair. 12. Methods of procedure in organizing corporation. 13. Required filing of account of cost of road and annually thereafter a statement of receipts and disbursements. 14. Provided that the corporation might be dissolved when it had earned its orig- inal investment plus twelve per cent. 15. Charter void unless road was completed within specified time. In 1805 the earliest general corporation law was passed in Massa- chusetts. This applied only to turnpike companies and provided that thereafter no charter should be granted until the proposed route had been viewed by a legislative committee after public notice. Previously each route, after the charter had issued, had been laid out by a com- mittee, consisting generally of one senator and two representatives specially appointed for that purpose; but after 1805 that duty devolved upon five disinterested freeholders appointed by the court of sessions [57] THE TURNPIKES OF NEW ENGLAND for the county in which the road was to be built. The act also recited the routine portion of the charters previously granted and provided that future charters should have the same powers without repetition. An additional provision was made that any corporation might be dissolved at the pleasure of the legislature, after twenty years, without reference to its earnings. Upon the completion of a road application would be made to the court of sessions of the county in which the road was located for the ap- pointment of a committee to view the new turnpike, and advise the court whether or not the same was constructed in a manner sufficiently safe for public travel. Such a committee was usually empowered to specify the location of the tollgates. The court of sessions, having received the report of its committee that the road was well built and safe for travel, would then declare the turnpike open for public use under the conditions imposed in the charter. A great difference naturally existed in the earning powers of roads in different parts of the state, and it would manifestly have been unfair to allow the same rates of toll in the Berkshires on a road built under engineering difficulties and through sparsely settled districts' as were granted to a route tributary to Boston and connecting several prosper- ous communities. Hence a variety of authorized charges may be found by detailed search, but a fair average can be given. The Massachu- setts custom was generally to allow the erection of tollgates at intervals of about ten miles, and in the eastern part of the state the traveler would be apt to find displayed upon a signboard at each gate, in accord- ance with the charter requirement, " fairly and legibly written thereon in large or capital letters " the following: Rates of Toll For every coach, phaeton, chariot, or other four-wheeled carriage drawn by two horses 25 cents And if drawn by more than two horses, for each additional horse . . 4 " For every curricle 17 " For every cart, wagon, sled, or sleigh drawn by two oxen or horses . . 10 " And if drawn by more than two, for each horse or ox in addition . . 3 " For every chaise, chair, or other carriage drawn by one horse .... 10 " For every sled or sleigh drawn by one horse 6 " For every man and horse 4 " For all oxen, horses, mules, and neat cattle led or driven besides those in teams and carriages, each 1 " For all sheep and swine by the dozen 3 " Adjacent to the New York line, in the town of Hancock, would have been found a signboard on which the rates would have run from twenty- five to fifty per cent higher than those just given; but the usual manner of giving relief to companies in receipt of insufficient tolls was not to allow an increased rate but to authorize additional gates, thus giving extra collections of the same amount. [58] THE TURNPIKES OF MASSACHUSETTS For local reasons a company was often allowed to establish two gates within the limits of one, collecting one half the allowed rate at each. Such were significantly known as " half gates." Certain persons were exempt from paying toll. Such were : any person who shall be passing with his horse or carriage to or from public worship, or with his horse or team to or from any mill, or with his horse, team, or cattle to or from his ordinary labor on his farm, or on the common or ordinary business of family concerns within the same towns; or any person passing on military duty. And if the toll gatherer was not at his post the gate had to be left open and everybody passed free. In special cases it was often provided that the inhabitants of certain districts should pass free because a section of the public road had been absorbed into the turnpike. Each company was required to file a statement of the cost of its road and, annually, an account of its receipts and expenditures, but no penalty- was ever provided for failure to do so. Consequently out of the sixty corporations which built roads in Massachusetts only eight made con- scientious efforts to obey the rule. Twenty-seven others reported the cost of their investment, and some of them made desultory attempts to render the annual accounts, while twenty-five calmly ignored the requirement. Under the law of 1805 any justice of the court of common pleas, upon complaint being made to him that a turnpike was in bad order, might give a hearing and, if he found the complaint well founded, order repairs to be made, the gate meanwhile to be open for free passage of all. In 1840 this power was transferred to the county commissioners. An act passed in 1845 provided that the county commissioners might lay out any turnpike as a public highway, if they deemed it a public convenience and necessity, upon petition of the turnpike corporation or with the corporation's consent. Generally the corporation was allowed to do nothing beyond the acquisition of the strip of land four rods wide and the building and operation of a toll road on it. Prior to 1805 corporations were not allowed to run accounts with regular customers unless the legislature specifically authorized it, but under the general laws enacted in that year the privilege was extended to all. Very few general laws applying to turnpikes were ever passed, many of the acts providing penalties for evasions of toll and for damage to the road being enacted in behalf of certain specified companies, although ultimately such laws appeared upon the statutes applicable to all roads. The Revised Statutes of Massachusetts, prepared in i860, contained but nineteen sections under the heading of " Turnpikes." Shares of stock were therein declared personal estate, transferable only by deed acknowledged before a justice of the peace and recorded in the book of the corporation's clerk. The county commissioners had the power to direct the location of gates, but a gate at which the full rate of tolls was collected could not [59] NORFOLK AND BRISTOL TURNPIKE. No. CfliS Certifies, that Share No. BRISTOL TURNPIKE ROAD. is proprietor of of the NORFOLK AND Jftl 2Tf StitUOHQ UjflttCOf, the Seal of the Corporation is hereto affixed, the day of in the year of our Lord, one thousand eight hundred and Attest, < President of the I Corporation. [^ that I, for a valuable consideration paid me by do hereby transfer to all my right in Share viz. No. in the NORFOLK AND BRISTOL TURNPIKE ROAD. Witness my hand and seal, this A. D. one thousand eight hundred and Witness, day of ss, Then above named acknotoledged the foregoing to be his free act and deed. Before |£*£ THE TURNPIKES OF MASSACHUSETTS be erected within ten miles of another such gate without a special act of the legislature; and no gate could be put across a section of a turn- pike which had been a public road previous to turnpike building. Rates of toll were prescribed in full detail, with a provision that only half such rates could be collected from drivers of vehicles having wheel felloes six inches wide. Exemptions from paying toll were specified and a penalty of ten dollars, to be recovered by the corporation, was provided for anyone falsely claiming such exemption. Avoiding the payment of toll laid the offender liable to. a fine of twenty-five dollars while, on the other hand, the corporation stood assessable in the sum of fifty dollars, if its toll gatherer demanded excessive toll or subjected the traveler to an un- reasonable delay. Carts or wagons carrying loads of over forty-five hundred pounds on wheel felloes less than three and a half inches wide had to pay three times the regular rate of toll, but the fine for evasion in such cases was only ten dollars. If a driver locked the wheels of a loaded cart or wagon, to ease its progress down a hill, without using a six-by-twelve- inch iron shoe, he might regret it to the extent measured by twenty dollars. Indulgence in the construction of a " shunpike " might cost its promoter a thousand dollars. Turnpike corporations were made liable for damages through any defect in their roads, but not in cases where the gross load was in excess of six tons. Fines could be assessed upon the corporations for neglect of their roads as in the case of towns, but all money secured by such fines had to be applied to the repair of the road involved, under the direction of an agent appointed by the court. When a turnpike was assumed by the authorities of a county the corporation was thereby dissolved as far as its obligations toward that section of road were concerned, and all the land held reverted to the former owners, or their heirs, even if the corporation had purchased the same and taken a regular deed. The requirement of an annual report of business done appeared in the Revised Statutes of i860, but even then it had " no teeth in it." No general provision was ever made for the organization of a turn- pike corporation. Petition had to be made to the legislature which, if it saw fit, might create the corporation and allow it the privileges appertaining to such under the general provisions, with such special rights as could be obtained. In each New England state every corporation was made subject to dissolution when its first investment plus twelve-per-cent interest had been repaid, and it may be interesting to consider how far short of realizing such hopes the actual performances were. Some reason has been found for inferring that it was expected that the life of a corpora- tion under such terms would be about twenty years, and to fulfill that expectation a road would have to yield net earnings of twelve per cent for interest and five per cent for a sinking fund, or seventeen per cent [61] THE TURNPIKES OF NEW ENGLAND in all. We will consider the two best roads in Massachusetts, the Salem Turnpike and the Dorchester Turnpike, taking the best single year's business done on each road which, in each case, shows in a pronounced peak on the plotted charts. The best year on the Salem was 1835, when the net earnings of the road amounted to $12,330, or about six and eight tenths per cent of the cost of construction. The Dorchester's biggest year's work was done in 1838, when its net earnings were $4005, or about nine and two tenths per cent of the cost. So it may safely be said that in only one year and on only one road did the earnings yield half enough to meet the expectations. And in nearly every case the road was finally given up at an almost total loss. What method of estimating earnings could the turnpike promoters have followed? The Blue Hill Turnpike was built at a cost of $78,300. To retire that road at the end of twenty years and keep it in repair during that term meant that annual gross earnings of $13,800 were to be secured. They actually averaged about $1392, with $2450 for a maximum. The Blue Hill served the towns of Milton and Randolph, connecting them with Boston over the Dorchester Turnpike; and it could not have been expected in those days that appreciable business would have come from any other places, as the branch turnpike to Taunton had not then been proposed. Milton in 1840 contained about four hundred and forty-eight fami- lies, and Randolph, nine hundred and forty-eight. Assuming that each of these groups would make four annual trips to Boston and back, with the very improbable idea of there being sufficient additional travel to require daily stages from each town to Boston and return, and that two six-horse freight wagons, amply sufficient for that population, would pass over the road each way daily, we could anticipate the following returns : 448 Milton families — 8 tolls @ .I2>4 $448 948 Randolph families — 8 tolls @ .25 1896 Stage and four horses — 300 days — 2 tolls @ .33 198 " " " " _ 3 oo " —2 " @ .1634 99 Freight wagons and six horses — 300 days — 4 tolls @ .22 264 $2905 So it is seen that anticipating nearly forty years' growth in the two towns, the Blue Hill having been projected in 1804, and assuming all the business that could possibly have been visible to an optimistic pro- moter, that road's prospects yearly fell nearly $11,000 short of what its proprietors seem to have expected. And yet the investment in turnpikes was heavy. Considering only the corporations whose bridges were not the greater part of the cost, we find that thirty-two companies, owning five hundred and ninety-three and one half miles of roads, reported their investments, with a total [62] THE TURNPIKES OF MASSACHUSETTS of $1,230,823. We have outside information that three others ex- pended $578,200. Taking the companies which failed to report their first costs, and placing an estimate on each according to the return for a similar road, we find it probable that $569,977 more was invested in turnpikes in Massachusetts, making a total of $2,379,000. As the population of the entire state in 1830, when turnpikes were at their prime, was 610,408, it is seen that the turnpike investment was in the proportion of about three dollars and ninety cents per capita. When it is considered that this investment provided only the road, with a few gates and tollhouses which seldom cost a thousand dollars apiece, and that the rolling stock and motive equipment was a further matter for individual investment, it is seen that the per-capita amount tied up in the turnpike utilities did not compare poorly with the later capital placed in railroads. Why, then, were the turnpikes built? In a letter written by one of the incorporators of the First Massachusetts Turnpike, and dated in 1 800, warning was given against too great expectations from such investments, as the First had proved a disappointment; and it seems to have been generally known long before the rush of construction subsided that turnpike stock was worthless. It can be conceived that propositions to connect such cities as Boston and Providence, Worcester, Hartford, Salem, and Newburyport may have seemed to stand in a separate class and to hold hopes of remunera- tive business; but what encouragement could have been seen for roads In the rural districts connecting small towns? The conclusion is forced upon us that the larger part of the turnpikes of New England were built in the hope of benefiting the towns and the local business con- ducted in them, counting more upon the collateral results than upon the direct returns in the matter of tolls. The turnpike era commenced in Massachusetts in 1796 when the first act of incorporation for a turnpike was passed, and generally it can be said to have ended by 1850, when railroads were in the ascendancy, although certain companies continued to do business through the sixties, and one did not surrender its corporate rights until 1905. The early roads were in the western part of the state, as were some of the last ones, but those which collected their tolls well within the memory of men now living were on the eastern coast. THE FIRST MASSACHUSETTS TURNPIKE The first Massachusetts act of incorporation for a turnpike company was approved by Governor Samuel Adams on the eleventh day of June, 1796. As customary in those days, the act commenced with a preamble which read as follows: Whereas the highway leading through the towns of Palmer and Western is cir- cuitous, rocky, and mountainous, and there is much travelling over the same, and the [63] THE TURNPIKES OF NEW ENGLAND expense of straightening, making, and repairing an highway through those towns, so that the same may be safe and convenient for travellers with horses and carriages, would be much greater than ought to be required of the said towns under their pres- ent circumstances, etc. etc. Hence the First Massachusetts Turnpike Corporation was created and authority granted it to lay out and make a turnpike-road from Western bridge, near the Upper Mills, so called, in Western (now Warren) in the county of Worcester, to the county road, near the house lately called Scott's tavern, in Palmer, in the county of Hampshire. Through travelers between Boston and New York, at that time, had their choice of three routes, — one along the shore of Long Island Sound, the middle following more nearly a direct line, and the northern route through Worcester and Springfield. The last led through Palmer, and it was for the improvement of that through route, to hold its trade, and very likely with a view to financial profit, that the turnpike was projected. It was built according to Temple's " History of Palmer," " through Palmer Old Centre, and kept on the northerly side of the river eastward; and was the leading thoroughfare for long travel be- tween Boston, Worcester, Springfield, Hartford, New Haven, and New York, for many years. The toll gate was about two miles east of Palmer meeting house." Thirty-one solid citizens were named in the act of incorporation, among whom are some of note. Levi Lincoln, at that time a member of the house of representatives from Worcester County, and later senator, congressman, attorney-general of the United States, lieuten- ant governor and acting governor of Massachusetts, whose son Levi attained the highest office in the state, was one. Another, Captain Levi Pease, seeking employment after his arduous duties in the Revolu- tionary Army, had started a line of stages between New York and Boston, over the northern route, in 1783. By many he is hailed as " The father of the turnpikes " and " The father of the stage coach," and there is no disposition here to dispute his claim to either title. Salem Town, of Charlton, was a prominent man and at the time of this incorporation was a member of the senate. He appears to have become a turnpike authority later, for we find him often named as one of a committee to locate a new road. But the chief interest centers around the name of Thomas Dwight, who, four years later, wrote a letter to a friend on the subject of turnpikes which is almost a treatise. This letter is to be found among the papers of the Norfolk and Bristol Turnpike Corporation, now deposited with the Dedham Historical Society, and gives much interesting reading. From it we learn that the first section of the First Massachusetts Turnpike was built by Captain Bailey of Connecticut, who later built the turnpike from Hartford to New Haven, and that his contract price was three dollars per rod of length, yielding him $8640 for the nine miles of road which he built. [64] 3 fe o "* o 2; u w u < * £ w H § o u S J THE TURNPIKES OF MASSACHUSETTS Mr. Dwight criticizes this price as too much by fifty per cent. An ex- tension of the road to Wilbraham was allowed by the legislature in 1798, and four miles of this, including one half mile along the Chicopee River, where the mountain approached so close to the river as to necessi- tate a cut and a retaining wall ten feet in height, was contracted by one Blair of Western for two dollars per rod, or $640 per mile. Mr. Dwight thought that the contractor received too much profit out of that. He cautioned his friend to watch the contractors, as they would cheat, placing stumps and large stones in the fill instead of good road material, and he advises the retention of ten per cent of the contract price for two years while the behavior of the work is observed. The First Massachusetts Turnpike Corporation had made a mistake, he wrote, in having so many shares at a small price each, and he warned his friend, who was about to embark in such an enterprise, that the expectations of the promoters of the First had not been realized. The road of the First Massachusetts was relocated in 1799, and made four rods wide instead of three as formerly. This appears to have been done in connection with the laying out of the extension to Wilbraham, which was allowed by the legislature of 1798, and a pecu- liar error is found in the county records at Springfield and North- ampton, where appears the approval of the court of sessions of the relocation and layout and the decree of the court establishing the road as " a county road." That it was not so established is plainly shown by the legislative acts which followed. In 18 13 a special act allowed the acquirement of real estate adjoining the road for the accommoda- tion of its toll gatherers. In 18 19 the corporation was released from its obligation to maintain its road east of the road to Northampton. How much longer the toll gatherers continued their work is not known, as the county records in Springfield, Northampton, and Worcester do not definitely record the public laying out of the old First turnpike. In the next eighteen years ninety-seven corporations were chartered, one or more being ground out of the legislative mill in every year except 1798, with 1803 as the banner year, having sixteen for its record. Few new companies were organized after 18 14, although a revival occurred in 1826, when six appeared. 1832, 1841, and 1868 saw the birth of the last three, none of which seems to have built a road. In all, one hun- dred and eighteen acts of incorporation were passed, with one authoriz- ing a New Hampshire company to build in Massachusetts. Ten of these, however, were in the district which afterwards became the state of Maine. It was the early custom to designate each company like a regiment going to war, and we have the " First Massachusetts," " Second Massa- chusetts," " Third Massachusetts," and so on to the Sixteenth, although, as the compiler of the special acts quaintly observes, " there is a chasm in the course of numbers," there being no Seventh, and the " Williams- town Turnpike Corporation " coming in the place of the Fourth. [65] THE TURNPIKES OF NEW ENGLAND THE SECOND MASSACHUSETTS TURNPIKE A notable piece of construction was the road of the " Second Massa- chusetts," chartered March 8, 1797, to build " from the west line of Charlemont, in the county of Hampshire, to the west foot of Hoosuck Mountain in Adams, in the county of Berkshire." This road was the predecessor of the Hoosac Tunnel, following closely the same route. It followed up the valley of the Deerfield River on the southerly bank as far as Buckley Brook, near the present Hoosac Tunnel station. Then bearing southerly it described a semicircular course up the east side of the mountain, and so on to North Adams. That the project was long in maturing is shown by the finding of a plan dated 1795 in the Massa- chusetts archives, on which the route of the proposed turnpike is shown. In 1 804 the company was authorized to build a bridge over the Deer- field River at the easterly end of its turnpike. They must have been long in availing themselves of this privilege, for not until 18 17 were they allowed to erect a gate on the bridge. An unobstructed bridge at the far end of the road must have been extensively and freely used, and it is not to be expected that the company waited long under such cir- cumstances before applying for relief. An instance of how closely the corporation was held to the privileges contained in the act of incorpora- tion is found in 1830, when, by special act, David White of Heath was authorized to call a meeting of the proprietors " for the purpose of choosing a clerk," and nothing else. Evidently the corporation had lost its clerk, by death or otherwise, and by no other person could the stock- holders be called together; and only at a meeting called by a duly elected clerk could any business be transacted. That the receipts did not yield sufficient revenue can be seen from an act passed in 18 17, in which the company is allowed to erect an additional gate, which meant one more collection of tolls, while the rates of toll were slightly in- creased also. In 1833 the corporation was dissolved and the road made free. This route over Hoosac, or Florida, Mountain followed approxi- mately the line of the old Mohawk Trail, over which those dusky war- riors proceeded in 1664 on their terrifying raid, which resulted in the extermination of the Pocumtuck tribe, which lived in the Connecticut Valley. In 19 14 the Massachusetts Highway Commission completed the construction of a state highway over nearly the same line, and the route, originally blazed in savage vengeance and hatred, has now be- come one of the most popular and beautiful roads of the country. At the highest point, where the road crosses the backbone of the old Bay State, and for two miles easterly from it, the Mohawk Trail, as the new state highway is called, is on the line of the old Second Massachu- setts Turnpike. The Second Massachusetts was a route for several of the stages [66] THE "TURNPIKES OF MASSACHUSETTS from Boston to Albany, which continued on the Williamstown Turnpike to Williamstown, and then followed up the valley of the Green River and the West Branch to Hancock Center. THE THIRD MASSACHUSETTS TURNPIKE The " Third Massachusetts," incorporated on the day after the " Second," built its road from the east side of Roberts Hill in North- ampton to the eastwardly line of Pittsfield, and, under authority given the next year, across the town of Hancock, to the New York line. A break in the system is thus seen across Pittsfield, which town seems to have always been able to provide needed highways from its public funds. Turnpike travelers thus had free passage over what are now known as Unkamet and West streets in Pittsfield. In 1800, as we are told in Smith's " History of Pittsfield," the company petitioned the legislature, stating that it had been able to pay no dividends on its expenditure of $30,000, and asked that it might collect larger tolls. It also made what seems an unreasonable request, that the towns should be required to break out the road after snowstorms, and that they should expend more money on the bridges. While the road was private property, the towns seem to have helped maintain the bridges. No act has been found granting these requests. All turnpike corporations were required, by their charters, to file with the secretary of state a statement of the cost of the road and, annually, a summary of their receipts and expenditures. The " Third " was the first to do so; no penalty being provided, most of the companies neglected the matter. From the returns of the "Third" we learn that its road cost $29,989.34. The length being roughly thirty-two miles, made the road cost about $940 a mile. From the returns filed between 1801 and 18 14, we see that its net earnings averaged about $600 yearly, or about two per cent. The name of this corporation was changed, in 1814, to "The Worthington Turnpike Corporation." On petition of the corporation, its road was made free in September, 1829. THE WILLIAMSTOWN TURNPIKE The Williamstown Turnpike Corporation was the fourth to be in- corporated in Massachusetts, and its road formed a continuation of that of the Second across Williamstown to the New York line. It seems to have been the original of the present Adams and Main streets and Petersburg Road in that town. The cost was about $1000 a mile, and during the two years for which it deigned to file returns its profits were $490.21, or about two and one half per cent on the investment. This turnpike connected at the New York line with the Eastern Turnpike of that state, but it does not seem that the combination in- [67] s ° •S ^ V *j h en p w OS D a u «< CO CO < s X H b i-* 1 1 > ■— X H H ■ < "n( ►J £■£ 2- U 2 n 0^ ~2 = 2 2 c >,■- s a co U *£ co C 1 1 O Q -£ bo to t3 .3 'C XI V H CQ O w 9 H H H Id K o < .at o. o xE K r- z > X w 0H THE TURNPIKES OF MASSACHUSETTS vited much stage travel. The Boston to Albany stages came as far as Williamstown Center but turned southerly there, and ran the length of the town of Hancock before turning to the west again. THE FIFTH MASSACHUSETTS TURNPIKE " The Fifth Massachusetts Turnpike," authorized by an act passed March 3, 1799, was the most extensive and ambitious project sanctioned by the state. The mileage undertaken and the rough character of much of the country which it traversed, together with the scarcity of settle- ments along much of its length, show conclusively that its projectors were more intent upon other benefits to be derived than upon dividends from their investment. The turnpike was projected in Greenfield, which place had hitherto been accessible only by way of the Connecticut River, and the construction of the road opened a direct line to the eastern part of the state. The route was also designed to connect Northfield and southern New Hampshire with the same section, the whole being defined in the charter as from Capt. Elisha Hunt's in Northfield through Warwick, Orange, Athol, Gerry, Templeton, and Gardner, to Westminster Meeting-house; from thence to Jonas Kendall's tavern in Leominster; and also from Calvin Munn's tavern in Greenfield, through Montague and up Millers river, through unincorporated land, so as to inter- sect the road aforesaid in Athol. A stage had been established between Boston and Northfield as far back as 1789, according to Temple and Sheldon's " History of North- field," which ran by way of Worcester, Holden, Barre, Petersham, Athol, Orange, and Warwick; and in 1790 its trips were extended to Bennington by way of Brattleboro. The turnpike corporation was formally organized at a meeting held in the inn of Oliver Chapin in Orange, probably early in 1799, and sixteen hundred shares were issued with a par value of $100 each, as Frederick A. Currier told the Fitchburg Historical Society. Work must have been commenced at once and prosecuted with remarkable energy, for in June, 1800, the legislature authorized the company to open all of its road except about three quarters of a mile which passed close to the Westminster meeting-house and which apparently did not satisfy the corporation, as they had appealed to the general court for a change in that part of their location. The matter remained open for nearly a year when the company was required to locate its road " to the northward of said meeting-house, in the most convenient direc- tion." At the November term of 1800, of the court of sessions of Hampshire County, the " layout according to survey by Ebenezer Hoyt from Greenfield to Athol and in Warwick " was approved. At about the same time the layout in Worcester County was approved through the towns of Athol, Gerry (now Phillipston), Templeton, Gardner, Westminster, Fitchburg, and Leominster. [69] THE TURNPIKES OF NEW ENGLAND Starting in Greenfield the road had its western terminus at the tavern of Calvin Munn, which occupied the site of the Mansion House, as Thompson states in his " History of Greenfield," and followed what is now Highland Avenue and on by Highland Park and the Bear's den to Montague City bridge; thence passing south of Turners Falls to Millers Falls, where it crossed the Millers River and followed easterly on its northerly bank substantially on the line of the present state highway to Fitchburg, and thence to Leominster. The length from Greenfield to the Athol line is given by Hoyt's survey as twenty miles, sixty-eight rods, and six links, which with the added length of the branch to Northfield and the long section in Worcester County must have given the company a total mileage of nearly fifty-eight. The statement filed with the secretary of state gives the cost as $54,965.06, from which the average cost per mile would be about $950. The section running to Northfield appears to have been originally projected as the main line, but it clearly was destined to be a side issue, as the heavier traffic naturally followed the route along the Millers River, to Greenfield, on the way to central New York. What we here call the Northfield branch left the main road in Athol, passing through Pinedale and Warwick, to Houghton's Corner, in Northfield, which was chosen for the terminus instead of Capt. Elisha Hunt's, as specified in the charter. This branch was relocated in 1815, so that it crossed Millers River just west of Athol and then followed up the west side of Tully River. The act authorizing this relocation also provided that the corporation might alter its road in any such places " as shall facilitate the travel by going round instead of over hills, with- out much increase of way," which indicates that the straight-line mania had somewhat clouded the issue with the original locators. Two other branches were authorized, one in February, 1803, from Athol to the New Hampshire line in the west part of Royalston, and the other, in June of the same year, from the corporation's road in Warwick to the line of Winchester, New Hampshire. No indication has been found that the first was ever built, but the Hampshire County records estab- lish that the second was built, connecting with the road of the Sixth New Hampshire, and its construction approved within about three years. An additional gate was allowed in 1 8 1 1 and the rates of toll were increased, by which we judge that dividends were not forthcoming. In June, 1827, the corporation was allowed to build a new section, to replace a part of its old road, which extended down the " Gulf road " in Warwick, and in December of the same year a committee was ap- pointed to estimate the value of land occupied by the new construction. At the December, 1829, meeting of the county commissioners of Franklin County a petition was entered for the freeing of the Fifth Massachusetts within Franklin County, but no action seems to have followed, for in 1832 Ephraim Stone, Calvin Townsley, Lipha French, Benjamin Estabrook, and Joseph Young, directors of the corporation, [70] THE TURNPIKES OF MASSACHUSETTS renewed the petition, but this time asking that they might be relieved of the entire system of roads and the same thrown open to the public. The request being granted, the old turnpike became a part of the public- road system of the respective counties in that same year, 1832. At the time of the establishment of Franklin County and during the contest between various aspirants for the location of the county seat, Greenfield set forth its claims, stating, among other boasts, that the Fifth Massachusetts Turnpike had been promoted in that town and had . cost $60,000. In all probability extensive repairs were required, which could not be financed from the earnings, and hence additional expendi- tures of capital were needed. The Millers River is a turbulent stream and no doubt made easy work of washing away long sections of the early roadbeds. The corporation filed returns, as required by the charter, from 1798 to 1801, in 1 8 1 8, and again from 1822 to 1827. In 1801 the receipts were nearly $1800 with expenses of $1046, leaving a net of about $754. In 1822, 1823, and 1824 the receipts averaged about $1030 and the expenses about $730, leaving an inconsiderable amount for dividends. Receipts increased and expenses were lessened in the next year, but apparently trouble was saved for the following year, for then the ex- pense jumped to over $1600, and in 1827, the last year in which reports were made, there was a deficit of nearly $800. That dividends were paid, however, for a few years is stated by Frederick A. Currier in Proceedings of the Fitchburg Historical Society. In 18 10 one of $.50 a share was declared; from 1811 to 181 7, $.75; in 18 18, $1.25; 1820, $.25 ; and in 1823, $.75. By the above, 1818 would seem to have been a most prosperous year; but the returns filed at the state house for that year show a net income of only about $600, little in such a showing to induce investment in similar projects for monetary gain. The town of Ashburnham became mildly excited over the project of the Fifth Massachusetts, as it hoped thereby to be relieved from the impending cost of a new county road, Stearns' " History of Ashburn- ham " recites, and much negotiating with the corporation occurred. Finally an agreement was reached, by which the town contributed $1000, but the corporation reserved the right to build its road where it saw fit. As none of the road was ever built in Ashburnham, it would be interest- ing to know what became of that thousand dollars. THE SIXTH MASSACHUSETTS TURNPIKE Once more, before the close of the eighteenth century, the legislature incorporated a turnpike corporation, this time the Sixth Massachusetts, on June 22, 1799. It was proposed by this company to build a road " from the east line of Amherst, on the county road, near William Breton's house, through said towns '(given in preamble: Pelham, Greenwich, Hardwick, New-Braintree, Oakham, Rutland, Holden, and [71] 4^ ... pif' - - : -4- 1 mWW«4ti44 i IIIUiU-H -■; ■■■■ ■ ■v'V Z - - •mf III 1 1 ! 1 It 1 1 1 1 1 1 Ml~rt~TTTTtTT1~rTtTTI 1TTT I TTTli TiliTTTTT 1 1 f 4 ' s ^ ;;: ::: 4 1 I 1 I 1 1 11 ll ^ Mjjil^iiiiHfeHj- IIIIIIIIJIIIIIHII jlllllllill ji; IIS — j; : 1 lllllllllllllllffin - jfyfln i 1 fti 1 [ill 1 t^l 1 1 U J-TL^RJ lLLI.1 Lmi LX-ijiTrrxDjjjjxrfBJ J UxU J'11-JJ.l-lxl ifiiliiillliilli] llillJ IttttlBj: urn l : = :S-^ £E ^pft jljl 111 11111 ImtimlTlll lllllSSSfffosr rM-'^^'i-nr-^KP V*r man* THE TURNPIKES OF MASSACHUSETTS Worcester)' to the great road in Shrewsbury aforesaid," the great road in Shrewsbury being the road from Boston to New York. Records in Worcester and Northampton show that the turnpike was completed in 1800. Jonas Reed was the proprietor's clerk, or as would be said now, clerk of the corporation, and he, in later years, published a history of the town of Rutland, from which is extracted first hand information regarding this turnpike. It is learned that the road was forty-three miles and one hundred and twelve rods in length; that it was built in one summer, which the records show was that of 1800; and that the cost was about $33,000, or at the rate of about $760 a mile. At a town meeting, Rutland voted its approval of the project and voiced its wish to have the turnpike built through the town, and appropriated $1000 to help the cause along. The appropriation was later rescinded, whereupon a number of individuals associated them- selves and contracted to build the road through Rutland for $1.70 a rod, taking their pay in stock of the company at $25 per share. The work was sublet, Moses White undertaking the construction of five hundred and nineteen rods of the west end at the rate of $2.39 a rod, while the remaining seventeen hundred and fifty rods was divided into seven sections, each of which was let at a price of $1.41 per rod. The average price per rod is thus seen to be $1.63, which gave the first contractors a profit of a little less than $.07 on each rod, but since they took their pay in stock, it is not supposed that any of them grew rich from it. Information as to the location of gates on any of the roads is generally vague, but the one on this road in Holden stood a little west of the center, according to Estes' " History of Holden," to which position the legislature allowed it to be moved by an act passed June 17, 1820. In the same act the corporation was allowed to discontinue such of its road as lay in the towns of Pelham and Greenwich, and was discharged from all liability for maintaining the same. In 1829 the remainder of the Sixth turnpike was laid out as a county road and became free. As already stated, no corporation bearing the name of Seventh was ever incorporated. Had it been the Thirteenth which was omitted, one could easily conjure a reason therefor, but nothing is known to explain the failure to recognize the number seven. THE EIGHTH MASSACHUSETTS TURNPIKE The Eighth, Ninth, and Tenth Massachusetts Turnpike corporations were the legislative grist for the year 1800. The Eighth, incorporated on the twenty-fourth of February, had an elaborately worded route, but which, on account of reference to temporary local objects, has little meaning to-day. But it is plain that the authorized line commenced on the southerly bank of the Westfield River where the same crossed the line between the towns of Westfield and Russell, and followed [73] THE TURNPIKES OF NEW ENGLAND thence up the Westfield River and the West Branch of the same to some point in Chester. From there it was allowed to take over an existing road, locally known as the " Government road," to Becket Village, and thence by another existing road from Becket to the Pitts- field line. No evidence has been found that the section over the " Government road" was ever utilized by the turnpike corporation; in fact, the Berkshire records show that the company was allowed, in 1802, to abandon a section of its layout in Becket, but it did improve and operate the road from Becket to the 'Pittsfield line. There must have been serious construction difficulties in rendering the " Government road " suitable for a turnpike to induce the company to give up that section. That there was business enough to make it remunerative is clearly shown by the fact that, in the year following the abandonment by the Eighth, another corporation was formed, which built a turnpike con- necting the same terminals and closely paralleling the " Government road " ; and by the many later efforts to improve this same route, of which more on subsequent pages. The Eighth, as constructed, followed up the Westfield River, as already described, to a junction with the Becket Turnpike in the south- west corner of the town of Chester. Then, from a point in the south central part of the town of Becket, it ran northerly across that town northwesterly across Washington, and across the southwesterly corner of Dalton to the Pittsfield line. The portion of the road from Rus- sell's westerly boundary to where the Becket Turnpike later took up the burden was built in time to receive the approval of the Hampshire court of sessions at its August term in 1801, but it was not until March of 1805 that a committee was appointed to inspect and approve the part built over an old highway from Becket to the Pittsfield line. In 1 8 19 the corporation was allowed to abandon the Becket-Pittsfield section, and at the same time they were required to make an alteration in the road between the foot of Becket Mountain and the easterly end of the Becket Turnpike. That this was needed for the public conven- ience is evident from the fact that two years were allowed, in which two thousand dollars should be spent on such alteration, penalty for failure being reduction of tolls at one gate by one half. In 1838 the company obtained permission to improve its grades by cutting out a section on Dickinson's Hill and substituting a length of road in a better location. The balance of the Eighth Massachusetts was thrown open to the public in April, 1844. Four miles beyond Westfield the west-bound traveler on the Boston and Albany line crosses the boundary line between the towns of Russell and Montgomery, where the latter town draws down to a point at the river. On the opposite bank may be seen the place where the turnpike began, and the old road itself may be seen, now on one side of the train and then on the other, at various spots all the way to Chester, [74] THE TURNPIKES OF MASSACHUSETTS although many sections of it must have been effaced during the railroad construction. Opposite Woronoco station a tollgate formerly stood, and the corner of the roads, which can be seen from the train, is where the Hampden and Berkshire Turnpike branched off from the Eighth Massachusetts. Above Woronoco, formerly known as Fairfield, the river swings in a wide semicircle with a steep hill rising abruptly from its southerly bank, and carrying the old road shelved in its side. Along this section the ambitious western extension of the Springfield street-railway system is laid. THE NINTH MASSACHUSETTS TURNPIKE It has been noticed, no doubt, that so far all the projects were in the interests of the western part of the state, although the Sixth had its terminus as far east as Worcester. But now comes a turnpike partly in Norfolk County, and affecting Boston, inasmuch as it sought the improvement of the through route to Hartford from that city. The Ninth Massachusetts Turnpike Corporation, chartered Feb- ruary 25, 1800, built its road " from the end of the turnpike road in Thompson, in the State of Connecticut, where it adjoins the line of this commonwealth in the Town of Douglass, in the County of Worces- ter, to the east line of the Town of Bellingham in the County of Norfolk." The length was about twenty-two miles and the cost was certified to have been $13,222.83, or about $600 a mile. That this project had been brewing in the minds of local men for some time appears from the town records of Mendon, from which we learn that a committee was appointed, in August, 1796, to go to Ash- ford, Connecticut, to meet the commissioners of that state, who had been appointed to survey and lay out a road from Hartford. Philip Ammidon was one of this committee, and later was the first named among the incorporators of the Ninth; and since to him was addressed the long letter from Thomas Dwight, to which reference was had in writing of the First Massachusetts, it seems that the investors in the Ninth had ample warning of the failure of the First to yield revenue. It will be recalled that Mr. Dwight expressed the opinion that two dol- lars a rod was too much to pay for a road, and it is interesting to note that the recipient of the advice obtained an average of about one dollar and eighty-eight cents a rod on his road. In 1780, when Milford was set off from Mendon, an old road was designated as the boundary, Ballou's " History of Milford " tells us, and the two towns were burdened with equal shares of its maintenance. Such has ever been an annoyance to towns so burdened, and it must have been welcome to each town when the Ninth Massachusetts offered to include that section of road in its turnpike. The same boundary now [75] THE TURNPIKES OF NEW ENGLAND exists between the towns of Hopedale and Mendon, another survivor of the turnpike days. The old road is known to-day as Hartford Street, in Bellingham; Westcott's Road, in Mendon; and apparently Northeast and Southwest Main streets, in Douglas. Returns of financial matters were made in 1802 to 18 19 and from 1824 to 1827, during which years the average net earnings of the road were $121.20 per year, or nine tenths of one per cent, on the cost of the turnpike. Returns were omitted from 1820 to 1823, both inclu- sive, but a suggestion that those years were no fatter than the ones for which reports were made is found in an act passed in 1823, by which an additional gate was allowed to be erected in the westerly part of Mendon. The turnpike became a county road in Douglas in 1831, and the portion in Norfolk County, or in the town of Bellingham, was laid out by the county commissioners in 1833, while alterations were decreed on portions in the other towns. At a town meeting held June 17, 1831, we find in Metcalf's " Annals of Mendon," it was voted to oppose the discontinuance of the Ninth Massachusetts as a toll road, and a com- mittee was chosen to conduct such opposition, but that vote was re- scinded at a meeting in November of the same year. The records of Worcester County, of which Mendon and Uxbridge are a part, give no date for the final freeing of the road in those towns. The Ninth Massachusetts was a link in an important line of turn- pikes, which extended from Boston to Hartford over the " Middle Road," by which the distance was one hundred and six miles, according to the Old Farmers' Almanac. On this route was located landlord Taft's tavern in Uxbridge, the service in which so pleased President Washington, when he stopped there on his tour in 1789, that he after- wards sent presents to the host's two daughters, accompanied by a most graceful letter. THE TENTH MASSACHUSETTS TURNPIKE The Tenth Massachusetts Turnpike Corporation, created by an act passed June 16, 1800, was generally known as the Farmington River Company, on account of its road following the bank of that stream for so large a part of its course. It clearly was designed to form a link in a turnpike system connecting Hartford with Albany, as the Massachu- setts portion did not pass through any important centers except Lenox courthouse. In fact, the road was locally known also as the Hart- ford and Albany turnpike, by which name it is mentioned in a " History of the County of Berkshire," published in 1829. The road commenced at the termination of a Connecticut turnpike, on the state boundary line where the Farmington River crossed the same, and followed up the valley of that river, now in Sandisfield, then in Tolland, through Otis and Becket, to the east side of Greenwater Pond; thence through Lee, [76] -\ — -M ■ ' 1 2fe± It: w ft. s id < C/3 > W H «: 3 B c/3 jz X w < a B •a «> 8 JS x THE TURNPIKES OF NEW ENGLAND Lenox, Richmond, and Hancock, to the New York line. Southerly from Becket the road seems to be locally known as the " Old Turnpike " to-day, while the portion in Lenox appears to be called Walker Street and Cliffwood Street, and Richmond and Hancock folks know it as Lebanon Road. It passed through that portion of Lee called " Cape Street." The length of turnpike was about thirty-six miles and the cost of construction was about $1340 per mile. In 1 8 14 concessions were made, provided that persons under certain conditions should pass free, and the same act provided that anyone falsely claiming exemption on account of those conditions should be liable to the corporation, in an action of debt, for the sum of ten dollars. In 1 8 19 the corporation was allowed to discontinue all of its road westerly of the Stockbridge road in Lee, about one third of its system, and increased rates of toll were granted on the balance. In 1840 and in 1842 acts were passed authorizing changes in the location of the road, the two totaling only about four hundred rods, which seems small business for a legislature. By 1854 the turnpike had become so badly out of repair that various suits had been commenced for the annulment of the charter, and the legislature of that year took drastic steps toward forcing proper main- tenance by the company. Even the franchise itself was made liable to attachment in suits for damages sustained by fault in the road. The county commissioners were empowered to throw open the gates, that all might pass free, whenever they deemed the road to be out of repair; and they were further empowered to lay out the road as a public high- way, at their discretion, paying to the corporation the amount awarded by three referees. The Berkshire records show that the road was laid out as a public highway on petition of William Taylor, in September, 1855. Nothing is known about the financial part of the corporation's affairs, as no returns were ever filed at the state house. THE THIRD NEW HAMPSHIRE TURNPIKE Four acts were passed in the year 1801, the first on June 18, allow- ing the proprietors of the Third New Hampshire turnpike road to extend their road into Massachusetts " from the line of the State of New Hampshire, on the north side of the Town of Townsend, communi- cating with a turnpike road laid out in that state by said corporation, to the county road in said town near Goss' Bridge, so called, a distance of about four miles." The Third New Hampshire was chartered in that state on December 27, 1799, to build from Bellows Falls, through Keene, toward Boston, and its road appears to have entered Massachusetts in the northwest corner of Townsend, close to Walker Brook, and run thence directly to Townsend Center. After it was built, as Cutter tells in his " History [78] THE TURNPIKES OF MASSACHUSETTS of Jaffrey, New Hampshire," it became common practice among the inhabitants of the region traversed to carry products to Boston in their own teams after snow, fell, and it was not unusual to see twenty to forty sleds or sleighs journeying over the turnpike together. Dearborn and Emerson established a line of stages between Boston and Walpole, New Hampshire, in 1803, passing over the Third New Hampshire, through Jaffrey and Keene. In 1824 the New Hampshire legislature authorized the corporation to surrender its charter and make its road free, and in 1826 Massachu- setts followed suit. So far all applications for charters have been marked by sincerity of purpose and further ability to carry out the intention, but many of the charters granted in the later years were never utilized. Some of them are readily detected, while others are hidden in the mists of long ago. One of the former class is the Eleventh Massachusetts, which was chartered June 19, 1801, to build from the Connecticut line through Granville to Blandford meeting-house, and thence to a connection with the Eighth Massachusetts in Becket. A plan has been found showing the route proposed between Blandford and the state line, but roads ap- pear to-day over but a part of such. route. The records of Hampshire court of sessions show that a location of the road was made in 1801 and a change in the location in 1802, but nothing further. That the road was never built is plainly shown by the act passed in 1809, in- corporating the Granville Turnpike Corporation and granting it the route laid out by the Eleventh Massachusetts. THE TWELFTH MASSACHUSETTS TURNPIKE But better luck attended the promoters of the Twelfth Massachu- setts Turnpike Corporation, which received its franchise on the same date as the Eleventh. The road of this company was to be built from the Connecticut line in the southeasterly part of Sheffield, northwesterly across that town and across Egremont to the easterly end of the Hudson Turnpike, the road of a New York corporation. In 1803 the location was made by a committee of the Berkshire court of sessions, and authority was given for a branch of this turnpike at its southeasterly end, under which a road was built, about two miles long, to another point on the Connecticut line. Another branch was built, without any author- ization as far as now appears, leaving the main road at a point in the easterly part of Egremont and running northerly across the south- westerly corner of Alford to the New York line, on the way to Albany. The Twelfth evidently had trouble with " shunpikes," or feared it would have, for we find it enacted into law in 1806 that no landowner should allow a road to be maintained on his land, parallel to the turnpike, within forty rods of any gate. Penalties were also provided for any per- [79] THE TURNPIKES OF NEW ENGLAND son who injured the road, fifty to one hundred dollars being the amount to be inflicted, and other penalties for evasions of toll were specified. The Twelfth seems to have been locally known as the Litchfield Turnpike, probably because its Connecticut connection, the Greenwoods Turnpike, traversed Litchfield County. The route described in the charter is unique inasmuch as it is located almost entirely by reference to the dwelling houses of various men, and in only one case gives the town in which a house is to be found. This road, with its Connecticut connections, the Greenwoods and Talcott Mountain turnpikes and its extension in New York, formed for over half a century the great highway between Hartford and Albany and was a heavily traveled route. By the branch authorized in 1803 connection was later made with the Warren Turnpike in Connecticut, over which access was had to the lower Housatonic Valley. The cost of construction was reported as $12,771.18. The length being twenty miles makes the unit cost about $640 a mile. In 1857 the company petitioned the county to take the road and it became free. June 19, 1 80 1, the ominously named Thirteenth Massachusetts Turnpike Corporation was formed, to build " from the line of the state of Connecticut, near Holmes' Mill, by the meeting-house in the middle parish in Granville, to the northwesterly part of the Town of Loudon, in the County of Berkshire." Apparently the blight of the unlucky number could not be overcome, for no further record has been found either in state or county records, and we are obliged to include this turnpike among those probably never built. Loudon, by the way, became Otis in 18 10. THE SALEM TURNPIKE A cursory glance at the map will suffice to show the difficulties which beset land travelers essaying to journey between Boston and Salem in the early days. The many broad creeks meandering back into the country and the many swamps, still to be seen, made the trip one of wider detour and extra mileage. The passage by sea, passing outside of Marblehead, Nahant, and Winthrop, must have been exasperatingly long, and no doubt travelers by either route begrudged the time con- sumed in passing from place to place, only thirteen miles apart. Tradi- tion has it that the first party of Salem people who journeyed to Boston by land were four days on the way, and publicly gave thanks for their safe return. Spasmodic efforts to maintain a stage between those places commenced as early as 1766, but nothing regular or satisfactory was accomplished. But having " got along " for nearly two hundred years with such poor accommodations was no argument for the Salem people that they [80] THE TURNPIKES OF MASSACHUSETTS should continue thus handicapped, and on March 6, 1802, we find the Salem Turnpike and Chelsea Bridge Corporation formed to build a road beginning near Buff urn's Corner, so-called in Salem, thence to be continued through the Salem Great Pastures, so-called ; thence by the southeasterly side of Farrington's Hill, so-called, in Lynn, over Breed's Island, in Lynn Marshes, and by the southeast side of Cheever's Hill, so-called, in Chelsea, to a'place on the Chelsea side of Mystic River, between Winnesimmit Ferryways and Dr. Aaron Dexter's gate, and over said river to a place on the Charlestown side thereof, north of, and near to, the Navy Yard ; and thence to said Charles River Bridge in Charlestown. And the company was further empowered to build bridges over the rivers and waters between said Buffum's Corner and Charles River, a most necessary provision, in view of the nature of the country to be traversed. By an act passed February 26, 1803, the route of the company was shortened and it was allowed to build only to " Main Street, in Charlestown," or in other words, to City Square. The road, as built in conformity with the above description, formed what are now known as Highland Avenue, in Salem; Western Avenue, in Lynn; Broadway, in Saugus, Revere, and Chelsea; Chelsea Street, in Charlestown; and included Chelsea Bridge, over the Mystic River. We read in Lewis' " History of Lynn " : On Thursday the 23rd of September (1803) the Salem Turnpike was opened and began to receive toll. The Lynn Hotel was built this year. The original num- ber of shares in this turnpike were 1200, and the original cost was $189,000. This road will become the property of the Commonwealth when the proprietors shall have received the whole cost with 12% interest; and the bridge over Mystic River, when 70 years shall be accomplished. This turnpike, for nearly four miles, passes over a tract of salt marsh which is frequently covered by the tide. When it was first projected many persons esteemed it impracticable to build a good road on such a foundation. One person testified that he had run a pole down to the depth of 25 feet. Yet this turnpike proves to be one of the most excellent roads in America. The length of the road, exclusive of the bridge over Mystic River, was twelve and one half miles; and the cost was officially given as $182,063.21, or about $14,600 a mile. June 1, 1 8 13, was the day on which this turnpike did the greatest day's business in its history. This was the day of the famous sea fight between the Chesapeake and Shannon off Salem Bay, and one hundred and twenty stages passed over the turnpike that day filled with passen- gers eager to witness the combat from the commanding hilltops of Salem. 1 Besides the sections through swamps, described above, there were other sections even more difficult to build. There seemed to be no medium; it was either soft marsh or the hardest of hard rock, and it seems incredible that the promoters should have dreamed of ever earn- ing dividends on so expensive a proposition. But nearly five per cent John F. Browning in the Salem News, January 15, 1915. [8l] Tflffiffi^a f fff ffwiw [ffffm §|fltP . HHfit If ill II 1 llllrtffttfl ||||11IIH|||||| || JllffHf jffi jffjjfft fet.Ht rffif" :t;a:^i IIU -UJ4-TJ Ijlllllljllll limn mi -u^. ita |jH1Mt^ j^-^. t. *.. ~Hi^ir*:: -crjf" 1 UUtj-14 1 1 • • 1 i Hufjj- BB .— •~H~"~ ; } j'"-,-f ; "lifpi B ii ill -j|||[T[ti'fffj|||||||||ii|i pw M a^piili BfHfH" ii:u :: iijjilMl i giji nil iiii^wii[ i$ip tifejj jjj pi jjii in IIIIIIIIIIIIH ■ rffti i J '■ - *7filnft(' II 1 HI p : ~~ t* " if "Wp^H" ill Tt-R- j +B-H-M-H-I-I i 1 1 1 1 H 1 1 *" T" ^t]TT'IH4i | Ulltl1tllilttttl I II* **T Jj|^ :[ilj||H|||[[||l|| l^^[^rpH|-|j||||||||l^ ll-pHrll IiLT 1 Illllll 1 II II Iff SSfes ffl TTP|jg4 ?-*}.[ : ; rWI 4. |[ . -llllllllllllllllllll : j54| [lllllllllllllllllllllftfft ; S TTT iit" Hilllllllllllllll 1 , | : : : |T g ■ t K: xiliMl iiJU Klllllll jjl Ijli) 1 1 i m 1 1 1 ^lllllll j||;p ||l|||||| ; liffifffp §§$8 rrfrt r-fet i±ti - t '-'r -'4 : Hi :flllllillllllllllllllllllllllll|:|fi ' I llllinilTITIITiI I II Ttt "ttt ifrnit' ■ IIIIIIH) 5|:= tM 4+? +}+ iiiiilli ■g tTT*}*t::lr:::{ WW hi |:SMiiig; - : fft Pffll THE TURNPIKES OF NEW ENGLAND net was averaged down to 1820, and five and seven eighths per cent was the average for the six years preceding the opening of the Eastern Railroad. After that competition began, the earnings fell at once nearly one half and steadily dropped from that date until 1868. On June 5 of that year the legislature declared the turnpike a public highway. This corporation filed returns in accordance with the spirit of the law, and only those for the years 1809, 18 10, and 181 1 are missing. The following table of averages is compiled from the returns and shows the net earnings of the road in percentages of its cost: 1804 to 1808 average 5.0% 1812 to 1818 " 4-9% 1819 to 1828 " 3-4% 1829 to 1838 " 5-o6% 1838 Eastern Railroad opened. 1839 to 1848 average 2.46% 1849 to 1858 . . . .' . " 1.62% 1859 to 1867 " 1.41% 1 8 12 saw the greatest net earnings, seven and two tenths per cent, with a gross business of $16,696.79, and expenses of $3504.68. The leanest year was 1861, when the net earnings amounted to only three tenths of one per cent, the gross receipts being $6889.61 and the expenses $6385.88. The largest year's business was done in 1836, when the tolls totaled $17,671.46; but expenditures of $5577.15 held the net proceeds down to six and six tenths per cent. The accompanying chart shows graphically the financial history of the Salem Turnpike as revealed by the Massachusetts archives. Although a part of the same franchise, the Chelsea Bridge was treated as a separate institution and returns for that were filed sepa- rately. Its cost is given as $55,469.46, and returns were filed spas- modically. The net earnings averaged as follows : 1804 to 1807 average 11.3% 1814 to 1816 " 6.17% 1829 to 1838 " 10. % 1839 to 1848 " 6.1% 1849 to 1855 7-45% 1859 to 1861 " 6.45% Strange to say, the leanest year, 1861, for the turnpike was the banner year for the bridge, as it is recorded that the bridge collections then totaled $11,010.56, with expenses of $4832.90. In 1825 the corporation was authorized to convey such land to the United States as might be necessary to make the Navy Yard boundaries straight, and to buy enough other land "to compensate it." In 1831 the discontinuance of the turnpike between Charlestown Square and the northwest corner of the Navy Yard was allowed. The town was [84] THE TURNPIKES OF MASSACHUSETTS to accept the road within four months, have it well paved as far as Caswell's Corner and the rest of the distance put in good repair, in return for which the corporation was to pay the town $1000. And thereafter the corporation was to be allowed to maintain a guide board in Charlestown Square directing travelers to its turnpike. June 5, 1868, the legislature declared the turnpike and the bridges a public highway. The Lynn and Boston Street Railway Company, chartered April 6, 1859, had been allowed to lay its tracks along the turnpike, and the act provided for the appointment of commissioners who were to determine what amount the street-railway company should pay toward the maintenance of the new highway. By the same act the county commissioners of Essex were required to make public six toll bridges over the Merrimac River and one between Beverly and Salem. For its entire length to-day the Salem Turnpike is a busy and im- portant thoroughfare, being the principal street of the cities of Chelsea and Revere and passing through the manufacturing district of West Lynn. In the northwesterly corner of Lynn is stilJ to be seen the famous " Floating Bridge," a unique and unprecedented piece of construction. Collins Pond, seventeen acres in area, lay across the route selected for the road, and being of great depth with a soft, peaty bottom offered serious obstacles to any known form of bridge construction. So a new method was evolved by which a long raft was built, making a continu- ous floating structure across the pond five hundred and eleven feet long and twenty-eight feet wide. The bridge was built in three sections on the shore of the pond and floated into place. First a course of logs hewn on the upper sides was placed. Then a course of timbers one foot square was laid at right angles upon it, the operation being repeated until there were five such layers, when a top course of plank was laid, making the whole bridge about five and one half feet deep. The timbers were fastened together with dowels, which allowed an undulating movement as loads passed along the surface, and provided flexibility between the fixed ends on the banks and the portion affected by the variations of water level in the pond. Construction of this bridge delayed the completion of the turnpike about a year, the bridge being built in 1804 at a reported cost of $55,469. Turnpike operation, however, did not wait its completion, a detour being provided around the pond and over what is now Waitt Avenue. Of late years renewal of the planking has been necessary about every three years, and the usual custom has been to add it to the worn timbers already in place until the bridge is now said to be over fifteen feet thick. A large drove of cattle once attempted to cross the bridge stopping on the way to drink. Many of them gathering on one side and thrust- ing their heads under the railing caused the bridge to list, and the railing, [85] THE TURNPIKES OF NEW ENGLAND catching their horns, held the heads under water until they were drowned. 1 In later years the construction of a high-speed electric railroad called for another bridge across this pond, but the invention of the pile- driver made the second effort less picturesque. A double-track pile trestle is now to be found close beside the " Floating Bridge." The portion over the Lynn marshes still traverses a waste region, although the roadbed has been brought to a scientific excellence and firmness. Breed's Island, mentioned in the act of incorporation, is still in evidence, the hard ground being noticeable at the angle in the road about halfway across the marsh. According to Tracy's " History of Essex County " one tollgate was located on this island, a point of great advantage in preventing shun- piking. Another gate stood on Chelsea Bridge, while a third was located in Salem Great Pastures about two miles from Salem. Tracy says that the Salem gate collected $5300 in the year 1805. That was about forty-three per cent of the total receipts of the road for that year and more than double the total expenses. As Broadway in Chelsea, the turnpike felt the full force of the disastrous conflagration which swept that city in April, 1908, burning across the main avenue and destroying several blocks on each side. Salemites of years ago used to tell gleefully of one of their fellow citizens who, returning late one night in a snowstorm along the turn- pike, was suddenly confronted by a burly figure which with extended arm seemed vigorously to demand " your money or your life." Mind- ful of the proverb which defines the better part of valor, the traveler hastily tossed his watch and purse to the dimly seen figure and retreated. Next morning with reinforcements he returned to the scene of his dis- comfiture only to experience bitter mortification when his valuable prop- erty was found in the horse trough at the foot of the old-fashioned pump, which still held its ground with handle horizontal. THE NORFOLK AND BRISTOL TURNPIKE The Columbian Centinel of January 8, 1800, made the following announcement : New York and Providence Mail Stages Leave Major Hatches, Royal Exchange Coffee House, in State Street, every morning at eight o'clock, arrive at Providence at six the same day ; leave Providence at four o'clock for New York, Tuesdays, Thursdays, and Saturdays. Stage book kept at the bar for the entrance of the names. Expreffes forwarded to any part of the continent at the shorteft notice, on reafonable terms: horfes kept ready for that purpofe only. All favors gratefully acknowledged by the Public's moft humble servant Stephen Fuller, Jr. 1 Paper read before the Essex Institute by C. J. H. Woodbury, 1898. [86] u Q w Ui a. fc Pi D H jy J 5 o — H 'rt to > 2 4-> M rt w Q ■o £ c < cB 13 * i O o 0) Z O c 4> £ V 1 o M 1 1— 1 n 1— 1 > 4-> X! v c a w H Jj <: s c Ph o 2 w M h z a! D h - o H 2 w 1 3 1 £ be a£ 3 e < -o 00 I— I X! w H < J Hi J3 c* THE TURNPIKES OF MASSACHUSETTS Ten hours from Boston to Providence, and the rest of a week to reach New York, was the time required at the opening of the nineteenth century, so no wonder the spirit of progress presently manifested itself. Hence we find the following petition presented at the 1802 session of the Massachusetts general court: Commonwealth of Massachusetts To the Honorable the Senate and House of Representatives in General Court assembled : The subscribers humbly shew That it is expedient that the public roads should be made smooth and easy for travel- lers and for the conveyance of goods and commodities as well as produce. That the road between Boston and Providence is much used and of great public accommoda- tion ; but it is in a very bad state and they conceive is only to be made good by a Turnpike, that being the cheapest, and most equitable, and just mode of making the needed improvement. Wherefore they pray that they, with others, may be incor- porated as a Turnpike Company to improve the road from the line of the State of Rhode Island at Pawtucket Bridge or falls to the Court House in Dedham, and that due authority may be given to straiten the road. And as in duty bound, will ever pray Ephraim Starkweather and thirty-two others. The incorporators comprised men of prominence in their respective towns from Boston to Pawtucket, and it is interesting to note that several of them were in controversy with the corporation two years later over the amount to be paid for land taken. In answer to the petition the legislature duly granted an act of in- corporation on the eighth of March, 1802, and authorized the building of a road by the Norfolk and Bristol Turnpike Corporation from the Court House in Dedham, in the county of Norfolk, to the North parish meeting-house in Attleborough in the county of Bristol, and from thence to Paw- tucket Bridge, so-called, and for keeping the same in repair. The said turnpike to begin at the Court House in Dedham aforesaid, and thence to run as near a strait line from the said Court House in Dedham to the said Pawtucket Bridge, as a Com- mittee appointed by the General Court, shall, with due regard to the nature of the ground, direct; and which Committee is hereby authorized to locate the same road accordingly . . . On the following day the committee provided in the act above was appointed: Salem Town, Esq., from the senate and Messrs. Kendall and Rice of Hingham from the house. Of Salem Town we have already heard as an incorporator of the First Massachusetts. He was a man of note, and at this time was serving in the senate for the second time after having declined advancement to the council. He had been a quartermaster in the revolutionary army, according to Daniels' " His- tory of Oxford," and later was the second major general of the Massa- chusetts militia. He served seven years in the house and eight in the senate, being first elected to the latter body as a successor to Moses Gill, who was advanced to a lieutenant governor in 1794. In 1802 and [87] THE TURNPIKES OF NEW ENGLAND 1803 he served as a member of the governor's council. 1 Besides his connection with the First Massachusetts and with the Norfolk and Bristol he later appeared either as an incorporator, or on the committee for laying out, of several other turnpike corporations. The first meeting of the corporation was held March 30, 1802, at the house of Joseph Holmes in Attleboro. Colonel Israel Hatch was moderator and Fisher Ames was elected president. The number of shares was fixed at eight hundred, of a par value of fifty dollars each. The number of shares was afterwards increased and assessments amounting to two hundred dollars per share were laid, but only nine hundred and sixty-four shares were thus paid in, and that number con- stituted the capital stock of the company throughout. Colonel Israel Hatch was a native of Attleboro, and at the out- break of the Revolution was a stage driver over the post road between Boston and Providence. He saw service in the Revolution, but attained the rank of colonel in the militia of later days. In 1780 he bought the old Garrison House in Attleboro, and kept a public house there until his death in 1837. But he appears to have divided his time be- tween the Attleboro house, which he called " Steamboat Hotel," and various taverns in Boston, of which he was at one time and another the proprietor. In 1787 he assumed the management of "The White Horse," which stood on Washington Street, then called Newbury Street, about opposite Hayward Place, and announced his intentions by the following advertisement: . TAKE NOTICE Entertainment for Gentlemen and Ladies At the White Horse Tavern, Newbury Street. My friends and travellers, you '11 meet With kindly welcome and good cheer, And what it is you now shall hear: A spacious house and liquors good, A man who gets his livelihood By favours granted ; hence he '11 be Always smiling, always free: A good large house for chaise or chair, A stable well exposed to air: To finish all, and make you blest, You '11 have the breezes from the west. And — ye, who flee the approaching Sol, My doors are open to your call ; Walk in — and it shall be my care T oblige the weary traveller. From Attleborough, Sirs, I came, Where once I did you entertain, 1 Tillinghast's Index of Senate and House Members, Massachusetts State Library. [88] THE TURNPIKES OF MASSACHUSETTS And now shall here as there before Attend you at my open door, Obey all orders with despatch, Am, Sirs, your servant, Israel Hatch. Boston, May 14, 1787. According to Daggett's " History of Attleboro," he was appointed the first postmaster in that town by President Washington, in 1789, and kept the office in his " Steamboat Hotel." At the beginning of the nineteenth century, Drake tells us in his " Old Landmarks and Historic Personages of Boston," he was conducting the Royal Exchange Tavern, which stood on the southwest corner of what are now State and Exchange streets. The stand in Attleboro which Colonel Hatch purchased was the oldest tavern stand in Bristol County, as July 5, 1670, John Woodcock was licensed " to keep an ordinary at the ten mile river (so-called) which is in the way from Rehoboth to the Bay. . . ." Madam Knight stopped there for dinner on the second day of her journey, and has left a most unappetizing account of her meal. Fisher Ames was Dedham's most brilliant son. Graduating from Harvard in 1774, he became a lawyer in his native town, and was sent as a delegate to assist in framing the Federal Constitution. For the first eight years of the country's existence he served in Congress, and upon the retirement of Washington was chosen to deliver the address in behalf of that body. While the turnpike was building, in 1804, he was elected president of Harvard College, but was obliged on account of ill health to decline. Construction of the turnpike was commenced promptly and it was opened for traffic in 1806. February 10, 1803, an additional act was passed by the legislature, by which an extension was allowed from the courthouse in Dedham to " the southerly side of the pavement near to the Brick School House in said Town of Roxbury." Under the two acts the road was built from the present corner of Washington and Bartlett streets, in the Roxbury section of Boston, straight through Forest Hills to Dedham, the only notable break in the straight line coming at a point a little north of Germantown, where the road curved to avoid a large rock, which has lately been removed by the state high- way commission. Reaching Dedham at the old Phoenix House, the turnpike made almost a square bend to the right and followed the present High Street to the old courthouse, which occupied the site of the present one. From thence to Pawtucket Bridge the road ran so straight that we can imagine the few bends were due to inaccuracies in the old- fashioned surveyors' compasses, except at one point, at High Rock in Wrentham. There we find good reason for the crook in the road, for the hill would have been impassable if the line had been carried straight over it. [89] THE TURNPIKES OF NEW ENGLAND Although, as we have seen, the promoters of this road had the benefit of the advice of Thomas Dwight that two dollars a rod was too high a price to pay for construction of turnpikes, the directors actually con- tracted with Colonel Hatch for the construction of three and three quarters miles of the road at seven dollars a rod. The original contract may still be seen in the rooms of the Dedham Historical Society. It is in the form of a bond, Colonel Hatch being holden and standing firmly bound for a certain sum, the conditions being that he is to construct the road from Hatch's Corner to the Allen Road, twenty-four feet wide and crowned twelve inches. The specifications required him to form a smooth regular surface covered in every part with coarse hard cementing gravel not less than six inches thick for seven feet in width and three inches at the sides of a true slope, the whole cleared of stones within one foot of the surface, with trenches on each side of sufficient depth to carry off the water and sluices where necessary and where they are not made by the said corporation of sufficient sizes, made and covered with good stone and projecting two feet on each side of the trav- elled part of said road. And the contract further provides for the building of three bridges for which the timber was to be furnished by the company. The section which Colonel Hatch built under this contract extended from what is now the corner of Washington Street and the road to Plainville, at the upper end of North Attleboro Village where Hatch's " Steamboat Hotel " stood, to the corner of Washington Street and Allen Avenue, at the top of the highest hill between North Attleboro and Paw- tucket. At two points on this section are still to be seen interesting instances of the difference between turnpike construction and that of earlier days. The Old Post Road passed through what is to-day North Attleboro Village, coming down over the top of the high hill by the water tower, where it is now known as Elmwood Street, and passing in a long radius curve to the west of the location of the present Baptist meeting-house. The turnpike, coming down the hill into North Attle- boro on the line of the present Washington Street, cut across the Old Post Road and continuing the straight line made a chord across the curve above mentioned, after which turnpike and post road were blended into one for a few miles. Again, about one mile below North Attleboro where the trolley cars leave Washington Street to pass through the village of South Attleboro is a place where the Old Post Road was badly crooked, but the turnpike still held to the straight line, and the two roads are to-day in their old positions, like a bow and cord. Entering Dedham from Boston, Washington Street the turnpike, and East Street the Old Post Road, emphasize the same lesson. Once and once only did this corporation deign to file a return of its doings, as required by its charter. In that the total cost of the road is stated to have been $225,000, which makes the cost per mile about $6440. This figure was undoubtedly inflated, as we have already seen that the total capital was only $192,800; and taking the latter figure as [90] — "-*#/'■' * :^^''"'?MB^B : ' ' ; '' : ' ; " ' ' ~ " * ' "^ ': ' • ' 5^ ^|8 HbPI ""'■ ■ • - *^, --* ^*^^t1 - «■ • Mendon Road, Soutli Attleboro. site of Tollgate Scenes in Foxboro and VVrentham Plate XX — Norfolk and Bristol Turnpike ■ i ]»■& IS ! HE^ -mi * .•■■ . ,^. , -^-'IfiS ^^^1 i?y i ^££ . jggg ' 2.9* .. ; ^P ;••$ '- SS'' 1 ■ V i -/' 90m ■ w - -*^5 : -a C G o C J3 t- x f- .s * Id c 5 M 8 E J3 rt s. Oh 03 'A (j D H j p H x s M a fc < M j c u. Ml O 1 1 1—4 X * u „ H 5 PL, £ 3 s o 5 ai -fi - "^ C a* ■;q i jr 2 5 o 3 s 1* £ 4> *u -C O P z THE TURNPIKES OF MASSACHUSETTS the cost of the road would give a cost per mile of about $5500, which is less than forty per .cent of the pro-rata cost of the Salem Turnpike. The report of Secretary Gallatin states that this road was covered with a stratum of gravel or pounded stone, which accords with the specifica- tions in the Hatch contract and accounts for the great excess of cost over the previous turnpikes, which were simply dirt roads. Right-of-way acquisition seems to have been easy in Norfolk County. Away back in the northeast corner of the clerk of court's office in Dedham, on the top shelf, was found in a box the report of the com- mittee to whom was intrusted the duty of determining the value of the necessary land in cases where the corporation and the owners could not agree. There were only fourteen such cases, and the total amount of the awards was only $831.34; and from the findings no appeals were taken. But in Bristol County they had their troubles. We have already seen that there appears to have been a split between the original pro- jectors, and the records of the court of sessions in Taunton show that the enterprise was not welcomed in all parts of its route. Ephraim Starkweather, the leading spirit of the enterprise in its early days, must have had a bad falling out with his associates before construction began, for we find him appealing for a jury to revise the award which the committee had made on two pieces of land which had been taken from him. For these he had been allowed $96 and $650 respectively, but the jury thought he had not received fair treatment and awarded $1 100 for the two. Eliphalet and Samuel Slack of Rehoboth were among the original incorporators, and they, too, entered into litigation with the new company. Considering the awards of the committee in their cases too great, Oziel Wilkinson of North Providence, a director of the corporation, appealed for a jury and succeeded in having the total of the two awards reduced by five dollars. The appeal from the award to Samuel Slack is unique, for it claims that the committee was unduly influenced by the fact of said Slack's being a deputy sheriff. Forty-five contested cases were submitted to the committee in Bristol County, and from its decisions ten appeals were taken, the last not being disposed of until July 1, 1805. The total of the awards by the com- mittee was $7664 and the appeals raised this amount by about $750, the average award being about $1.90 per lineal rod of four rods width. Accepting this figure as the average cost of the land makes a total cost of about $21,280, or $608 per mile, but this undoubtedly would not provide for land in Dedham and Roxbury. Probably $25,000 to $30,000 is near the correct cost of the right of way. Thirteen miles of this turnpike was built by Oziel Wilkinson, prob- ably the five miles connecting the end of Colonel Hatch's contract with Pawtucket Falls, and another eight miles in Wrentham and Foxboro; and it is instructive as to the state of manufacturing at that time to note that he was obliged to fit up a shop of his own in Pawtucket, in which he manufactured the shovels to be used by his workmen. [91] THE TURNPIKES OF NEW ENGLAND Although the road was opened for traffic in 1806, it was not until November 6, 1809, that sufficient surplus had accumulated to justify a dividend. Then the sum of $1205 was distributed, about five eighths of one per cent. The corporation by-laws required semi-annual divi- dends, and they were declared fitfully after that. The chart shown was compiled from the treasurer's books and is authentic. It shows a vary- ing rate, but generally holding up to about one or two per cent per annum, until the opening of the Boston and Providence Railroad, after which, as might be expected, a heavy falling off is noted. But a most amazing jump appears in August, 1831, when $9640, making a five-per- cent dividend, was declared, which gave a total for the year of six and one half per cent. A few notes on the nature of the traffic may prove of interest, 1825 being arbitrarily selected as a sample year, and the data being collected from the toll gatherers' returns. As shown on the chart, the volume of business was heaviest between Boston and Dedham, the collections on the two sections there being greater than all the rest together. The amount decreased steadily as the gates receded from Boston with a slight recovery on the Pawtucket end. The travel was heaviest in June, but it is surprising to see no regu- larity in the rise and fall, and how late into the winter good business kept up. The winter of 1824-25 must have been an open one, for the toll gatherer at the Foxboro gate reported no sleds or sleighs passing his gate in February. The following table gives his report for two months of 1825 of the nature of the traffic: Description February July Boston-Providence Citizens Coaches 56 208 Boston-Providence New Line 56 113 Guild's Teams (freight wagons) — 41 Coaches 5 *7 Chaise, Chair, or other 1 horse vehicles 86 194 Union Line Stage (1 horse wagons) — 19 Four Horse Wagons 49 49 Two Horse Wagons 30 21 One Horse Wagons 165 119 Saddle Horses 12 16 Sheep or Swine 54 — On July 2 it was noted that sixteen stagecoaches passed the gate. The gross receipts for 1825 were $9154.11, and in that year one of the semi-annual dividends failed to materialize, while the other only gave a rate of about one and one quarter per cent for the year. By special provision in its charter the corporation was allowed to commute tolls or, in other words, to run accounts with extensive cus- tomers such as stage-coach companies. Such commuted tolls in 1825 amounted to $3006.48, as follows: [92] is I _i_5 J 1' |l!||IH u, 1 1 " THE TURNPIKES OF NEW ENGLAND * Citizens Coach Line — Boston to Providence $1,377-65 Providence Stage — Old Line . 575-53 New Line 563.34 Hartford Stage 145- 15 M. Guild for wagon tolls 140.54 Union Line 88.00 Dedham Stage 10.00 Miscellaneous 106.27 A suggestion appears in the above table of why the section between Boston and Dedham paid so much better than all the rest, for " Hart- ford Stage " may be noted as a source of income. The Hartford and Dedham Turnpike, which by its connections with the Norfolk and Bris- tol at one end and with the Ninth Massachusetts at the other, formed the best through line to Hartford, connected with the Norfolk and Bristol at the courthouse in Dedham, and all its Boston business passed thence over the latter company's road. In 1805, while the expectation of dividends may have been still vivid, the corporation sought and obtained an extension of its franchise rights from its authorized terminus at the corner of Washington and Bartlett streets to Pleasant Street in Boston. But such a piece of work, involv- ing the building of a bridge or causeway over a mile long across tidal flats, proved too great an undertaking, and the turnpike continued throughout to deliver its travelers to the public road in Roxbury. The old turnpike is in existence throughout its length to-day as a public road, except for the few places where changes have been made in connection with railroad crossings. Commencing at its end at the cor- ner of Washington and Bartlett streets, for about two miles it may be traced under the gloom and reverberations of the elevated structure to Forest Hills, where the first tollgate was encountered by the old-time travelers. For many years the railroad station at Forest Hills was known as "Toll Gate Station"; and "Toll Gate Cemetery," "Toll Gate Way," and " Toll Gate Inn," still chronicle the location of the old gate. In the grade-crossing abolitions of 1895 the present bend in the street was formed to afford a better passage under the tracks. About the time of the Centennial celebration in 1876 a concerted movement resulted in having the old turnpike named Washington Street in all the Massachusetts towns through which it passed; hence as Washington Street we look for it and follow the same to Dedham, the latter part of the way, over a broad boulevard constructed by the state highway commission. Here, however, a slip occurred, and for the next mile Washington Street is not the old turnpike at all. The old-time travelers on reaching Dedham Square found the Phoenix House on the corner at the right, where it stood until burned in 1880. Turning around this corner the turnpike followed the present High Street to the courthouse, and thence over Court Street to its junction with Washington Street. Then to the Rhode Island boundary Washington Street is the old turn- pike. Glance at the map of this section of Massachusetts and you will T94] THE TURNPIKES OF MASSACHUSETTS have no trouble in picking out the old road. The straightness of its course makes it stand out as if emphasized by heavier lines. From Dedham to East Walpole it is an important road with twenty-minute trolley service and heavy teaming; thence to South Walpole it is a much- used country road; but between South Walpole and North Attleboro it is an almost forgotten path through the woods. Below North Attle- boro it is a state highway, which in summer gives off its surface in an almost continuous cloud of dust from passing automobiles. Entering Pawtucket we find the road called Broadway, now in Rhode Island. Prior to i860 the easterly shore of the Seekonk River was the boundary between the states, and the turnpike was built in Massachusetts as far as the easterly end of the bridge in the center of Pawtucket, where it connected with the Providence and Pawtucket Turnpike, the road of a Rhode Island corporation, later owned by the state. Except for the section between Norwood and North Attleboro the turnpike was laid out along the line of the previously existing road, which led through the centers of Walpole, Wrentham, and Plainville. But there the straight-line mania was allowed to warp better judgment, and from Norwood for fifteen miles it was laid out as straight as it could be made through what must then have been a wilderness, and over hills that called for the greatest allowance in grades. Lewis tells us in his " History of Walpole " that that town, in town meeting, voted to oppose the granting of the charter for this turnpike, and he wonders at the opposition to progress. Rather it would seem that the hard- headed old settlers knew of the proposed route through the wild out- skirts of their town, and were far-sighted enough to see that it would not succeed. For the old road refused to be put out of business by the new turnpike, and, having the advantage of easier grades with little additional distance and also the travel and traffic of the intermediate towns, it proved a formidable competitor of the turnpike. In the com- parison of business by districts, shown on the chart already mentioned, the comparatively small business done on the Foxboro and Attleboro sections is probably largely due to such competition. According to Lewis' account, John Needham ran the stage route from Boston to Providence through North Walpole and the Plain in close rivalry with the stage line which passed through East Walpole. Now that sec- tion of the turnpike is an almost forgotten path through the woods for much of its length, but the old road, located by earlier theories along lines of least resistance, is still a much-traveled highway and the prin- cipal road between Boston and Providence. President Monroe, on his tour of New England in 18 17, passed over the turnpike from Pawtucket Bridge to Hatch's Tavern, where he stopped for refreshments. His journey was resumed through Wrentham and Walpole over the old road. 1 1 "The Tour of James Monroe, President of the United States in 1817," by S. Putnam Waldo. [95] THE TURNPIKES OF NEW ENGLAND There were thrilling scenes on the old turnpike in the years preceding the advent of the railroads, when the demands on the meager trans- portation facilities were taxing them to their utmost and loudly calling for further and improved methods. With sometimes sixteen stages a day over the road, it is not hard to imagine the bustle attendant upon their passing, the hurry and excitement where the hungry travelers alighted for their meals and horses were changed, and the keen excite- ment of a race when stages of rival lines met the temptation. And there is a touch of romantic interest in the old freight wagons which plodded their way so slowly that taverns were provided for them every few miles. The telegraph had its predecessor in those days, too, for they had their way of handling important messages. President Jackson's message was carried from Providence to Boston in two hours and forty- five minutes on one occasion. Wrapped around a whip handle it was thrown on to the Providence wharf as the New York steamer neared its landing. Instantly seizing it a waiting rider dashed away with the message at full speed, which he maintained until he overtook another who was jogging along easily, waiting for him to catch up. In this manner the message was passed from one to another, so that the utmost speed of a horse was constantly being employed. One often wonders if tollhouses, situated often in remote and lonely districts, were not subject to robbery, and lest we too rashly conclude that they were immune on account of the high moral character of a cen- tury ago, let us read the following affidavit which is to be seen among the Norfolk and Bristol Corporation's papers. Mass ts . Norfolk ss Dedham, March 27th, 1806. Personally appears Cyrus Knowlton of Roxbury in the County of Norfolk, keeper of the toll gate on the Turnpike Road from Boston to Dedham in said Rox- bury and upon oath complains and declares that between twelve and one o'clock yesterday morning being in bed and asleep in the Toll house of the lower Gate at Roxbury aforesaid I was awakened with the noise of several People whom I heard talking but did not first distinguish what was said then they took hold of the door and attempted to open it — I said halloo — upon which they told me to be still and open the door — or let them in — I asked them what they wanted — They said to come in — I asked who they were — They said none of my business (or to that ef- fect) let us in — I told them they should not come in, but they might pass the Gate and pulled out the bolt — They then demanded my money - — I told them I had none — ■ they insisted I had — They then told me to hand them the two watches, (hang- ing up in the Toll house which they could see by the lamp which stood in the win- dow) I told them I would not — Thereupon they stove in the window — and one attempting to get in and having about half his body within the Toll house aforesaid — I struck with a sword at the half body so within as hard as I could the lamp being put out and no fire or light remaining upon which he fell back as I thought, then I saw a hand holding a pistol within said Toll house and snaped the pistol at which hand I again struck with my sword, but suppose I struck the pistol as I afterwards found my sword battered — Thereupon they all seemed to be moved off except one who threatened my life if I made any noise. I stood still awhile and then thought I saw somebody attempting to come at the window and struck him but did not sup- pose I hit him — After waiting awhile I spoke but nobodv answered — Then I [96] THE TURNPIKES OF MASSACHUSETTS hallooed and exclaimed Murder — Then I heard the report of a pistol, as I sup- posed, against the door of said Toll house against which I was standing — and found one ball had lodged in the door — & another ball passed thro' the door and lodged in the board siding opposite the door — Then a person without said Toll house said " I have got another loaded (or ready, I can not recollect which) and if you attempt to come out or make a noise before day I will, blow your brains out " — I stood still untill a team came up to the Toll house and found no person remaining — The Teamster went and alarmed the neighbors then I went with him and others and traced the blood on the snowy ground towards Boston about thirty rods — which others say they traced a mile off quite thick — and further saith not. Cyrus Knowlton. Some famous hotels were located along the Norfolk and Bristol and drew their trade from its travelers. First at the northerly end was found the old Norfolk. House, still standing in Eliot Square, Boston, not on but " contiguous to the Providence Road," as its old-time circulars announced. In Dedham accommodations were to be had at the Phoenix House, already mentioned, which was burned in 1880, and the Norfolk. House, which is now a private residence and stands just back of the courthouse. This house, erected in 1803 in the early turnpike en- thusiasm, continued to receive travelers hospitably until about 1866, and like many others of its class breathes traditions of presidents and great generals who have been sheltered by its roof. It is a three-and- a-half-story brick structure of colonial design, with a large ell in the rear, in which is a large dance hall with spring floor and suspended orchestra balcony. Standing beneath several ancient elms, it presents a singularly attractive view and forms a delightful link between the past and present. Next, in Norwood, came the tavern which gave the nickname to that section for many years. Until about 19 14 this tavern remained on its original site on Washington Street in the center of the village, but lately, in a rush of civic improvement, it has been relegated to a less conspicu- ous position. In olden times a large hook had its place in front of the tavern, and riders approaching would easily toss their reins over the hook, thus losing no time in putting themselves in position to have their thirst quenched. As " The Hook " that section of Norwood was there- fore known. Famous throughout the country were the two taverns in South Wal- pole, and many have sung the praises of the dinners served there. Situ- ated on opposite sides of the road, almost exactly halfway between the terminal cities, they naturally had almost a monopoly of the noonday dinner business, and their rivalry grew so keen that a friendly com- promise became necessary. Tradition tells us that by such agreement all stages pulled up at the tavern on the right-hand side of the road, thus giving the Boston-bound business to one and that in the opposite direc- tion to the other. Each of these old taverns stands to-day, but woefully fallen from their once high estate. In one you will reverently be shown the room in which President Washington once slept; but since there was [97] THE TURNPIKES OF NEW ENGLAND no tavern there until the turnpike was built, and since there was no turn- pike there until seven years after the death of Washington, you may reserve your decision. Many an old-timer treasured sweet memories of the entertainment at Polly's Tavern, which enjoyed a wide popularity. Down in Foxboro, near the Wrentham line, the old turnpike inter- sected the ancient " Cape Road," which led from Wrentham and points beyond through Foxboro Village, and on to Plymouth and Cape Cod. The crossing occurred at the summit of a high hill known since early days as " Shackstand Hill " ; and this location, on two im- portant lines of travel, logically determined the site of the old Shack- stand Tavern which, under the famous management of " Pennyroyal " Cobb, flourished through the turnpike days. About a mile southwest the turnpike curved slightly at the summit of " Turner Hill," and the traveler was thrilled by the sight of the long, straight stretch of road, dipping into the valley and then rising over successive hills, until it finally disappeared over the horizon to follow an easy down grade into Attleboro North Parish, now the thriving town of North Attleboro. But one traveler, back in the early days before railroads had sim- plified the transportation problem, felt no thrills over the inspiring scene, for he was driving a jaded team hauling a heavy load over the soft road and through the mud of early spring. Ephraim Jewett held the contract to haul from Providence to Boston a newly coined issue of silver dollars, packed in kegs, consigned from the United States Mint to various banks in Boston, and he had struggled with his duty and urged his weary horses, for many miles until late in the evening when tired horse flesh could do no more, and the valuable cargo came to a stop on the steep grade of " Turner Hill," oozy and deep with mud from the spring thaw. Despite the desperate efforts of the driver, who thus found himself stalled at night in a lonely part of the road, the horses could not advance another inch, and finally, as he told it himself, Ephraim " got mad," and leaving his trust where it stood betook him- self and the horses to the " comfort for man and beast " offered by the Shackstand Tavern. No worry oppressed his sleep, and he arose the next morning sufficiently refreshed to extricate his wagon and resume his journey, with the cargo undiminished by thieving hands. Only a little over five miles back on the road from the scene of his discomfiture Jewett had passed Colonel Hatch's " Steamboat Hotel," of which mention has already been made. A little farther toward Providence, on the site of the modern Emerson House, on the corner of Washington Street and Commonwealth Avenue in North Attle- boro, stood the old " Union House," built by Richard Robinson, and famous far and near for its dances. Still standing on the State Highway, as the turnpike is now called in that section, is the old Barrows Tavern in South Attleboro, another link to the turnpike past. Here Milton Barrows, the first postmaster in the south part of the town, sorted and passed out mail. [98] THE TURNPIKES OF MASSACHUSETTS One tollgate stood in what is now Forest Hills Square, where the railroad later made a grade crossing, and the second was located " near the old road Westward of Mill creek," probably near the corner of the present East Street. These were half-gates, at which one half the authorized tolls were collected, — an arrangement which was author- ized by the legislature by an act passed in 1804. Another gate stood at the crossing of the Neponset River, below South Walpole, according to Lewis' " History of Walpole," and Timothy Gay divided his atten- tion between his gristmill and the tollgate. In 1825 James Boyden was performing those duties. Another gate stood at the corner of the Mendon Road in South Attleboro. The Boston Traveller of October 2, 1833, printed an account of a journey just completed on which the wanderer left New York by steam- boat at five o'clock in the afternoon, landing in Providence at eleven the next forenoon. The journey to Boston was continued by stage over the turnpike in a coach of the Citizens' Line which, " without any dangerous attempt at racing," arrived in that city soon after five that afternoon. So rapid was the stage-coach travel considered that the editor of the Providence Gazette suggested that anybody desiring to move faster should send to Kentucky for a streak of lightning. He had just been " rattled over the road " in four hours and fifty minutes, which was probably about the record attained by stages. The fare from Boston to Providence previous to the turnpike open- ing had been one dollar. The Massachusetts act incorporating the Citizens' Coach Company, in 1829, limited the fare to two dollars and a half in spite of the interstate nature of the business; but nevertheless it is said that three dollars was the rate in 1832. At the May sitting of the court in 1821 a petition was presented for two public roads, one to lead from Dedham Common, the other from the courthouse, to unite on Dedham Island and then proceed to Spring Street in Roxbury. The turnpike corporation opposed the granting of this petition, and it was finally dismissed upon the corporation's agreeing to move its gate from its position on the west side of Mill Creek to some place on the east side of the creek. If that had been done, Dedham people would have been able to follow the turnpike until they had crossed the meadows of the Charles River, and then could have continued their journey over the old road without paying any toll; so we are hardly surprised to find further along that the corporation did not carry out its agreement, and further petitions appeared until the matter was finally dropped about September, 1824. About 1826 demands became insistent that better means of trans- portation should be provided, and the state was looked to for the build- ing of railroads, which had just been introduced in England. A " Board of Directors of Internal Improvement " was appointed to study the question, and in their consideration of the route between Boston and Providence they caused a survey to be made of the amount of travel and [99] THE TURNPIKES OF NEW ENGLAND traffic carried over the turnpike, and also by water. Their report, issued in 1829, gave the following: Between Providence and Pawtucket, and Boston per annum 1,706 tons Providence and Boston by water " " 3,400 " Boston and towns over ten miles away " " 6,744 " Providence and towns over ten miles away " " 976 " Boston and towns not on the route but which would con- veniently use ten or more miles of the route . . . . " " 10,701 " Providence and ditto " " 3,663 " and stated that twenty-four thousand one hundred passengers were car- ried in 1827 between the two terminal cities by the citizens' and com- mercial lines of stages. Following the opening of the Boston and Providence Railroad in June, 1835, the dividends dropped to about one half of one per cent with frequent omissions altogether, and in 1843 the corporation peti- tioned the legislature to allow it to relinquish all of its franchise be- tween Dedham and Pawtucket Bridge, stating that an agreement had been made with the Norfolk county commissioners by which the road from Dedham to the northerly line of Foxboro was to be laid out as a county road, but they further wished to be relieved of the section in Foxboro, Attleboro, and Seekonk. One hundred and forty-six Attleboro citizens' signatures may be seen in the state archives attached to a protest filed against the corporation's request. Said they: "The undersigned had much rather pay the legal tolls on said road, when kept in good order by the proprietors, than receive it as it now is as a gift.; Nevertheless the legislature granted the petition, and the road was relinquished, within those limits, under authority of an act approved March 23, 1843. The portion in Norfolk County promptly became a public highway, but not until 1855 did Attleboro add its portion of the turnpike to its town roads. . The petition of 1843 further recited that the portion of the road between Dedham and Roxbury still yielded a small income, and desired that the corporation might be allowed to retain its rights over that. That being granted, the company continued to operate that portion with steadily diminishing dividends until, in 1857, the county commissioners laid it out as a public road. THE QUINCY TURNPIKE Like the famous chapter on Snakes in Iceland, 1 we might open this section by saying that there never was any " Quincy Turnpike." But there was a road which was known by that name, although miscalled, 1 " Natural History of Iceland " (1758), Chapter LXXII. [iOO] THE TURNPIKES OF MASSACHUSETTS and it was built in connection with the Neponset Bridge between Dor- Chester and Quincy. As early as 1635 the need of crossing the Neponset River near" its • mouth seemed great enough to demand a ferry, and the right to conduct such a business was granted to John Holland in that year. That ferry crossed from Preston's Point in Dorchester to Billings' Rocks in Quincy, and in 1802, on March II, the Neponset Bridge Corporation was formed to build a bridge between the same points. But Holland's ferry did not pay and was soon given up. In 1638 another ferry was estab- lished farther up stream, which was known as the " Penny Ferry " on account of that coin being charged for a single passage. Ten years later we find that the ferry had disappeared, and " Mr. Joh Glour " was then given a franchise for a period of seven years. The need of better means of crossing was so great that Quincy voted in a town meeting in 1802 to choose two agents to assist the promoters of the Neponset Bridge Corporation in their efforts to secure the franchise. Serious difficulties were found in building the bridge at the location specified in 1802, so the next legislature was appealed to for an amend- ment, which was granted, allowing the bridge to be erected at " Horse Hummock " instead of at Preston's Point. The first charter contained the right to build a road from the bridge to the Quincy meeting-house but provided for no tolls upon it. In the amendment the same road was allowed with another on the Boston side running to " Dorchester Lower Road." Dorchester and Quincy people were to have the free use of their respective roads. The corporation was to maintain the road in Dorchester, but Quincy was to share the expense of the road on its side. Hancock Street to-day follows the lines laid out by the bridge corporation from its road to Quincy meeting-house. It was over two and a half miles long, but no gate was erected upon it nor tolls collected, so it was not a turnpike but a feeder for the bridge. But on some maps and in many papers the road is spoken of as the " Quincy Turnpike," as has also been found the case with the road on the Dorchester end. As with turnpikes, returns of business done were required from toll bridges, and the Neponset Bridge made its statements with reasonable frequency. From 18 10 to 1841 returns were made without a break and intermittently after that. These have been plotted on the accom- panying chart and seem to emphasize the fact that a toll bridge was not in the same class as a turnpike in the matter of earnings. Between 1 8 10 and 1841 the average of the net receipts was about fourteen per cent. The banner year was 1835, with a gross of $7464.72 and a net of about twenty and three fourths per cent. When returns were resumed in 1844 the Old Colony Railroad was in operation, crossing the river but a few hundred feet below the bridge, and naturally the tolls were much reduced by the competition. May 26, 1857, an act was passed bv the legislature under authority [101] IHP ' W' rffmnfin ^ ntf XUXULLUUIUIJ Biii #f \\\\\\\\m Nf Ii i|4 i 1 I - MP TTtttl Tift tf i iffiiilii f iiiiS si i ■>{{ nft t If- t in: ::ll \Wmit til : HBiP ifii'P ii j ePI ■ • ! 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Tj_U-l i 1 1 t 1 1 i4nTTiTn_i_i_i_ T: 4 . 888 i jit?: j: ri]^||j|||^|l|||| |[|| jTpjgSgi iji; Pittf 11: 1:5: §8 Bill jiff If ' 1 r : Kf iffig | I'llilijiiffili li-tHfj! ; I |) 1|JI : Tjlrl 1 i ■ Hffl ffi T? 1 1 111 ,:'■■! ■ ' 1 i ii] , — L-(- 4-M4 4-r "HP ilitlili li millmlllll itIMIllli r&rryocr t&y -^w A/Ts^l THE TURNPIKES OF MASSACHUSETTS of which the County of Norfolk assumed the management of the Nepon- set Bridge and the Braintree and Weymouth Turnpike, with its bridge. Tolls continued to be collected under county control until September 13, 1863, when all became free. The story of the operation of the Braintree and Weymouth Turnpike and the Neponset Bridge by Norfolk County has been sketched in connection with the Braintree and Weymouth Turnpike, and will be found on page 116. Early in 1864 the Norfolk county commissioners voted to sell the tollhouse at Ne- ponset Bridge and it was soon after moved to another location, where it has served as a dwelling ever since. The approach on the Dorchester end passed under control of the county at the same time as the bridge, and that seems to be the only public dedication which that street has had. It is now known as Neponset Avenue, and extends from 358 Adams Street to the Neponset Bridge. The present Neponset Bridge was built in 1877, replacing the old toll bridge; and it, too, is soon to give way to a more enduring and ornamental structure built under the control of the Metropolitan Park Commission. THE FOURTEENTH MASSACHUSETTS TURNPIKE The Fourteenth Massachusetts Turnpike Corporation was the next, being chartered March II, 1802. The road of this company was to complete the system of turnpikes from Boston to the Hudson River, and it was to connect the Fifth Massachusetts with the Second, covering an intervening distance of about twenty-four miles. The description of the route contains two hundred and forty-four words, ten words for each mile, and is noteworthy for specifying that at each river intersec- tion there must be a bridge. Hampshire County records show the loca- tion of the road, but only for a distance of about six and one eighth miles westerly from Greenfield. Damages were awarded the various landowners whose land was taken for the road to a total of $340.50, or about $56 per mile, for right of way. Money was not easily obtained for this road, and the whole was evidently never completed. Greenfield men were the promoters, and apparently their efforts were exhausted when they had built to Shel- burne, for we find an act passed in 1807, which allowed the company to operate that much of its road. In 1808 the time within which the road might be built was extended to 18 12, but nothing further appears. When the road was thrown open to the public is not on the records. An inspiring ride is offered over the old road to-day. Starting from the Mansion House in Greenfield one follows westwardly over Main Street, dipping down to the crossing over Punch Brook. Then in a little less than three miles the old turnpike climbs seven hundred feet, by a devious course bristling with overhanging rocks and plunging deeply through [103] THE TURNPIKES OF NEW ENGLAND ledge cuts. After much solicitation by the local people this road was at last built over as a state highway. After the opening by the Massachusetts Highway Commission of the Mohawk Trail, which generally followed the route of the old Second Massachusetts Turnpike, a rush by enthusiastic motor tourists began, and the trip soon became one of the most popular in the state. As of old, the route from the east led over the line of the old Fourteenth Massachusetts, and those bound for the Mohawk Trail found them- selves obliged to climb the steep grades over Shelburne Mountain after leaving Greenfield. As some of those grades ran as steep as eleven per cent and severely taxed the power of all makes of automobiles, much complaint of that route was heard, so that the commission's en- gineers began, in 191 6, the survey for a new road which, by passing a longer distance on the northerly side, would reduce the grades to a maximum of six per cent. THE CAMDEN TURNPIKE The District of Maine was next to be favored, and we find the Cam- den Turnpike was incorporated June 23, 1802. This company was also known by the name of its chief promoter, Daniel Barrett, and by the name of Meguntikook Mountain. It was the first project that had the courage to make a survey before obtaining its charter, and the description of its route is worth reading. Beginning at a birch tree, the boundary line between the plantation of Canaan and the town of Camden; thence running south four degrees east, forty-four rods; south six degrees east, forty rods; south seventeen degrees east fifty-four rods; south twenty degrees east, one hundred twenty-six rods; south thirty-two degrees east, fifty- four rods; to the, southeasterly side of Smelt Brook, so called agreeably to the plan and survey of said road, being about one mile in length ; and that the made way and path for travelling be in no place less than ten feet wide, and where the mountain and pond will admit, to be sixteen feet wide, with eleven places for turn- ing out, at proper distances, as marked in the plan and survey of said road, for the accommodation of teams in passing over the said Megunticook Mountain. One gate was allowed, which was located at the southerly end of the turnpike. No returns were ever filed by this company, so we have no authentic data of the cost nor of the business done, and were it not for Robinson's " History of Camden and Rockport " we probably should know nothing of the road. But that tells us that the road was built at a reported cost of five to six thousand dollars, and that from three to six years were occupied in the work. The cost, it will be noticed, was excessive for a dirt road, and was so great on account of the tremendous amount of grading required and the large amount of rock handled. The turnpike was designed to connect Camden Harbor with Lincolnville Center, supplanting the earlier road which led over Meguntikook Moun- tain, and which could not be traveled by any sort of vehicle, being even [104] THE TURNPIKES OF MASSACHUSETTS dangerous for a horse. It passed through narrow defiles, over lofty cliffs, and on the edges of precipices where a misstep would result in horse and rider being hurled into rocky chasms hundreds of feet below. It was a section of road dreaded by all who had to travel it, but never- theless a favorite place for those with leisure to gratify their love of nature. Such a road became intolerable as soon as business began to make any demands upon it, and Daniel Barrett boldly attacked the problem by cutting directly through between the base of the mountain and the lake. The photograph shown gives an excellent idea of Mr. Barrett's audacity. The lake here is close to the road on the left, and but for the shelter of the summer's leaves on the trees would occupy a large part of the picture. It is very likely that the water washed the very foot of the cliff shown, and that only the turnpike construction forced it away. When one considers the lack of all sorts of conveniences for doing such work, even shovels being obtainable only in small numbers, the courage and energy of Daniel Barrett in undertaking a work of such magnitude must be held in reverence. The lake must have been deep where he desired to make his road, for we are told that it was necessary to detach large rocks from the steep mountain side and roll them into the lake, there to form a rough retaining wall, within which smaller rocks and stones and finally earth were placed to form the road. Every common expedient was used in thus detaching the rocks, undermining bowlders, and blasting granite. Large rocks were prepared for their trip to the lake by digging under the lower sides and substituting props from time to time. When enough earth had been taken away, it was necessary for someone to knock out the props, a decidedly risky piece of work. The number of workmen varied from five to fifty, many of them being local residents who performed their labor in consideration of free passes over the toll road when opened, those who worked a specified length of time being entitled to pass free for life. Camden at that time numbered but eight hundred and seventy-two residents, so we are not surprised to learn that Mr. Barrett did not receive legal interest on the money he expended. But he kept up the business until 1834, when he sold out to various citizens in behalf of the towns for three hundred dollars. Of the road to-day Robinson writes: Words are inadequate to give an appropriate impression of its romantic scenery. It must be seen to be properly appreciated. Riding along this drive the traveller sees on one hand, the steep and rocky cliff rising to a height of nearly one thousand feet, with rocks and boulders of all sizes and descriptions lying at its base as if hurled there by the hand of Jove, and Maiden Cliff standing clear cut against the sky, while on the other hand lie the sparkling waters of Lake Meguntikook, gemmed with green capes and islets, with the western mountains rising from its opposite shores. Grandeur and loveliness combined make the Turnpike a unique spot in our scenery, which has been celebrated often in prose and verse. [105] THE TURNPIKES OF NEW ENGLAND On June 24, 1802, the First Maine Turnpike Corporation was granted its franchise to build a turnpike road from Harriman's Ferry, in the town of Prospect, on Penobscot River, to the Kenne- bec Bridge in Augusta. North's " History of Augusta " informs us that there were but two chaises in that town in 1798, and that the first four-wheeled carriage was introduced in 1800, so it is hard to see any encouragement for a turnpike with that town for a terminal. The stage route between Bangor and Waterville in 1835 followed practically the line of the present railroad, passing through the towns of Carmel, Newport, Pal- myra, Pittsfield, and Clinton, and swinging a huge bow over the pro- posed straight line of the turnpike. As the stages followed the turn- pikes, we are justified in concluding that the First Maine was never built. THE FIRST CUMBERLAND TURNPIKE A corporation was created June 24, 1802, with a franchise to build a short road in Scarboro in the District of Maine. Tourists between Saco and Portland by trolley or automobile, pass- ing through the village of West Scarboro, or Dunstan's Corner as it is locally known, and within a very short distance after passing the sol- diers' monument, going toward Portland, will observe a country road bearing off to the left. That was the old road, and the one straight ahead was the First Cumberland Turnpike, and the first buildings on the left of the corporation's road were the farm buildings and home of Horatio Southgate, the leading spirit in the turnpike three quarters of a century ago. Just north of Old Orchard Beach is the narrow outlet of a broad area of marshland which extends inland for a distance of about three miles. The early road between Boston and Portland bore well in- land to avoid this marshy tract, and at West Scarboro made a wide detour around it, passing over Scottows Hill, and traversing a length of over two and a half miles between points less than a mile and a half apart. Over that interval the turnpike was built, probably soon after the granting of the charter. It was on a raw, rainy, January day that the writer stepped from a trolley car at Dunstan's Corner in his search for data on this old road. Having a tip that Mr. Noah Pillsbury of that village was once the collector of tolls, he sought him out and found him, although seventy-eight years old, performing the duties of rural mail carrier, and driving over his route of twenty-five miles every day. He gladly wel- comed the searcher, made him welcome to all he had to impart, and proudly exhibited the treasurer's book of the corporation from 1834 to the end of business. From that book the accompanying chart of [106] X X w H < nfi-nct/teii/. ef SAnA*t DuntUrl /• s: .2,. ./. /. ./. M fa to* /£, ft* 6, » % P/t4Ai*€*tJ-. . . /*-*£.*^*nfr^- tfSTL 2J- jO) pT&hf iff 4-t* £/<■*<■ ^Wm*^ ^/Z&Mf {Za6*4c: m: /SM jhj%**t MirtJ^O Tl i^i/it- ^ ■a**L ■ A-Aifti. /U. 7 .r. .5. .3. . /. ./. JL 33. //. ♦ * 3 yf/tr*&* yi+*' '363, JS3fJ«-/-3 ,cM*p£ 30 r/. V i * (d (*//** fc£. /■^>iha+is^l^+ls> csattu,a4 ' *ffiL- &/huOf Ml*- u*t<+*~U- J*J*/L A/ f~d£ot*> : / for ltu.io~t-i.4c ln.e&**4 ,jru***/*"f f. . J. 00 , lor M*. umJi Ut-fU^f /tm M uy /<>'■ . 0* 00 tor fh, ut'/t /n^..f JiUfvtfuij fY. f* 00 t /or /Tli. iMi/t /„>«£,«,« J***.u+~y $4- ■ O • 00 , for //*- t 00 t lor 0Lr t-x*£ t*izlti,fi,rt.6mAif 2$ . O- 00 . Jor /jL n~^JL **/&*,* oY/aui Y*. ■ 0' 00 , lor //L- i^t^A itn&tif c ///***< /4f*. .6. 00 I i-/" /£*. tMt/t t-m/oo^f oU&nl 2/'. .71 00. , toy //o aooc/ /»V/-y o//*uA IS . j6.00 i-o> /pl* tfetSt /u^tf */fht*x y* . . J . 00 Jrr/iC *HuA«.eto..o rJJ/L'/ //" . jff, 00 . lor M~ t4X*£ O-lLtf *//(*U /g'. J, fifi , Lr t4mJ< m.u...r . .viLuss': .//» 00 '. /or fctc*^/o M J~M o//ty a' . .//?. 00 d-fif fA** ****** *ttfd***f *//*"/ /& /0.0V Z3.00 Iff Mo /o-co/l oo^Ct^o o//t*y 23 /,, fiL u~U n.j*;*j t? . £«~ /i . ./3.0 Irf /2L /n o/< *Jri . . £~^ 2/> 2 ,0/ Cnnif7fA. - 4 fa*/„. JfJ+~/&ri£r £/iyin-yU-.u-C4, fftttM/fa/^oiA **~ ot~.i/(-aLs . . //S '. 02. J- "30Y<. 07 THE TURNPIKES OF NEW ENGLAND business done was compiled. It shows, as do many of the others, the large increase in stage and wagon traffic, reaching a climax in the thirties, with a disastrous slump upon the advent of the railroads. The tollhouse stood north of the Southgate house, within speaking distance, and the gate was a horizontal bar swinging in a quarter circle, and pivoted on top of a post. The cost of a new gate is given as $5.97 in the accounts for 1836. The rate of toll for a one-horse wagon was eight cents, but if the wagon had a top, it was regarded as an indication of the ability to pay more, and twelve cents was assessed accordingly. Stages were mulcted twenty-five cents for passage over this mile and a half, which so wrought upon the feelings of the owner of Paine's line of stages that he built, at his own expense, a road of several miles' length by which the turnpike could be avoided. As he never collected tolls on his new road, it is but just that his name should be perpetuated in " Paine Road." The artillery of the anti-turnpike sentiment was turned on this cor- poration in 1834, when representations were made to the Maine legis- lature that the earnings of the road had been sufficient to repay the original investment with twelve-per-cent interest, and that, therefore, under the conditions imposed by the Massachusetts act of incorporation, the road should become free. By vote of both houses the attorney- general was instructed to institute proceedings to dissolve the corporation. The attorney-general did a little investigating, however, before tak- ing any drastic action, and called upon Horatio Southgate, the treasurer of the corporation and chairman of the standing committee, who exhib- ited the books to him and showed that the earnings had not realized the conditions alleged. The attorney-general's report to that effect was referred by the governor to a committee of the legislature which re- ported the same in March, 1835. Thereupon it was voted that pro- ceedings should not be instituted. Ten days later the representations of sufficient earnings were re- newed, and a resolution was adopted giving the governor authority to call for the corporation's books and to appoint one or more auditors to investigate them. No report has been found, and this seems to mark the end of the agitation. In 1847 tne proprietors of Vaughn's Bridge, between Portland and South Portland, finding that travel over the Paine Road was diverting business from their bridge, made a contract with the management of the First Cumberland Turnpike, whereby the collection of tolls was discontinued in consideration of a yearly payment by the bridge com- pany of one hundred dollars. This arrangement lasted through the year 1 85 1, after which the turnpike company endeavored by resuming the collections and making repairs to derive more revenue. But the day for such operations was past, and after struggling along for a few years, with no dividends, the road was sold to the county for two thousand [no] THE TURNPIKES OF MASSACHUSETTS dollars, to which the town of Scarboro added five hundred. The toll- house was sold in i860 for thirty-six dollars and moved to its present position, near the corner where the branch car line to Old Orchard turns off, where, with a second story tucked under the original roof, it now serves as a dwelling-house. THE BELCHERTOWN AND GREENWICH TURNPIKE The first of the sixteen companies created in the enthusiasm of the year 1803 was the Belchertown and Greenwich Turnpike Corporation, which dates from February 7 of that year. It was to build its road from Belchertown, through Enfield, to the South Parish in Greenwich, and by an act passed in 1805 was allowed to extend to the North Parish in Greenwich. It would seem that this company did not meet with success on its first attempt for a charter, for we learn from Parmenter's " History of Pelham " that that town voted, a year prior to the date of the act which incorporated the company, to have its representative in the general court oppose the granting of the franchise. It was then proposed to run the road perhaps well to the east and into the town of Hardwick; and Pelham, which then included part of the present town of Prescott and adjoined Greenwich, would have been left far to one side. But failure to secure the franchise in 1802 did not discourage the promoters and their renewed efforts in 1803 brought success, although it may be surmised that they compromised with Pelham by running a little nearer to the boundaries of that town. But the raising of money apparently was slow, for an extension of the time within which they might build was granted in 1807, as they had actually begun operations. At the January term of court in 1807 a committee had been ap- pointed to lay out the road and its report was presented a year later. The location, as found in the Hampshire records, is given by metes and bounds, by means of which we are able to trace the road to-day. It commenced at the corner of the roads southwest of Snow's Pond in Belchertown, and ran easterly and northeasterly through Enfield Vil- lage, thence northerly crossing the south end of Davis Pond to Green- wich Village, where it joined the Petersham and Monson Turnpike. That road, chartered in 1804, had already been built between the South and North Parishes in Greenwich, so the Belchertown and Greenwich did not avail itself of its right to build to the latter place. Curiously enough the locating committee reported the end of its layout as " the North Parish meeting-house," but the surveyor's description plainly shows that it stopped at the South Parish. Returns were filed for 1808-15, by which we see that the net earn- ings for the best year amounted to three and one half per cent on the cost of the road. Construction cost was $4899.83, or about $633 a mile. [in] THE TURNPIKES OF MASSACHUSETTS A petition filed in 1825 stated that the road had been abandoned by the corporation and was badly in need of repairs, but since it was a public necessity, prayer was made that the county should lay it out as a public highway. Such was accordingly done, with a total award of fifteen dollars for damages, which were granted to one individual, the company getting nothing. THE FIFTEENTH MASSACHUSETTS TURNPIKE Again the regimental system of designating was resumed, and we next consider the Fifteenth Massachusetts Turnpike Corporation, the product of an act passed February 12, 1803. This company built about nineteen and a half miles at an expense of about $840 a mile. The road was what is now known as the " Sandy Brook Road " in the south- west part of Sandisfield, and it continued through New Marlboro at Hartsville, and over the top of Three Mile Hill in Great Barrington, to the southerly line of Stockbridge. Although the charter was granted in 1803 it appears that the road was not built for several years, for an extension of the time for construction was granted in 1807, giving until February, 1809, for that purpose. Returns of receipts and disburse- ments were, made for the years 18 10 and 181 1, which probably indi- cates the time of completion of the road. Gross income for 18 10 is given as $114.81, on an investment of $16,353, while 181 1 shows equal receipts and payments of $193.23. It seems that the county laid out a public road which entered the turnpike about three quarters of a mile south of the Stockbridge line and followed it thence northerly, for an act was passed by the legisla- ture in 1812 by which that portion of the turnpike was discontinued, although the gates were allowed to stand as they had been, with no reduction in rates of toll. In 1829, on the twenty-ninth of September, as shown by the Berk- shire County records, the Fifteenth Massachusetts asked that its road might become a part of the public system, and the request being granted the gates ceased their functions. The " History of the County of Berkshire," already mentioned, says that, although discontinued as a turnpike, this road was a county road of considerable importance. The Sixteenth Massachusetts Turnpike Corporation, ushered into existence February 14, 1803, met a chilly reception from the money powers. Its time limit was successively extended for ten years, and it finally was allowed to lapse. It would appear by the Hampden County records that a layout was made in 1812 for the road " from Berkshire County line easterly," but no approval of construction is found. A location was made in Berkshire in 1804, which does not appear to have been utilized either. [113] THE TURNPIKES OF NEW ENGLAND THE WISCASSET AND AUGUSTA TURNPIKE February 22 was the date of the act which created the Wiscasset and Augusta Turnpike Corporation for the purpose of connecting those Maine towns, and its road was to run from the Wiscasset courthouse to the newly built Kennebec toll bridge in Augusta. The records of the court of sessions of Lincoln County show that the promoters early got to work with a petition for a committee to lay out and locate the road, and presented the same at the May term of 1803. But not until January, 1807, was the committee appointed, and they duly reported a location from the Wiscasset courthouse to Bridges' Bridge in Dresden. This turnpike formed a link in a series of such roads which extended from Brunswick to Augusta, and rendered feasible a journey from the latter town to Portland, Boston, and beyond. Stone's " History of Beverly" tells us that that town in 1803' con- curred in the petition of John Heard et al. for a turnpike from Beverly to Newburyport, but the project was prosecuted no further than to secure the act of incorporation. That was the Ipswich Turnpike Cor- poration, chartered March 1, 1803. • THE MEDFORD TURNPIKE The Medford Turnpike Corporation, dating from March 2, 1803, was, according to Brooks' " History of Medford," occupied for three years in efforts to obtain its charter. The road of this company was laid out by the proper committee in 1803, and its construction approved by the court in September, 1804. Brooks tells us that it was never profitable, but considering the nearness to Boston with the large tribu- tary region back of it, and the fact that the corporation strenuously resisted efforts to take away its toll privileges, continuing to operate its road for over sixty years, we may reasonably doubt this. Of course no turnpike was a gilt-edged security, but the Medford must have been one of the best and a moderate dividend payer. A public highway was opened over Winter Hill not long after the turnpike was opened, over which free passage could be had, but enough travelers still preferred to follow the toll road to make it worth keeping. Efforts by the town of Medford to throw the road open were successfully resisted in 1838, and not until 1866 was a step accomplished toward that end. In that year the legislature allowed the Middlesex county commissioners to make a public layout, put the road in proper repair, and assess the cost upon various towns and the county, provided the corporation consented and asked no damages. This was accordingly done, and in 1867 the road finally became free. The turnpike to-day is known as Mystic Avenue, [»4] BOSTON, Plymouth $■ Sandwich MAJDL STAGE, COSTLM KS TO W '.V J$ lot l.nit s i.i:.\\ i> i'. v Tu.-.1.\. T l» Sn • i , nitiii - •r.i'-. 1'jvii. ., unci arrix in . • I i-.n. . s.., ; : . , •. M,„|. day, \\<'liH- mi, i v< [ i m i -_r Passing flirmigl) Don i<< -i< r, On \w \\ *. mouth, lliitiriuuii, S uuaii-, Hanover, Pcmim*!" , Kingston, I'lviuonthio Sandwich. I'urt, from 15<»s(<-i( 1. Si (oft &5 ctH From Button ! 1 Plymouth, .'dolls. SOtts. From Boston t< Kuudwkh, let*. *J-S'i'.\<,l KJOKS HOSTON, A tn U.ONAHD & WOODWARD. Plate XXIII THE TURNPIKES OF MASSACHUSETTS and is the long straight street leading from the Sullivan Square Ter- minal of the Boston Elevated Railway in Charlestown to Medford. Realizing the possibilities of large business for the tavern keeper when the Medford Turnpike turned so much Boston travel through Medford, Andrew Blanchard built the Medford House the same year that the turnpike was finished. These buildings are still standing in Medford on Main Street, and offer the best illustration of the accom- modations offered in the old stage days which the writer remembers to have seen. The old-fashioned tavern seems typical, and the large barn with its spacious yard and sheds still suggests the day when numer- ous stages and Conestoga wagons spent the nights within its limits. The Mystic Marshes across which the Medford Turnpike made its way were dreary and lonesome in 1821, and late one afternoon in that year, as Major John Bray and his wife were driving along the turnpike in their one-horse chaise, they were held up and robbed by Michael Martin, who had achieved an extensive and unenviable reputation in that line of business, and who subsequently ended his career on the gallows at Lechmere Point. THE BRAINTREE AND WEYMOUTH TURNPIKE One of the important eastern roads now appears, the Braintree and Weymouth Turnpike Corporation being incorporated March 4, 1803, to build a road along the route now occupied by Quincy Avenue in Quincy and Braintree, Washington Street in Weymouth, and Whiting Street in Hingham, thus extending from Quincy Center to Queen Anne Corner on the boundary line between Hingham and Norwell, which was then a part of Scituate. This was on the main route between Boston, Plymouth, and Cape Cod towns, and was beyond a doubt the route over which traveled the stage so quaintly advertised in the poster which is here reproduced. The road which this corporation built was about eight and one half miles in length, and its cost was reported to the secretary of state as $38,250, or about $4500 a mile. Returns of business done were filed for the years 18 10 to 1821, and 1828 to 1849, an d from them the ac- companying chart was prepared. Unlike those of other companies, it shows the peak of business in the year 1845 an d a sloughing-off of re- ceipts sufficient to cause the practical abandonment of the road before the opening of the competing railroad. In November, 1849, a complaint was entered by the turnpike com- pany against the South Shore Railroad Company, which was the name first given to the railroad running from Braintree, through Hingham and Cohasset, to Plymouth. It set forth that the railroad company have, since said turnpike road has been established constructed a railroad across said Turnpike road at Braintree in the County of Norfolk and have obstructed the free [115] Tinniniui 7^rr -ti~r HS '- ! '"' '■'! SSJtE| - "■ 1 g sttt-rftt fagg ~fe .^,- -r Bi- m iJI HH5 ff rTrrrm §||| Bs : : : : :: i ti in i i ii 1 1 1 1 ii i h 1 1 h 1 1 \\ \\ 1 1 1 Mil i ii _ THH j if } 1 iiiil j.j-lJ-U-j.1 JJ| j j 11 1 1 11 ■|U| n : ' 1 1 j 1 ! Jm! Tj.j '■"' ■ ,, U ftHtnT is Hill Ljiiii-trititHti 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 NtH4 3 ffinTM 1 1 1 1 ' flTf ITm u\m\ t : 4ttt ttH im fff ,-s - - . . [^:: — w 41 |mP M tUltilttfHTTtflitl'Wtitittll-H^iU + 1 liHH A "H ( Hh nil hurl till fltHHtltrrfflt I : ffl ::! ii-' 1 ;1| :::: 5!^F Lil -.y. .... 1 1*4- ; 4| flji'Pf 23 -m fltfiil pfes 44+44 JfiTJ t; Iff -fri- tm^ tti: -::; otS ll ffftTn" ./lUAd^lifa: jfpjp s&H ujjfw; HI JlBWJMfej +H+4444 -^ vli ^TtllfftnntililililflMlllfflti^ ' MW JitHirH' tiiM^l^iiiiiiU'-L ^x^ tltll 1 Hit T II 1 It3 It tfrnT' i^4= 44t 15 t'r.zzi::::: a ttji itt : ttttltitt 444444W- ^fe- -Hi lit' EH rUr'j", , ■l^ji;;; HHIIIIp EH - J im ■ M ■ ■ — -4- -'- i^fofe?* l| |lJTf :t 'f|'-ti 1 ;::; :; nitiftp rrrr^j ; ■jjjj|j-r 44 EH THE TURNPIKES OF MASSACHUSETTS passage over said Turnpike, taken a portion of the same, diverted the travel there- from, and otherwise greatly injured your petitioners' road and rendered it of no value. At the hearing held at the hotel of Asa B. Wales in Weymouth tes- timony showing loss of toll by diverted travel and fear of collisions at the crossing was rejected as " legally inadmifsable," but the turnpike company was allowed to prove loss of toll while the turnpike was obstructed during construction of the railroad. The commissioners awarded damages to the extent of three dollars to the turnpike corpora- tion and assessed the costs upon the railroad. Fifteen years after the incorporation and more than ten since the laying out of the road, some technical omission seems to have been found in the proceedings, and the legislature was appealed to for an act confirming the layout, which was granted February 20, 181 8. At the same late date authority was obtained to finally settle the cost of the right of way, and one landowner who had persistently refused to accept the company's offers was obliged to close the account. The Braintree and Weymouth evidently was not in favor with the legislature of 1850, for we find some harsh terms laid down. In case of a public layout of the whole or any part of the turnpike, if the corporation did not accept whatever might be awarded it, it should at once lose the privilege of collecting one half of its authorized tolls. This company died in sections. In September, 185 1, all that portion lying in Hingham was laid out as a public road by the commissioners of Plymouth County, the corporation receiving two hundred and fifty dollars as compensation. Portions of the road in Norfolk County were laid out by the commissioners in Braintree, Weymouth, and Quincy in the same year; a further portion in Weymouth in 1852; and the " Queen Anne," which must have been the lower end of the same road, in 1854. But the corporation still retained a section of road in Weymouth and Braintree with the bridge over Weymouth Fore River, which it op- erated for a few years longer. The Neponset Toll Bridge, crossing the Neponset River between Dorchester and Quincy, necessarily had to build sections of road at each end of the bridge in order to make it accessible, and the bridge, with its connecting roads, made practically a unit with the Braintree and Weymouth Turnpike in the route from Boston to Plymouth. Hence we find them treated together in the legislation of May 26, 1857. In the act of that date it was provided that the Norfolk county com- missioners could, with the consent of the proprietors, lay out the Brain- tree and Weymouth Turnpike and the Neponset Bridge as common highways, but they were not to assess any betterment charges upon the towns. Instead, the collection of tolls was to be continued under the direction of the commissioners, deficiencies to be met by the county, and surplus to accumulate until it amounted to a fund sufficient to yield interest to amount of cost of maintenance. This act took effect upon ["7] THE TURNPIKES OF NEW ENGLAND being ratified at a Quincy town meeting, and it seems strange that, with the number of turnpike companies that had recently gone out of busi- ness and the generally poor nature of such investments, the state legis- lators and a majority of Quincy citizens as well should have thought the plan advisable. But there were many toll bridges in New England at that time, and the Neponset Bridge was a pretty good paying prop- erty, so it is probable that the turnpike end was but a minor considera- tion, and that the main object in view was the removal of the two bridges from private ownership that they might ultimately become free to all travelers. The accounts of the commissioners at Dedham show that the turn- pike and its bridge was operated at a net loss of $1766.37, from March 14, 1859, to July x ) 1862; but the revenue from the Neponset Bridge was sufficient to show a gain on the whole account, which amounted to $7224.72 on the first of the year 1863. An act was then passed pro- viding that the operation should continue until the surplus had reached the sum of $15,000, when roads and bridges should become free and the fund be divided between the various towns in which the properties lay. Bristol county commissioners were to divide the fund, as the Norfolk officials were the trustees. During the first nine months of 1863 the increase in the fund was $2564.70, and on September 13, 1863, the bridges and the turnpike became free, although only $9789.42 of the required $15,000 had been laid aside from tolls. The Quincy Railroad Company was incorporated February 15, 1 861, to operate a line of horse cars from Quincy to Dorchester, pass- ing over the Neponset Bridge, for which privilege it was to pay toll either periodically or in gross. As the road commenced operations about the time the bridge became free, it seems obvious that the railroad company supplied the deficiency and brought the fund up to the pre- scribed $15,000. The Braintree and Weymouth Turnpike Corporation was favored with long service by James H. Foster, who was its treasurer during the entire period of thirty-nine years for which returns were made. THE CHESTER TURNPIKE The name of Chester was given to two turnpike corporations, the first being created by the act of March 5, 1803, to build a road from the West Parish in Partridgefield, through Middlefield and Chester, to Parley Cook's in Chester. Probably on no other turnpike are so many changes of name and township allegiance to be noted. The West Parish of Partridgefield became a part of the new town of Hinsdale in 1804; Partridgefield itself became Peru in 1806; while it appears that Parley Cook's farm was transferred from Chester into Norwich in 1853, and found itself a part of Huntington in 1855. In three counties was the [118] *t ********* IMW « '■*» ' ■■'*** »■ .- - * ■ BHSJF v " i Bi ■ ■ V 5 £ 2 £ 2? O * ^ u > J «" j= 5 00 "i s rt 3 i- -c « P 3 Q OS O u z o O o z < U O O 2 » S «< O 00 a O | 3 .a 3 « C/3 i-l C . £ X! w < PL, 60 « < o Ed X S5 D H Q x O u ■z. o U Q < Id O Q 2 « S < U > X! Id < Oh o (A '> V V 60 J* 72 '8. X: a THE TURNPIKES OF MASSACHUSETTS road located: in Berkshire in 1804, and in Hampden and Hampshire in 1805, as is seen upon the records of each. The road apparently commenced on the southwest side of Great Moose Hill, which is now in the southwesterly part of Huntington near the West Branch of the Westfield River, and followed over what is now known as the " Cook Road," to Chester Center, over the Chester Hill Road and South Street to Middlefield Center, and thence by North Street up the valley of Factory Brook across the southwest corner of Peru, and into Hinsdale over Southeast Street. Nothing has been found to indicate when the corporation ceased to maintain the road, but since the name of Chester was given to another company to build in a different section in 1822, we are justified in con- cluding that collection of tolls was discontinued a few years at least before that date. THE CAMBRIDGE AND CONCORD TURNPIKE The Cambridge and Concord Turnpike Corporation was chartered March 8, 1803, to provide facilities between those towns. This com- pany suffered so severely from the straight-line mania that it is said they attempted to have their road laid out diagonally across Cambridge Common so as to preserve direct alignment, but fortunately they did not succeed. On March 5, 1805, an extension of the road was author- ized " to the causeway of West Boston Bridge, in as straight a line as circumstances will admit," but it was not to be allowed to pass within ninety feet of Stoughton Hall, which was mentioned as " the new build- ing of Harvard College." At the May term of the Middlesex court of sessions in 1803 the corporation entered a petition for a committee to assess damages but not to locate the road, — such a strange request that we are not sur- prised to find that it was withdrawn at the next term in November, and a petition for a locating committee substituted. The resulting committee seems to have established a record for expeditious work, for its warrant was not issued until August 17, and yet it reported the location, with awards for damages, at the next September term. According to the law a committee of the general court had gone over the route previous to the granting of the charter, and the committee of the court of ses- sions laid out the road along the same lines. Awards were made for land taken to the amount of $5258.50, but Andrew Craigie and John T. Apthorp, to whom nothing had been awarded, secured damages by jury award, which raised the total to $6509.73. If that is all that was paid for land damages the cost for that item was about $500 a mile, or about $62.50 an acre. In the South Middlesex Registry of Deeds 1 is found the record of the agreement by which the differences between the corporation and 1 Volume 185, page 61. [119] THE TURNPIKES OF NEW ENGLAND Mr. Apthorp were adjusted. By that it is seen that the road had been built over Apthorp's land, on the northerly side of Fresh Pond, extend- ing easterly about five eighths of a mile from the crossing of Alewife Brook. As the parties could not agree on a price, suit had been entered and judgment rendered against the company for $732.42 in damages and $16.86 for costs. In the agreement conveyance is made of the strip of land, fifty feet wide, occupied by the turnpike, and payment was made to the company by Apthorp of $300, in return for which the corporation bound itself not to make the road any wider and never to erect or maintain a tollgate at any place easterly of the easterly end of the land thus conveyed. It would seem that this was a doubtful advantage to the corporation, for the most expensive part of its turnpike, that extending from Cambridge Common to West Boston Bridge and over which there must have been a heavy travel, was thus shut out from any toll collec- tions. Mr. Apthorp was evidently too shrewd to accept any agreement that he should pass free of toll, with endless chances of disputes, and he took the surer means of securing exemption, when passing from his home in Cambridge to his farm at Fresh Pond, by shutting out all chance of a gate ever barring his way. The directors of the corporation were: Richard Richardson and Jeduthan Wellington of West Cambridge, Leonard Hoar of Lincoln, Peter Clark of Watertown, and James Jones of Concord. The "lower part" was completed by September 3, 1805, and the rest of the way to Concord by December 1, 1806. An order issued by the court in February, 1807, declared the road open for business and allowed the erection of two gates which were not to be " closely located." In those days Concord was the " shire town " of Middlesex and a place of considerable commercial importance, in addition to the prestige which follows court procedure, and with this town for one terminal and Cambridge and Boston for the other, this road of only about fifteen miles seems to have had special encouragement. No returns were ever filed, so we have no clue to the nature or amount of business done. Three blunders were committed through yielding to the straight-line obsession, two of which merely added to the amount of money invested, but the third of which caused loss of business every day of operation. Not to be swerved from its aim toward its objective in Concord, the cor- poration allowed itself to be obliged to build a scant two miles from the village of Lexington, without touching that center, and thereby lost a large amount of heavy teaming from New Hampshire towns, which could easily have been lured by the attractions of a good road. Over Wellington Hill in Belmont, and over another hill near the Concord and Lincoln line, the road was laid with such steep grades that the location had to be almost immediately abandoned for a better one around the foot. The map of the United States Geological Survey in- dicates that the road over Wellington Hill had an average grade of over six and one half per cent, while the maximum must have been fully twice [120] THE TURNPIKES OF MASSACHUSETTS as steep. That part of the location to-day is a residential section, al- though retarded by the steep slope, but the section over the Lincoln hill still recalls to the old residents memories of the juicy berries which grew uncrushed between the walls. The good effects of broad tires were much appreciated a century ago, and many turnpike companies gave reduced rates to wagons so built. In March, 1804, an act forbade the Cambridge and Concord demanding more than half toll from " carts or waggons with wheel fellies six inches wide." No information is at hand as to how this law was interpreted, but it is not hard to imagine a predecessor of our present-day public- service officials demanding full toll because the " fellies " slightly ex- ceeded six inches. The extension to West Boston Bridge did not progress as rapidly as the originally proposed portion. A petition for a locating committee, entered in September, 1806, dragged along until December, 18 10, when it was dismissed on account of neither party appearing, and in March, 181 1, the corporation petitioned to be released from its obligation to build. No gate was to be allowed on that portion, which was to be over two miles in length, and the authorities of Harvard College had so interfered with the location that it was unsatisfactory to the company, which therefore did not wish to complete the extension. This petition was dismissed at the January term in 18 12, so it is to be surmised that the corporation had to complete the road according to its franchise. This extension is the Cambridge Broadway of 1919. In September, 1826, all papers in the court. of sessions records relating to highways were turned over to the county commissioners, and consequently it was to the county commissioners that the company made application in September, 1828, to be released from its obligations and to have its road laid out as a public highway, which was done in May, 1829. The turnpikes of Middlesex County were generally short lived, an indication of poor business, and a suggestion of the reason may be found in the fact that between 1808 and 1822 one hundred and fifteen public roads were established and only four turnpikes. With such energy directed toward public roads, it can readily be surmised that turnpikes found too much free competition to allow them to be profitable. The Memoirs of the Concord Social Circle 1 tell us that a triweekly stage ran between Concord and Boston during the years around 1 8 1 7, and it is interesting to note that it did not follow the turnpike through the woods in a straight line, but went by way of Lexington usually, and one or two seasons by way of Bedford. Passengers and their baggage were called for in any part of the village of Concord and delivered at any desired point in old Boston except the South End, similar ac- commodations being rendered on trips in the opposite direction. Three 1 Second Series, page 360. [121] THE TURNPIKES OF NEW ENGLAND hours was the running time for the trip in good weather, and sometimes five in bad. The Cambridge and Concord Turnpike commenced at the westerly end of the West Boston Bridge in Cambridgeport, at what is now known as Kendall Square, its layout there being one hundred feet in width. From that point it followed the lines of the present Broadway to Cam- bridge Common, passing through Magoun Square, where the Middlesex Turnpike, now Hampshire Street, joined it. At the Common, had the corporation had its way, the center line of the road would have passed close to the soldiers' monument, and would have clipped a generous portion off from the northerly side of the grounds of Harvard College. But the legislature said they must not build within ninety feet of Har- vard's new building, and the town erected a fence around its common, so the turnpike had to pass around. From the Common in Cambridge to the line of the town of Lincoln the old turnpike is known as Concord Avenue. Through Lincoln it seems to lack any distinctive designation, but Concord, true to its rich historic associations, has named the road and so marked it by sign- boards " Cambridge Turnpike." From the Common to Belmont the old road is now lined with resi- dences, but at Belmont Depot one gets the impression of being in a park, so ornamental is the stone arch bridge carrying the Fitchburg Railroad overhead and the hedges lining the roadways around the station. At Belmont town hall Concord Avenue makes a square turn to the right, gradually rising, and then, by a sharp corner to the left, climbs bravely to the top of Wellington Hill. That is the turnpike as it existed after the builders came to their senses and laid out a road possible for horses to climb; but let us look for the original turnpike, the one of which such fanciful tales are told. F. H. Kendall tells us in the New England Magazine 1 that baggage wagons went over that hill once but never attempted it again, and that one farmer who had a log team of two yoke of oxen, one pair being old and experienced, the other but partly broken, had an especially trying time coming down the steep hill, hold- ing his load and keeping the green steers from bolting. And the oxen never could be coaxed to attempt the descent of the hill again. Standing in front of the Belmont town hall and facing westerly one sees in front and bearing slightly to the left an unimposing street with the imposing name of Center Avenue. Following this avenue the houses are soon passed, and within five minutes the street has become but a crooked footpath through a jungle of thick bushes. Peering through the leaves on either side reveals the old stone walls which lined the turnpike at a distance of four rods apart. To the experienced eye the indications of the old road are plain until a square corner to the right is met, which is not consistent with turnpike procedure. But look carefully for the wall which has bordered the road on the south, and 1 "Turnpike Roads of Middlesex County," August, 1903. [122] 4 ff o H jd tso 3 O I* D H H a: O - a! D « Id Z > X X! w H Oh 2 _c IT s 2 *■• et « **- _G _ — < •t) w h S g .2 § ■^ ^ T3 — k. OJ d tfi < H W tf a. Z X D H x u CO !» w l t (~^ > X X V d w ■" H x < c ~i D P* -a o >Z THE TURNPIKES OF MASSACHUSETTS it will be seen continuing its former course and pushing straight ahead, while the modern footpath goes off to the north. That was where the old turnpike went, and traces of its former graded roadbed can be noticed by sharp eyes. Follow the footpath and it will bring you out on Concord Avenue, the revised turnpike. Turn to the left and go as far as the first bend in the road and you will see where the new route departed from the old. From that bend on westward the original turn- pike can be traveled for many miles. Elms are the distinguishing feature of the Cambridge and Concord Turnpike, and many fine speci- mens may be seen along its borders. Just after crossing the Hobbs Brook Reservoir of the Cambridge waterworks, at the first rise in the road may be seen another instance of the straight-line obsession. Instead of going the easy way on the macadam road, push straight ahead through the bushes and see again the testifying walls and note the graded surface on which you walk. Continue your straight line and you will enter the road again at the entrance to the Farrington Memorial, and the old turnpike will lie dead ahead of you. Two miles before you reach Concord the road will sud- denly bear to the left, but " straight ahead " you will see an opening through which the sixty-two-wire line of the telephone company passes. Electricity cares nothing for grades, and conversations by telephone now constantly pass and repass over the hill that wore out the horses of a century ago. Where the old and the new come together again is also indicated by the lines of telephone wires which follow the turnpike thence to Concord. The turnpike builders did not avail themselves of their privilege to build to Concord Common, but ended their road where it intersected the old Lexington Road, over which the British soldiers marched on that memorable April morning twenty-nine years before. Later, that corner became famous the world over, not from turnpike associations, but as the location of the home of the " Sage of Concord," Ralph Waldo Emerson. THE NEWBURYPORT TURNPIKE On the same day as the Cambridge and Concord the Newburyport Turnpike Corporation was incorporated to build a road from the head of State Street in Newburyport to Chelsea Bridge " as nearly in a straight line as practicable," and " in a course south twenty-four degrees west, as nearly as possible." This seems to be the most positive straight- line requirement imposed upon any company. The road was built in very close compliance with the rule, for only for a short section through Lynnfield and Saugus was any substantial deviation from an air line made. Petitions were entered for locations and awards of damages in the towns of Essex County in August, 1803, and the reports of committees [123] THE TURNPIKES OF NEW ENGLAND were generally received by December of the same year. A similar petition was made in Middlesex County for location through Melrose and Maiden in November, 1803. As one of the committee appointed died soon after, it became necessary to appoint a new committee, which was done in September, 1804, and this body reported finally two years later, with location and award of damages. The amount awarded for land in Middlesex County was $2306.58, part of which was taken from what is now Everett Square in the city of Everett. The road was nearly completed in one year, as the following adver- tisement, found in the Columbian Centinel of January 2, 1805, and in the Salem Gazette of December 28, 1804, shows: Newburyport Turnpike Corporation The Directors of the Newburyport Turnpike Corporation, at their meeting on the 24th inst. Voted, that the following statement concerning the progress of the Turnpike-road be communicated through the medium of an advertisement, viz. That there is already made twenty-five miles of the Turnpike-road ; that bridges over six rivers are built ; that, in some instances, hills have been reduced twenty-five feet ; that two Houses for entertainment are erected, one of which is now open for the reception of travellers ; and that it is their opinion that the whole route of twenty-six miles (from Newburyport to Maiden Road) will be opened early in the spring. Per order of the Directors B. Marston Watson Clerk of the Corporation. December 25, 1804. And in the same advertisement the sixteenth assessment of twenty dol- lars on each share of stock is called. It may be noticed that the directors in their communication refer to the Maiden Road as if that was to be the southerly terminus of the turnpike, while the original charter gave them the right to build to Chelsea Bridge. Evidently the terminus at Chelsea Bridge was not attractive to the projectors, and they halted the work at the junction with the Maiden Road, which was in what is now the southerly part of Saugus, opposite Cliftondale, until they could secure a more desirable franchise. In March, 1805, this was granted them in an act which allowed them to build from Jenkins Corner, probably the junction with the Maiden Road, to Maiden Bridge instead of Chelsea Bridge. The Middlesex committee, which had reported on the first layout in 1805, had to go at it again, and its report locating to the Maiden Bridge was filed in September, 1806, with land damages as already stated. The Massachusetts Highway Commission, in its report for 1907, said of the location of this road: In its building no change of direction was made, either to avoid hills or to ac- commodate the population to the right or left of a straight line. The road from Andover Street to Newburyport is improperly laid out, the grades are excessive, the population along it is sparse, the villages on either side are provided with other roads better laid out, and there appears to be no reason why it should become a State road. [124] THE TURNPIKES OF MASSACHUSETTS Certain citizens of Salem foresaw the disadvantage of sacrificing everything for a straight line, although some self-interest may be sus- pected in their viewpoint, for which read the following news item which appeared in the Salem Gazette of February II, 1803. TURNPIKE — Some gentlemen of Newburyport have it in contemplation to carry a road strait from that town to Boston, which will of course run to the north- ward of the seaports in this county, and have no connexion with the Salem turnpike. But it is expected that an actual measurement will discourage it by showing that the saving will not be more than a mile more than if brought strait to this town. The route which this turnpike was designed to improve was one of the earliest stage routes of the country, and the early and constant travel over it surely gave promise of good business for the improved road. In 1 76 1, on the twentieth of April, John Stavers started what has been claimed to be the first stage in America, which ran from Ports- mouth to Boston. 1 The vehicle was a two-horse curricle wide enough for three passengers, and it made the round trip once a week, leaving Portsmouth on Monday mornings, stopping over night at Ipswich and reaching Charlestown Ferry the following day. The return was made on Thursdays and Fridays, and the fare each way was 13s. 6d. Evi- dently this stage was not continued many years, for between 1770 and 1790 the mail was carried from Boston to Portsmouth once a week on horseback. Jacob Hale and Sons established permanent facilities from Ports- mouth south in 1794, when they established a four-horse stage line which continued to run until the railroad had absorbed all its patronage. By leaving Portsmouth at half-past two in the morning this line suc- ceeded in getting through to Boston the same day, with breakfast at Newburyport and dinner at Ipswich. According to an advertisement in the Essex Journal and Merrimack Packet in May, 1774, Ezra Lunt ran a four-horse stagecoach on weekly trips between Boston and New- buryport, but it is doubted if he continued very long. Currier in his " History of Newburyport " tells us that the first meeting of the Newburyport Turnpike Corporation was held in Boston April 14, 1803, William Tudor being elected president and Enoch Sawyer treasurer. The work was commenced on the twenty-third of August of the same year, as we learn from the Salem Register of the twenty-ninth of that month, which said: New Turnpike Newburyport, August 24. The workmen on the direct Turnpike from this town to Boston commenced the important undertaking yesterday. It is to run from the head of State Street, New- buryport, in as straight a line as possible. The inhabitants of New England have long gained attention for their enterprising and public spirit, and the present under- taking may be well said to justify this claim. 1 Gage's " History of Rowley." [125] THE TURNPIKES OF NEW ENGLAND There were nine hundred and ninety-five shares in the capital stock according to Coffin's " History of Newbury," and they were paid in the form of twenty-dollar assessments, so that they cost nearly $420 each, or a total of $417,000. The work started with a cut ten feet deep at the head of State Street, the material excavated being used for filling across the treacherous " Pine Swamp." A hotel was built by the corporation at.Topsfield and another at Lynnfield, which indicated expectations of heavy travel and intention to take care of it in every detail. The hotel at Topsfield provided for travelers for thirty years, after which in 1834 it was moved intact to Phillips Beach in Swampscott. This may have been the house on the beach long known as the " Martin House," which was torn down years ago. A witness of the moving, then a boy of ten years, tells an interesting story of the operation as the occupants remained, the women calmly continuing their home work on shoes, as was the custom then. The big chimneys were cut off at the floor level and sup- ported on special beams inserted under them. The Lynnfield hotel evi- dently expected patronage from the sporting fraternity, as provision was made for horse-racing by making a mile of the adjacent turnpike of double width, we learn from Tracy's " History of Essex County." No returns are found from this company among the Massachusetts archives, so we must be content with Coffin's statement of the capital and Currier's record that a small dividend was paid each year. In general there must have been a great disappointment, for the heavy grades prevented the road from being much used by private travelers, most of whom preferred the old route through Rowley, Ipswich, and Salem. The stage-coach" companies, however, usually shared the delu- sion of the preference for the straightest line, and we commonly find them adhering to the turnpikes. It was so in this case, and the Eastern Stage Company, as the syndicate formed in 18 18, which an- ticipated the Boston and Maine Railroad, was called, paid annually in commuted tolls from $800 to $1000. As was the case with so many of the others, this turnpike received its mortal thrust from railroad competition. In 1840 the Eastern Rail- road was completed to Newburyport, and the turnpike in that town and in Newbury lasted but seven years longer. The portion in Rowley, Ipswich, Topsfield, Danvers, and Peabody became free in April, 1849, and in Lynnfield and Saugus in the same month of 1852, in which year the Middlesex section also became a public road, and the entire New- buryport Turnpike was free from toll. An interesting comparison with the manner in which such work is carried on to-day may be found in reading the following extract from the Salem Gazette of August 13, 1804: Deaths. — Killed instantly, by the falling in of the earth, while at work on the Turnpike, in Topsfield, on the 19th of July last, Jonathan Hoyt, aged 20; an active and industrious young man from Concord (N. H.). [126] THE TURNPIKES OF MASSACHUSETTS and there followed one of those eulogistic tributes in which old-time editors used to revel. Besides the disadvantage under which turnpike projectors labored in lack, of tools and mechanical appliances they had to look to the " active and industrious young men " of our New Eng- land farms for the supply of labor which later came in such quantities from different European countries. The Maine Turnpike Association, chartered on the same day, was a " flash in the pan," the franchise being repealed two years later. This company proposed to build from the New Hampshire line, through Portland to Augusta, and as usual, " upon as straight a line as circum- stances will admit." The brains of the state were occupied with other problems for the next three months, and not until June 22, 1803, was another turnpike launched. On that day the Becket, Boston and Haverhill, and Essex Turnpike corporations were created. THE BECKET TURNPIKE The Becket filled in a gap which was left in the construction of the Eighth Massachusetts. When that road was built it had the authority to locate over a section of old road in Becket known as the " Govern- ment Road," but either on account of local opposition or other reasons the court of sessions of Berkshire County released the company from that part of its franchise. In other cases the legislature only seems to have exercised such power, and a company once having accepted the franchise to build over a certain route was held strictly to its duty therein. For instance, see the case of the Cambridge and Concord, previously recited, in which the company sought release from its obli- gation to build an extension to West Boston Bridge, but was refused. The reason for the neglect by the Eighth to improve its opportunity to build over the " Government Road " is hard to conjecture, unless it was on account of construction difficulties. Apparently the " Govern- ment Road " passed on the north of Center Pond and uncomfortably close to Becket Mountain, and the cost of such a route looked too great. The Eighth did build, however, over a portion of that location and for a short distance into Becket, and the Becket corporation undertook to complete its line westward over a more practicable section of country. The charter of the Becket contained none of the straight-line require- ments, and the road looks on' the map as if it had been laid out with some conception of grade resistances. The length cannot be determined reliably, but apparently it was about seven miles. The cost was re- ported as $4228.88, and it seems safe to say that the average cost was about $600 a mile. The road connected the Eighth Massachusetts, [127] THE TURNPIKES OF NEW ENGLAND from a point in the southeasterly part of Becket near Walker Brook, with the Tenth Massachusetts near the village of West Becket. Berkshire County records show that this road was located by a com- mittee of the court in 1804, and that in 1832, upon petition of the company, it became free. By an act passed in 18 19 permission to move the gate was given, but a restriction was laid that only one quarter toll could be collected from inhabitants of Otis and Becket. The Chester Turnpike, incorporated in 1822, seems to have taken over a section of the Eighth and to have improved on the Becket by paralleling it for a distance of eighty rods on the easterly end. By act of June 18, 1825, that eighty rods of the Becket was discontinued and the parallel section of the Eighth was annexed to the road of the Becket corporation. As an instance showing how remote those old roads were from our modern improvements, it may be noticed that this last-named act was passed on the same day that Governor Levi Lincoln approved the act which established the Boston Fire Department. The Becket corporation followed the precedent set by the English bishops, and, unrestricted by any requirements regarding number of stockholders, constituted itself a corporation sole. The report giving the cost of the road is signed by Joseph Goodwin, " only proprietor of said road," and Eliada Kingsley, " sole proprietor of the Becket turn- pike," in 1 8 19 was allowed by the legislature, to move his gate. And in 1832 the same Eliada Kingsley, in his "sole" capacity, asked that the road might become free. The Boston and Haverhill was intended to run south three degrees west " as nearly as possible " from Haverhill Bridge to Maiden Bridge, but no evidence has been found that anything was ever done beyond securing the charter. THE ESSEX TURNPIKE The Essex Turnpike was projected from the New Hampshire line across the Merrimac at Andover Bridge, now the city of Lawrence, and thence to Captain Felton's store in Danvers, on the way to Salem, the county seat. It was also to run south thirteen degrees east from Andover Bridge to the line of Middlesex County in Reading. The Andover and Medford, which was chartered two years later, did not avail itself of its permission to build to some point in Andover, but stopped at the Essex County line where it joined the road of the Essex corporation. The two corporations we're allowed, by act passed in 1807, to maintain one tollgate jointly at the county line, the rates of toll and the division between the companies to be established by the commissioners who were to view the roads. From the New Hampshire line to that of Middlesex County was [128] THE TURNPIKES OF MASSACHUSETTS located by the committee early in 1806, the branch line to Salem being laid out two years later. Construction was slow, the act of 1807 giving powers to the commissioners whose verdict allowed the road to com- mence business, and another act, passed in 1809, extending the time within which construction must be completed. But the roads were finally completed at a cost of $67,905.25, or about $2425 a mile, and opened for travel. Lawrence's Broadway and the continuation of it to the New Hampshire boundary is the perpetuation of the Essex Turn- pike, as is Main Street, through Andover Center to the Reading line. The Salem branch of the turnpike may be followed from Lawrence over Winthrop Avenue, across the town of North Andover, over North Main Street to Middleton and South Main Street to the Danvers line ; thence over Andover Street until one reaches Peabody Center, which was probably the location of Captain Felton's store, that part of Dan- vers having been set off as South Danvers in 1855, and the name changed to Peabody in 1868. The original charter required that the traveled part of the roadway should be thirty-two feet wide, but that was modified to twenty-four feet in 1806. This turnpike formed a link in a much-traveled route between Boston and points in New Hampshire and Vermont. By its connection at the state line with the Londonderry Turnpike direct communication was had with Concord, and over the Litchfield and Second New Hampshire turnpikes with Claremont and the Vermont territory beyond. South- erly, Boston was reached over the connecting Andover and Medford Turnpike, which extended to the market place in Medford, whence the journey was continued over the Medford Turnpike, which landed the traveler at Sullivan Square in Charlestown, after which reliable public roads could be found. Of the Second New Hampshire, Cochrane writes in his "History of Antrim" that, opened in 1800, for twenty- five years it carried an enormous traffic in farm products and timber to Boston, with return loadings of store goods and rum. This historian, too, has his criticism of the custom of tackling the hills head on, and he speaks of the severe competition by free roads in more favorable locations. The Salem road became a free highway in December, 1829, while the portion from the New Hampshire line to the connection with the Andover and Medford collected its tolls until December, 1835. No returns of business done were ever filed by the Essex corporation, which is to be regretted, as figures relating to the commerce with southern Vermont and New Hampshire at that time would be interesting. A portion of the Salem branch of this turnpike has been utilized in late years by the Massachusetts Highway Commission, which has con- structed a considerable length of concrete roadbed, divided into several experimental sections of different compositions. Each of these sections is designated by a board set by the side of the road, on which can be [129] THE TURNPIKES OF NEW ENGLAND read the proportions of the concrete mixture in the adjacent section with a statement of its reinforcements. The Andover Bridge in Lawrence to which this turnpike was di- rected, and which furnished the means of crossing the Merrimac River, dates back several years ahead of the turnpike, the charter having been granted March 19, 1793, for a term of seventy years. This term was made perpetual in 1799, but the bridge was ultimately made free in July, 1868, in accordance with chapter 309 of the acts of that year. At Methuen Center the turnpike rose abruptly over a steep, although not very high, hill which is now more in use by automobiles than it has been for many years past by horse-drawn vehicles. The public authori- ties laid out another road, forming a letter " S " on the turnpike, which avoids the hills and has no steep grades. The two roads are known locally as the one " over the hill " and the one " around the hill." THE WISCASSET AND WOOLWICH TURNPIKE The needs of the District of Maine were given attention on the twenty-third of June, 1803, when the Wiscasset and Woolwich Turn- pike Corporation was chartered to build from Wiscasset to Day's Ferry, which crossed the Kennebec to Bath. This ferry had probably been operated for several years prior to 1762 by Samuel Harnden, but in that year he received a license " to keep and run a ferry," which was renewed to his son Brigadier in 1769. Since 1788 the ferry had been called Day's Ferry, according to Reed's " History of Bath." The road was laid out and its location reported at the May term of the court of sessions, 1805. Reverend Henry O. Thayer, who pre- sided in Woolwich for twenty-five years, writes : " The old Wiscasset road, earlier than the turnpike, went from the ferry to Nequasset Mills, or Church, and then east by present lower and main road to Wiscasset, and that rOad was formerly called ' The King's Highway.' ' The new town laid a road over the same course in 1760-61, discontinuing a por- tion of the old road. In the discontinued part is a sharp turn where General Henry Knox had an overturn of his carriage, from which the spot was formerly known as " Knox's Corner." This turnpike, in connection with the one from Brunswick to Bath formed later, and the Wiscasset and Augusta already noted, formed a continuous route of about forty-five miles, and put Augusta in closer communication with Portland and points beyond. In 1837 a steam ferry-boat was installed at Day's Ferry, but the day of the railroad had not then arrived, and for many years the stages crossed and recrossed, assisted by the same force that was soon to accomplish their downfall. [130] c 'i V CO 60 (t C T3 Dh m a. a h w W > % K w H < J h « B u « ' — * ° s 5 y 60 « « E g s » « - —3 -C " 3 S S 2 5 & a •4 o> 60 J= -o U '£ ia pa s _ tn V v > oi O 3 -O c X < *r% S3 us « 60 w K o h Id w v^ / X Id h J "3 >. SJg so bo .sis THE TURNPIKES OF MASSACHUSETTS THE NORTH BRANCH TURNPIKE The North Branch Turnpike Corporation, under authority granted it on the twenty-third of June, 1803, built seventeen and a quarter miles of road at a cost of $25,740.46, or about $1500 a mile, according to official records. This road was located by a committee of the Worces- ter court of sessions in 1805 through Fitchburg, Westminster, Ash- burnham, and Winchendon, and extended, according to a contributor to the Fitchburg Historical Society, from the New Hampshire line between Fitzwilliam and Winchendon, through Ashburnham, through Scrabble Hollow in Westminster, to the Fifth Massachusetts Turnpike near Osborne's Mills in West Fitchburg. The present-day maps show a road from West Fitchburg to Ashburnham in as straight a line as the rugged topography of that region will allow, which from Ashburnham runs directly along the route of the Cheshire Branch of the Fitchburg Divi- sion of the Boston and Maine Railroad to Winchendon, and then straight as a string to the Fitzwilliam line. Indications are strong that this is the old turnpike, but positive evidence has not yet been uncovered. Once before we noted the yearning which Ashburnham had for turn- pikes, so we are not surprised to learn that that town contributed five hundred dollars toward the building of the road. The North Branch Turnpike served travelers between Bellows Falls and Keene, and Boston. Across the state line the Ashuelot Turnpike continued the route toward Bellows Falls, while the Branch Road and Bridge Corporation's turnpike gave access to Keene. The North Branch was opened for free use in 1829. The year 1804 saw the birth of eleven corporations, the first being the Warwick and Irwin's Gore. This was designed as a feeder for the Fifth Massachusetts from southwestern New Hampshire, but ap- parently it never got beyond the formative period. THE NEW BEDFORD AND BRIDGEWATER TURNPIKE The New Bedford and Bridgewater Turnpike Corporation, created February 29, deserved success from the devout nature of its route, which required it to pass as near as practicable to six churches. It never was intended to reach as far as New Bedford, and its southerly terminus was defined as the post office near the Great Ponds in Middleboro. Thence it extended in a remarkably straight line, even for a turnpike, through the villages of Titicut, Bridgewater, East Bridgewater, Whit- man, Abington, North Abington, and South Weymouth, to a junction with the Braintree and Weymouth Turnpike in Weymouth, at the corner now designated as Main and Washington streets. The length [131] THE TURNPIKES OF NEW ENGLAND was about twenty-five and one half miles and the cost of construction was reported as $49,662.50, or about $1950 a mile. Although this road suffered from the adherence to the straight-line theory, its chief fault appears to have been in not having improved connections with New Bedford, but in turning its travelers off at a distance of thirteen miles from that center to follow their way over tortuous country roads. It also seems that it would have been better if the road had turned from Bridgewater to Middleboro and run thence to New Bedford. That route has always been the favorite, and is to-day the principal one between Bridgewater and New Bedford. Excessive grades were not caused by the straight line, and the centers along the way were prop- erly served, except in the case of Middleboro. So it seems in this case that the road failed because there was not enough business in its territory. No returns of business done were ever filed. No record of the location was found in Norfolk. County, but in Plymouth a petition for a committee was made in April, 1805. In August, 1806, the committee reported the location of the road four rods wide with no description of the route, but with a measurement and valuation of each lot of land taken. Weston's " History of Middle- boro " says that the road was three years in building and was never a pecuniary success. Over it passed one stage each way per day between Boston and New Bedford, and seven freight wagons each week. One tollgate stood at the southerly end, where the Lakeville town house now stands, another was in the " Haskins Neighborhood," while a third was near Solomon Eaton's tavern, a well-known house at that time. Another excellent tavern was kept by Mrs. Goodwin in Titicut Vil- lage near the Baptist Church. The old church which had heard the rum- bling of many stages past its door gave way about twenty years ago to a modern edifice, and the old-fashioned shut-in pews were replaced by modern oak benches. And the services on Sundays now are disturbed by the roar of trolley cars. The appropriate name of " Turnpike " is given to the little station on the Taunton to Middleboro line of the New York, New Haven, and Hartford Railroad where the track crosses the old turnpike. To-day the road is known as Main Street in Weymouth, and as Bedford Street throughout the rest of its length. Norfolk County records show a public layout of the portion in Wey- mouth in the year 1830, and the Plymouth County records that the part between Bridgewater and the Weymouth line was freed in Decem- ber, 1829, upon petition of the corporation. The section from the Great Ponds, or Lakeville Town House, to Titicut was thrown open in Jan- uary, 1845; the next two and a third miles northerly became public in August, 1847, the balance of the road from that section to Bridgewater having been laid out in January, 1844. [132] z - is et 9 H o! U H < Id a tt a < Q 06 O a w M O a. PS O 05 < W ■A E » H z o S X X X w h < ■J (X c o J5 X 60 — a w < THE TURNPIKES OF MASSACHUSETTS THE PETERSHAM AND MONSON TURNPIKE The Petersham and Monson Turnpike Corporation was created also on February 29, 1804, and authorized to build a road from the Fifth Massachusetts Turnpike in Athol to a connection with a Connecticut turnpike in the town of Stafford. Twice were acts secured extending the time within which construction might be completed, the last running to June, 1809. No records of the location of this road were found in a search of the records in three counties, but that it was built is well established. It extended from the village of Athol at a point on the Fifth Massachusetts almost due south into Petersham, crossing the west end of that town and the northwest corner of Dana, then southerly close to the west line of Dana, and entering Greenwich near Greenwich Vil- lage, at which point it crossed the Sixth Massachusetts. From Green- wich Village, or North Parish, it ran to Greenwich South Parish, where it joined the Belchertown and Greenwich Turnpike; thence across En- field and through the westerly part of Ware, following Beaver Brook valley and passing on the west side of Beaver Lake, through Palmer Center and Tennyville, after which the road followed the route after- wards chosen by the New London Northern Railroad through the town of Monson to the Connecticut line. We learn from Temple's " History of Palmer " that the turnpike was promoted by men in Norwich, Connecticut, who thought to rival Hartford by paralleling the water route by the Connecticut River. The road was almost exclusively a freight road, very few stages using it, and it carried a heavy traffic for many years, but not enough to make it a profitable investment. The town of Ware voted in 1806 to expend two hundred dollars on road construction along the line of the turnpike, the resulting road to be given to the corporation if it completed the whole project, as Chase recites in his " History of Ware." The length of road was about forty-one miles and the cost of build- ing $14,317.17, or about $350 a mile. Temple is authority for the date of the road becoming free, which he states as 18 19, which gives the turnpike a life of only ten years. This turnpike did not die from rail- road competition, as the New London, Willimantic, and Palmer Rail- road, the predecessor of the New London Northern, was not built until thirty years later. THE UNION TURNPIKE March 2, 1804, the Union Turnpike Corporation was formed and authorized to build : from where the Cambridge and Concord Turnpike Road terminates in Concord, in the most convenient and direct route, to the place where the Fifth Massachusetts Turnpike Road terminates, in Leominster. [133] THE TURNPIKES OF NEW ENGLAND This turnpike was intended to form a link in a system of such roads, which was a predecessor of the Fitchburg Railroad. Thus, it is readily seen, the Hoosac Tunnel line was anticipated by the route over the Cambridge and Concord, Union, Fifth Massachusetts, Fourteenth Massachusetts, Second Massachusetts, and Williamstown turnpikes. Petitions for location were duly entered with the Worcester and Middlesex courts in 1805, and the layout was made in Worcester in that year. But not until September, 1806, was the layout reported from the county line to Main Street in Concord. It does not appear that the Cambridge and Concord or the Union ever built as far as Concord Common, although allowed to do so by their charters. At the Septem- ber, 1808, term of the Middlesex court the company reported that its road was completed and asked for a committee to view and accept it. That the road was accepted is evident from the fact that the company filed returns of business done in 1809. The turnpike started at the corner of Main and Elm streets in Concord and followed the lines of the present Elm Street along the northerly wall of the reformatory, and then directly to West Acton, straight across Boxboro to the westerly side of that town, where it curved slightly to the northwest. It ran northwesterly across Har- vard, where the road long since disappeared, and, crossing the north- erly part of Lancaster, to Leominster Village, where it connected with the Fifth Massachusetts. The length was about twenty-two miles, and the cost was $35,483.71, or about $1600 a mile. Returns filed of busi- ness done from 1809 to 18 14, inclusive, showed an excess of expendi- tures over receipts of $9660.35, which causes wonder that operations were continued for sixteen years more. By an act of the legislature passed in 1809 the corporation was allowed to incorporate " the present travelled county road " in Leomin- ster into its turnpike, and in 1 8 1 o the time limit was extended to March 2, 1 81 2. By this it is seen that the portion in Worcester County was not built as early as that in Middlesex. Promptly upon the opening of the turnpike the following petition was entered with the Middlesex court, which is here introduced as showing the manners of' a century ago. Petition of Ephraim Wood and others, " shewing that whereas a Turnpike-road known by the name of the Union Turnpike is laid out and made and now travelled upon through the westerly part of Concord in said County on and near the county road where it was heretofore travelled and has rendered a part of said County road useless and unoccupied as to any public travel to wit from the dwelling house of Ephraim Wood, Esq. on westerly to where said Turnpike-road comes into said County road near where the late General James Colburn deceased lived, it being one hundred rods and praying that the section of the County road above described and thus rendered useless may be discontinued." In March, 18 10, the road was discontinued as requested, and the records show that the committee to whom the matter was referred [134] THE TURNPIKES OF MASSACHUSETTS recommended such discontinuance upon the understanding that no gate should be erected to take toll from those who might have used the dis- continued part. There is no evidence that the corporation had a dif- ferent understanding of the matter later. The proprietors were released in 1819 from their liability to main- tain the easterly end of their road, apparently that portion between the reformatory and Concord. The legislators of 1804 seem to have had a fear of monopolies, for they inserted a provision in the charter of this company that no one stockholder should cast more than ten votes regardless of how many shares he owned. In 1826 this provision was repealed. The original location of the turnpike passed through the village of Harvard and then bore due west for about a mile and a half, bringing it a short distance south of the summit of Prospect Hill. Then it de- flected slightly to the north and, descending abruptly, went straight across the valley of the Nashua River, climbing the steep banks on the westerly side through deep cuts, and then on in the same direction through the town of Lancaster. Tollgates were usually erected on or near the bridges, for the reason that opportunities for going around them did not so conveniently exist, and it is probable that the Union had its gate in the vicinity of the bridge over the Nashua River. Willard's "History of Lancaster," published in 1826, says that a serious freshet on the Nashua in 1818 damaged all the bridges over that stream and carried away most of them. The turnpike bridge went downstream with the others, and the corporation, with expenses exceed- ing its receipts, as we have already seen, found itself unable to meet the expense of a new one. A county bridge less than a mile up-stream from the turnpike was soon rebuilt, and toward it the corporation cast covetous eyes. January 31, 1820, an act was passed by which the corporation was authorized to alter their road by leaving its original route, near Benjamin Willard's in Lancaster, thence running in the most direct and suitable course to where the county road leading to Harvard, crosses the Nashua River, thence in or near the course of said county road so as to reunite with said turnpike near Jonas Bateman's in Harvard. The section of the original turnpike which was thus cut out measured about two and a half miles, and extended from the corner of the roads a mile west of Harvard Village to the corner of the roads at the old Lancaster almshouse. Of this section only about a half mile exists to-day as a public road. Now one following the course of the old turn- pike comes to an abrupt stop on the brink of Prospect Hill, where a magnificent view is had of the broad valley of the Nashua, and where the Lancaster Road meets the turnpike at right angles. Thus it was with a party of investigators in the early fall of 191 6, when the author, with two sympathetic companions, sought to trace the road abandoned ninety-six years before. [i35] THE TURNPIKES OF NEW ENGLAND At first no sign was seen of a continuation straight ahead ever hav- ing existed, but gradually the eye picked out a growth of trees running across the valley, which was strongly suggestive of the parallel rows of elms which we had seen on either side of the road for so many miles. Passing through the farm gate opposite the end of the road which we had been following, we noticed a rough cart path inclosed by stone walls leading straight ahead down the hill. Following this we found unmistakable indications of an old road, the stone walls on either side and the comparatively even grade on which we walked mutely testifying to that effect. At the railroad we found where the old road had passed on a high ridge, through which the railroad builders had ruthlessly dug a deep cut for their track. At the easterly end of this ridge was ob- served an old cellar close to the turnpike remnants, and it required little imagination to picture that as once having been covered by the tollhouse, with the gate close by. Beyond the railroad the ground was low and swampy, and as far as we penetrated we saw the remains of the banks and causeways over which the old stages had passed. Passing around through the village of Still River and crossing the Nashua where the turnpike crossed after the act of 1820, we renewed our search on the westerly bank of the river, in the town of Lancaster, and on the crest of the bank which rises from the river bottom we soon found a cut so deep that it plainly was never made by a landowner for his private use. Following this clue we found a continuous grade which brought us to the bank of the Nashua, where, although all signs of a bridge have long since disappeared, the graded banks of the roadway leading to it on both sides could be distinctly traced. Having climbed the grades up the bank of the Nashua we easily followed the embankment of the old road across the slightly rising ground until at the summit a wall-like ledge of rock crossed the line at an abrupt height of five or six feet. Through this ledge the early public- utility constructors had blasted a cut for their road with perpendicular walls, in which the old drill marks are still plainly visible. Farther west, at the corner where stands the large farmhouse for- merly used to shelter the poor of Lancaster, the path of the turn- pike is so smooth and plain that, with the trees removed from its limits, one could safely drive over it. At the old poor farm the spirit of the turnpike again asserted itself, and from there to Leominster it is still in existence as a public road, except where modern engineering has made deviations. The old residents know this abandoned section as the old turnpike, and several of whom we inquired, verified our conclusions regarding the origin of the traces through the woods and swamps. The road became free in Worcester County in 1829, but in Middle- sex that formality was delayed until 1 830, as the corporation neglected for two terms of the commissioners' meetings to obey the orders rela- tive to advertising a hearing. [136] THE TURNPIKES OF MASSACHUSETTS THE TAUNTON AND NEW BEDFORD TURNPIKE The Taunton and New Bedford Turnpike Corporation, created by act of March 3, 1804, planned to build from Taunton Green to the head of Acushnet River, on the way to New Bedford. The road was to pass through the towns of Berkley and Freetown and the village of Assonet. No records have been found, and personal knowledge of the country allows the assertion that there are no roads there which can be imagined as ever having been turnpikes except a short piece in Taun- ton. A straight street stretches from the Green to Weir Village, which is known as Weir Street, locally pronounced " Ware." A map was found in the Bristol County Registry of Deeds, dated in 1846, on which Weir Street was marked " Turnpike from Greene to Weir." The length of that street is a little less than a mile, so it was not much of a turnpike, if it was ever so operated. In 1 808 the time limit was extended to 1 812. THE BLUE HILL TURNPIKE On the seventh of March, 1804, the Blue Hill Turnpike Corporation received its charter to build from Randolph meeting-house, in the county of Norfolk, through Scotch Woods, or the Blue Hills, so called, in the most direct and convenient route, to Joseph Bab- cock's, in Milton. But the location described did not satisfy the proprietors, so they secured the passage of another act, in June, 1805, allowing them, instead of laying out and making the same from an apple tree in the land of Ezra Coates in said Milton, to the house of Joseph Babcock, to lay out and make the said turnpike-road from said apple tree, to, or near to, the guide post in Milton at Swift's Corner, so called, near to the house of John Swift in Milton. The apple tree in question has not been identified but the location of the road is well established. The legislature, in 1830, required all towns to file with the secretary of state a map of their territory, and the one filed by Milton shows the Blue Hill Turnpike plainly. It extended nearly due south from Milton Lower Mills until it reached the Quincy line; crossing the west end of that town it curved slightly, and then bore about south-southeast to Randolph Center. It is known to-day as Ran- dolph Avenue in Milton, and as North Main Street in Randolph. The layout was partly made in 1804, and the balance in 1801;. Two returns were made of the cost of construction, for what reason is not apparent, the total being $78,302.68. The length being about eight miles gives a per-mile cost of about $9800. This is a pretty high figure, and the work must have been heavy. On this question we quote from Teele's "History of Milton," which says: [137] THE TURNPIKES OF NEW ENGLAND Like most of the turnpike enterprises of that period the road had limited uses for travelling. Its location was principally through wild land or woodlands, with a succession of heavy grades, long steep hills and narrow viaducts, requiring frequent and expensive repairs. Returns of business done were filed from 1 8 1 6 to 1849 inclusive, and show net income averaging between one and two per cent, with a maxi- mum of about two and a half per cent in 1834. In 1815 the company was allowed to hold real estate not exceeding ten thousand dollars in value, and a penalty was laid upon any persons who turned off the road at gates to avoid payment of tolls. By the last it is evident that the Blue Hill had to compete with a " shunpike." Evidently at first there had been but one gate erected near the halfway point, and much of the travel used only one end of the road without passing the gate at all, for we find an act in 1807, allowing the corpora- tion to erect two half-gates instead of the one whole one, provided neither was put up where an old road had been taken. The Norfolk county commissioners laid the turnpike out as a public highway in 1848. By its connection, or close to a connection, with the Dorchester Turnpike at Milton Lower Mills, this road gave through communication between Boston and Randolph, the travel of which was absorbed by the railroad which passes through Brockton. No records have been found of any work done by the Springfield and Longmeadow Turnpike Corporation, which was chartered the same day as the Blue Hill. THE HARTFORD AND DEDHAM TURNPIKE The next was planned for through travel rather than local, as the Hartford and Dedham Turnpike Corporation, chartered March 9, 1804, was designed to close the gap left by a Connecticut corporation, the Ninth Massachusetts, and the Norfolk and Bristol, in a through line between Hartford and Boston. The road was located over the present High Street from Dedham Center to Westwood Center, thence through Westwood and Dover over Hartford Street, through Medfield by Cedar Hill and Main streets, over the Main Street of Millis and Med- way to the northeast corner of Bellingham, where it joined the road of the Ninth Massachusetts. The centers of Dedham, Westwood, Med- field, Millis, and West Medway are located upon the line of the old turnpike. The town records of Medway show that in 1803 the town was asked to give its suffrage to a. turnpike, but declined. The " History of Med- way," published by the town, states that the petition for legislation es- tablishing the Hartford and Dedham was signed by sixty-nine citizens, and was opposed by others who sought to build a road between the same [138] THE TURNPIKES OF NEW ENGLAND terminals, but through Franklin, North Wrentham, and Walpole. Al- though unsuccessful in their opposition, these parties succeeded the next year in securing a charter for their route in the name of the Winsocket Turnpike Corporation. The road was about sixteen and a half miles long, and cost about $1940 a mile, or $32,029.50 all told. Returns were filed for the years 1808 to 1 812, both inclusive, during which time the net earnings aver- aged one half of one per cent per annum. Medfield saw good prospects in the proposed turnpike, for that town in 1803 voted seventy to eight, for indorsement of the project says Tilden's " History of Medfield," which also informs us that the stock sold for a few years at fifty dollars, but quickly declined to ten dollars, and was soon worthless. In 1830 the portion in Dedham, Dover, Medfield, and Medway became free, and in 1838 the balance was thrown open. Medfield was assessed thirty dollars, and Medway one hundred and sixty dollars, as their respective portions of the damage to be paid the corporation for its road. One tollgate stood where the railroad now crosses the old road at Millis, another barred the way at the corner of Main and Bridge streets in Medfield. The last was located under authority of an act passed April 12, 1836, but it would seem that the gate had been established there for some time previous to that date, for the act further relieves the corporation from any liability on account of its being illegally placed. An increase of twenty-five per cent in the rates of toll on one-horse vehicles was granted in 18 13, which might have served as a warning to the electric railway company which secured a franchise over the same road three quarters of a century after the abolition of tolls. That com- pany, unable to exist on five-cent fares, sought to assess six instead, and when threatened with legal process to restrain it therefrom gave up running its cars until the increase was allowed it. The Connecticut corporation which provided the road to complete the system from the westerly end of the Ninth Massachusetts to Hart- ford was the Boston Turnpike Company. This public utility was in- corporated by the Connecticut legislature in October, 1797, with a capital of 4800 pounds, and a franchise to build a road from Hartford through the towns of East Hartford, Bolton, Coventry, Mansfield, Ashford, Pomfret, and Thompson, to the Massachusetts line, a distance of approximately forty-eight miles. In the usual language of the early acts, it was authorized to erect and establish four turnpikes on said road, one of which was to be at or near the notch of the mountain in Bolton, [140] m ^d n g V s Im >, ll !■ D IS 5c (0 — V s" 8 3 z Z O z X X X w h < ■J j= E 3 « ■9 5 t» « £ 3 < O o O aj c *-* a: < a. 55 ai h P3 X W < PL. ■ = Z Z* THE TURNPIKES OF MASSACHUSETTS where the trains between Willimantic and Hartford pass through a cut of solid rock with perpendicular walls seventy feet high. In May, 1798, the company was released from its obligation to build between Bolton and the Connecticut River, but in 18 12 it secured a renewal of the privilege, and connected with the Hartford and Tol- land Turnpike in East Hartford, over which and the East Hartford Ferry travelers from Boston reached Connecticut's capital. The Salem and Chelmsford Turnpike Corporation and the Wiscasset and Dresden Turnpike Corporation, chartered on the same ninth of March, seem to have failed to carry out their intentions. The former looks like an attempt to divert from Boston the trade of the southern New Hampshire towns, which was flowing down through Bedford and Billerica, and to lead the same to the markets and ports of Salem; but if such was the idea the promoters lacked the courage of their convic- tions. The two Wiscasset turnpikes which we have already noted were links in a system of through roads, and prospects justified their con- struction, but a road from Wiscasset to Dresden was only a local affair connecting the county seat with a small adjacent village. The Sheffield and Tyringham Turnpike Corporation, June 23, 1804, probably was designed as a portion of a route from the upper Housa- tonic Valley to Hartford, but no evidence has been found that it ever constructed its road. THE DORCHESTER TURNPIKE In 1805 the South Cove District of Boston and the Commonwealth Flats in South Boston were under water, and the present Fort Point Channel was a portion of so broad an expanse of the harbor that that restricted name had not been applied to it. The northerly point of South Boston, known as Nook Point, barely reached north of Fourth Street, hence the first bridge connection from Boston to South Boston was on the line of the present Dover Street. March 6, 1804, the Proprietors of the Boston South Bridge were incorporated for the purpose of building a bridge from Front Street, now Harrison Avenue in Boston to Foundry Street in South Boston. The bridge was opened for public travel October 1, 1805, and was operated as a toll bridge for twenty-seven years, being sold to the City of Boston April 19, 1832. By vote of trie city council it was named Dover Street Bridge in 1857. Approach to the South Boston end was had over the road now known as West Fourth Street. While the bridge was under construction a proposition for a turn- pike to lead from it was brought forth, and in consequence the Dor- chester Turnpike Corporation was created by act of the legislature March 4, 1805, with a franchise to build a road from [141]. THE TURNPIKES OF NEW ENGLAND the bridge over Neponset River, commonly called Milton Bridge, to Nook Point, so called, in Boston. The northerly part of South Boston had been annexed to Boston in 1804, hence the charter of 1805 speaks of Nook Point as in Boston. Under the authority thus given, the Dorchester Turnpike was laid out and built from the bridge at Milton Lower Mills to Fourth Street in two straight stretches, passing through Ashmont, Harrison Square, Savin Hill, Washington Village, and South Boston. At Milton Lower Mills, except for. a short intervening distance, it connected with the Blue Hill Turnpike. As Dorchester Avenue the Dorchester Turnpike is known to-day for its entire length. In Orcutt's " Good Old Dorchester " we read that the road cost more than was anticipated, which obliged the corporation to charge higher tolls, thus making the road unpopular, many preferring to go without toll by way of Roxbury. The charging of higher tolls is open to doubt, as we have seen that rates of toll were fixed in the act of incorporation and could be changed only by subsequent legislation, and no act authorizing higher rates has been observed. But beyond a doubt the road cost more than expected. The cost of this road was $43,686.20, or a pro rata of about $8740 for a length of about five miles. Returns were filed intermittently at first, but continuously after 1825. These are plotted on the accompany- ing chart and show the Dorchester to have been one of the best paying of the turnpikes. Receipts began to climb in 1826 and reached their peak in 1838,. in which year the gross earnings were fourteen per cent and the net about nine. In the last years before the railroads the earn- ings were heavy, but dropped at once upon the opening of the Old Colony Railroad in November, 1844. In 1852 the corporation was the loser in a lawsuit for damages on account of an accident on its turnpike, and was assessed the sum of $2215.06 in consequence. In its return for that year that item was rendered separately, with a pitiful cry of injustice and claim that the accident was through no fault of the corporation. The maps of to-day would give one the impression that the turnpike continued straight to the present bridge over Fort Point Channel, but as already seen it ended at the road leading to the Dover Street Bridge. The Federal Street Bridge, which is the one over Fort Point Channel, was built in 1827 and 1828 by the Boston Free Bridge Corporation and deeded to the city of Boston September 26, 1828. Included in the bridge layout was the portion of what is now Dorchester Avenue be- tween the end of the bridge and West First Street. From the end of the Dorchester Turnpike to the approach to the bridge at West First Street a street was built near the close of the year 1828, which was named Turnpike Street. This was done by the municipal authorities of Boston, and that street was never a part of the turnpike. The Dorchester Turnpike was laid out as a public way April 22, ■[142] Wooden plow in Fairbanks Museum, St. Johnsbury, Vt. Digging and removing Beacon Hill, Boston Plate X — How the Work was done jd H X W H < iW: I — w w u C o 3 P— 1 K X •o c W _*! h) J? Pn xa 9 Ml « ° e ° W fe -3 o 2 e X H a: O s < X o w Q O is < c at O u. < X X u h < s -. "3 U Q 5 p *j d tin '/; c ja M bC a 5 — - o < ~ X 2 a 03 ri. "3 m THE TURNPIKES OF NEW ENGLAND 1854, Orcutt says, by public subscription, and was then named Dorches- ter Avenue, which name had been given to Turnpike Street about a month earlier. In 1856 the name was changed to Federal Street, but " Dorchester Avenue " was restored in 1870. The entire length of the Dorchester Turnpike is now included within the limits of the city of Boston, while if built one year earlier it would then have laid wholly in the town of Dorchester. Dorchester Neck, as South Boston was for- merly called, was annexed to Boston on March 4, 1804, Washington Village being added in 1855, an d tne balance of Dorchester becoming a part of Boston in 1870. By its connection with the Blue Hill and the latter's connection with the Taunton and South Boston, the Dorchester Turnpike offered a direct and improved road all the way from Boston to Taunton, which in those days was foremost in the production of brick and iron as well as a shipping port of prominence. So it is easy to imagine a heavy traffic over the turnpikes named, in which we are confirmed by a his- torian of one of the towns along the Taunton and South Boston. Only two years after the corporation relinquished its control over the Dorchester Turnpike, horse cars appeared on the new public street, and a portion of the taxpayers, who now maintained the road, continued to pay toll for riding upon it. Although a committee was appointed in 1805 to lay out the Tyring- ham and Lee Turnpike, the corporation for which was chartered March 15, 1805, no further record of the road has been found and, in the absence of any roads on the ground suggesting turnpike principles, it is concluded that this turnpike was never built. It evidently was de- signed to connect with the Sheffield and Tyringham in that part of Tyringham now called Monterey, and open intercourse between the upper Housatonic Valley and Hartford. But neither company seems to have done any construction. THE BATH OR GOVERNOR KING'S TURNPIKE Maine claims our attention again, for we find the Bath Bridge and Turnpike Corporation formed March 15, 1805, to build a road in a straight line from Bowdoin College in Brunswick to Bath, with a bridge over New Meadows River. This corporation, which was principally owned by Governor William King, promptly built its road of about eight miles at a cost, including the bridge, of $16,840.20. As the bridge was the chief obstacle to a free highway, it is probable that a large part of the cost was due to such construction, so a pro-rata cost per mile would be misleading. We gather from Wheeler's " History of Bruns- wick " that This turnpike was well made, and the roadbed was hard and smooth. It went through the woods nearly all the way east of Cook's Corner. The bridge over the [i44] THE TURNPIKES OF MASSACHUSETTS New Meadows River was a few rods south of where the Maine Central Railroad now crosses, and the gate and toll house were at the west end of the bridge. According to Lemont's " Historical Dates of Bath," there was an- other turnpike between Bath and Brunswick, crossing the New Meadows River at Brown's Ferry. Wheeler disputes this, however, saying: there is no evidence that another turnpike was built in Brunswick. The bridge at Brown's Ferry was built previous to that of Governor King, and only the abutments and piers remained in 1808. It is more probable that what Lemont calls the second turnpike was a " shunpike " as it is well known that, to avoid paying toll, travellers from Brunswick left the turnpike at Cook's Corner and crossed the river at Brown's Ferry. It was owing to this fact that Governor King established a gate on the turnpike west of Cook's Corner. That expedient proved of no avail however, as travellers thereafter drove across the plains to Cook's Corner, and then down to Brown's Ferry, thus avoiding both toll gates. This turnpike followed the lines of the present Bath Street in Bruns- wick, and Center Street in Bath, the westerly terminus being on High Street on the north side of the courthouse. Connecting by means of Day's Ferry across the Kennebec with the Wiscasset and Woolwich Turnpike, which in turn connected with the Wiscasset and Augusta, it opened improved communication between Portland and the town which was to be the capital of the new state. An act defining the general powers and duties of turnpike corpora- tions was passed March 16, 1805. Hitherto each act of incorporation had been a dreary repetition of those before, each petty detail of powers and liabilities being set forth at length. But after this act every company incorporated was to have such powers and be liable for speci- fied things under a general law. No more charters were to be granted until the route desired had been viewed at the expense of the petitioners, by a committee of the legislature, of which view public notice was to be given. The charter was granted, the road to be laid out by a com- mittee consisting of five disinterested freeholders, residents of the county in which the road was to be built. All future roads were to be twenty-four feet wide, in the improved portion, and four rods alto- gether. Rates of toll were fixed for all comers, leaving the adjustment of earnings to be regulated by the location of the gates. Permission was given to commute tolls. One half rates only could be collected on wagons having " fellies " six inches or more in width. Treble toll could be demanded of vehicles which damaged the road, and on the other hand the corporation was liable for from two to ten dollars in damages for delaying travelers or demanding excess toll. The liability of the corporation for defects in its road was clearly stated. A gate could be moved by permission of the court of common pleas ; three dis- interested freeholders being appointed a committee to give a hearing, relocate the gate, and report to the court. If the road was out of re- pair, upon complaint a justice of the court of common pleas could [145] THE TURNPIKES OF NEW ENGLAND order the gates to be opened if after ten days' notice the repairs had not been made. When any road was made free, all land owned by the corporation reverted to the former owners, even if the same had been purchased in fee. A new feature was introduced in section eleven, which provided that the legislature might dissolve any corporation thereafter established " after the expiration of twenty years, or sooner if it shall appear to their satisfaction that the income of said road shall have compensated," etc. And any charter was to be void if the road was not completed within five years. This appears to be the earliest general corporation law. The locations of some of the earlier corporations are found on the county records, and some are not. The law which empowered a com- mittee of the legislature to lay out a road did not require any record of that committee's proceedings in a county office, but many of the companies seem to have been unable to get away from precedent, and their enterprise being a road they recorded it the same as was customary with roads. Other roads were " viewed " by a legislative committee, and more definitely located later by a committee of the court of ses- sions, as was the Cambridge and Concord, for which the court committee located the road along the same line as had been viewed by the " solons of Beacon Hill." But from now on we expect to find all following the same procedure. The first production under the new law was the Winsocket Turnpike Corporation, incorporated before the general act was twenty-four hours old. This was the company desired by the opponents of the Hartford and Dedham, and its route connected practically the same terminals; but since the other road was built, courage was lacking for this, and the franchise was never used. The Blandford and Russell Turnpike Corporation, created the same day, seems to have died in infancy. THE BRUSH HILL TURNPIKE The Brush Hill Turnpike Corporation, also of the sixteenth of March, built its road between Davenports Corner, so-called, near the west end of Blue Hill in Milton, in the county of Norfolk, and near the four mile stone in Roxbury, near the dwelling- house of Ebenezer Seaver Esq. as follows : Beginning at said Davenports Corner, by the most favorable route, to the Upper Bridge, so-called, near Boies' Mills, from thence, by the most favorable route, at or near the said four mile stone. It will be noticed that the usual straight-line requirement is left out of this franchise, and yet the resultant turnpike stands out prominently on the map on account of the rigidity of its alignment. [146] 2 6 -< ■a c o a A ■ S 2 E SB D H a 2 o n. a H a z << > o a 55 < ,0 -o > X X w <: i-i -a . *■•■ |K UN; B 1 ' • Id M c is «; 5 h Q VS o Q » w h 9 55 ^ .. •a a. — u 2 > v o •5 ° ■fi < < H > X X X w Ph THE TURNPIKES OF MASSACHUSETTS An interesting paper on " Milestones in and near Boston " was read before the Brookline Historical Society by Charles F. Read, from which we obtain information regarding the " four mile stone " mentioned as the end of the turnpike franchise. In stage-coach days nearly all the important routes were marked with milestones, and at the opening of the turnpike era Massachusetts was liberally supplied with them. The work was commenced in 1707 by Judge Samuel Sewall, whose diary is familiar to all students of Boston's early days, and by him were set the first two milestones, measuring the distance along Newbury Street, as Washington Street was then called, from the " Boston town house." From a point beyond the second and not far enough for the third, five roads radiated, and the work for a few miles along each of these was continued by Paul Dudley, afterwards chief justice of Massachusetts Bay, in 1734 and 1735. The " Upper Road " to Quincy followed practically the present lines of Warren and Washington streets through Roxbury and Dorchester to Milton Lower Mills, and thence over Adams Street through East Milton. The " four mile stone " mentioned in the charter of the Brush Hill Turnpike was on this road, and is still standing on Warren Street opposite number 473, and between Harrishof and Wyoming streets. It is marked B 4 1735 PD At the inception of the Brush Hill Turnpike Bugbee's Tavern stood near this milepost, the first resting place on the tiresome journey to Quincy. The turnpike was located, according to Norfolk County records, in 1805, but the corporation did not improve its franchise as far as the " four mile stone," ending its road at the square now known as Grove Hall, nearly a half mile from the stone. The broad boulevard, called Blue Hill Avenue, extending from Grove Hall past Franklin Park to Mattapan, and the beautiful road through Milton to the westerly foot of Great Blue Hill is the legacy left us by the Brush Hill Turnpike. Teele's " History of Milton " tells us of a town meeting at which it was voted that we do highly disapprove of a turnpike being made from the road at the west end of the Blew Hills to the upper bridge, as petitioned by Samuel Leonard and others. But high disapproval did not prevail and the road was completed by 1809. No returns of cost or business done were ever made by this corporation. Apparently the free list, as originally made up, had over- looked military and spiritual preparedness, for in 18 10 an act was passed applying to this road, providing that the corporation should not collect toll " from anyone on military duty, on religious dutv, coming [147] THE TURNPIKES OF NEW ENGLAND to or from any grist mill, or on the common or ordinary business of family concerns, or from anyone who had not been out of town with a loaded team or carriage." An interesting comparison with later days may be drawn from a legislature's assuming that every toll gatherer would be able to tell the nature of his customer's business and how far he had been or was going. To those of us who have spent much time in certain of New England's rural regions, that assumption may not seem so very unreasonable, after all. It is hard at the present time to see what prospects of financial success this road ever had. It was not projected as a through route to any large place. Beyond Mattapan, which was but nothing then, the route led through and ended in unbroken woods. Canton, for whose business the road must have looked, lay five miles beyond the authorized southern terminus. True the turnpike was built in the route of the " Old Bay Road," which was the earliest line of travel between Boston and Taunton, and it may have been expected that travelers would follow the old lines, thankfully accepting as much turnpike improvement as was given them. Another turnpike, the Stoughton, was authorized a year later, which commenced two miles south of the southerly end of the Brush Hill and ran thence to a junction with the Taunton and South Boston, in Easton, thus opening a through route, except for the two miles noted, from Boston to Taunton. But evidently the combination was not a paying one. In 1857 the Brush Hill corporation was allowed to surrender its road in Milton without receiving compensation for the same being made a free highway. That it was not a road of much public value is evident from the fact that the town of Milton neglected to lay it out until prompted by the legislature, which set February 26, i860, as the limit within which the road could be publicly laid out without compensation to the corporation. A portion in Milton and Dorchester had been laid out by the county commissioners in December, 1849, and in October, 1856, the corporation relinquished its rights on the northerly end as far as Grove Hall, and the commissioners accepted that part of the road for the county, naming it Grove Hall Avenue, by which name it was known until 1870. The custom of placing milestones was revived after turnpikes had opened new lanes, and the Brush Hill received attention from John McLean. He was the Boston merchant who bequeathed one hundred thousand dollars to the Massachusetts General Hospital, and for whom the McLean Asylum was named; and just before his death, in 1823, he commenced the erection of milestones to mark the distance along the Brush Hill Turnpike. The work not being completed when he died, was continued by his business partner, Isaac Davenport. The measure- ments commence with Dudley's " four mile stone," the first stone being set where Harvard Street now intersects the old road and marked [148] THE TURNPIKES OF MASSACHUSETTS BOSTON 5 MILES J. MCLEAN 1823. The McLean stones are uniform, except for the figure indicating the distance, and may be seen to-day along the road, the last, the ten mile, being safely set in the stone wall of a private estate not far from the boundary line between Milton and Canton. At the Upper Mills stood an old bridge, built by the towns of Dor- chester and Milton in 1733. Far out in the wilderness as it was, the towns gladly allowed the Brush Hill Turnpike to assume its mainte- nance. At the northerly end the corporation was allowed to incorporate into its toll road about three thousand feet of the old Canterbury Street, but elsewhere the turnpike broke its way through unopened districts. The Fryeburg, Baldwin, and Portland Turnpike Corporation, March 16, 1805, although it had the privilege of improving the road and collecting tolls on the much-traveled route from northern New Hampshire and the upper Connecticut Valley of Vermont, to Portland, never improved the opportunity. The Williamsburg and Windsor Turnpike Corporation, the fifth created on that sixteenth of March, proposed to build a road twenty- five miles long over a route which so far has not attracted railroad capital. Its franchise extended across the towns of Williamsburg, Goshen, Cummington, and Windsor to the east line of Cheshire. The region is rough and mountainous and the route closely paralleled the Third Massachusetts, and, since we can find no records beyond the in- corporation, we can readily conclude that this road never materialized. The Ossapee Turnpike Corporation was the sixth of that day's grist. This was projected in connection with the Great Ossipee Turnpike Corporation of New Hampshire to connect Saco, Maine, with Sand- wich, New Hampshire, by way of Effingham, but we have been unable to find that it ever built its road. THE ANDOVER AND MEDFORD TURNPIKE The Andover and Medford Turnpike Corporation was incorporated in the following June, on the fifteenth, with authority to build from a point in Andover to the Medford market place, but, as already noted in connection with the Essex Turnpike, it improved its franchise only as far as the line between Reading and Stoneham, leaving the portion in Essex County to be built by the Essex corporation. The cost of this road was $48,920.95, or a pro rata of about $8150 for a length of about six miles. Returns were filed for only two years, [i49] THE TURNPIKES OF NEW ENGLAND 1807 and 1808, the showing for those years being an algebraic sum of minus $250. The location was duly made by a committee of disinterested Middle- sex freeholders, who reported to the court in September, 1806, and the road evidently was promptly built. Three miles was saved in the hauling of ship timber and country produce from New Hampshire points, the road forming a link in the through and direct route to Con- cord and other New Hampshire towns, as well as to the southwestern part of Vermont. But according to Brooks in his " History of Med- ford " the receipts did not compensate for the outlay. Brooks' further statements regarding the efforts of the corporation to give away its road in 1830 appear to be at variance with the records in East Cambridge, which show quite a contest over taking the franchise away. A petition entered by various citizens for the freeing of the road in May, 1833, met with sufficient opposition to cause it to drop out of sight, and not until January, 1836, did the road become free of toll. Then the county commissioners declared the road public, and the cor- poration was allowed until the eighteenth of that month to remove its gates and other personal property. Three thousand dollars was the amount which was allowed the corporation as damages for the loss of its privileges, from which the company appealed, making petition for a jury to decide that question. Upon the refusal of the commissioners to entertain the appeal the supreme court was asked to intervene with a mandamus, but that also was refused. The commissioners, thus sus- tained, dismissed the whole matter in May, 1837, and the Andover and Medford Turnpike passed into history. By the act passed on February 27, 1807, this company and the Essex were allowed to maintain one gate together where their roads joined at the county line. A beautiful ride is offered to-day over the old turnpike, traversing, as it does, the heart of the Middlesex Fells Reservation of the Metro- politan Park System and following close to the west shore of Spot Pond, as it was required to do, away back in 1805. Forest Street in Medford and Main Street in Stoneham are to be followed if one desires to trace the old Andover and Medford Turnpike. THE MIDDLESEX TURNPIKE The Middlesex Turnpike Corporation, chartered on the same day, appears to have been the most aggressive and the most antagonized of any of the companies. For over four years the battle raged over the location of the road, the diversion to private control of long-established public highways, and the erection of gates where all had been wont to pass without hindrance for generations, — the contest being carried from the county courts to the halls of legislation when necessary to override or change the existing laws. Only in the local histories of Arlington [150] Q 55 OS D h u CO w Q Q (J j= i— i H > X X ' w < Near the Lexington-Burlington. line At Turnpike Station, Billerica Old abutments at the crossing of the Concord River Plate XXXIX — Middlesex Turnpike THE TURNPIKES OF MASSACHUSETTS is any mention of this controversy to be found, while one impressive memorial history of a town, in which much of the trouble originated and where intense public feeling must have been aroused, makes no men- tion at all of the controversy or building of the road, the sole reference to the subject being the statement that of three great highways crossing the town the Middlesex Turnpike was one. The route specified in the charter began at Tyngsboro meeting- house and ran to Chelmsford, thence to Billerica, and thence to a point in Bedford described as " a stake in land of Abel Wyman, about twelve miles and one hundred and twenty rods from Boston." At the point thus precisely and definitely located the road was to divide, one line running to Medford Village by way of Symmes' Corner, and the other passing directly to " the rocks, so called, in Cambridge," thence over " the old road " to a point between the houses of Stephen Goddard and Walter Frost, probably near the center of the present Arlington, from which place the route was to run directly to a connection with the Cam- bridge and Concord near the westerly end of the West Boston Bridge. " The Rocks " mentioned in the prescribed route were situated on the present-day Massachusetts Avenue about a half mile toward Boston from Arlington Heights, where a tablet suitably inscribed may be seen by all who pass recording the location. The stake, so accurately located, might have " tossed up " to see if it would place itself in Bed- ford or Billerica, so close to the extreme northeast corner of Bedford did it come. It plainly was placed on a mathematically straight line between Tyngsboro and Medford, which evidently was intended to be the main line of the turnpike, while the portion through Cambridge was but a side issue. But the latter was the part which was built, the section between Bedford and Medford never getting beyond an appli- cation for a layout. A little common sense may be discerned in the foregoing description of the route, as it will be observed that the road was to pass through the centers of Chelmsford and Billerica, but that did not last long for, on June 23, 1806, the corporation secured an amendment to its charter allowing it to locate its road straight from the famous stake to " Buisket Bridge in Tyngsbury," thus leaving Billerica one mile to the east and Chelmsford about three quarters of a mile to the west. The total sav- ing in distance by this cut off could not have been over a mile, and it is of record that the bulk of the expected traffic refused to desert its old route, the drivers from New Hampshire towns preferring to put up at the taverns they had known so long. Had the road to Medford been built the result might not have been so disappointing, but the Cambridge route asked them to journey through regions hitherto unknown, and they declined. Not until February, 1807, did the corporation file its petition for a committee to lay out the route and assess the damages to landowners, and then the fun began. For nearly two years the committee labored [151] THE TURNPIKES OF NEW ENGLAND on its task, and it is easy to imagine the pressure brought to bear upon it to influence the location. The route finally decided upon by the committee followed the bank, of the Merrimac River from Tyngsboro to about the line between that town and Chelmsford, thence it ran straight, crossing Nuttings Pond in the middle to a point in the north- east corner of Bedford, almost in Billerica. From that point it ran southerly across the western edge of Burlington until it intersected an old road near the house of Joseph Harrington in the northeast part of Lexington, and followed that old road to " the rocks." Then it fol- lowed an old county road along the north bank of Mill Brook to Stephen Goddard's house, about in Arlington Center now. From that point the route ran as straight as could reasonably be expected to the Cambridge and Concord Turnpike at West Boston Bridge. According to Parker's " History of Arlington," construction along the north bank of Mill Brook would have destroyed every mill in that vicinity, which fact naturally aroused intense opposition, which was supported by simi- lar feelings in Lexington over the appropriation of a part of their old town road. So all these interested parties were on hand in December, 1809, when the report of the locating committee was received by the court, and so strenuously did they fight the proposed location that the report was rejected in toto, and the matter again referred to the same committee for further action. Immediately upon the rejection of the report various Lexington citizens entered a petition for a layout of a county road from Joseph Harrington's house to " the rocks " over their exist- ing town road. Apparently there had been for many years a town road leading from " the rocks " across the easterly corner of Lexington into the western edge of Woburn, and thence to Woburn Center, and it was over a part of this road that the corporation desired to build its turn- pike. Following the rejection of the report including such part in the turnpike, the effort was made to further embarrass the movements of the corporation by giving that piece of road the prestige of a county layout. A committee was at once appointed to view the route and ' report. We are told in Cutter's " History of Arlington " that a special town meeting followed, at which a committee was chosen to effect a reconcilia- tion between the corporation and the landowners, and to try to locate the turnpike where it would do the most good and the least damage. The corporation, unable to obtain what it wanted from the county court, went higher and appealed to the sovereign people themselves, as represented at the state house. Mindful of its own interests, the town of West Cambridge, by which name Arlington was known until 1867, instructed its representative to endeavor to have the turnpike located " at the foot of the rocks and at no other place." The resultant act, passed March 6, 18 10, seems to have been a compromise. West Cam- bridge secured the location at " the foot of the rocks," but the corpora- [152] THE TURNPIKES OF MASSACHUSETTS tion scored by having the town obliged to improve " the great road " from the " foot of the rocks " to what is now Arlington Center, and contribute it for the turnpike; and further, the town was to pay all damages caused by abandoning the portion of the original route for which the " great road " was substituted. To Lexington it was granted that the turnpike should be located from Harrington's to the " foot of the rocks " at the " great road." This " great road " was the one over which the British troops marched in the early morning hours of the memorable nineteenth of April, and it was at Arlington Center, then known as Menotomy, that a plucky force of old men, beyond the years of active service, waylaid and captured a train of supplies on its way to relieve the harassed soldiers of the king later in the same day. Spurred by the legislative action, the Middlesex court of sessions reconsidered its rejection of the report made in December, 1809, and in March, 18 10, accepted the same except the portion between Joseph Harrington's and " the rocks " in the old road. The effort to forestall the turnpike by making a county road over that section was still alive, and during the same month the committee reported in favor of such proceeding, and another committee was appointed to proceed to lay it out. In June that committee reported, the road was accepted, and hurry-up orders were issued to the towns of Lexington and West Cam- bridge to build the road and close all accounts within ninety days. In September, 18 10, the corporation made petition for approval of the portion of its road that had been completed, and to have the location of its gates determined. The ninety days within which West Cambridge and Lexington were to build the new county road from Harrington's to " the rocks " having expired without the building of the road, the turnpike corporation now renewed its application for the court's ap- proval of its layout over that section, but in December, 18 10, the court dismissed the application. At the same term, December, 18 10, the corporation entered a new petition. West Cambridge had not completed the " great road " and paid the damages as required by the legislative act of the sixth of the previous March, and the turnpike company demanded that it be allowed to go ahead and build the road itself. But it appeared that West Cambridge had completed the road, or much of it at least, but that the road was a county road, and hence beyond the power of the town to convey to the company. So appeal was again had to the legislature, and on February 28, 181 1, the state cut the Gordian Knot, by decreeing that the road should be taken from the county and given to the turnpike corporation. Therefore the company withdrew its petition to build that section itself. The injustice of the foregoing is plainly to be seen and suggests a powerful lobbying force in behalf of the corporation. Because the town objected to having the larger part of its mill interests destroyed and prevented the turnpike from so locating as to accomplish that result, [153] THE TURNPIKES OF NEW ENGLAND the legislature loaded it with the expense of building a mile and a half of improved road, took away from it its long-established free highway, and obliged it to pay the costs which the corporation had prematurely incurred before it had legal right to do so. Considering the power which towns and counties had to lay out free roads which would divert travel from the turnpikes, and the need which the turnpikes ever felt of the good will of their communities, it causes wonder that the Middle- sex Turnpike Corporation should ever have pursued such high-handed methods. The cash payment by the town for damages on account of the abandoned location was $516.49, according to Parker. Definite progress appeared in the report made to the court in June, 181 1. The road, twenty-six miles in length, was almost completed and four gates had been erected, and the court was asked to give its final approval so that the road might legally be operated. One of the gates was located in Lexington five rods south of the house of Reuben Reed, who owned land adjoining that of Joseph Harrington on the south side. 1 This gate was on the section over which Lexington had made such a determined fight, and it appears that the corporation had finally succeeded in getting its franchise over that portion. But the fight was not over yet, for Lexington citizens entered their protest, declaring that the road had not been built as required by law, and demanding that the gate should not stand in its location, which place is part of an ancient highway over which they and all the citizens of the Commonwealth have from time immemorial had a right to pass and repass free of toll or any toll whatever. And on which they conceive by law no toll gate can rightfully be erected. This report was recommitted. By this diversion from public to private ownership of the road in Lexington and the " great road " in West Cambridge, a large number of people living in Lexington and towns beyond, with a few in Woburn, were cut off from free travel over their natural routes to the Boston markets and obliged to travel over the same roads but to pay toll there- for. Their grievance being placed before the legislature, and the mani- fest injustice shown, an act was secured on June 21, 181 1, whereby it was provided that all the inhabitants of Lexington and five of Woburn, " their families and future occupants," should pass free of toll over such portions of the turnpike. The towns beyond Lexington had their choice of other routes and were not included in the benefits of this act. Matters being thus adjusted the road received its legal sanction and proceeded to do business. By the act of March 6, 18 10, authority had been given to extend the turnpike from Tyngsboro meeting-house to the New Hampshire boundary, where it connected with the road of the Amherst Turnpike Corporation, a New Hampshire company operat- ing a road from the Massachusetts line to a junction with the Second 1 Middlesex County Registry of Deeds. [154] v a Iff -= J3 ff 3 O H w if OS 5 H w CO H J a Q ►J X W < .J « 2 C w ■S "0° re 9 P 1 3 5 u o "* 60 M O 2 £ < u ■■*. BU IS PS S h a o E b < H CO Q « b! U H o) W u 0S o X w o g THE TURNPIKES OF MASSACHUSETTS New Hampshire in Amherst. The Second New Hampshire, incorpo- rated in 1799, had built its road from Amherst to the " lottery bridge " in Claremont, and thus improved connections were had all the way from Boston to the lower Connecticut Valley towns of Vermont and New Hampshire. The Middlesex Turnpike was destined to be of less use a century after it was built than at its completion, and much of it to-day is dis- continued. To follow the old road at the present time one would start in Cambridge at Mechanic Square and pass over Hampshire Street and its continuation as Beacon Street. At the corner of Beacon and Washington streets a tollgate for- merly stood, and it was over this Washington Street that the Conti- nental troops passed on their way to fortify Bunker Hill after prayer for their success had been made by the president of Harvard College. The line of Beacon Street is continued in Somerville Avenue and Massachusetts Avenue through North Cambridge to Arlington, where the successor of the old turnpike passes by the Soldiers' Monument and the venerable Cooper's Tavern, and continues as the main street of Arlington to the " Foot of the Rocks " near Arlington Heights. At the " Foot of the Rocks " the old turnpike left the " Great Road," and as Lowell Street and Westminster Street it is perpetuated to-day. A nice macadamized road, with an easy, inviting down grade, it often lures motorists from the better road only to heartlessly abandon them some miles away in a sandy grass-grown path. For a few miles the road is smooth and well kept, but about the time that Lexington's juris- diction is left grass appears in the middle of the track and the bushes crowd closer to the sides of the vehicle. This condition prevails through the town of Burlington, but in Billerica the old road assumes an air of more importance. Nuttings Pond is crossed on a causeway which divides it almost equally, and that part of the road presents a busy appearance in the summer, especially on Sundays. An extensive colony of camps and bungalows has grown up around the pond, and the old turnpike is their only avenue. Over it the campers reach the little station, appropriately named " Turnpike," at the crossing of the Billerica Branch of the Boston and Maine Railroad. A quarter of a mile farther and the road comes to an abrupt end, a fence barring the way, and for the next mile the old turnpike has reverted to private interests, except for the easement which the tele- phone company has improved in the erection of its line of poles. By those poles and the path followed by the line patrolmen the line of the turnpike can still be picked out. In the mile thus abandoned occurs the crossing of the Concord River, and the abutments and approaches of the old bridge are still to be plainly seen. Approaching the old bridge on an August Sunday in 1917, the author, following the exact line of the old Middlesex Turnpike, walked through a field of newly cut hay, THE TURNPIKES OF NEW ENGLAND climbed a wall, passed through a cornfield, then crept through a wire fence, and traversed a pasture in which many cows were peacefully grazing. For the next four miles to Chelmsford the road is still open for travel, but apparently little used. At one of the Billerica crossroads the turnpike formerly passed between a large farmhouse and its commo- dious barn, but the present proprietor has seen fit to place two hen- houses directly in the line of the road, and such travelers as use the road to-day must wind in and out to avoid the encroachments. Manning's Tavern still stands on the turnpike at the point nearest to Chelmsford Center, and opposite it may be seen a little house which formerly sheltered the toll gatherer and his family. Beyond the toll- house the road again disappears and for over two miles can hardly be traced at all. No help is had here from the telephone company, for its poles have left us, bearing off to the right on the way to Lowell. Usu- ally a road abandoned many years is easily detected, but this section of discontinued highway is the most completely obliterated that the author has ever seen. From North Chelmsford to the New Hampshire line, along the west bank of the Merrimac River, the turnpike has again assumed importance as one of the Lowell to Nashua boulevards. English's " History of Bedford " says that the turnpike enjoyed a measure of success for a while, but professional teamsters were slow to abandon the familiar routes and discard the hospitality of the long- established taverns of Bedford. No costs or returns were filed by this corporation, so nothing of its financial affairs is known. In 1823 a county road was opened between Chelmsford and Bed- ford, which at once diverted a great deal of travel from the turnpike, even the stagecoaches forsaking it for the new road. That road paralleled the turnpike but a mile distant from it, and later was the cause of the complete abandonment of the portion of the turnpike between Chelmsford and North Chelmsford. When the turnpike was built Lowell was not even thought of, the system of locks and canals having originally been built for navigation facilities and not devoted to the production of power until 1821, but the road was convenient to the new city when it came and should have received a generous share of its travel. But until the day of railroads the Middlesex Canal served the mills of Lowell, and the business was not great enough to divide between turnpike and canal. The portion of the road over which so much controversy had been had in Lexington became a part of the public system in 1 840 and at about the same time portions of the road in Chelmsford and Tyngsboro, interfering with the location of the Nashua and Lowell Railroad, were sold to that company. March 13, 1841, upon its own petition the corporation was dissolved by the legislature, and the balance of its road discontinued. But the county commissioners a year later revived [156] THE TURNPIKES OF MASSACHUSETTS the roads thus abandoned and laid them out as county highways. In 1846 the Nashua and Lowell Railroad Company was relieved from obligation to maintain its portion of the road, and that became free in some places and was discontinued in others. A paper read before the Lowell Historical Society says : at the time of the opening of the Boston and Lowell Railroad, there were from forty to forty-five stages, arriving and departing daily from Lowell, employing from 250 to 300 horses, and that 150 of them were in service between Lowell and Boston. The freight rates were from $2.50 to $4.00 a ton, the stage fare $1.25. THE WORCESTER AND FITZWILLIAM TURNPIKE A charter was granted to the Worcester and Fitzwilliam Turnpike Corporation June 15, 1805, to build a road from Worcester, through Holden, Hubbardston, Templeton, to the line of Fitzwilliam, New Hampshire. This project lagged, and five years later the company was granted additional time for building, but the route was cut down so that it only extended from the Fitzwilliam line to Baldwin's Mills in Templeton, now known as Baldwinsville. Another extension was granted, so that they ultimately had until June 15, 18 15, to complete the road. Construction was finally completed between the last-named points at a cost of $4300, or a cost per mile of about $500. The loca- tion of the road through Winchendon is shown on the 1830 map of that town at the state house. Worcester County records show the public layout through Royalston, Winchendon, and Templeton in 1834. The Norton Turnpike Corporation, February 11, 1806, planned to build from Warren, Rhode Island, through Norton and Sharon to the old Bay Road in Canton, over which it would have connected with the Brush Hill Turnpike, but no construction was ever done. Another company received a charter covering a portion of the same route two years later. THE ASHBY TURNPIKE Another spoke in the wheel-like system of turnpikes which radiated from Boston was the road of the Ashby Turnpike Corporation, the charter for which was granted also on the eleventh of February, 1806. This road started at the line between Ashburnham, Massachusetts, and New Ipswich, New Hampshire, and crossed the northeast corner of Ashburnham into Ashby, crossing that town easterly about in the middle and passing through Ashby Center and West Townsend to Townsend Plain, where it joined the road of the Third New Hampshire at the end thereof. Townsend must have been fortunate in its roads in its eastern part, for both the Third New Hampshire and the Ashby seem to have been satisfied to terminate their roads at Townsend Center, leaving their patrons to continue their journeys over the county road. [i57] THE TURNPIKES OF NEW ENGLAND At the westerly end the Ashby seems to have been pointing toward Keene, New Hampshire, but no turnpike franchise has been found in that state which would complete the connection. Petitions for locating committees were made in Worcester and Middlesex counties in September, 1806, and in February, 1807, the lay- out was reported and approved. The land damages in Middlesex were divided among twenty owners and totaled $1475, which was about $155 a mile. The road was completed in the summer of 18 10 and approval was asked in September of that year. Formal acceptance was had in December, and the corporation was allowed to transact business, the tollgate being located in Ashby, " near the old county road, and a little to the northward of the house of Jonas Hodgman." The toll gatherer continued to discharge his duties for twenty-three years, until the turnpike became free in 1833. THE WORCESTER AND STAFFORD TURNPIKE Direct through communication between Worcester and Hartford was provided by the Worcester and Stafford Turnpike in Massachu- setts, connecting at the state line with the Stafford Pool Turnpike, which went as far as the courthouse in Tolland, and thence over the Hartford and Tolland Turnpike, which led from the state house in Hartford to the courthouse in Tolland. The Massachusetts corporation received its charter February 15, 1806, but, like other enterprises at that time, found the financing a slow process. The road followed the straight-line principle in its original layout, and we find it was located over such a steep hill in Sturbridge that, before building the road, the company saw fit to petition the legislature for permission to so change the route as to pass around the objectionable hill. This was granted them in June, 1809. In 1 8 10 the road was completed and accepted by the officials of Worcester County, and by the court of sessions of Hampshire County in behalf of the towns in Hampden County. Some delay occurred in consequence of the death of one of the committee whose duty it was to view and approve the road, objection being raised to the legality of proceedings by the rest of the committee without him; but the matter was cleared by legislative action March 6, 18 10, which confirmed the doings of the diminished committee, filled the vacancy, and allowed the work to be completed. The road commenced at a point on " the post road in the town of Worcester," about a quarter of a mile beyond the westerly end of the present Main Street, and led through Leicester, about a quarter of a mile from the Auburn line, to Rochdale; thence to Charlton City, where a gate was placed; thence across the central part of Sturbridge, and diagonally across Holland to the boundary line between that town and South Brimfield, which it followed for about a mile. Then it made a [1.58] o s pa C Si £^ * § s z o « .S u M E fc 5 h H H to u u o R w H H X w H <: O "0 « .a THE TURNPIKES OF MASSACHUSETTS apparently the franchise was never used. No records whatever have been found, and since it was designed to lay the road between two parallel and active turnpikes, the Fifteenth Massachusetts and the Twelfth, which were only about five miles apart, it is easy to believe that second thought showed the futility of the idea. The Mashapog Turnpike Corporation, June 19, 1807, vainly hoped to build a road from the meeting-house in the town of Norton to a point near the end of the Brush Hill Turnpike. As stated before this same route had been granted to the Norton Turnpike Corporation less than a year and a half before. The route desired by these two com- panies has never been one of importance and cannot be said now to be even of local importance, but Norton, years ago, had some manufactur- ing ambitions, and the need of an outlet for its products to Boston may have been imagined. Another hope which did not end in fruition was that of the Westford and Lexington Turnpike Corporation, also incorporated June 19, which was to build from the southerly part of Westford to the meeting-house irr Lexington. It evidently was intended as a link in a system by which to reach Milford, New Hampshire, entering Boston over the Middle- sex, while another company, incorporated later, was to extend to the New Hampshire line. Another product of the nineteenth of June was the Bethlehem and Tyringham Turnpike Corporation. This company proposed a road to run from the Tenth Massachusetts in Bethlehem to the county road between Stockbridge and Great Barrington. It would have been at least fifteen miles long, over an exceedingly rough and hilly country, and the route would have closely paralleled that of the Housatonic River Turnpike. A committee was appointed by the Berkshire court in 1808 to locate the road, but no further records appear. This, also, we have to include among those not built. Bethlehem became a part of Loudon in 1809 and Loudon became Otis in 1 8 10. No better fortune attended the Alford and West Stockbridge Turn- pike Corporation, created on June 20, 1807. Its franchise covered from the line of Hillsdale, New York, to the Housatonic River Turn- pike in Stockbridge, and its location was determined by the five disin- terested Berkshire freeholders in 1808. No further records appear and no returns were ever filed; and the map filed in 1830 by the town of Stockbridge, which essayed to show the turnpikes in that town, does not record the existence of such a one as this. Nor is there a road in ex- istence to-day which leads us to another belief than that the Alford and West Stockbridge was never built. This belief is strengthened by the [i75] THE TURNPIKES OF NEW ENGLAND incorporation, in 1818, of the West Stockbridge and Alford Turnpike Corporation with a franchise covering practically the same route, which certainly indicates that the first company did not build. The road proposed by the Dalton and Middlefield Turnpike Corpo- ration was a real need, but the difficulties of construction were too great for the design to be carried into execution. The Eighth Massachusetts had already received a charter to build between the same terminals, but its route, through the northerly part of Becket, was too rough and con- struction was never attempted. The substitute route, offered by the Becket Turnpike, was too roundabout a way to reach Pittsfield from Springfield, and hope of a better line was exploited in the franchise of the Dalton and Middlefield, chartered June 20, 1807. But the route selected by this company was too difficult for the means of that time, and the road was never built. Not until the discovery of the pass through which the Westfield River makes its way between Becket and Middlefield, and its feasibility for a road, was this dream to be real- ized. It came many years after in the building of the Pontoosuc Turnpike. The charter of the Sturbridge and Western Turnpike Corporation, granted June 20, 1807, was a variation from the usual practice, as the company was allowed to vary its route from a straight line if necessary. But even that privilege did not enable the promoters to get their road on the map. The plan was to open a route from Providence to the First Massachusetts Turnpike in the town of Western, now Warren. The first charter granted by the legislature of 1808 shared the fate of all of the vintage of 1807. The Nashua Turnpike Corporation, created February 8, was to build from the house of Deacon John White, which stood where now is the westerly end of the Colonial Inn in Concord, through Acton, Littleton, and Groton, to Shirley; and by an amendment granted June 10, 1808, through Ashby and Ashburnham to the New Hampshire line. None of it was ever built. It would have made a through route, in connection with the Cambridge and Concord, from Boston to southern New Hampshire and to towns in the Connecti- cut Valley. THE HINGHAM AND QUINCY TURNPIKE Prior to the construction of the road of the Hingham and Quincy Bridge and Turnpike Corporation with its bridges, travelers between those towns were obliged to go around the heads of Weymouth Fore and Back rivers, over Paine's Hill and through Braintree, finding them- selves at the end of the trip only about half as far from the starting point as the distance they had covered. The corporation which was to remedy this difficulty was created by act of March 5, 1808, after a most [176] THE TURNPIKES OF MASSACHUSETTS spirited opposition from representatives of the shipping interests and from residents of the section which expected to be left on one side if the new road was built. Most conspicuous in the opposition was Minot Thayer, who has been mentioned as " one of the most permanent and active members of the legislature," and under whose leadership his home town of Braintree made a strong protest. It is difficult, at this time, to understand the fear caused by the proposition to erect bridges across the rivers named, especially when it is borne in mind that they were to be equipped as drawbridges. But it seems to have been gener- ally accepted that such bridges would constitute a public nuisance, and even the people living on the land joined in the objections. Such strength in the hostile forces could not be altogether overcome, and before the passage of the act of incorporation the petitioners had to consent to three conditions: 1 . Payment to all vessels which passed the draw. 2. After 25 years and within 27 years the bridges might be removed as common nuisances. 3. No land to be taken until payment was made or tendered. The third condition was but a just one and is practically what is now re- quired of railroads under the general law. The second may have seemed harsh, as it contemplated the summary removal of the bridges at the end of twenty-five years, but the natural developments within that time made this condition a dead letter. But the first condition was a real burden and was most unjustly borne by the company for twenty years. The section of the act of incorporation which prescribed this oner- ous condition required that the bridge at Fore River should have " a suitable drawer " not less than thirty-four feet wide, and the Back River Bridge, one not less than twenty-four feet. The payments were to be made to the master of each loaded vessel of more than fifteen tons burthen that shall pass through said Drawers respectively, for the purpose of unloading her cargo, three cents a ton for each and every ton, said vessel shall measure. It may well be queried, even by residents of the neighborhood of these bridges, what navigable streams of such great importance the Fore and Back rivers could be. A glance at the map will hardly explain the matter, for there one will see but two crooked salt-water creeks pene- trating hardly two miles inland, and the reader must bear in mind that the turnpike was yet in its infancy and that the early colonial dependence upon water transportation had not yet been displaced. To the inhabi- tants of the town of Weymouth and of the adjoining parts of Braintree and Hingham these water routes must have seemed indispensable for the transport of their products to the markets of Boston. A suggestion of the extent of the commerce on these rivers is found in the returns made by the corporation. It appears from the payments which were [i77] THE TURNPIKES OF NEW ENGLAND made that 14,308 tons passed the two bridges in 1818; 18,006 tons in 1 8 1 9 ; while, in 1824, 11,612 tons sailed Fore River and 2408 tons were warped through the draw of the Back River Bridge. In 1909 the United States Navy Department acquired the land along the easterly shore of Back River for a naval supply base, not anticipating serious disadvantages from the presence of a drawbridge below. But navigation had so fallen away from the old river that an antiquated form of draw was then in use which, it was said, only yielded to the combined strength of eight men, so the old bridge and its draw soon gave way to one more satisfactory to the navy's demands. Fore River Bridge has long had a modern opening, through which pass many vessels bearing supplies and raw materials for the great ship- building yards to which the river has lent its name, while it opens from time to time to let out a recently launched " mistress of the seas " or an unromantic " molasses tanker." But the corporation found that its troubles were not over with the securing of its franchise. It has been noted that of the ten turnpike corporations incorporated next preceding this one not one did any con- struction, and most of the companies seeking to build at this time were obliged to apply to the legislature for an extension of their time. The Hingham and Quincy felt the hard times with the others and was a long time in raising the necessary money, but enough had been secured by February 3, 18 12, to justify holding the first meeting and developing the general plans, and the first ground was broken in Weymouth on June 3 of that year. At an early meeting of the board of directors it was voted to hire a superintendent, who should be paid seven shillings six pence a day. He was " to superintend the men and to work on the road to the best of his ability." Authority was given him to hire six men at a dollar a day, and seventeen more at twenty-two dollars a month. They voted to buy a scraper and a yoke of oxen and get ready to tear things gen- erally. A local builder contracted to erect the tollhouse at the Back River Bridge for five hundred dollars. Several committees were appointed to solicit subscriptions to the stock of the corporation, and one committee was intrusted with the single duty of so presenting the advantages of the enterprise to Reverend Henry Coleman of Hingham as to induce him to give his aid and influence to the undertaking. Five miles of road, with two bridges of great magnitude for those days, were completed by November 19, 1812, on which day the courts of Norfolk and Plymouth formally accepted the road and allowed it to open for business. The cost was returned as twenty-four thousand dollars, but, on account of the two bridges, cannot be proportioned by miles. On the opening day Mrs. John Adams, wife of the second president of the United States, wrote: [178] t J- o p crt 03 u a h u. o M p , s 5 E Z Q « u S (- f* a — a o z 5 > < Oh -; H 2 "S < gj cu 5 S. » £ 03 33 Plate XLIX — Map of Boston at the Beginning of the Turnpike Era, 1795 THE TURNPIKES OF MASSACHUSETTS At twelve o'clock called for cousin Smith, by previous engagement, to accompany me to the bridge at Quincy Point being the first day of passing it. The day was pleasant; the scenery delightful. Passed both bridges and entered Hingham. Re- turned before three o'clock. Much more might have been expressed on the subject of making a com- plete journey between twelve and three which previously had required the greater part of a day. The next issue of the Columbian Centinel, November 21, 18 12, announced : The Hingham and Quincy Turnpike Road which shortens the distance between the two towns nearly one half — presenting the finest of views, and the most delight- ful ride in the vicinity of Boston, is now open for the accommodation of the public. Through the first winter the Plymouth mail stage was allowed free passage over the new turnpike, but, April 1, 18 13, that came under toll requirements also. The bugbear of the drawbridge did not materialize, but the fear died hard, and it was not until 1832 that it disappeared entirely. By that time the benefits of the road and bridges and the rights of travelers by land had become so well established that the legislature on March 12, 1832, repealed the unjust provision, and relieved the corporation from further payments to masters of vessels. The company had made fre- quent efforts in previous years to obtain relief from this condition, and we learn from Nash's " History of Weymouth " that that town, in meeting on April 21, 1820, voted to appoint a committee to oppose the petition which had been made for that purpose. In the fifty years of the turnpike's operation but two accidents oc- curred, the first in 1824, for which Benjamin S. Williams recovered one thousand dollars, and the second in 1844, when Reverend Thomas Whittemore was paid one hundred and fifty dollars. A notable record of long service is shown by this company. The office of president was filled by Martin Fearing of Hingham for the forty-three years between 1820 and 1863; Lemuel Bracket of Quincy performed the duties of clerk for one year less from 18 13 to 1855; and Thomas Cushing commenced his duties as toll gatherer November 20, 1 8 1 8, only to relinquish them when the road and bridges became free July 4, 1864. Upon the dissolution of the corporation a gift of thirty dollars was voted to him. Returns of business done were made by this company from 1824 to the end of its existence, as shown on the chart which is here reproduced. The receipts did not drop off as abruptly upon the advent of railroad competition as did those of other companies. But that the management feared such a result appears from an item of $84.08 for legislative ex- penses in 1845, " remonstrating against Railroad Petitions." A most noticeable drop may be seen in the expenses following the year 1833, when payments to masters of vessels ceased. The gross earnings of the Hingham and Quincy seem to have generally run from eight to twelve [i79] 5ff^affiiOT THE TURNPIKES OF MASSACHUSETTS per cent of the cost of the road, with the expenditures far enough below in most years to yield a fair dividend. But it must be remembered that this was more of a, bridge proposition than a turnpike, and bridges were usually more profitable. The legislature of i860 provided for the laying out of this turnpike and bridges as a public highway by the county commissioners, if the corporation consented; but evidently consent was not forthcoming, for we find more drastic action two years later. April 30, 1862, the great and general court peremptorily laid it out as, and decreed that it should become on the fourth day of the next July, a public highway, except that the selectmen of the three towns were to collect tolls on the two bridges for two years more. As all the gates maintained by the corporation were the ones on the two bridges, matters were not much improved until the two years had passed. As the legislature did not provide any compensation for the taking away of the corporation's franchise and property, the supreme court, upon the company's appeal, appointed three commissioners who awarded damages to the amount of $17,810.15. In the final distribution of this amount each stockholder received $106.75 f° r eacn share of stock, this being the only case, as far as is now known, in which the original investment was recovered. In accordance with the above-mentioned act, the road and bridge passed into the control of the town officials July 4, 1862, and became free of all tolls July 4, 1864. The last echo of the company's affairs was heard in 1870, when the legislature enacted that the governor should appoint commissioners to determine which towns, and in what proportion, should bear the ex- pense of laying out the Hingham and Quincy turnpike and bridges. To-day the turnpike serves the public along the same old routes but without recompense. As Beal Street it is known in Hingham; as Bridge Street in Weymouth; and as Washington Street in Quincy. A history of the turnpike was published in the Quincy Patriot in February, 1864, from which several of the foregoing items were obtained. THE HUDSON TURNPIKE We have already seen that the road of the Housatonic River Com- pany terminated at the northwest corner of the town of West Stock- bridge, where it connected with a New York turnpike which continued the journey to Albany. There was another New York turnpike which came to its end at the West Stockbridge line, but a mile south of the junction made by the Housatonic River. This was the Hudson Turn- pike, and it came from the town on the river of the same name, and at its terminus found itself with an intervening distance of about two and a half miles in West Stockbridge from an improved road or important [181] THE TURNPIKES OF NEW ENGLAND center. So the Hudson Turnpike Corporation was chartered March 8, 1808, possibly by the owners of the New York company, to build from the bridge at Thayer's Mills in West Stoclcbridge ... to the west line of this Commonwealth, in the same town ... in the most convenient place to accommo- date the public travel. As the road thus contemplated was only about two and a half miles in length, it does not seem probable that a separate corporation was financed for the purpose of building it, and on account of the similarity of their names it seems justifiable to assume that the Massachusetts Hudson company and the New York company of the same designation were children of the same financial parents. But if so, difficulties must have been encountered in administering the affairs of the two companies jointly, for the Massachusetts Hudson Turnpike became practically a part of the Housatonic River, and was treated and considered as a branch of that road. The Hudson Turnpike was located, built, and accepted in Berkshire County in 1808, and apparently was the road which to-day leads from West Stockbridge almost due west, passing south of Crane Pond to the New York line. It was laid out as a public highway, in connection with the Housatonic River Turnpike, in 1853. The Dartmouth and New Bedford Turnpike Corporation secured an act March 9, 1808, under authority of which it might have built a road seven hundred and ninety-two rods long from New Bedford to the village of Apponegansett, but there is no reason to believe that such a road was ever built. March 9 must have been assigned for consideration of New Bed- ford's interests, for the Middleboro and New Bedford Turnpike Corporation was enacted into life also on that day. This road was to run from Middleboro, " eastward of the long pond," to the head of the Acushnet River in New Bedford. Although there is a much- traveled road over this route, it follows the old road which has never known a gate, for the turnpike charter was allowed to lapse. Had such a turnpike been built it would have materially improved the business of the New Bedford and Bridgewater, for it would have met that road at its southerly terminus and given it a direct and improved connection with New Bedford. Two acts of incorporation were passed March 12, 1808, one forming the Brookfield and Charlton Turnpike Corporation, and the other, the Providence and Northampton Turnpike Corporation. The first evi- dently contemplated connection with a Rhode Island road so as to form a through route from Providence to Brookfield, Massachusetts; and the second was to form part of an interstate system running through Rhode [182] THE TURNPIKES OF MASSACHUSETTS Island, Connecticut, and Massachusetts, between the cities indicated in the corporate name. Neither of these seems to have ever carried out its plans, although the Brookfield and Charlton did have its road located by a Worcester County committee in 1808. THE DOUGLAS, SUTTON, AND OXFORD TURNPIKE The last act passed in 1808 incorporated the Douglas, Sutton, and Oxford Turnpike Corporation June 10. This company spent $6256.26 in the construction of about eleven miles of road, or at the rate of about $570 per mile. By its charter it was authorized to commence its road at Douglas Center and run thence through the extreme southwesterly corner of Sutton, and into Oxford as far as the county road near where the Central Turnpike was later built; but the committee appointed by the Worcester court saw fit to amend the act of the legislature and proceeded to locate the road from a point on the Rhode Island line, where the Providence and Douglas Turnpike of Rhode Island termi- nated. From that point the road ran straight, in continuation of the line of the Providence and Douglas, for about five miles to Douglas Center; thence over the line of the present Northwest Main Street, winding around the easterly shore of Whiting's Pond in Douglas, and through Sutton, and into Oxford, as already explained. Only once did this company file a return, and that, in 1812, gave only the gross receipts, which were $186.47, — about three per cent on the cost of the road. Daniels, in his " History of Oxford," mentions this road, but only to state that it was finished in 18 10, and thrown open to the public in 1834, which latter date is also found on the Worcester County records. We have already noticed in connection with the Westford and Lex- ington a plan to open a turnpike route from Boston to Milford, New Hampshire. This was to use the Middlesex as far as what is now Arlington Heights and to continue on the Westford and Lexington, after a short distance over a good public road. Between Westford and Groton, apparently, the public road was good enough, but on March 3, 1809, tbe Groton and Pepperell Turnpike Corporation was created to complete the route to the New Hampshire line. There must have been a great deal of prospective trade in that section of New Hampshire, for we have noted several turnpikes built with their gates at right angles to that direction, and many more that expired before maturity. As we have seen, the Westford and Lexington did not build its road. Neither did the Groton and Pepperell. Holland, in his " History of Western Massachusetts," gives some space to the Eleventh Massachusetts Turnpike, but as we have stated in the section devoted to that corporation, it does not appear that any [183] THE TURNPIKES OF NEW ENGLAND road was built by that company. Especially do we feel that such is the case, because on June 20, 1809, the Granville Turnpike Corporation was formed and granted the privilege of a route almost word for word the same as that granted to the Eleventh, and stated to be in the same course and direction in which the road of the Eleventh Massachusetts Turnpike Corporation was lately located. . . . Hence we feel justified in asserting that the Eleventh Massachusetts was not built, although a committee made its location and awarded damages to property owners along the line, as appears by the records in Springfield and Northampton. It is doubtful if the Granville Turnpike Corporation ever did any construction either. No records have been found of any location or public layout, and no returns to the secretary of state were ever made. There was an old road following the same route, much of which the turnpike proposed to utilize, and over this road there was much early travel. It is mentioned by Sumner Gilbert Wood in his entertaining " Taverns and Turnpikes of Blandford," as the regular route from Blandford to Hartford, and on which stood the famous old hostelry of " Squire Stowe," in the northerly part of Granville. This old tavern had two distinctions, — it was painted white and had two stories, which made it a mark of interest for miles around. In 1 8 12, three years after its act of incorporation, the Granville Corporation secured from the legislature a modification of the require- ment as to width of its road, having the same reduced from twenty-four to eighteen feet. This clearly indicates two things: that the road had not then been even commenced, and that the promoters were finding it difficult to raise money. We are open to conviction, but so far we be- lieve the road was never built as a turnpike. Three turnpike propositions were given a chance in the year 18 10, but not one of them fulfilled the expectations. The first was entitled the Boston Neck Turnpike Corporation, and was incorporated on the third of March. The road of this company was to run from the corner of Suffolk and Lenox streets in Boston to " the angle of the old road, westerly of Wait's Mills in Roxbury." This route is interesting because it would have run diagonally through the most congested part of the present Boston South End, cutting through Madison Square, the only breathing place in that section. According to the assessors' valuations for the year 191 5, a route along those lines, four rods wide, would cost about $1,500,000, but, in 18 10, the road builders would have wrought their turnpike over muddy flats and tidal swamps, with hardly an acre of appreciable value. Suffolk Street was the name given, on paper, to a street which was proposed along the lines of the modern Shawmut Avenue, 1 while Lenox Street was an accurate forerunner of what later really appeared. 1 Record of Streets, City of Boston, 1910. [184] THE TURNPIKES OF MASSACHUSETTS Wait's Mills, in Rqxbury, was a historic site, there having been a mill there for the grinding of grain since 1633, when Richard Dummer established the industry. Following the expulsion of the founder from the colony on account of his unorthodox religious views, the Pierpont family owned and operated the mill for more than a century, after which Samuel Wait acquired the plant early in the nineteenth century. 1 The mill was driven by water power from Stony Brook, and stood on the ancient Cambridge Road, later the Worcester Turnpike, about where the police station at Roxbury Crossing now frowns upon evildoers. When the Boston and Providence Railroad was located the surveys started from this same Wait's Mills, of which not a suggestion exists to-day. Stony Brook itself has disappeared, being now carried for sev- eral miles in an underground conduit, through which it flows for the balance of its journey after reaching Forest Hills. The object of this turnpike effort was clearly to relieve the congestion which must have existed, even at that early date, on Washington Street, the only free road into Boston, and the only road of any kind over which travelers from the westerly part of Dorchester, Roxbury, West Rox- bury, Dedham, or Brookline could enter the town. This turnpike would have been only fifty-seven hundred feet long, and the low rate of tolls which could have been exacted for so short a distance could never have paid a dividend on the expensive cost of construction. Then, too, there were plans already prepared for the extension of streets throughout this section, and the opportunities for " shunpiking " would have been too many within a few years. It is quite possible that this project was fostered by the Worcester Turnpike Corporation, as it would have given that road a better entrance to Boston, and relieved it of the troublesome section over the ancient road. On the same day the Worcester and Sutton Turnpike Corporation was given the privilege of building a turnpike in the town of Sutton, to connect over an existing county road, with Worcester. Just where this company expected to build is not clear to one not acquainted with the residents of Sutton a century ago, and since we have the authority of Lincoln's " History of Worcester " that the road was never commenced, we will not delve deeper into the question. Among the few writers who have touched upon turnpikes the ex- pressions of the " mania " or " craze " for turnpike investments have been almost stereotyped. While such expressions are unjust if generally applied, it must be admitted that any money invested in the Woburn Turnpike Road and Dracut Bridge Corporation, chartered March 6, 1 8 10, could, have been attributed to such emotions. The gentlemen behind this enterprise proposed to build about sixteen miles of road, with an extensive and costly bridge over the Merrimac River, to tap 1 "The Town of Roxbury," Francis S. Drake. [185] THE TURNPIKES OF NEW ENGLAND that El Dorado of turnpike promoters, the southern part of New Hamp- shire. Such a charter would never be issued to-day, both on account of the protection accorded to public utilities already established, and the paternalism which does not allow useless projects to be exploited on the public. As a turnpike proposition alone it would not have been advisable, for it reached for the same region that was already served by the Middle- sex and by the Essex turnpikes, and proposed to practically parallel those two roads at a distance of about five miles from each, while the total business was not enough to repay the investments already made. But in addition to the turnpike it was proposed to build a bridge which the legislature required should be at least twenty-two feet wide, and which should have one clear span of not less than one hundred and ten feet over the channel of the river. Evidently somebody had faith in the project for it was kept alive, by successive acts extending the time limit, until February, 1823, when it finally lapsed. The Tyringham and Sandisfield Turnpike Corporation was incorpo- rated February 12, 1811, to open communication between the Housa- tonic River Turnpike in Lee and the center of Sandisfield, passing through Lee, Tyringham, Otis, and Sandisfield. The location was duly made, according to the Berkshire records, in 18 12, but no other records have been found. The incorporation of the Clam River Turnpike Corporation thirty years later, with a route practically the same as the one granted this company, shows that the need of improved roads in that section had not been met, and confirms our belief that the Tyring- ham and Sandisfield is another of the " never-was " class. THE GREAT BARRINGTON AND ALFORD TURNPIKE One other company, the Great Barrington and Alford Turnpike Corporation, was incorporated in 181 1 on June 25. This company apparently built its road from the county road at the northerly end of the Fifteenth Massachusetts Turnpike, in Great Barrington, to the New York line, circling around the easterly and southerly side of Monument Mountain, and running westerly by Jacob Van Deusen's house, and south of Long Pond, and far enough into Alford to enable it to turn a corner in that town; thence southwesterly across the town of Egre- mont, passing through North Egremont Village and south of Prospect Lake, and heading, at its westerly terminus, for the village of Hudson on the Hudson River in the state of New York. _ , The road described was about nine and a half miles in length, and cost, according to the return at the state house, $8798.71, or about $925 a mile. The location was made and the road built in 1 8 1 2, accord- [186] THE TURNPIKES OF MASSACHUSETTS ing to the Berkshire records, and an old road was discontinued as a public highway on account of the turnpike having absorbed it. Returns of business done were filed for one year only, 1815, in which year the net earnings were $169.41, or a trifle less than two per cent on the cost of the road. A portion of the turnpike in Great Barrington was made free on petition of the corporation, April 26, 1831, the balance becoming a part of the public road system in 1846. Apparently the corporation was not the moving party at the latter date, for the records show that it made petition for a jury to estimate the compensation to be awarded it for the loss of its privileges. The petition was refused and the Great Barring- ton and Alford passed into public management. Only one ambition was given a chance in 181 2, that being the hope of the Worcester and Leicester Turnpike Corporation, which was launched on the twenty-ninth of February. The contemplated road was to connect the adjoining towns named, and would have been but a short one. To the observer looking backward this appears to have been a promising scheme, but we have the assurance of Lincoln's " History of Worcester " that construction was never commenced. The lone effort of 18 13 fared no better, for the Taunton and Digh- ton Turnpike Corporation, created February 27, has left no record of any work accomplished. This company proposed more than its name indicates, for it was the intention to build a road from Taunton to Warren, Rhode Island, " so far as this Commonwealth extends." Evi- dently there has never been a crying need .for a road along such lines, for none has yet been built, but so many of the turnpikes are to-day grass-grown paths that we will not offer that in criticism of the pro- jectors of the Taunton and Dighton. The Sixteenth Massachusetts, incorporated in 1803, had made a long-continued effort to build its road, a location having been asked and granted as late as 1812. But apparently hope had given out, for we find the Granville and Tolland Turnpike Corporation allowed, on June 13, 1 8 14, to build a road "on the route which the Sixteenth Massachu- setts Turnpike Corporation contemplated," etc. The route proposed by these two companies extended from that part of West Springfield which is now Agawam, through Southwick, Gran- ville, and Tolland, to a junction with the road of the Fifteenth Massa- chusetts in Sandisfield. The Sixteenth, however, had the right to go a little farther and to reach the Twelfth Massachusetts Turnpike in Sheffield. The difficulties which prevented the building of the Sixteenth, were great enough to have the same effect upon the Granville and Tolland, for we find no record of anything being done by that company. [187] THE TURNPIKES OF NEW ENGLAND Up to this time the territorial rights of any established company, when protected at all, had been guarded by a provision requiring a division of tolls with the invaded road, but in the charter of the Wren- tham and Attleboro Turnpike Corporation, granted June 14, 18 14, a new method was adopted. This company was to build a road from Wrentham meeting-house to the line of Cumberland, Rhode Island, and it was forbidden to build in any place east of an air line from the meeting-house in said first parish in Wrentham, to the west side of the dwelling-house of John Fales, in the west corner of Attleborough. The line described practically paralleled the Norfolk and Bristol Turn- pike at a distance of a little less than two miles, and on its westerly side. No road was ever built under this charter. THE MILL DAM Although not a turnpike corporation, the Boston and Roxbury Mill Corporation, chartered June 14, 18 14, had authority to do a turnpike business on the mill dam which it was to construct, and it did operate one of the most important toll roads for many years. This corporation was organized primarily for the purpose of im- pounding the tidal waters in the basin known as the Back Bay, which lay on the westerly side of the original Boston peninsular, and by draw- ing off the same during low-water periods, to derive power for manu- facturing purposes. To accomplish this the corporation was authorized to build a dam from the present corner of Beacon and Charles streets, in Boston, to the upland in Brookline at Sewalls' Point, with two other dams tending to turn the water through the sluices provided in the main dam. This latter was to be not less than forty-two feet wide on the top, and was to be provided with locks sufficient in size to pass rafts of logs and lumber containing not over ten thousand feet. The capitalization of the corporation was not to be over two million dollars. The turnpike provision was found in section three of the act of in- corporation, which read: Be it further enacted, That the said Corporation shall have power to make and finish the dam, in this Act first mentioned and connect the different parts thereof by bridges and causeways, so as to render the same a good and substantial road, suit- able for the passing of men, loaded teams, carts, and carriages of all kinds, and shall open a road not more than eighty feet and not less than forty-two feet wide, from some point of said Dam, where it crosses the marshes in Brookline, to the end of the Worcester Turnpike, near the Punch Bowl Tavern, so called, in said Brookline, which road shall be made in a straight line, as nearly as can be done with conven- ience; and when the road on said Dam shall be finished, railed at the sides, and furnished with lamps to the satisfaction of the Selectmen of Boston, the said Cor- poration may receive toll for passing over the same, at the same rate which is now granted to the Proprietors of the West Boston Bridge. [188] THE TURNPIKES OF MASSACHUSETTS A provision that no tolls should be collected until two of the dams were completed was amended two years later, when it was enacted that toll might be collected whenever either of the dams was finished sufficiently to yield a power equal to that required to turn twenty pair of common millstones, one half of which power was to be actually in use. " Boston's Growth," a pamphlet published by the State Street Trust Company, tells us that work was commenced on the main dam in June, 1814, but Winship's "Historical Brighton" gives the date as 1818. The dam was built along the line of the present Beacon Street from the corner of Charles Street to the junction with what is now known as Brookline Avenue and Commonwealth Avenue; and Brookline Avenue was built by the Mill Corporation from the end of its dam at Sewalls' Point to the Punch Bowl Tavern, on the Worcester Turnpike, as re- quired in its charter. According to " Boston's Growth," the construc- tion of this mill dam furnishes the first record of the importation of Irish laborers. The required stone was obtained from the quarries on the adjacent Parker Hill, and the completion was made the occasion of a civic celebration comprising a parade and a reception by the town fathers. The importance of the turnpike provided by this improvement can be readily appreciated by reference to the map. Previously the only access to Boston by land had been over the Dorchester Turnpike and the bridge in South Boston; over the Neck, along the present Washing- ton Street; and over the West Boston Bridge which connected the me- tropolis with Cambridge. Hence the large territory occupied by Wal- tham^ Newton, and the country behind them had been obliged to make the wide detour either through Cambridge or Roxbury, while over the new Mill Dam Road its inhabitants could make a direct trip to the center of Boston. Naturally, as the operation of a toll road was but an incidental item in the larger scheme, and since the length of the road was so slight, the allowed tolls were not to be like those on more ex- tended turnpikes. We have seen that tolls at the same rate as allowed on West Boston Bridge were to be collected, so let us look at the charter of that corporation. The proprietors of the West Boston Bridge were incorporated March 6, 1792, for the purpose of building a bridge be- tween Cambridge and Boston, on the site of the present monumental Cambridge Bridge. Three hundred pounds a year, later reduced to two hundred, was to be paid to Harvard College for assistance of needy students. Tolls were to be collected as follows : Eacli foot passenger or one person passing, 2/3 of a penny. Single horse cart, sled, or sleigh, 4 pence. One person and horse, 2 pence, 2/3 of a penny. Each wheelbarrow, hand cart, and every other vehicle capable of carrying like weight, I-1/3 penny. Each single horse and chaise, chair, or sulkey, 8 pence. Coaches, chariots, phaetons, and curricles, 1 shilling. [189] THE TURNPIKES OF NEW ENGLAND All other wheeled carriages or sleds drawn by more than one horse, 6 pence. Sleighs drawn by more than one beast, 6 pence. Neat horses or cattle exclusive of those rode or in carriages or teams, I— 1/3 penny each. Swine and sheep, 4 pence per dozen and proportionally. The dam was completed, and the road opened for travel July 2, 1821, and at once became a most important avenue into Boston. It was con- sidered one of the grandest constructions in the world. The sides of the dam were built of solid stone for eight thousand feet in length, from three to eight feet in thickness and twelve to seventeen feet high, while the width between the walls varied from fifty to one hundred feet. 1 The material was the local pudding stone of Roxbury and granite from Wey- mouth. Over a mile was saved for the travelers over the Worcester Turnpike by turning off at the Punch Bowl Tavern and taking the Mill Corporation's road to the Mill Dam, and thence into Boston, which was undoubtedly the cause of the Worcester company's being willing in 1826 to pay the town of Roxbury two hundred and fifty dollars in con- sideration of being released from obligation to maintain its road east- erly of the point of diversion. This Punch Bowl Tavern was an ancient hostelry and stood in Brookline for many years, between the present Brookline Avenue and Pearl Street on Washington Street. Another turnpike was soon projected, which led from the westerly end of the Mill Dam to Watertown, an improvement rendered practicable only by the opening of the Mill Dam. A new corporation was created in 1824, the Boston Water Power Company, which took over all the holdings of the Mill Corporation south of the dam in 1832; the dam, road, and all holdings on the north side remaining with the original company. As an enterprise for the development of power, these projects were not phenomenally successful, but the subsequent filling of the Back Bay and the proceeds from sales of land made the investment most lucrative. June 9, 1854, the corporation made an indenture with the Common- wealth of Massachusetts by which it was agreed, among many other matters, that the corporation should convey to the Commonwealth the land covered by the Mill Dam " to be forever kept open as a public highway," but the agreement was not carried out for several years. In 1856 it was enacted that the Mill Corporation might continue to collect tolls on the Mill Dam at the same rate as allowed on the West Boston Bridge, which rate had been reenacted and expressed in American cur- rency. In 1 86 1 the commissioners of public lands were authorized to arrange with the corporation about continuing the collection of tolls, which was to be done until the road was laid out as a public highway by the county officials. This occurred on December 7, 1868, when the Boston Board of Aldermen accepted the road as a public highway. Under the management of the Mill Corporation the Mill Dam Road 1 " History of the Granite Industry in New England," Brayley. [190] o o a, O U o X 3 3 o *-• « d C/3 ir> a "2 m eq o PQ I* OS E> n o Pi a z < z o H U3 O M u K M U 2 C « o 3! n S < s -3 6 o U w < -i PL, THE TURNPIKES OF MASSACHUSETTS had been known as Western Avenue until 1865. Since that time it has borne the name of Beacon Street. The Mill Corporation followed the usual custom in locating its toll- house and gate and placed the same on the bridge over the main channel. Its site is now occupied by the parkway called Charles-gate. In 1824 various parties, acting in the interests of the Mill Corpora- tion, secured a charter for a turnpike to connect the westerly end of the Mill Dam with Watertown. This road, which will be treated more at length in its turn, caused a panic in the minds of the proprietors of the West Boston Bridge who foresaw a serious diversion of traffic from their bridge, and they sought to offset the advantage thus gained over them by building a turnpike of their own. This latter turnpike, being built purely as a feeder for the bridge, made no claims of being a public necessity, which later gave rise to some unique legal questions. The history of the larger operations of the Mill Corporation and of the Boston Water Power Company is especially interesting to the student of Boston's development. The ebb and flow of the tidal waters in the ponded area soon gave rise to serious and unhealthy conditions, and many were the efforts to adjust between the public good and the corporate rights. It was finally settled that the entire area was to be filled with clean gravel, while satisfactory sewers were to be laid, and the resulting land was to be divided between the state and the two corporations. The filling was done between the years 1857 and 1894, the gravel being hauled in over the Boston and Providence and the Boston and Albany railroads, and distributed over spur tracks laid in all directions over the area. A large excavated pit can still be seen near Dedham Road Station of the Boston and Providence Railroad, which supplied much of the gravel. The West Stockbridge and Alford Turnpike Corporation was in- corporated February 16, 18 18, to carry out the plans which the Alford and West Stockbridge had abandoned. It may be remembered that the latter company had a franchise to build from the line of Hillsdale, New York, to the Housatonic River Turnpike in Stockbridge. But since the granting of that privilege the Alford and Egremont Turnpike had been completed, crossing that route near the New York line, so the route granted by the charter under present consideration commenced at that turnpike instead of at the New York boundary. Another variation from the old route was that the last company was to connect with the Housatonic River Turnpike in West Stockbridge instead of in Stock- bridge. Although the location for this road was made under authority of the Berkshire county court in 1818, it does not appear that any building was ever done. An act passed June 16, 1820, created a corporation without giving it a name, but it was known as the company intending to build the Wil- [191] THE TURNPIKES OF NEW ENGLAND braham Turnpike. Although this company never carried out its plans, it is interesting to consider its aims. The northern route between Boston and New York, we have previously observed, passed over the First Massachusetts Turnpike, through the towns of Western, Palmer, and Wilbraham, to Springfield, where it followed the old post road down the valley of the Connecticut River to Hartford. Evidently the idea back of the Wilbraham Turnpike was to divert this travel at the end of the First Massachusetts, and to take it southerly through the town of Wil- braham, which then included the town of Hampden, to the Connecticut line at Somers. There it would have connected with the road of a Con- necticut corporation, the Tolland and Mansfield Turnpike Company, which would have carried it to Tolland courthouse, whence it would have reached Hartford over the Hartford and Tolland Turnpike. The "improvement by a route going back as far to the east as Tolland court- house is not obvious, and it is not surprising that this project did not attract capital. THE BARRE TURNPIKE By the year 1820 the Massachusetts public had generally understood that turnpike investments were very unsatisfactory, and only nineteen companies were incorporated after that date, ten of which completed their roads. Of these the Barre Turnpike Corporation was the first, being chartered February 5, 1822, to build a turnpike from Barre Com- mon through Hubbardston and Princeton. This company filed no returns of its business, but on a plan of its turnpike which was filed at the state house, the cost is given as $10,000, and the length eleven miles, or about $910 a mile. The road of this company was laid out by the authorities of Worcester County in 1823, " from Barre meeting-house, through Hubbardston, to Edward Goode- now's, in Princeton," which apparently brought it within two miles of Princeton Center, and on the " Depot Road." The distance by the old route had been seventeen miles, so the turnpike reduced the journey over one third. At the opening of the year 1824 the turnpike had not been com- pleted, for on January 28 of that year an act was passed allowing the erection of one gate in Princeton upon completion of the road. But construction soon followed, and in 1826 the corporation again appeared at the state house, this time with a complaint regarding working con- ditions. It seems that the turnpike cut a straight line across the big letter " S " of the old road, and travelers were content to cut off the first half circle, following the turnpike where no gate opposed them, and then taking the longer route, which kept out of sight of the toll gatherer. So another act was secured changing the first gate to a half-gate and allowing the erection of another half-gate on the westerly portion of the road. In 1832 the Barre Turnpike was laid out as a public highway. [192] THE TURNPIKES OF MASSACHUSETTS THE CHESTER TURNPIKE We have seen that in the construction of the Eighth Massachusetts and the Becket turnpikes considerable difficulty was found in selecting a satisfactory location. As finally built the two roads made a physical connection, but apparently that part of the road was poor and unsatis- factory, for on February 14, 1822, the Chester Turnpike Corporation was chartered for the purpose of making a better road than the existing turnpikes afforded, between Walton's Bridge in Chester to some in- definite point on the Becket Turnpike. The need of such improvement must have been urgent, for three years earlier the persons who later were incorporated as the Chester Turnpike Corporation had associated themselves and had built a section of the road now proposed for a turn- pike, and had had the same accepted by the court of common pleas as a public road. In 1822 they asked that they might be allowed to build farther along the same line and have their former effort and the new one combined in the Chester Turnpike. Their prayer being granted the road was at once built, and the Eighth Massachusetts was relieved from the maintenance of the now useless part of its road westerly of Walton's Bridge. This turnpike apparently extended from near the present Chester post office to the Becket line, and about an equal distance into the town of Becket. By an act passed in 1825 eighty rods was taken from its west end and annexed to the Becket Turnpike. The Chester Turnpike was made free in Berkshire County in Sep- tember, 1842, and in Hampden County in June, 1843. THE WATERTOWN TURNPIKE Until the opening of the road over the Mill Dam there was no en- trance to Boston between Washington Street, on the Neck, and West Boston Bridge, but the Mill Dam Road opened a direct route to and from a large number of towns, the Boston-bound travel from which centered in Watertown Square, and which had previously followed as best it could over the existing public roads to the West Boston Bridge. An attractive opportunity for another turnpike was thus offered, to connect Watertown Square with the Mill Dam Road, yielding revenue for itself and adding to the earnings of the Mill Corporation's road. So the Watertowii Turnpike Corporation was created February 7, 1824. While the persons incorporated are not the same as those form- ing the Mill Corporation, it was common knowledge, as brought out in legislative hearings in later years, that the two corporations were prac- tically one. The turnpike was to cross the Charles River close to the United States Arsenal, and the right to build a bridge was conditional [193] THE TURNPIKES OF NEW ENGLAND upon " the consent of the proper authorities of the United States, and not otherwise." The road was laid out by a joint committee of the senate and house May i, 1824, the report being filed with the Middlesex court by which it was approved in the same month. One tollgate was allowed at which the same rate of tolls was to be collected as had been allowed at the Bellingham gate of the Ninth Massachusetts, rather a lazy way of legis- lating. No returns were ever filed by this company and nothing has been found to give an idea of the business done. But the location was a good one, with populous towns to be served and no serious difficulties to impede construction or operation. Besides which the Brighton Abattoir was directly on this road, and with the heavy business in na- tive cattle, which was carried on years ago, must have added materially to a revenue which was well fed from other sources. Being a subsidiary of the Mill Corporation, the road of this company was included in the negotiations with the state over the Back Bay con- ditions, and it was provided for, as was the Mill Dam Road, in the act passed April 11, 1861. Provision was made therein that tolls were to be collected until such time as the local authorities should accept the road as a public highway. This was done by the town of Brighton November 19, 1868, when the road became free. The Watertown Turnpike was known as Brighton Avenue under the Mill Corporation's management, and was named Avenue Street by the town of Brighton in 1840, although it was not a town road. Similarly it was named Beacon Street in 1 846, and again changed to North Beacon Street in i860. To-day, commencing at the end of the old Mill Dam, the road is known as Commonwealth Avenue, then Brighton Avenue, and then North Beacon Street through the Brighton section of Boston and through Watertown. It is a busy and much-used thoroughfare and makes a striking con- trast with most of the other turnpikes, whose projectors did not so accurately foresee the tendencies of transportation. THE CENTRAL TURNPIKE It is hard to understand how in 1824, when turnpikes had generally fallen into disrepute as investments, a comprehensive scheme for con- necting Boston and Hartford could have been exploited. But such was done, and the Central Turnpike Corporation was incorporated on the twelfth of June in that year to build from a point on the Worcester Turnpike in Needham through Natick, Framingham, Hopkinton, Upton, Northbridge, Sutton, Oxford, and Dudley to the Connecticut line in the town of Thompson. The Center Turnpike Company was incorporated in Connecticut in May, 1826, to build from the Tolland courthouse through Willington, Ashford, Union, and Woodstock to the Massachusetts line in Dudley, where it connected with the road of [194] THE TURNPIKES OF MASSACHUSETTS the Central Turnpike Corporation. From Tolland to Hartford the turnpike had been in existence for a quarter of a century. Thus was opened another improved route from Boston to Hartford over which passed the " Boston and Hartford Telegraph line " of stagecoaches in alternate direction daily, except Sundays. One tollgate stood in Wellesley on the north side of the road opposite Morse's Pond and about six hundred feet from the Natick line. The road was laid out in Middlesex County in January, 1826, and in Worcester County at about the same time, but the construction did not progress rapidly, for we find that it was not quite finished when the time limit approached. June II, 1829, the legislature granted the corporation a further time of four months in which to finish the road, and an act passed March 5, 1830, plainly shows that it was completed, as it speaks of the road " as now made and traveled." The map filed in 1830 by the town of Needham shows that the Cen- tral Turnpike commenced near the present center of Wellesley, and not on the Worcester Turnpike. The act of 1830, just mentioned, recites that the layout committee had made some slight changes in the location, which were approved, and this was doubtless one of them. Starting, then, to-day from the Square in Wellesley, the old turnpike would be followed westerly over Central Street along the northerly side of the grounds of Wellesley College, over East and West Central streets in Natick, Waverley Street in Framingham, Union Avenue in Ashland, Main Street in Hopkinton, Oxford, and Sutton, and Sutton Road in Webster. This is one of the shortest-lived roads that we have noted. As stated, it was opened about 1830, and in January, 1836, upon petition of the corporation itself, was laid out as a public highway throughout its length in Middlesex County. The portion in Northbridge, Upton, and Sutton was made free in the same year; that in Dudley in 1838; while the last tolls were collected in Douglas and Webster in 1839, which put a period on the Central's operations. No financial returns are available, but from the above it is evident that the road was a failure. The Connecticut connection continued operations until 1853. TURNPIKE FROM CAMBRIDGE TO WATERTOWN We have already seen how the persons composing the Boston and Roxbury Mill Corporation, upon the completion of their Mill Dam with its road, built another road by which the travel which centered in Water- town Square was invited to use the Mill Dam for its entrance into Boston. Previously all persons thus inclined had found their only practicable route through Cambridge and over the West Boston Bridge, which connected Cambridgeport with Boston's West End. The revenue [195] THE TURNPIKES OF NEW ENGLAND from the bridge tolls, although quite remunerative, was evidently not sufficiently so that the proprietors could view the loss of this Water- town travel with unconcern. So in order to retain as much of that business as possible the bridge proprietors sought and obtained a charter to build a turnpike of their own, which should lead, not from the Mill Dam, but from their own bridge to Watertown Square. The route was first surveyed by William Taylor, and his plan, dated May 6, 1824, now in the possession of the Bostonian Society, shows the route " from the pump in Watertown to Cambridge, on the way to the pump in Dock Square." We have seen roads laid out by churches, by taverns, and by dwelling-houses, but this is the first instance of a road being built be- tween pumps. The charter for this road was granted June 12, 1824, and allowed it to be built through the towns of Cambridge, Brighton, and Watertown, with two bridges over the navigable waters of the Charles River. As the Watertown Turnpike skirted the Arsenal grounds on the southerly side so this turnpike did on the north, and the two rapidly converged as they approached their goal in Watertown Square. Plainly there was no crying need of this road from the public's point of view. The Mill Dam Road and its subsidiary were giving ample service, and the old public roads of Cambridge were still avail- able. It was simply and plainly a feeder for the West Boston Bridge, hence certain provisions in the charter, which have not been observed in those of earlier companies, were inserted. These were that the towns of Watertown, Cambridge, and Brighton should never " be compelled to support any part of said road or bridges without their own consent." Of this much was to be heard thirty-five years later. A further provi- sion was that the road could only be laid through land "bounding on the old road or square in Watertown," with the consent of the owners. If the new turnpike had been a public necessity it would have been em- powered to take the land. The road was promply built but, although allowed to collect the same tolls as were granted to the Watertown Turnpike, no gate was ever erected, and the owners never availed themselves of the privilege. In this we see a parallel with the case of the First Cumberland Turn- pike, which was leased by the owners of Vaughn's Bridge so that they might make it free of toll and a! better feeder for the bridge. The road thus built was four and one tenth miles in length, of which 3918 feet in Brighton was laid over an old county road. To-day the road is known as Western Avenue in Cambridge and Brighton, and as Arsenal Street in Watertown. It commenced in Cambridge, on Main Street, 2647 f eet westerly of the intersection with the causeway of the West Boston Bridge, so that except for that half mile, the proprietors of the West Boston Bridge built and maintained a continuous highway from Boston to Watertown. As already stated, the proprietors of the West Boston Bridge were incorporated March 6, 1792, and their bridge was opened for traffic [196] THE TURNPIKES OF MASSACHUSETTS November 23, 1793. In 1846 long-continued agitation, looking to the abolition of tolls on the Boston to Cambridge bridges, culminated in the incorporation of the Hancock Free Bridge Corporation, which was or- ganized for the purpose of purchasing the bridges and continuing to operate them as toll bridges until the purchase price was repaid. Then a fund was to be accumulated sufficient to provide for the maintenance, after which the bridges were to become public property. The Hancock Free Bridge Corporation, on July 1, 1846, purchased the franchises and property of the proprietors of the West Boston Bridge for seventy- five thousand dollars, the deed expressly including the turnpike to Watertown. In 1852 the turnpike had fallen into such a bad condition that an indictment was secured against the Hancock Free Bridge Corpo- ration, its owners. In answer to this the corporation denied the owner- ship and claimed that the deed from the proprietors of the West Boston Bridge conveyed only the bridge structure extending from shore to shore, but the supreme court, 1 in 1854, decided that the corporation did own the turnpike and was bound to keep it in repair. Apparently the corporation found means to evade its responsibilities even after that, for we find a competent witness testifying before a legislative hearing in 1859, that over ten thousand dollars would be required to put into proper condition the portion of the turnpike within the limits of Water- town. But before that the effort had been made to get rid of the road. May 30, 1857, the Hancock Free Bridge Corporation secured an act of the legislature by which it was allowed, whenever it had the funds, to pay one hundred thousand dollars to the city of Cambridge, which, in return, was to assume full responsibility for the West Boston Bridge and the one between Cambridge and Brighton, taking them, with the Cambridge section of the turnpike, off the corporation's hands. By the same act it was provided that the corporation was to tender fifty-five hundred dollars to the town of Watertown, and sixty-five hundred dol- lars to the town of Brighton. Only that a tender of money was to be made was specified; the act did not provide anything to be done by the towns in consideration. But whether the towns accepted the money or refused it, the Hancock Free Bridge Corporation was to have what it desired; it was to be released from liability to maintain the turnpike. Satisfactory arrangements were promptly made with Cambridge, and that part of the turnpike became a public road, for which the city was responsible; but Watertown and Brighton viewed the proposition askance. July 1, 1857, a Watertown town meeting voted to refuse the money which had been tendered it by the corporation in accordance with the act. Brighton, however, showed a little more shrewdness. There was nothing in the act imposing any obligation on the town if it accepted the money, and if it refused, the corporation got rid of the road just the same. So the astute Brighton citizens voted to accept the money, 1 2 Gray, 59. [197] THE TURNPIKES OF NEW ENGLAND but specifically declared in the receipt which was given therefor that they did not accept the road and stood upon their rights as specified in the original charter, which provided that the towns should " never be com- pelled to support any part of said road or bridges without their own consent." So the turnpike became " Nobody's Road " in the sense of anybody being responsible for its maintenance, but the land over which it was built still belonged to the Hancock Free Bridge Corporation in fee. Many persons had bought land and built houses along the road, and such a condition could not last long, so, in 1858, James T. Austin and others petitioned the county commissioners for a layout as a county road. This was resisted by both Watertown and Brighton, and legal questions were raised regarding the authority of the commissioners to make a layout under the circumstances, especially as the road crossed navigable waters and provision had to be made for the care and operation of two drawbridges. Consequently the same petitioners next appealed to the legislature for a bill which would confer the desired authority upon somebody. The committee on roads and bridges, to whom the petition was referred, made a lengthy report, giving the history of the bridges and turnpike from the beginning. While conceding that the turnpike was not at first a public necessity, the committee logically concluded that it had become so by its long use and the establishing of homes upon its sides. The resulting bill, passed April 4, 1859, removed all technicali- ties and allowed the turnpike to become a county highway. An interesting side light is thrown upon legislative proceedings by the charter of the Watertown Turnpike Corporation and the one for the West Boston Bridge proprietors' road. The general law required that the location of turnpikes should be made by disinterested free- holders appointed by the court, but the legislature in each of these cases took that privilege away and conferred it upon a committee of its own body. These were rich companies, and the returns of many of the turnpike corporations give an item for " entertainment of locating committee." THE GORE TURNPIKE A road which would probably be classed by the Interstate Com- merce Commission as a " spur to an industry " was that of the Gore Turnpike Corporation, chartered February 16, 1825. This road was evidently built as a means of access to Samuel Slater's cotton factory, near the shore of Lake Chaubunagungamaug, in Oxford, South Gore, now a part of the town of Webster. No details of its business were ever made public. The Worcester County freeholders made the layout for the turn- pike in 1825 from Douglas meeting-house to Samuel Slater's in Oxford, over what is now Webster Street in Douglas, and Douglas Road in [198] THE TURNPIKES OF MASSACHUSETTS Webster. Operation as a turnpike continued for sixteen years, the Worcester county commissioners laying it out as a county highway in 1 841. The road was about five and a quarter miles long. Two more charters were granted in 1825, both on the eighteenth of June, but no reason has been found to believe that a road was built in either case. The companies were named Tolland and Otis Turnpike Corporation and Sterling Turnpike Corporation. The Tolland and Otis did have its location fixed by the committee of Hampden County in April, 1827, through Granville, Tolland, and Blandford, but no record of anything further has been found. THE PONTOOSAC TURNPIKE Judging by the turnpike efforts throughout the first quarter of the nineteenth century, the need of a road between Springfield and Pittsfield must have been great. The Eighth Massachusetts first made the at- tempt, coming to grief, as we have seen, on the construction difficulties through the town of Becket. The Becket undertook to remedy the de- fect, but its road, covering the portion omitted in the building of the Eighth, offered too roundabout a route. The Chester, following in 1803, erred as much on the northerly side, and its road also was too far from the direct line. The Dalton and Middlefield sought to attack the problem boldly, but its promoters lacked the courage to carry the project through. The trouble was in the exceedingly rough and hilly nature of the country in that part of the Berkshires, which made construction very expensive and maintenance difficult and costly, and for many years no feasible route was known. Smith's "History of Pittsfield" tells us that, about 1818, it was discovered that a good route could be followed through the " Pass of the Westfield," along Westfield River to North Becket, and thence over Washington Mountain to Pittsfield, but people generally refused to believe it. Certain " judicious and cautious citizens " of Pittsfield, Southwick, and Springfield,, however, satisfied themselves on that sub- ject, and on February 15, 1826, obtained a charter for the Pontoosac Turnpike Corporation, although, as Smith says, " with few exceptions, turnpike stocks were then notoriously worthless." The route which this corporation was allowed started from the southeast corner of Pittsfield and ran through the towns of Hinsdale, Middlefield, Washington, and Chester, following all the way through Middlefield on the northerly bank of the Westfield River and keeping close to the same river in Chester, until it reached the " road leading from Albany to Westfield, at a point near the tavern house of Colonel Henry." This tavern is shown on Baldwin's map of the survey for the railroad from Boston to Albany, made in 1827 and 1828, and was located at the mouth of Walker Brook, on the westerly bank of the [199] THE TURNPIKES OF NEW ENGLAND Westfield River. By this we see that the southerly terminus of the Pontoosac Turnpike was to be directly across the river from where the Chester Station of the Boston and Albany Railroad is now. That the incorporators of the Pontoosac were actuated by other mo- tives than hopes of financial profit is plainly to be seen. For nearly four years they postponed construction, hoping that the counties would under- take the work, but Hampshire, of which Middlefield was a part, bitterly opposed the plan, as it feared resultant diversion of trade to Spring- field. So the incorporators prepared to build the road themselves in 1829, first getting an amendment to their charter by which specified points were omitted, and they were allowed to build from Pittsfield to the conjunction of the Westfield River and Mill Brook by any route they chose. The quaint " History of the County of Berkshire," to which we have frequently referred, was written about this time and has this to say of the Pontoosac: As it is to pass from the easterly part of Pittsfield through the low parts of those towns and around the hills, the ascents will in no place, it is said, exceed 5 , although it crosses the eastern range of hills. This road will greatly facilitate the communication between the middle part of the county and the middle part of the Commonwealth through Springfield. A part of this road is located along the line of the proposed rail road. At this time the state was intensely interested in the matter of rail- road construction, by means of which it was hoped to offset the advan- tage given to New York by the Erie Canal, which had been completed about four years and was turning the increasing western trade to that city. Surveys had been made for roads from Boston, to Providence and to Albany, but many people still maintained that such methods of trans- portation were wild and impracticable. Of that class must have been the promoters of the Pontoosac Turnpike, for they located and built their road for nearly ten miles along the Westfield River, where they must frequently have seen the stakes set by the railroad surveyors two years or less before. Had they not felt sure the railroad was a wild dream they would hardly have dared to build their turnpike at all, much less to set it where the later construction of the more up-to-date road would obliterate much of their work. The route was surveyed early in the life of the charter, but not until 1829 was construction begun, and the road was completed about Octo- ber, 1830. Hampden County seems to have been the interested section, with Berkshire indifferent, and Hampshire openly hostile. On this account the incorporators again petitioned the legislature and secured the passage of an act whereby the Hampden county commissioners were authorized to " examine, accept, and establish the turnpike road " in their own and in two other counties. Consequently we fail to find any record of the establishing of this road in Pittsfield or Northampton; and do find in Springfield a record of the acceptance of the road from [200] THE TURNPIKES OF MASSACHUSETTS Colonel Henry's to Pittsfield, which carried it through three counties. This acceptance was made in December, 1830, after the road was com- pleted, and no record has yet been found of its location in accordance with the law. It seems fair to assume that the promoters did not aban- don the idea of having the counties assume the expense of building the road and take it as a public highway until they were well along toward its completion. Then, in order to get back some of their outlay, they concluded to operate it as a turnpike, and having neglected to comply with the preliminary formalities for turnpikes, secured the act above recited to properly establish them. The Western Railroad Company was chartered by the Massachu- setts legislature on March 15, 1833, to build what later became the sec- tion of the Boston and Albany between Worcester and the state line. By the first of January, 1837, its surveys had been completed and much of the road was under contract. The location had been made through the " Pass of the Westfield," conflicting with the Pontoosac Turnpike in many places, and in 1839 alterations were made in the toll road to allow the railroad to be built. No records are known to exist of the money affairs of the Pontoosac, but it does not seem possible that it ever could have begun to pay. After nine years the railroad came, and practically paralleled it, as well as connecting the same terminal points, so its life must have been short. Nothing has been found to show when it became free. In 1 842 a peti- tion was. entered in Berkshire for the discontinuance of the turnpike and the laying out of the same as a county road, but it was dismissed. The section of road through the " Pass of the Westfield " has now dis- appeared from the map, only short stubs of roads showing at either end where corners were formerly made with other roads. Travelers through the Berkshires over the Boston and Albany line follow close to the old road's path for many miles. Passing through the bowl in which lies the village of Chester, the old Pontoosac can be seen on the opposite side of the little river, and running northerly from Chester's main street, where it formerly terminated. A sandy country road now, it keeps along close to the railroad until the narrow semi- circular valley prohibits the existence of two distinct routes of transpor- tation. At the boundary line between Chester and Middlefield, where the steep slopes of Gobble Mountain run straight into the river, sug- gesting unfathomable depths, the old road ceases to exist, but traces may be seen, now on one side and again on the other, all the way to North Becket. The Wilkinsonville Turnpike Corporation was created March 3, 1826, to build a road from a point in Westboro, through Grafton to the Wilkinsonville Factory in Sutton, but no records of any work done have been found, and there seems good reason for concluding that no road was built by such a company. [201] THE TURNPIKES OF NEW ENGLAND THE TAUNTON AND PROVIDENCE TURNPIKE The next charter granted was for a short road between two thriving towns, the Taunton and Providence Turnpike Corporation being in- corporated on the same third of March, and authorized to build from Taunton Green, in Taunton, in the county of Bristol, in the most convenient and suitable direction to Seelconk River, in said county, so as to connect the said town of Taunton and the town of Providence, in the state of Rhode Island, by the most convenient and practicable route. Operations began promptly, as the corporation entered petition for a locating committee at the April term of the court of sessions. The committee was appointed and performed its duties during the summer, the surveying being done by " Squire " George Walker, who lived at Westville on the line of the proposed road. A full report was rendered to the court at the September term in 1826, giving a complete surveyor's description of the route and an award of land damages. The location was 1 1.52 miles in length, terminating at " the northerly side of a well " which stood on the easterly side of Watchemocket Square, in what is now East Providence, Rhode Island. The award for land damages amounted to $7604.92, or about $662 a mile. The authorized route as fixed by the act of incorporation extended from Taunton Green to the Seekonk River, but the locating committee commenced their labors at a distance from the Green of one hundred and thirty-five rods, starting from the " northerly side of the road lead- ing from the Green to the Paper Mill," and they ended at the well be- fore mentioned, " which is about twenty-five rods southeasterly from the easterly end of India Bridge at Seekonk River." A year later, at the September term of 1827, the corporation made a new petition, reciting that the location did not commence at the Green, as required by the charter, and that they were afraid of illegality on that account. Hence would the court call back the committee and have them complete their work? This was done and the committee's report, filed in May, 1828, shows a location for the turnpike from the easterly end of its first location to Taunton Green, where it ended at " the south- easterly corner of the bar room of George B. Atwood." Then with a bar room at one end and a well at the other, the corporation seems to have rested content. When it is noticed that the original location did not go as far westerly as the charter required, and that, consequently, if illegal at the Taunton end it was equally so at the Seekonk River, one may reasonably doubt if fears of illegality were really at the source of the movement. Taun- ton was an old town and doubtless closely built around the Green. The second location covered a length of one hundred and thirty-five rods and the land awards amounted to $1437, or at the rate of about $3400 a [202] Q 2 5 z < h S5 a. at 3 > a &< a z •< O fr- iz W h a 3 (A H X fa £ a o bo Vh M J3 0* ■ ■ ■ THE TURNPIKES OF MASSACHUSETTS mile, and it seems much more probable that fear of this expense caused the promoters to have the location of that part delayed until they could raise some more money. The road is conspicuous on the map to-day on account of its direct alignment. It must have been a much-needed road, and it is strange that it was so late in being built. It is now a state highway and is oc- cupied in part by a high-speed interurban electric-car line which could not find a more direct route. Since 1826 the boundary between Massa- chusetts and Rhode Island has been shifted easterly from the Seekonk River, so that, although the turnpike was entirely in Massachusetts at first, about two miles of what was its westerly end are now in Rhode Island, in the town of East Providence. At the meeting of the county commissioners in June, 1846, a petition was presented signed by Charles F. Davenport, of Davenport and Mason's express, and others asking for a public layout of the Taunton and Providence Turnpike from Taunton Green to the Rev. Alvan Cobb's meeting-house, which was in Westville, about seven hundred feet from the crossing of the Three Mile River. The records show that the road was laid out as asked, and, in December of the same year, a section in Seekonk became free also; and in December, 1849, tne portion between Palmer's River, in Rehoboth, and Three Mile River, in Taunton, was thrown open. The records show that the corporation did not appear to offer objection to the proceedings in 1846, so it is possible that the road had been abandoned and that tolls had ceased to be collected prior to that date. In East Providence the turnpike is called Taunton Avenue, and Win- throp Street, in Taunton. Although the Norfolk and Middlesex Turnpike Corporation, cre- ated by an act of the same March 3, had a committee appointed, which made the location for the road and assessed the damages, and had the same approved by the courts of Norfolk and Middlesex counties, no further records have been found, and we have to conclude that nothing more was done. The route allowed this company started at Ichabod Hawes' tavern in Holliston, and ran through Dover, Needham, and Newton to " the northwest corner of Samuel G. Perkins' garden, in Brookline." No continuous road along this route is to be found on the maps to-day, which confirms the opinion that the turnpike was never built. THE HAMPDEN AND BERKSHIRE TURNPIKE The fourth turnpike act of the third of March, 1826, incorporated the Hampden and Berkshire Turnpike Corporation, with the right to build a road from a point in Russell, through Blandford Center, to the westerly end of the Becket Turnpike in Becket. This road was [203] THE TURNPIKES OF NEW ENGLAND plainly projected as an improvement on the route between Springfield and Albany, over the Eighth Massachusetts and the Becket turnpikes, and the Hampden and Berkshire was commonly referred to as the turn- pike between those cities. A location was promptly secured, and it was approved at the Septem- ber term of the Hampden court of sessions, at which time the change in the law went into effect, whereby the approval of road locations be- came a duty of the county commissioners. The turnpike was laid out and built from a point on the Eighth Massachusetts on the westerly bank of the Westfield River, about opposite where the Fairfield Station of the Boston and Albany Railroad now stands, and followed up the valley of Potash Brook to Blandford Center. Thence it continued to North Blandford, and from there over what is now called the Lee and Westfield Road, through the northeastern part of Otis, into Becket, to a junction with the Becket Turnpike, about a mile and a quarter south- east of West Becket Village. A saving of about five miles and a half was made by this route over that previously followed, which was ample reason for its adoption by the stages. Figures of cost and earnings of this road would be especially interesting, but none are to be found. In one of the few books essaying to treat of turnpikes, " The Tav- erns and Turnpikes of Blandford " by Sumner Gilbert Wood, we natu- rally find much of interest concerning this road. From it we quote : This turnpike shortly revolutionized the traffic of the country hereabout. Two of the four daily stages which had run for years by the Boston and Albany road, were transferred to this turnpike, while an immense and incessant traffic of business and pleasure developed and continued until, gradually, the railroad (which followed the lines of the Eighth Massachusetts and Pontoosac) brought quiet and solitude again. What commotion this new line of travel stirred within the town itself by way of adjustment to new conditions is dimly echoed in the county records. A net- work of crooked roads had pervaded the Gore ; now there was a thoroughfare. The old post road itself was in large part side-tracked by the new turnpike. The select- men of the town petitioned the court in this year 1829, to discontinue some of these roads, or sections thereof, a thing which was shortly accomplished. . . . There was one toll gate on this 'pike within the limits of the town, about a mile below the village. Later there was another, succeeding the first one, a little lower down. That house is still standing, familiarly known as " the gate house," at the junction of the old mountain road and the newer one under review. An aged Blandford resident said: As compared with the modern country road, the turnpikes were rough and miry, " all chomped up." You could n't look out of the window, hardly, but you would see a team. Team after team of lime, drawn by four horses each, passed along from the Berkshire limekilns. Great droves of cattle, sheep, and hogs were driven to the Brighton market. Stages here, as everywhere throughout the country, were often getting stalled in the mire, when passengers had to get out and the men, with the help of the neighbors, would help the tired and overburdened horses lift the vehicle up and on to more solid ground. Many are the stories of the old taverns, but the book mentioned gives us a unique method by which one landlord eked out an additional in- [204] THE TURNPIKES OF MASSACHUSETTS come. His specialty, it seems, was to entertain swine and their drivers, and his barn was ingeniously fitted for that purpose. A dropping trap- door in the floor, operated from a distant viewpoint, would open at the psychological moment, and a good fat porker would be added to the landlord's herd below. The length of the Hampden and Berkshire was about sixteen and a half miles, and according to the book quoted, it was opened for business in 1829. It is interesting to note in this connection that the Becket Turnpike went out of existence at its own request three years later. In 1832 the Hampden and Berkshire was allowed to change the loca- tion of its road by running around two hills in the town of Russell in- stead of continuing over them in a straight line. It is indeed strange that a road built as late as 1826 should have been subject to the old delusion of going straight over all obstacles. The record of the public layout of this turnpike is doubtless to be found in Springfield, if one knows how to find it, but we will rely upon the statement of Mr. Enos W. Boise, an old resident and town clerk of Blandford, who advises us that it became free in 1852 or 1853. He clearly recalls that in 185 1 a spirited pair of horses owned by his father ran away on the turnpike and smashed the gate. This was the last turnpike charter granted in Massachusetts, under authority of which a road was built. Six more acts of incorporation were passed but none bore fruit. Another road was built in connection with a toll bridge. The Pawtucket and Taunton Turnpike Corporation, March 4, 1826, had the right to build from a point in Seekonk, near Pawtucket Village, through Seekonk and Rehoboth to Taunton Green. Nothing more has been found concerning such a road. The Hoosac Mountain Turnpike Corporation was the lone product of the year 1827, being incorporated on the twenty-third of February. This company proposed to build a road in rivalry of the Second Massa- chusetts, which was still in operation. Its turnpike was to start from a point in Charlemont " at a large rock on the north bank of the Deer- field River," then to cross the river and follow the valley of Cold Brook to the tavern of one Haskins, " on the top of the mountain," then down the North Branch of the Hoosac River to " the north village of Adams." It is unlikely that Mr. Haskins had found encouragement to open his tavern at any point on the top of the mountain except on the existing turnpike, and it seems plain that the projectors of the new road proposed to cross the Second Massachusetts at its highest point, then to descend the westerly slope of the Hoosac Range by a diagonal north- erly course which would have brought them about to the present village of Briggsville in the town of Clarksburg, and on the banks of the North Branch of the Hoosac River. [205] THE TURNPIKES OF NEW ENGLAND Another echo of the railroad agitation of the twenties is found in section three of the charter of this company, in which it is provided that the state may at any time appropriate the whole or any part of the route for railroad purposes. In 1828 the company secured the passage of an act releasing it from its obligation to build outside of the valley of Cold Brook, in the towns of Florida or Savoy. Plainly the project was in dire need of encouragement, for the allowed tolls were increased about 40 per cent by the same act, but that was not enough, for the road was never built. One company was incorporated in 1829 on the eleventh of June, — the Providence and Bristol Turnpike Corporation, with authority to connect the two towns named. As required by law, this company's route was gone over by a viewing committee of the legislature previous to the introduction of the bill, and the report of that committee may be seen in the state archives accompanied by a plan. The plan is a good map of the roads existing at that time in the region to be traversed, and the " contemplated turnpike " is shown thereon by a single line, drawn with a ruler from India Point to the line of Barrington, Rhode Island, in a direct aim for Bristol. The Hoosac Rail or McAdamized Road Company, incorporated February 25, 1832, was a hybrid, either turnpike or railroad, as its promoters should " deem expedient." Nine private corporations had been chartered prior to the date of this act for the purpose of building railroads, but so far none of them had sufficiently won the public con- fidence to enable the raising of the necessary money, except the Granite Railway of Quincy, although the Providence, Worcester, and Lowell roads later succeeded. This Hoosac company secured a charter closely following the lines of the one granted for a railroad to the Boston, Providence, and Taunton Railroad Corporation March 12, 1830, but apparently the incorporators were faint-hearted on the railroad ques- tion and had an alternative form of construction allowed under which they could build an old-fashioned turnpike. What they were driving at is hard to conjecture. Their route was from the north line of Williamstown to the north line of Cheshire, with the right to extend to the source of the Hoosac River. A glance at the map will show such a line to be most unpromising and discouraging, and it is no wonder that no road was built. THE GRANITE TURNPIKE The granite quarries of Quincy first came prominently before the country when it was decided to construct the Bunker Hill Monument from their product. They were four miles from tidewater, and the only [206] T3H i 11 jijy 'tHhs^' ajf- ^^. i -*W.^ Mil ■ fn — «*4 |l| Qi ^ «■% tSfii «S hi V d 'ft a • 3 _s 2 '3 en B ^ S5 N c O s o P y _^2 J X w rt ■ — i 01 hi <^. O c u '3 >> ft < -o 60 '? o 2 -J X O < P* w H N1 S5 < OS o a X < w o a S « w H « o ° 4 o o u w F < THE TURNPIKES OF MASSACHUSETTS means of transporting the blocks of stone was over the roads of that period, of which but a few miles tributary to the quarries were turn- pikes. To reach Boston required a roundabout journey either by way of the Neponset Bridge or by way of Milton Lower Mills, and there was no satisfactory way of reaching Charlestown, where the monument was to be built. Hence a railway was conceived by which the stones were carried down hill to the tidewater of the Neponset River at Gul- liver's Creek, where they were loaded on to barges which were floated around to the dock in Charlestown. This served very well as long as the stones were wanted at points accessible by water, but an early de- mand arose for building stone to be used in the new parts of Boston; and a more direct route was needed. April 13, 1837, the proprietors of the Granite Bridge were incorpo- rated for the purpose of building a road from the old county road at or near the store of I. Babcock, Jr., in Milton and running thence north ten and three quarters degrees west, about two hundred and seventy-two rods; north nineteen degrees west, about fifty-six rods; north twenty- five and one half degrees west, about one hundred and twenty-eight rods to the Neponset River, " and to locate, build, and construct a bridge across said river in continuation of said last-mentioned line of said road to Dorchester "; and thence to continue the road north eight and three quarters degrees west, about one hundred and eight rods to the " lower road " in Dorchester on or near the land of Rev. Ephraim Randall. A draw not less than thirty-one feet wide was to be located by commis- sioners appointed for that purpose, and wharves or piers seventy-five feet long were to be built on each side to assist vessels in passing through the opening. The total cost of bridge and road was not to be in excess of fifteen thousand dollars and the management was not allowed to incur annual expenses of over fifteen hundred dollars. Plotting the description of the route of the road plainly shows that it began in the center of East Milton Village adjacent to the crossing of the Granite Railway by Adams Street, the old county road and the old colonial road to Plymouth. Thence it marked out the lines of the present-day Granite Avenue across the marshes and river to Adams Street in Dorchester, the " lower road." This " lower road " was an ancient institution at that date, having been an alternate route by which the bridge over the Neponset at Milton Lower Mills was reached from Boston, the other road passing through Grove Hall and following the Washington Street of to-day. The " lower road " commenced at the corner of Washington and Eustis streets near the boundary at that date between Boston and Roxbury, and followed over what are now known as Eustis, Mall, Dearborn, Dudley, Stoughton, Pleasant, Bowdoin, Adams, and Washington streets to Milton Lower Mills. At its beginning is found one of the oldest cemeteries in New England, interments having begun there in 1633 and continued until 1854. At that point, also, was the first barricade erected [207] THE TURNPIKES OF NEW ENGLAND by the Americans to prevent the British troops from making a sortie during the siege of Boston. As the road built by the bridge company commenced almost on the location of the Granite Railway and was only a few hundred feet away from it at the railway's terminus, it may not be amiss to consider here the cars and track which became so familiar to the turnpike workmen. When the bridge and turnpike were built the Granite Railway had been in operation about eleven years and the railroads from Boston to Provi- dence, Worcester, and Lowell about two years. The track of the Granite Railway was originally composed of stone crossties bedded in the ground at intervals of eight feet with wooden rails faced with a bar of iron on which the wheels ran. By 1837 the wooden rails had been replaced with stringers of granite hammered smooth on the upper face and having similar bars of iron pinned to their tops. It was officially stated that the maintenance costs on this form of track had not amounted to ten dollars a year, and the track continued in use until 1 87 1, when it was sold to the Old Colony Railroad Company and replaced by a modern railroad construction. The first car had wheels six and a half feet in diameter with the load carried on a plat- form running just clear of the rails and hung from the axles by chains. The capacity was about six tons. In 1846 the Granite Railway Company was authorized to extend its road, crossing the Neponset River not over five hundred feet below the Granite toll bridge and uniting with the newly chartered Dorches- ter and Milton Branch Railroad in Dorchester. It was also given authority to sell its road to the Old Colony Railroad Company, a privi- lege which was renewed in 1848 but which was not utilized until 1871. Then the Old Colony introduced a curve in the track at the foot of the hill on the edge of the marshes and carried the track easterly along the southerly bank of the river to a junction with its main line at Atlantic. The section running out over the marsh and the pier at Gulliver's Creek were thus left out of the reckoning, but the pier is still to be plainly traced, and on it can be seen to-day about two hundred feet of the old granite rails still in the place where they carried the cars of stone. The iron plates which received the tread of the wheels are gone but rust clearly shows where they were, and the pins which held them are yet in place. It would seem that the drivers of teams which passed over the Granite Bridge were not satisfied with the capacity of the railway car, for the company was obliged to ask the passage of an act in 1845 by which the owner of a load of over seven tons was made liable for any damage done to the bridge. With Yankee shrewdness the company reported the bridge and road as costing fifteen thousand dollars, all that the law allowed, which does not seem to have been an unreasonable figure. There was consider- able difficult construction of the road across the soft marsh and the [208] THE TURNPIKES OF MASSACHUSETTS bridge abutments must have been costly to build. The corporation made returns of business from 1840 to 1854, but complete for only eleven years. For those years the net earnings were about three hundred and seventeen dollars on an average, or two and eleven hundredths per cent. The gross receipts ran from five hundred and fifty to fifteen hundred dollars, but generally around seven or eight hundred. In one year only, 1852, was a loss reported when the business ran behind to the amount of three hundred and sixty-three dollars. May 4, 1865, the Norfolk county commissioners were authorized to lay out the bridge and road as a public highway. The property had fallen into a bad condition and the commissioners were required to put the same into proper repair, after which the towns of Dorchester and Milton were to assume the maintenance. The commissioners, under that authority, laid out the road and bridge September 8, 1865. The present bridge was in part built under the provisions of an act passed June 13, 1913, by which a commission was provided for the purpose of constructing a new bridge with suitable approaches, sub- stantially replacing the old bridge. Seventy thousand dollars was to be advanced by the Commonwealth to be repaid later by Suffolk, and Nor- folk counties, Milton, and Quincy. The control is now vested in the mayor of Boston and the chairman of the selectmen of Milton. We have previously noted the effort to build a road by the Tyring- ham and Sandisfield Turnpike Corporation and concluded that the effort was in vain. In 1841, February 27, the Clam River Turnpike Corpora- tion was formed to carry out the same purpose. The route allowed this company was from New Boston in Sandisfield to Hubbard's cider mill in Tyringham, following up the Clam River and down Hop Brook. At the date of this charter there were several railroads actually built and in operation in Massachusetts, and the builders of the Western Railroad were then cleaving the Berkshires. The day of the turnpike had passed with the demonstration of the success of the locomotive, and this corpo- ration was born too late. Not even a location by a committee of the court was secured and the whole enterprise faded away. That there was some need of a road in the route specified is evident from the fact that the local authorities later did build a public road be- tween West Otis and Tryingham on the line allowed the Clam River Corporation. Twenty-seven years later, March 23, 1868, the Chelsea Beach and Saugus Bridge and Turnpike Company was incorporated, the last in Massachusetts. Its proposed road was to lead from the Ocean House in North Chelsea, now Revere, to the Salem Turnpike in Saugus op- posite the junction with the Saugus Road. Apparently this road was to be about a mile long, starting at the outer end of the Point of Pines, and running straight, as was a turnpike's wont, across the marshes to the [209] Turnpike Drive and Meguntikook Lake, Camden, Maine. Camden Turnpike Southgate Farm, Scarboro, Maine. First Cumberland Turnpike Plate LIV a, H g M E § z 3 3 u Li P oT u & -a Q _! 5 < -a u 5, c 3 h "3 H M - ■ _* o! u 3 *l H s a 3 z m < «. M o s a £ X B cs '3 ■ ■a t- s < X, X THE TURNPIKES OF MAINE Salem Turnpike near the Saugus and Lynn boundary. It does not appear that anything beyond securing the charter was ever done. Although the turnpike era was long past, this corporation does not altogether stand alone. Its purpose plainly was to give entrance to a pleasure resort, and many similar turnpike charters are found on the New Hampshire legislative records at the same and later dates, provid- ing for roads to the summits of several of the noted mountains of that state. THE TURNPIKES OF MAINE Upon the severance of Maine from Massachusetts in 1820, the turn- pike inheritance consisted of five roads: The First Cumberland Turn- pike, in Scarboro; the Bath Bridge and Turnpike, from Brunswick to Bath; the Wiscasset and Woolwich; the Wiscasset and Augusta; and the Camden turnpikes. Each of these has been treated in its order in the Massachusetts section. Evidently anticipating considerable business in forming corporations for that purpose, the new state adopted a comprehensive code of general laws closely following the Massachusetts practice, in which the pro- cedure in such cases was fully outlined. The only radical departure from Massachusetts custom was in delegating to the county commis- sioners instead of to a committee appointed by the court the duty of lay- ing out the line of the road. But the labor of preparing these laws was wasted, for only one company was formed by the Maine legislature and that company failed to carry out its plans. An act was passed in 1822 which from its title would seem to be the formation of a turnpike corporation, but it was not; for by it was cre- ated the company which built and operated for many years the Machias Toll Bridge across Middle River in Machias. Two sets of petitioners besieged the legislature of 1833, each asking for a turnpike franchise from Bangor to Levant Village. Committees were appointed on each petition to view the route proposed but no fur- ther action has been found on the records. March 9, 1863, the Milford and Princeton Turnpike Company was chartered to build from some point on the road in Greenfield in the county of Penobscot, to near the depot of Lewy's Island Railroad in Princeton. Whipple's " Geological View of the District of Maine," published in 1816, tells of great pains taken in Penobscot County in the location of roads, and that many had been built by the state and by various land- owners, from which it may be inferred that the field had not many open- ings for turnpike improvement. However that may be, the project of 1863 does not seem to have offered any great inducements. In 1866 action was taken to assist the company to construct its road. [211] THE TURNPIKES OF NEW ENGLAND The legislature resolved that thirty thousand dollars should be appro- priated from the sale of public lands and timber, and that as fast as the corporation had expended thirteen thousand dollars of its own money, the state should contribute ten thousand dollars of the appropriation to continue the work. The name of the corporation was changed in the same year to Granger Turnpike Company, and under that name aired its difficulties before the legislature of 1870. Certain sums of money had been set aside by the state, in consequence of the resolve of 1866, which had not been paid to the company, and in 1876 the state treasurer was directed to turn such funds back into the treasury. So it is clear that the only company ever formed in Maine did not succeed in carrying out its plans. [212] THE TURNPIKES OF NEW HAMSPHIRE ■■' i$a. . ft m cv jV^ ^ 1^5 V- & i <5 ft ;s 5- < SB 5 rA THE TURNPIKES OF NEW HAMPSHIRE THREE days behind Massachusetts, New Hampshire set the turnpike movement going on the fourteenth day of June, 1796, when the " Proprietors of New Hampshire Turnpike Road " were incorporated. It would seem that the promoters of this road did not anticipate the eighty-one other corporations which were to follow them when they chose a name with so little to distinguish it and so little suggestive of the road's location. But the movement grew, two more being incorporated in the same century, while forty-seven appeared on the statute books during the first ten years of the nineteenth. In this state the agitation for turnpikes continued long after it had been looked on as a thing of the dim past in the others. Seven acts of incorporation were passed in the sixties, seven in the seventies, three in the eighties, and one in 1893, nearly all of which were exploited in the interests of summer tourist travel. As in Massachusetts, the custom in New Hampshire generally called for the location and building of entirely new roads, although there were cases in which old roads were utilized. But in the matter of tolls the Granite State followed the lead of Pennsylvania and adopted a system which has stood the test of time, it being on a mileage basis. Under this system the gates and tollhouses could be erected at any suit- able points, and the rates for collection scaled according to the distance to the adjoining gates. The rates of toll granted to the first company were as follows: Per mile. Cents. Every ten sheep or hogs 1 Every ten cattle 2 Every horse and his rider, or led horse 1 Every sulkey, chair, or chaise, with one horse and two wheels i 1 /^ Every chariot, coach, stage, waggon, phaeton, or chaise with two horses ana four wheels 3 Either of the carriages last mentioned with four horses 3 Every other carriage of pleasure the like sum according to the number of wheels and horses drawing the same. Each cart or other carriage of burthen drawn by one beast 1 Each waggon, cart, or other carriage of burthen drawn by two beasts . . iy 2 If by more than two, one cent for each additional yoke of oxen or horse. Each sleigh drawn by one horse iy 2 By two horses 2 If by more than two, one cent for each horse. [215] THE TURNPIKES OF NEW ENGLAND Per mile. Cents. Each sled drawn by one horse I Each sled drawn by two horses or yoke of oxen 1I4 If by more than two horses or a yoke of oxen one cent for each pair of horses or yoke of oxen. One might wonder after inspection of the above how a toll gatherer would compute the lawful toll on a flock of turkeys such as were often driven over the roads in the old days, but the schedule seems to be very complete otherwise, and it is a source of surprise to learn that there was an omission which gave rise to much trouble. The vehicle which was not classified was the " sleigh of burthen." Consultation of the dic- tionary leaves us with the feeling that between sleds and sleighs of vari- ous horse power the " sleigh of burthen " would hardly have found a vacancy on the above list, but such vacancy was found. It would seem that " sleigh of burthen " must have been a local name for what we now call a " pung," and that it was considered neither a sled on low solid" runners, nor a sleigh for pleasure riding. Whereas impositions on the publick have taken place in consequence of the omission of the words " sleigh of burthen," after the word " sled " in several acts passed for the purpose aforesaid ; for remedy whereof — Be it enacted by the senate and house of representatives in general court convened, That from and after the passing this act, every sleigh of burthen shall pay no more toll than is charged on a sled drawn by the same number of beasts, although the words " sleigh of burthen " are not inserted in said act or acts, after the passage of which on June 17, 1806, we hope there was no more trouble. The straight-line requirement does not appear in any of the New Hampshire charters, due no doubt to the rugged topography which for- bade such a layout. From first to last the authority to build and main- tain a road was expressed as follows : And be it further enacted, that the said Corporation are empowered to survey, lay out, make, and keep in repair, a Turnpike-road or highway of four rods wide in such rout or track as, in the best of their judgment and skill, will combine shortness of distance with the most practicable ground from to Combining shortness of distance with the most practicable ground is certainly an acceptable definition of a modern scientific location, and has been met before in connection with the Lancaster Turnpike of Pennsylvania. Special acts were passed in nearly every emergency in New Hamp- shire, only four general acts being found. Three of these appear in the Revised Statutes of 1830, but they had disappeared in 1842. One was the act just quoted; another, passed in 1806, 1 allowed the proprietors of turnpike roads and toll bridges to reduce their tolls whenever they wished and as much as they wished, a most inestimable privilege; the 1 Volume 16, page 383, New Hampshire Acts. [216] THE TURNPIKES OF NEW HAMPSHIRE third ' provided that alterations in a road might be made upon applica- tion to the court of common pleas, and upon its order. In the revision of 1857 a new law appeared providing that the franchise of any corpo- ration entitled to collect toll might be seized on execution and sold at auction. Bids were made in units of time, the successful bidder being the one offering the shortest time, and being entitled to collect tolls during the period named in his bid, in return for which he paid the judg- ment. Except for these few laws each corporation was controlled by special acts passed in reference to it. THE NEW HAMPSHIRE TURNPIKE As already stated the first company was entitled the Proprietors of New Hampshire Turnpike Road. The petition for incorporation set forth that communication between the seacoast and the interior parts of the state might be made much more easy, convenient, and less expen- sive than hitherto by a direct road from Concord to the Piscataqua Bridge; but that "the expensiveness " of such an undertaking would render it difficult of accomplishment " otherwise than by an incorporated company " to be " indemnified by a toll for the sums that should be expended " by it. 2 This company's road was promptly completed, covering a distance of thirty-six miles and passing through the towns of Durham, Lee, Bar- rington, Nottingham, Northwood, Epsom, Chichester, Pembroke, and Concord. Its eastern terminus was at the Piscataqua Bridge, which connected Durham and Newington over a half mile of water, and was considered in those days a marvel of bridge building. The western end was at the " Federal Bridge " over the Merrimac in Concord, and the road there is now known as Portsmouth Street. 3 In 1803 an additional act was passed which allowed the building of a branch turnpike leaving the main road on the " Dark Plains," about two and a half miles from the " Federal Bridge," and running southwesterly to the Concord Bridge. No tolls were to be collected on any mile until six hundred dollars had been expended thereon or a proportionate sum upon several miles covered by one gate. Miss Thompson, in " Landmarks in Ancient Dover," says that proposals for construction were invited in Ports- mouth October 3, 1800, and that March 19, 1803, public notice was given that the required sums had been expended and that the company would avail itself of the privilege of collecting tolls on and after April 1 of that year. Miss Thompson states the cost of construction as having been nine hundred dollars a mile. 1 Volume 21, page III, Acts of 1818, amended Volume 24, page 147, 1827. 2 McClintock's "History of New Hampshire," page 456. 3 " History of Concord, New Hampshire," City Historical Commission,. James O. Lyford, editor, 1896. D»7] THE TURNPIKES OF NEW ENGLAND As rates of toll were by the mile the company was at liberty to erect as many gates as it saw fit, and it appears that there were three within the limits of the town of Durham. The first was near Johnson's Creek; the second a little below Durham Corner; and the third at Mast Road crossing. A short distance farther and within the town of Lee another gate was found at the Oyster River Bridge. By an act passed June 14, 1824, the corporation was allowed to sell its road to the various towns through which it passed. Concord's history tells us that that town voted in the same year to purchase its portion of the road if the price was not over five hundred dollars, and from a communication to the New Hamp- shire Gazette of October 26, 1824, we learn that Portsmouth had ap- propriated a sum not in excess of four thousand dollars for the same purpose. Wadleigh's "Notable Events in the History of Dover" gives January 28, 1825, as the date on which the road became free to all. The following notes from the first New Hampshire charter will be interesting. Every twenty years an account of the receipts and expenditures was to be rendered to the judges of the supreme court, neglect to result in " forfeiture of the privileges of this act in future." This was better than the Massachusetts acts which provided no penalty and hence were generally disregarded. If the net profits shown by such account were in excess of twelve per cent the judges were to reduce the rates of toll, but if less than six per cent they were to be increased. The limit within which the road should be completed was set at ten years. The corporation was to be liable to indictment and fine, as were the towns, for failure to keep the road in good order. The section forbidding the collection of tolls until six hundred dollars had been expended on one or several miles is inconsistent with the pur- pose of building a " direct road," as expressed in the petition for in- corporation, and the conclusion is readily reached that the clause was inadvertently inserted. At that date the only charters available for guides short of New York or Pennsylvania were four which had been granted in Connecticut and two in Rhode Island, all of which had been granted for the purpose of making turnpikes of existing roads; so it is easy to imagine how the mistake occurred. Visitors to Concord see many neat granite stones marking spots of historical interest; and if one will go to the east end of the Pennecook Street Bridge over the Merrimac he will find there such a marker. From it he will learn that there is the site of the first ferry which was established by Captain Ebenezer Eastman in 1727, and that Tucker's Ferry was in operation there in 1785, the Federal Bridge appearing in 1798. Another note should be cut on that stone as it also marks the westerly terminus of the First New Hampshire Turnpike in 1798 or about that year. r*i8] MHkvW - 1 m o O (> a w < < a! Z a; E- w tt 3j a. S <: X w w s 1 > ,-) w t- < ft. 00 R cc 1 41 - -1 4-> il s s s — to o W — Court Street, Keene, N H. Third New Hampshire Turnpike Lottery Bridge, Claremont, N. H. Second Xew Hampshire Turnpike Plate LVII THE TURNPIKES OF NEW HAMPSHIRE Passing over the bridge and taking the first road to the right brings one to Portsmouth Street, the old turnpike as it was first built. This route made the terminus on the Merrimac nearly two miles north of the business center of Concord, and the turnpike proprietors must have only waited the completion of the Concord Bridge to secure a better entrance to Concord. As stated, this was done in consequence of an act of 1803, a new road being cut from a point on the Dark Plains straight to the Concord Bridge. That road now enters Concord as Bridge Street and leads the traveler to Main Street nearly opposite the state house. It is a state highway, but Portsmouth Street is a neglected sandy track through the woods. Both the Federal and Concord bridges were authorized by acts of incorporation passed in 1795, the Federal being opened in 1798 and the Concord a few years later. THE SECOND NEW HAMPSHIRE TURNPIKE The Second New Hampshire Turnpike Corporation was created in 1799 and lasted until 1837, when its charter was repealed. Its route was " from lottery bridge in Claremont to the plain in Amherst, near the Court House." The matter of this turnpike was considered at an Antrim town meeting November 18, 1799, and a vote of "no objec- tion " was passed. Cochrane wrote in his " History of Antrim " that the road was built across the eastern edge of that town in 1800 and for twenty-five years carried an enormous traffic of farm products and timber to Boston, the teams returning with loads of rum and store goods. The gates were about eight miles apart, there being two in Francestown and one at Hillsboro Upper Village. Although not obliged to do so by its charter this company fell into the prevailing error and made its road too straight, for Cochrane tells us that free roads in better loca- tions cut deeply into its earnings. THE THIRD NEW HAMPSHIRE TURNPIKE The Proprietors of the Third Turnpike Road in New Hampshire were incorporated December 27, 1799, to build " from Bellows Falls in Walpole, on the Connecticut River, through Keene, toward Boston, to the Massachusetts line," and in 1808 were allowed to build a short branch in the town of Marlboro. Cutter tells in his " History of Jaffrey " that when the turnpike became available it soon became the common practice for most people to carry their products to Boston in their own teams, after snow fell, and it was not uncommon to see from twenty to forty traveling together. The corporation was organized in February, 1800, at a meeting held in Major William Todd's tavern in Keene, and construction was started [219] THE TURNPIKES OF NEW ENGLAND the same year we learn from Griffin's " History of Keene." The turn- pike did not enter the center of Keene, that is Central Square, but curv- ing to the west passed around it. In 1808, at the solicitation of Keene's selectmen, a revision of the line was made in that village and the present straight lines of Court Street became the new turnpike limits. In December, 1803, Dearborn Emerson started a line of stages over this road, running between Boston and Bellows Falls. Under earlier conditions it had cost six dollars to be carried from Keene to Boston, but Mr. Emerson's enterprise reduced the fare to four-fifty. June 18, 1 801, this corporation obtained from the Massachusetts legislature an act granting it the right to extend its road about four miles into that state. By 1821 the business had become so poor that the owners had practically abandoned the road, and we find the town of Keene voting in that year to keep the old turnpike in repair. Two years later the town laid it out as a public highway. In 1824 the corporation was allowed to surrender its charter and turn its road over to the municipalities, which it had already done apparently. July 4, 1837, the legislature repealed the act of incorporation. The location of this road at Bellows Falls was determined by the fact that a bridge across the Connecticut, the first one erected over that river, was already in place. Another turnpike company was incorpo- rated in Vermont six weeks before the act creating the Third New Hampshire, which continued the line of travel from the bridge at Bel- lows Falls well along toward Rutland. That company was the Green Mountain, and in connection with it in the Vermont section some notes on the Bellows Falls Bridge are given. The Third New Hampshire Turnpike was the predecessor of the Cheshire Railroad, now the Cheshire Branch of the Fitchburg Division of the Boston and Maine Railroad. But while the turnpike had dared to cross the foot of Monadnock's steep sides, the railroad engineers used better judgment and bore their road well to the south. THE FOURTH NEW HAMPSHIRE TURNPIKE The Fourth New Hampshire Turnpike Corporation was formed in 1800 with authority to build from "the east bank of the Connecticut River in Lebanon, nearly opposite the mouth of White River, to the west bank of the Merrimac River in Salisbury or Boscawen; and a branch running to it southeasterly from White River Falls Bridge in Hanover." Boscawen was selected for the easterly terminus and the road began there at the bridge from Fisherville, according to Coffin's " History of Boscawen and Webster," which also notes that turnpikes were built in response to. the increasing demands of travelers, due to the rapid advance of civilization northward to northern New Hampshire and Vermont. Directly opposite to the Massachusetts custom, the incorporators of [220] THE TURNPIKES OF NEW HAMPSHIRE New Hampshire companies were allowed to lay out their roads in ac- cordance with their own judgment, a much more equitable method and which, subject to approval by a public-service commission, now prevails generally in provisions for railroad locations. In this connection it is interesting to note a statement in an article on this corporation in the Granite Monthly for March, 1 88 1, 1 that this road was located by a committee selected entirely from men outside of New Hampshire. McClintock says the estimated cost was six hundred dollars a mile, but the road actually cost $61,157, or over $1200 a mile. Eastman's " History of Andover " recites that completion of the road was delayed by the competition between the south and center vil- lages of Salisbury, which was finally compromised by building through both. The Andover section was built by Captain Stephen Harriman of Vermont, who gathered quite a remarkable contractor's outfit. A light frame house was built on trucks for the accommodation of himself and family, which was moved as the work progressed by eight yoke of oxen. The twenty men who composed his force were accommodated in tents, and two daughters of the boss prepared their meals by means of a large iron-hooped brick oven built on a solid platform on wheels. The road was completed and opened in the fall of 1804, and the toll gatherers installed, being sworn to the faithful discharge of their duties and giving sureties for five hundred dollars each. As in the country served by the Third New Hampshire, the custom soon prevailed in the section of the Fourth of making annual fall trips to Boston for the disposal of products. On many a pleasant winter evening the Common, east of Moulton's Tavern in Andover, might have been seen covered with parked sleighs and sleds of many varieties, from the huge van drawn by eight horses to the little one-horse pung filled with the butter, cheese, poultry, etc., of the New Hampshire or Ver- mont farmer seeking a market " down below." In 1833 changes in the road were allowed in Lebanon and Enfield, and in 1840 the road became free, Andover paying five hundred and sixty-six dollars for the privilege of owning the portion in that town. Eastman says that travel thereupon increased and continued in a steady stream for about seven years, or until the Northern Railroad was opened between Concord and White River Junction. A line of freight wagons was run by Balch, each team composed of eight well-groomed white horses, one seat being occupied by a stalwart negro, a striking figure and unusual in those days. Heavy pieces of single freight were taken by four- or six-horse teams; while the miscellaneous travel was carried in three-horse or " spike " teams; two-horse or " pod " teams; and one- horse teams or pungs in winter. The Fourth New Hampshire was the predecessor of the Southern Division of the Boston and Maine from Concord to White River Junc- tion, but took a much more direct course. Travelers by rail to-day may 1 By John M. Shirley, Esq. [221] THE TURNPIKES OF NEW ENGLAND observe the old turnpike close beside the track between Andover and Potter Place stations and again in Lebanon, but elsewhere the two are far apart. The Fifth New Hampshire Turnpike Corporation hoped to build about forty miles of road from Piscataqua Bridge to Meredith Bridge, connecting Portsmouth with Lake Winnepesaukee. A five years' exten- sion of time was secured in 1810 but nothing further has been found. The Sixth New Hampshire Turnpike Corporation, chartered in 1802, appears to have been primarily a toll-bridge corporation, although it had authority to build about ten miles of turnpike through Hinsdale and Winchester to connect with the branch of the Fifth Massachusetts which was built to the state line prior to 1806. The New Hampshire corporation had authority to build a toll bridge across the Connecticut River in Hinsdale and completed the same in 1804. The bridge was almost immediately destroyed and was rebuilt in 1805, this time stand- ing until 1807, when it was seriously damaged by a freshet. To enable the company to finance the repairs the legislature of 1807 gave sanction to a lottery by which eight thousand dollars might be raised. The name of the corporation was changed in 1852 to Hinsdale Bridge Corpora- tion, which justifies the supposition that the turnpike had been previously abandoned. THE BRANCH TURNPIKE The Branch Road and Bridge Corporation was granted its charter in the same year to build from the north line of Fitzwilliam to a road between Keene and Swanzey. This seems to have been a part of a scheme of which the Worcester and Fitzwilliam was to form the Massa- chusetts section, but the New Hampshire people had better luck, for the " History of Keene " tells us that construction was commenced in 1803 and carried through. A bridge that would stay in place had never been built across the little river at the foot of Keene's main street, so town and turnpike united, the town contributing four hundred dollars, and built the first " permanent " bridge in that location. Another corporation was later formed which built a section of the same route extending about halfway across the town of Fitzwilliam, leaving the balance to be traveled over the public road. From Keene to the Massachusetts line these two turnpikes followed closely along the route later adopted by the engineers of the Cheshire Railroad, and while the Third New Hampshire anticipated that line in its general plan the Branch and the Fitzwilliam were its predecessors in their limited locality. [222] w M ft, 85 ft s h w * Ji s 0, Z 5 < 1 * I- w U X V ,0 ss a Id £ h 5 w p-i w S 55 8 D E- H OS 2 £ •9 E 8 E- X 1—4 u < THE TURNPIKES OF NEW HAMPSHIRE THE ORFORD TURNPIKE The Orford Turnpike Corporation followed in 1803 with a fran- chise to build from Orford Bridge on the Connecticut River, through Orford and Wentworth to Aiken's Bridge on the Baker's River. The power to take land was not granted in the original act of incorporation, and two years later they were back asking that that omission might be remedied. The request was granted and we may suppose that they then proceeded to build. No records nor references to this road have been found, except one act of the legislature which speaks of the Orford Turnpike as an existing road. THE TENTH NEW HAMPSHIRE TURNPIKE The Tenth New Hampshire Turnpike Corporation, chartered in 1803, was the means of bringing all the north country into communi- cation with the seaports and of stimulating settlement and development to a greater extent than any other New England road. Following the Revolutionary War settlements began to creep up the valley of the Connecticut, and by 1785 a considerable number of people had made their homes as far north as Lancaster, New Hampshire. But their zeal had exceeded their prudence and once settled there they found themselves practically isolated, the only means of communication with the older parts of the country being by way of the Connecticut River which, for all reasonable purposes, was passable only in winter when frozen over. Much trapping was done, the accumulated skins being sent down the river when the traveling became good. It is related that Emmons Stockwell, a leading pioneer of Lancaster, on such a trip lost his horse and a valuable load of furs and almost his life by break- ing through the ice. As late as 1791 the legislature was accustomed to refuse a seat to the representative from Coos. County on account of lack of evidence of his election, due to the difficulties of communication. Southeasterly to southwesterly, except through the Connecticut Valley, the mighty towering ranges of the White Mountains seemed to shut off all possibility of northern Coos obtaining any direct route to the southern part of the state. The Crawford Notch had been discovered in 1771 by Timothy Nash, one of the pioneers of Lancaster, who had trailed a moose up one of the ravines, and he had noted the existence of an old Indian trail, but no thought was given for many years to the chance that a route might be found in that direction. Gradually, however, a rough pioneer road was developed, which was very difficult to keep in repair, and in 1803 the corporation was formed to improve the same as a turnpike. The description of the route, as contained in the act of incorpora- tion, read " from the uper line in Bartlett through the Notch in the white [223] THE TURNPIKES OF NEW ENGLAND hills, containing twenty miles." In such brief words was expressed the location of a road which for scenic grandeur has few equals in the world. Winding down through the bottom of that gigantic cleft in the mountains, with the peaks towering thousands of feet almost directly overhead and often hidden from view by the clouds, the builders of this road must have felt a reverential awe, as if in the immediate pres- ence of Divinity itself. The scene is thrilling enough to-day when viewed from passing railroad train or automobile; even more so when seen, as by the writer, from on foot; but who can conceive the feelings of one who looked upon those mountain sides a century ago when in their primeval glory, and who was unprepared by painting or written descrip- tion for the scene which burst upon him. Through such grandeur the Tenth New Hampshire thrust its road, which immediately became an avenue of great importance, and over which a heavy stream of traffic flowed for many years. The " History of Coos County " says of this road: This furnished an avenue to the seaports and became one of the best paying roads in all northern New Hampshire. Until the advent of the railroad, this was the great outlet of Coos County, and the thoroughfare over which its merchandise came from Portland. In winter often, lines of teams from Coos, over half a mile in length, might be seen going down with tough Canadian horses harnessed to pungs or sleighs, loaded with pot or pearl ash, butter, cheese, pork, lard, and peltry, returning with well assorted loads of merchandise. In the heart of the Notch between the stupendous mountain sides the Willey family made their home beside the turnpike, and were widely known for several years among those traveling the road. One June morning in 1826 the father of the family witnessed one of the landslides which have left such deep scars on the slopes, and after that the family felt less secure in their home beneath the overhanging mountains. So when the furious storm of August 27 in the same year burst upon them their fears became more acute, and when above the roar of the storm they heard the grinding and crashing of another slide on its way down the mountain, a panic seized the entire family and they rushed forth from the shelter of the house directly into the path of the landslide, by which they were crushed. When traffic was resumed the first to pass found the Willey House standing as of old but without occupants. Vari- ous household articles were scattered around, as they had been dropped in the moment of flight, and the family Bible lay open on the table. For many days the fate of the family was unknown, but their bodies were finally uncovered by the work of repairing the road. 1 The Tenth New Hampshire was a part of a comprehensive turnpike scheme which planned to connect Portland with Lake Champlain. We have already noted the incorporation of a company to build a turnpike through the Maine towns of Fryeburg, Baldwin, and Standish on the 1 "The White Mountains," Harper's Monthly, Volume 55, page 327. [224] THE TURNPIKES OF NEW HAMPSHIRE way to Portland, and that the road did not appear in consequence of such incorporation. Such a turnpike would have been another link in the scheme. The Littleton Turnpike, incorporated later, was to connect the Tenth with the Connecticut River at Upper Waterford; and from there to Lake Champlain the Northern Turnpike of Vermont was to complete the route. But the Littleton did not materialize, and the Northern succeeded in building only about eight miles of its road from St. Johnsbury to Danville. So the great turnpike scheme failed of cort- summation, but the public roads over the greater part of the route were sufficiently good to encourage the continuance of the heavy traffic de- manded by the trade of Coos County and northern Vermont. Certain doings of the corporation were confirmed by the legislature by an act passed in 1853, from which it appears that the turnpike con- tinued its collections for a full half-century and only ceased, like many of its Massachusetts contemporaries, when obliged to do so by the com- peting railroad. In turnpike days the travelers were stern and sober men intent upon the hard problems of wresting a living from the pioneer soil, or those engaged in the weary and arduous task of teaming the necessary freight over the hundred miles of dusty roads. Seldom we can imagine did women or children pass over the turnpike, and but few sounds of mer- riment might be heard. To those who did pass, luxury was unknown, and the journey was made with the jolting and discomfort of " dead-ex " wagons. How different to-day is the personnel of travel. Almost entirely is it made up of light-hearted summer tourists, the gay dresses and laugh- ing voices of the fair sex predominating, as they whirl by in luxurious automobile or view the wonderful scenery from the specially fitted ob- servation car on the railroad. Along the primitive road through the Notch, which is said to have been built as early as 1785, a number of small taverns for the enter- tainment of travelers, including the Willey House, were built at an early date. But with the advent of the turnpike in 1803 the first real hotel in the White Mountain region appeared, it being erected near the site of the present Fabyan House. This was an ambitious structure of two stories and its opening marked an era in the development of transporta- tion to the north country. The storm of 1826, to which allusion has already been made, was almost a vital blow to the turnpike, many miles of the road being washed away and all but two of its many bridges emigrating toward the ocean. Tradition tells us that the business men of Portland, appreciative of the great good done to that town by the Tenth New Hampshire, made a liberal contribution of cash toward the reconstruction of the road. The Portland and Ogdensburg Railroad, realizing the old turnpike ambition of connecting Portland with northern Vermont, completed its track through the Crawford Notch and commenced running its trains [225] THE TURNPIKES OF NEW ENGLAND in 1876, which is as near the date of the freeing of the Tenth New Hampshire Turnpike as we have been able to determine. Most of the authorities consulted agree that the road became free about the time that the railroad was opened. THE MAYHEW TURNPIKE • The Mayhew Turnpike Corporation, created in 1803, built a road sixteen miles in length from the southerly part of Bristol to the westerly edge of Plymouth near the Rumney line. The charter did not confer the right to take land by condemnation, which delayed the beginning of the work. In 1805 that omission was remedied and the road was promptly built, being completed that same year. The turnpike ran through the central part of Bristol, skirted the eastern shore of New Found Lake, and crossed the eastern part of Hebron and the western part of Plymouth to a junction with the old " Cohos Road," which ran from Plymouth to Haverhill. We get some information regarding this road from Musgrove's " History of Bristol," which tells us that the southerly termination of it was at the " Peaslee Graveyard south of Smith's River." One tollgate was on North Main Street and was attended for many years by the Rev. Walter Sleeper and his wife. Mrs. Sleeper must have been a woman of spirit, for it is related that one day after a storm a traveler, complaining that the road had not been broken out, refused to pay his toll, upon which she refused to open the gate. Finally he threw a silver dollar at her feet in the snow. Returning from the house with the change in small pieces she made delivery to him as she had received the dollar. A deed found in the registry of deeds in Woodsville es- tablishes the location of this tollhouse. The land was conveyed to the corporation by Moses Sleeper and is described as a part of " lot 22 in the 3rd division," which lot lay across the outlet of New Found Lake about two thirds of the distance down to the confluence with the Pemi- gewasset River. It was then in Bridgewater, but is now a part of Bris- tol, and in 18 16 the corporation was allowed to buy not over three acres near the tollgate, probably that the toll gatherer might have a garden. At the November term of court in 1839 a petition was entered for a public layout over this turnpike, and in September, 1840, the road was made free, the corporation being awarded sixteen hundred dollars' compensation. It is unlikely that this turnpike enjoyed a monopoly. Its object was to make a short cut across a long curve made by the road which followed the bank of the Pemigewasset through Bridgewater and Plymouth. The westerly part of Bridgewater through which the Mayhew passed is rough and hilly, and the turnpike had many steep ascents which made it a weak competitor with the easy grades of the " River Road." The latter was an ancient thoroughfare, being the southerly continu- [226] Plate LX — Webster Tavern, Bridgewater, New Hampshire THE TURNPIKES OF NEW HAMPSHIRE ation of the old " Cohos Road," connecting that route with Concord and through that place with the Massachusetts region. As early as 1760 a house was erected on the "River Road," near the banks of the Pemigewasset in eastern Bridgewater, which soon after was in use as a tavern. That the travel over the old road was not to any great extent diverted by the opening of the turnpike seems evident from the fact that another and larger house was erected within a hun- dred yards of the first one in 1806, the year after the completion of the Mayhew, to meet the increasing demands for hospitality. Under the able management of the Webster family these taverns thrived until the railroads finally diverted the travel which the turnpike could not entice away. • The Webster taverns still stand with barns of unusual capacity for keeping horses and wagons near by. Within, the old houses possess a wealth of articles of days gone by. The old four-post bedsteads are still in use, and light is often supplied by means of the old-fashioned dipped tallow candles. In the dining room an old-time brick fireplace has in recent years been uncovered from the board and wall paper which was thought preferable by an older generation and offers a most at- tractive picture to the fortunate guest. In and around it are grouped the various utensils by which the luxury of a century ago was produced; the tongs, shovel, and andirons for producing warmth and the warming pan by which that warmth would accompany the guest to bed. On the left may be seen the old Dutch oven, and in front of the coals stands the tin baker in which the direct and reflected rays from the fire produce heat enough to bake. To the right is the old tavern office and bar, the old bracketed desk seen through the open door, while the facilities for serving drinks are indicated by the halved door with a shelf on the lower portion. THE DOVER TURNPIKE The proprietors of the Dover Turnpike Road were incorporated also in 1803 and opened a road from Dover through Somersworth to Salmon Falls on the way to South Berwick, Maine, on May 17, 1805. We learn from Wadleigh's " Notable Events in the History of Dover " that the road became free February 7, 1840. This road was promoted in connection with the Maine Turnpike Association, which proposed to continue the work to the Kennebec River at Augusta, but as we have already seen, the Maine corporation failed to carry out its plans. The Coventry Turnpike Corporation was another product of the legislature of 1803. It is doubtful if anything was done by this com- pany on its route from Warren to Haverhill, as another corporation a few years later was allowed to build over the same route. [227] THE TURNPIKES OF NEW ENGLAND The Bath Turnpike Corporation was created in 1804 to build from the Connecticut River, near the south line of Lyman, through Lyman, Bath, Landaff, Coventry, Peeling, and Thornton, to the east line of Sandwich. At the time of the application for the charter of this company a bridge was under construction across the Connecticut River at Mclndoe Falls, which was the point described above as " near the south line of Lyman." The westerly part of Lyman was set off in later years as the town of Monroe, but then the two towns were one. The Lyman Bridge Company was incorporated in 1803, and built its bridge during the fol- lowing year. The first structure lasted an even thirty years and was replaced by the present wooden-covered bridge in the summer of 1834. Although the turnpike was never built, it is of interest as a part of the larger scheme of which the bridge was a unit. The Lyman Bridge consists of two spans of wooden Howe truss with board siding and shingle roof. Some thirty years ago the safety factor was increased by the insertion of wooden-packed arch beams from which the floor system was suspended, thus taking all load off the trusses which have since served only to support the walls and roof. The struc- ture offers a most interesting study for the bridge engineer, the most striking point being the evidence of the youth of the iron and steel in- dustry. Throughout the bridge except in the roof not a particle of iron was used, the various members being fastened together by means of wooden treenails. The exception is found in the use of hand-forged nails which held in place the old-fashioned hewn shingles. At the beginning of the eighty-second year of the bridge's existence the entire structure was subjected to a most thorough inspection to deter- mine what renewals were necessary for absolute safety. Not a trace of weakness or decay was found above the floor, and only about one- third of the stringers carrying the floor planking were found unfit for further use. Immediately after the defective stringers were replaced and an entire new floor of plank was laid, thus starting the bridge on another long career of usefulness. In connection with its bridge the corporation found it necessary to build a road from Mclndoe Village in Vermont, and from the village of Monroe in New Hampshire, about three quarters of a mile in all. The tollhouse and gate have always been located on the Vermont side close to the bridge. Had the turnpike been built, thus putting the bridge on an important long line of road, the bridge corporation would doubtless have had a remunerative investment, but being left by itself the bridge and its con- necting roads have served merely as a local connection between two country districts. Consequently while the earnings have always com- fortably exceeded the expenses the property has never been a gilt-edged security, and of late years has not profited by the increased automobile touring. [228] THE TURNPIKES OF NEW HAMPSHIRE A majority of the corporation's stock was acquired many years ago by the Van Dykes, who were then operating the lumber business and log drives on the Connecticut River. It is now entirely owned by the Con- necticut Valley Lumber Company. In 1804 the Union Turnpike Corporation was formed and given the privilege of building a road " from the Second New Hampshire Turn- pike, in Hillsboro, through Heniker and Hopkinton, to Concord main street." No more has been found concerning this road, and since the official " History of Concord " fails to include it in a selected list of such roads which " were of direct concern to Concord " it is con- cluded that the road was not built. The Great Ossipee Turnpike Corporation, formed in 1804, was a part of the plan which we have already noted in connection with the Ossapee Turnpike Corporation formed in Massachusetts March 16, 1805. The scheme was to connect Sandwich, New Hampshire, with the Maine port of Saco by way of Effingham, but it does not seem that any steps were taken toward construction of the road. We have seen the proposal to connect Lake Champlain with Port- land, Maine, by a grand series of turnpikes which included the Tenth New Hampshire. Preliminaries for another section were taken in 1804 when the Littleton Turnpike Corporation was incorporated. No im- mediate results appeared, and in 1807 the corporation secured an act amending its original route, so that it then read " from the end of the Tenth New Hampshire Turnpike, near the Notch, through Bretton Woods, Bethlehem, and Littleton, to the Connecticut River opposite the Northern Vermont Turnpike." In 1808 and again in 18 12 extensions of time were secured, and the last time the company was allowed to terminate its road in Bethlehem instead of at the Connecticut River. All of which plainly shows that difficulty was found in raising the necessary capital, and we are not surprised to learn from Bowles' " History of Bethlehem " that the turnpike was never completed. According to that authority James Turner of Bethlehem, under contract with the company, built a section of the road for which he never received compensation, as the corporation did not complete its organization. As a part of the grand turnpike scheme which we have outlined the First Littleton Bridge Corporation was chartered in 1802 to build a bridge over the Connecticut River between Littleton and Upper Water- ford in Vermont. This it is readily seen was to close the gap left be- tween the Littleton Turnpike, which was to terminate on the easterly bank of the river, and the Northern Turnpike, which being a Vermont corporation began at the state boundary, which was the westerly bank. Or finding the bridge already there the turnpike projectors secured their charters so as to lead to it. [229] THE TURNPIKES OF NEW ENGLAND The First Littleton Bridge Corporation is still in active life, as many an automobile tourist can testify. Several bridges have yielded to decay and flood, the present structure, a steel truss of a span of two hundred and forty feet having been in its place since 1890. For many years the bridge collections languished at a starvation level, but since the advent of the automobile and its increasing tourist travel the stock has gone to a premium. This bridge offers the only means of crossing the Con- necticut River in the length of the Fifteen Mile Falls, and, except the occasional facility offered by Grant's Ferry at the head of the Falls, gives the only opportunity between the Stevens Village Bridge below Barnet and the ferry at Dalton, a distance of over nineteen miles. The bridge at Lower Waterford, although still shown on the road maps, went down the river over twenty-five years ago on the crest of a log jam and has never been replaced. THE JEFFERSON TURNPIKE The Jefferson Turnpike Corporation, formed by an act of 1804, con- nected the northerly end of the Tenth New Hampshire with the village of Lancaster. The public roads must have been good enough for the travel over them, for this road seems to have had little encouragement and did not last long. In 18 10 an act was passed extending the limit within which the road must be completed to 18 16. But it was finally built, and in true turnpike fashion, if we are to believe the " History of Coos County," which tells us that " up Israel's River it was as straight as a line, was well drained, and worked twenty-two feet wide." Ac- cording to the " History of Lancaster," the Jefferson was abandoned by its proprietors soon after the floods of 1826. THE GRAFTON TURNPIKE The Grafton Turnpike Corporation was formed by an act of 1804 for the purpose of building a road from Orford Bridge to the Fourth New Hampshire Turnpike in Andover. As was the case with other corporations formed about this time, the right to take land was not at first conferred, and it was necessary to appeal to the legislature of 1805 before the company could make headway in securing its right-of- way. We read in Wallace's " History of Canaan " that the stock was peddled out in small lots among the residents of the district to be served, and that a long hard job was made of it. In 1807 the promoters were still soliciting subscriptions. Of the capital stock of three hundred shares, one hundred and seventeen were taken by residents of Canaan, which town must have felt a vital interest in the success of the road, for at a town meeting in 1807 it was voted to turn all available resources into cash with which to invest in Grafton Turnpike stock. Fifteen shares [230] Dalton Ferry, Dalton, N. H. First Littleton Toll Bridge, Upper Waterford, Vt. Plate LXII ■s! Ml 1 J J* a. '5. 3 Z o g .3(3 H Z & o o z < Id o Z o Q Z o o V a hJ O Id > f-> i> < J o 4-* 4-* Pi « < THE TURNPIKES OF NEW HAMPSHIRE were consequently bought, which were sold four years later at a depre- ciation of one third. A meeting was finally held on July 4, 1 807, at the inn of Moses Dole, at which a contract was made with Thaddeus Lathrop and John Currier to build one hundred and thirty rods of the road for two hundred dollars payable in stock. The road was to be made thirty feet wide generally, but only twenty-four on causeways, and the surface was to have a crown of twenty-four inches. But as the expiration of the time ap- proached in 1808, it was seen that the work could not be completed within the time allowed, so an extension was secured for another three years. The road was finally completed, terminating on the Fourth New Hampshire at West Andover or Potter Place, as the railroad station is called, having passed through Grafton, Danbury, and South Danbury, " about as the main road is now travelled," says Eastman in his " His- tory of Andover." Wallace says the road was made free in 1827. The charter of the corporation was repealed by the legislature January 3, 1829. THE LONDONDERRY TURNPIKE The road of the Londonderry Turnpike Corporation, also incor- porated in 1804, ran as straight as it could be laid out from Butters Corner in Concord to the state line near Andover Bridge, where it con- nected with the Essex Turnpike of Massachusetts, and formed with that about as direct a line between Concord and Boston as one could reasonably wish. An additional act was secured in 1805 by which the erection of a toll bridge was allowed at " Islehookset Falls," where the turnpike crossed the Merrimac River. The " History of Concord " says that this road was opened about 1806, having its northerly terminus at the corner of West and Main streets, where a stone stood for many years marked with the inscription " Boston 63 miles." Passing southerly the road skirted the river through Bow, although forming a chord across a long bend of the Merrimac, and passed diagonally across the town of Hooksett. In Auburn it passed between the Massabesic lakes and over Mount Misery and Rattlesnake Hill, leaving the future city of Manchester four miles to the west, thence through Derry Center and across the northerly end of Canobie Lake to the Essex Turnpike at the Massachusetts line. This turnpike pointed straight for the top of the hill over which the Essex climbed in Methuen. Consequently we find that its last mile has given way to a detour which provides more distance for the rise. In 1807 the corporation was authorized to buy land for tollhouses and buildings for public entertainment, provided not over two thousand dollars was spent for land. [23O THE TURNPIKES OF NEW ENGLAND THE CROYDEN TURNPIKE The Croyden Turnpike Corporation, chartered in 1804, built its road from the point in Lebanon where the branch of the Fourth New Hampshire intersected the main road of that company, southerly through Lebanon, Enfield, Grantham, Croyden, and Newport to the Second New Hampshire in Lempster. This company also had to return to the legislature in 1805 to obtain the power to take land. THE CHESTER TURNPIKE The seventh company created by the legislature of 1804 was the Chester Turnpike Corporation which began in a small way, entirely within the town of Chester, its route being defined as from the highway leading to Pembroke, about a mile above Chester East meeting- house, unto Chester line, on a direction to Pembroke street. But courage grew rapidly, and at the December session they secured an amendment by which they could build all the way to Pembroke Street. In 1806 the corporation was authorized to buy land adjacent to the turnpike on which to erect houses for entertainment and accommodation of the public, provided it did not spend over six thousand dollars. The charter of this company was repealed in 1838. THE CHESHIRE TURNPIKE Another 1804 creation was the Cheshire Turnpike Corporation. This company built from the Connecticut River to Charlestown meeting house, thence through Charlestown, Langdon, Alstead, and Surrey to the courthouse in Keene, where its road joined the Third New Hamp- shire Turnpike. We learn from Saunderson's " History of Charlestown " that this road was built about the time that the First Cheshire Bridge was com- pleted. That bridge was also authorized by an act of 1804. From Saunderson we get the impression that the road was not popular, for he tells us that the gates were often stolen, — a crude way of expressing resentment which has not been noticed in connection with more than one other road. The Cheshire Turnpike became free in 1841, but the Cheshire Bridge is still collecting its tolls in this year 1919. THE COOS TURNPIKE The Coos Turnpike Corporation was formed in 1805, and its road extended " from Haverhill Corner, through Haverhill, Piermont, and [232! THE TURNPIKES OF NEW HAMPSHIRE Warren, to Baker's River, near Merrill's Mills, in Warren." The pre- liminaries advanced slowly as we have noticed in most of the northern projects. The region was new and poor, while the country at large was far from affluent, and the fact that any such public improvements were undertaken with such poor chances of financial success testifies to the sturdy spirit of the northern pioneers. The route was surveyed in 1806 by Captain Benjamin P. Baldwin, and on December 3 of that year twenty-four landowners along the sur- veyed line executed a deed to the turnpike corporation, making con- veyance of whatever land was needed for the building of the road. As no consideration was asked, the land being given freely, we must add a tribute to the public spirit of those farmer settlers. Although Coos County had been given an outlet through the Craw- ford Notch over the Tenth New Hampshire, the old route down the Connecticut Valley still held its place on account of the ties which bound the Coos settlers to the lower valley towns from which many of them had come, and they all hailed with enthusiasm the coming of the Coos Turnpike. 1 Bettinger's " History of Haverhill " states that the road was com- pleted in 1808 and was for more than a generation the great thorough- fare in northern New Hampshire, and made Haverhill during these years the most important and lively town north of Concord. This turnpike was the predecessor in the section which it covered of the Concord and Montreal Railroad, later the White Mountain Divi- sion of the Boston and Maine, and it continued its operations well down toward the date of the railroad opening. One day the passengers on a south-bound train passing through Warren noticed an old man who was eagerly gazing from the window as he rapidly went by the lower end of the old Coos Turnpike. At last as he passed a dilapidated old building he leaned back in his seat with the satisfied air of one who has found what he sought. On the con- ductor's sympathetic advances he told his story. When a boy in St. Johnsbury he had been hired as a helper in driving a flock of five hun- dred turkeys from that town to Lowell, and the tumble-down old rookery which he had recognized had been one of the comfortable taverns at which he had stopped on the way. The drive became a notable proces- sion, and word of its coming was carried in advance by the more rapid travelers who passed it, so that whole villages would be on the watch for its arrival. As the birds became accustomed to the manner of progressing, more ceremony developed, and soon our youthful custo- dian found that he could lead the way with the flock following him. A gobbler of especial dignity soon assumed a position beside the leader, and thus the procession advanced at the rate of about twenty- three miles a day until its destination was reached without the loss of a single bird. 1 " History of Lancaster." [233] THE TURNPIKES OF NEW ENGLAND THE ASHUELOT TURNPIKE In 1807 the Ashuelot Turnpike Corporation was created and made its road from " the turnpike in Winchester to Fitzwilliam Village towards Boston." Nothing has been found concerning this road except one legislative act which proves that the turnpike was built. In that act, passed in 1826, it was provided that unless the road was properly re- paired before October 3 of that year the charter would stand repealed. THE HAMPTON CAUSEWAY Taylors River, with long reaches of salt marsh on either side, sepa- rates Hampton from Hampton Falls, and in early days there was no way of journeying from one place to the other without a devious trip around the upper end of the marshes. This condition had become so onerous by 1807 that it was the subject of consideration at a Hampton town meeting in that year, when a committee was chosen to devise means of financing a road across the soft ground. The best this committee could do was to obtain from the legislature an act authorizing the town of Hampton to make extensive improvements in a certain causeway which seems to have existed over part of the route, to build a bridge over the river and to collect tolls on the same, which act was passed in the same year, 1 807. But the town was not prepared to expend so much money and much dissatisfaction was expressed resulting in inaction. In 1808 the Hampton Causeway Turnpike Corporation was formed to build a turnpike from Sanborns Hill in Hampton Falls to a point in Hampton, bridging the river, and widening, raising, and repairing* the existing causeway. Davis' " History of Hampton " says that the town of Hampton subscribed for ten shares of the stock of the new company, and in 18 10, in consideration of every inhabitant of Hampton being allowed to pass free of toll, agreed to gravel the turnpike annually " from the northerly end to the middle bridge on the causeway, over the sluiceway." The road thus sanctioned and built was about two and a quarter miles in length, mostly on the old causeway already noted, and was a safe and easy road to travel, but travelers from outside of Hamp- ton chafed under the imposition of tolls. Some distance above a small bridge was built which was known as the " Shunpike Bridge," and al- though involving a longer trip, it diverted much travel from the legiti- mate road. In 1 82 1 the court of sessions laid out the road which passed over the " Shunpike Bridge " as a county road in spite of the opposition offered by Hampton. The contest was continued through 1822, in September of which year the town voted to incur more expense in fighting the new road " and to defend the turnpike." Although laid out by the court, the building of the new road was finally prevented. [234] THE TURNPIKES OF NEW HAMPSHIRE Various citizens of Portsmouth and Newburyport petitioned the legislature for an investigation to determine if the Hampton Causeway Turnpike Corporation had not violated the provisions of its charter so that its turnpike had become forfeited. Although the asked-for in- vestigation was ordered, it does not appear to have had any results ad- verse to the corporation. Negotiations between the town and the corporation were carried on in 1825, in consequence of which legislative permission was secured and the road was sold; Hampton paying three thousand dollars, and Hamp- ton Falls two thousand dollars. The road thus became free on April 12, 1826. This turnpike and its bridge crossed the Taylors River about three miles up-stream from the upper waters of Hampton Harbor. To follow it to-day one should leave Hampton on the road passing by the old Whittier Tavern and journey out over the marshes. The turnpike must not be confused with the lengthy Hampton River Bridge on which tolls are still collected in this year 1 9 1 9. That bridge was built by a corpora- tion organized under the New Hampshire general laws December 5, 1900. It crosses Hampton Harbor, so called, a bay formed by the Blackwater River and the Hampton River. It is 4619 feet in length, by some said to be the longest wooden bridge in the world, and is located between Seabrook and Hampton, passing through a portion of Hampton Falls. It is owned by the Granite State Land Company of Haverhill, Massachusetts. THE FITZWILLIAM TURNPIKE The Fitzwilliam Turnpike Corporation was chartered in 1808 to build from Fitzwilliam Village to the Worcester Turnpike at the Massa- chusetts line. The road of this corporation connected, not with the Worcester Turnpike which led from Boston to Worcester, but with the Worcester and Fitzwilliam Turnpike, whose proprietors at the time of this incorporation were having a great deal of trouble in financing their road. As finally built the Massachusetts road reached from the state line only to Baldwins Mills, a distance of about eight and a half miles, falling short of reaching Worcester by about twenty-eight miles. THE CORNISH TURNPIKE The Cornish Turnpike Corporation, created in 1808, connected the Croyden Turnpike in Newport with Cornish Bridge, over the Connecti- cut, between Cornish and Windsor, Vermont. The Cornish Bridge was built in 1796 at a cost of $17,099.27, we find by reference to Child's " History of Cornish." Much of the traffic over the bridge must have followed the turnpike, so we may note that [235] THE TURNPIKES OF NEW ENGLAND the bridge passed over a heavy traffic in sheep and cattle between 1824 and 1840, and that a full thousand sheep crossed September 30, 1833. In 1829 the attorney-general of New Hampshire was instructed by the legislature to ascertain what corporate rights the Cornish Turnpike Corporation possessed. This probably indicates that the road had be- come unprofitable and had been allowed to fall into bad condition and possibly indicates the end of the turnpike. The thousand sheep passing on that September day would have paid toll of only a dollar a mile, so we can see that that business did not pay for the consequent repairs. The road of the Londonderry Branch Turnpike Corporation left the Londonderry Turnpike at the northerly end of the bridge at " Isle of Hookset Falls " and ran through the town of Bow to Hopkinton Center. This corporation was formed by act of 1812, and in 18 16 secured an extension of one year on its time limit. THE AMHERST TURNPIKE The Amherst Turnpike Corporation, although created in 1812, did not complete its road for several years, obtaining a four years' extension of time in 1815. But it was finally successful and its road formed a continuation of the Middlesex Turnpike of Massachusetts, connecting with that road at the line of Tyngsboro on the westerly bank of the Merrimac River. Continuous turnpike roads were thus offered from the West Boston Bridge in Cambridge to Claremont, New Hampshire, over the Second New Hampshire and to Hanover, New Hampshire, over the Croyden. The Milford Turnpike Corporation was granted its franchise in 18 15 to build a road from the Massachusetts line at Pepperell and Hollis through Hollis, Milford, and Mt. Vernon to the Second New Hampshire Turnpike. We have already noted two Massachusetts companies — the Westford and Lexington and the Groton and Pep- perell — which tried to build portions of this same route but did not succeed. It seems most probable that the New Hampshire end of the scheme fared no better and that this company never built its road. In 1 824 a grant of public land was made by the state of New Hamp- shire to Daniel Pinkham upon condition that he should make a road running through such grant. This tract of land occupied the valley of the headwaters of the Ellis and Peabody rivers, extending practically from Glen Ellis Falls to the Glen House, and its remote situation offered so little assistance in road building that the grantee was obliged to appeal to the legislature for an extension of the time within which he was to complete such a road. In 1834 a corporation was formed under the name of the "Proprietors of the Pinkham Turnpike Road" to build " through Pinkham Grant to the Pinkham road in Randolph," thirteen [236] T HE TURNPIKES OF NEW HAMPSHIRE miles. Apparently the conditions had not much improved since Pink- ham's day, for the corporation four years later applied for and secured an extension of its time for one year expiring December I, 1839. In 1840 a legislative act allowed alterations in the established rates of toll, from which it would appear that the road was built and operated as a turnpike. Whether so or not a road has existed for many decades along the route laid out for the toll road, and half a century ago it was a stage route of some importance. For its whole length the turnpike location is a state road to-day, part of it being in the New Hampshire " East Side Road " which leads from Portsmouth to Errol and thence to Cole- brook. Two and a half miles northerly from the Glen House the old road, now known as the " Dollycops Road," bears off to the west and passing between the Presidential Range and the steep slopes of Pine Mountain follows across the southwesterly corner of Gorham, across Moose River to the main road in Randolph. The Dollycops were an amiable old couple who lived in a house the cellar of which is yet to be seen near the bridge over the Peabody River. Local tradition has it that the husband and wife, although occupying the same house, did not speak to each other for twenty years. Persistent inquiry in Gorham and Berlin has failed to discover any- one who ever heard of a toll road through the Pinkham Notch, and one descendant of Daniel Pinkham is positive that none ever existed. But why was an act passed regarding the rates of toll which could be collected on the road if the franchise had expired the year before and the road had not been opened? Reader, the case is left for your judgment. But whether turnpike or not the old road offers not the least beauti- ful among the many noted White Mountain rides, yielding as it does from near the Glen House an unsurpassed view of the Great Gulf and the Presidential Range. Farther south a surpassing scene is revealed of Huntington and Tuckerman's ravines and the Alpine Garden, the sharp slopes and the mountain outlines rising in startling profile. About a mile west from the lower end of the turnpike franchise a less-known feature is found. Poised in apparent insecurity on a steep slope an enormous bowlder seems about to roll down the hillside at the slightest touch. And for miles the Ellis and Peabody rivers show their charms at every turn. The Winnepiseogee and White Mountain Turnpike Company ap- peared in 1852, having a charter to build from Birch Intervale, now known as Wonalancet, in Tamworth through Albany and Elkins Grant to the Tenth New Hampshire Turnpike about two miles below the old Crawford House. No road has yet penetrated the wilds which this company sought to traverse, save the winding paths of the lumbermen, and this project counts another in the list of those that never bore fruit. [237] THE TURNPIKES OF NEW ENGLAND THE MOUNT WASHINGTON SUMMIT ROAD After the opening of the Tenth New Hampshire Turnpike a few venturesome travelers visited the White Mountains, but it was not until 1 8 19 that any encouragement was offered for the making of a path by which the summit of Mount Washington could be reached. In that year Ethan Crawford cut a path for that purpose over which he could guide the few tourists who had the hardihood to make such an ascent, and in 1 82 1 he opened another path along the line afterwards utilized by the mountain-climbing railroad. Both of these paths led up from the Craw- ford Notch, access to which was only to be had by means of the Tenth New Hampshire Turnpike, and it appears that early paths were soon after developed by which the summit might be reached from the eastern side; from the valley of the Androscoggin River. The Davis Trail recently reopened by the Appalachian Mountain Club was first cut out about 1846 to accommodate travelers coming over the turnpike., but owing to its excessive length and steep grades did not prove successful. In a short while the easterly routes became much more popular and the larger part of the travelers found their way to Mount Washing- ton by way of Gorham. The Alpine House in Gorham, for many years before the advent of the Atlantic and St. Lawrence Railroad, now the Grand Trunk, was known as the Gate of the Mountains and enjoyed a large proportion of the patronage of the White Mountain travelers. When about 1850 the railroad approached Gorham, mountain travel that way increased, and in 1852, when the road was completed to that town, Gorham began to enjoy almost a monopoly of the mountain- climbing class of tourists. At that time the means of access to the summit from the Gorham side consisted of a path leading up through Tuckerman's Ravine. Over this path and those from the Crawford side so many made the ascent that the construction of a modest hotel on the summit was completed in 1 85 1. Encouraged by the increased rush of travelers over the new railroad the Glen House appeared in 1852, and soon after the proprie- tor of that hostelry cut out a bridle path to the summit over which he maintained a lucrative business with saddle horses for several years. But soon the turnpike idea invaded the solitudes. In 1853 the Mount Washington Road Company was incorporated with turnpike privileges to build from Peabody River valley, over the top of Mount Washington, to a point between the Notch and Cherry Mountain. From Kilbourne's " Chronicles of the White Mountains " we learn that the corporation was organized in the same year at a meeting held in Gorham, and that the route was surveyed in 1854. [238] pT-tW«»¥TT^ •■■■;s-;m,..j^ mSXlil *,.,^.- ▼ i •'•►.. ii* First arrivals at the Summit Glen House about 1867 Looking down Chandler Ridge Huntington's Ravine, Mount Washington Tuckerman's Ravine, seen from Pinkham Road Plate LXIV — Mount Washington Summit Road a < o a & I 2 « o 2 £ o .- O 1 £ « 55 1 § > w < J THE TURNPIKES OF NEW HAMPSHIRE Commissioners were duly appointed to lay out the road and assess the damages for land taken. They reported that 248 }4 rods lay through the land of J. M. Thompson, the proprietor of the Glen House, for which they assessed damages to the amount of thirty-five hundred dol- lars. To John Bellows for land taken for ninety-seven rods of road they awarded one dollar, and for the 2280^4 rods through Sargent's Purchase and other owners unknown, nothing. But it appeared that the commissioners were influenced in their award to Thompson by the fact that he was in the business of letting saddle horses for the trip to the summit over his bridle path and that the thirty-five hundred dollars was not payment for the land taken but was awarded to him as the conjec- tured damage which his business would sustain from the competition of the turnpike. From this award the corporation appealed, contending that the commissioners had not the power to assess conjectural damages of a collateral nature. Thompson came back at them with a sweeping set of declarations. He averred that the granting of a charter for a road for purely pleasure purposes was unconstitutional and such action by the legislature void; that, if constitutional the charter was defective on ac- count of no provision being in it by which the state could take the road or terminate the corporate existence; and that the power to take land was illegal because the charter did not specify that an appeal could be had to a jury if a landowner was dissatisfied with the commissioners' award. To all of these assertions the supreme court in January, 1857, gave a denial, fully maintaining the legality of the company's formation. On the company's appeal from the award of damages it was decided that the commissioners had erred and that they had no authority to assess damages for any other purpose than to pay for land. So a new hearing on that question was ordered. 1 Construction commenced in 1855 and was pushed with so much energy that within two years the road was completed for half its length. Then financial difficulties stopped the work, and in 1858 the corporation was obliged to ask an extension of its time. The legislature allowed it until August 1, 1861, to complete the road; but the difficulties into which the company had fallen were too great for that remedy, and the Mount Washington Road Company gave up its existence. In 1859 the Mount Washington Summit Road Company was created and allowed a route worded the same as that of the earlier company, and that company took over the completed portion of the road and built the rest, giving access to the summit by carriages in August, 1861. Under the fran- chise of 1859 the carriage road up Mount Washington is still in opera- tion, and for passing over it, tolls are still collected. A writer in Harpers' Monthly for August, 1877, said of this road: For the first four miles it winds among a dense growth of forest trees, and then passes through a ravine, and over the eastern side of the mountain. The grade is 1 Fogg's "New Hampshire Reports," Volume 3s, page 134. [239] THE TURNPIKES OF NEW ENGLAND easy and the roadbed excellent. Each turn discloses some new prospect — a wide valley faintly green, with a brook or a river flashing through it; a deep dell, with a swaying sea of foliage; an overhanging cliff that seems to render impossible any further ascent ; or a wonderful array of peaks. The dense growth of forest trees noted in 1877 has disappeared by reason of successive lumbering operations, but a substantial growth of timber is in its place to-day, and still the first four miles of the journey is made through its shadows. Approaching the halfway point the limit of vegetation is noticed, and for a half mile or so the road seems to be the dividing line, the growth on the lower side being noticeably heavier. Emerging from the timber at the Ledge near the Half Way House, the road continues in the same northerly direction for about a half mile, then doubles on itself and starts on its long climb up the crest of Chand- ler Ridge. As soon as the obstruction of the trees is removed a succes- sion of magnificent views is opened to the eye of the northern peaks of the White Mountain Range, Jefferson, Adams, and Madison, and of the Great Gulf, which lies between them and Mount Washington. Near- ing the summit the road skirts the edge of a sharp declivity, overlooking the Alpine Garden and Huntington Ravine. 1 In its length of eight miles the road makes the ascent from an eleva- tion of 1543 feet above sea level to the altitude of 6293 feet, the highest point in New England. The average grade is thus seen to be 594 feet to the mile, while the maximum grade is said to be at the rate of 880 feet. The memory of John P. Rich, one of the unlucky contractors under the first company and superintendent of construction for the second, is perpetuated by a memorial tablet set by the road near the base of the mountain. Others to whom credit for this bold enterprise and achieve- ment is due are David O. Macomber of Middletown, Connecticut, the projector of the scheme and first president of the corporation, and C. H. V. Cavis, to whose engineering skill are due the practical grades by which the summit is reached. On account of the deep cliffs often almost under the passenger's elbow and the possibility of a frightful accident, great care has always been exercised by the management in the selection of its drivers, and only extra strong and steady horses with specially built vehicles are used. Consequently but one accident in which a passenger was killed lies to the charge of the company. In the summer of 1880 a wagon carrying nine people down the mountain upset at a sharp turn in the road about a mile below the Half Way House, throwing the passengers on to the rocks, killing one, and injuring all the others. THE WARNER AND KEARSARGE TURNPIKE The Kearsarge Summit Road Company was incorporated in 1864, authority being given it to build from Kearsarge Village to the top of the 1 "Mount Washington," by Frank H. Burt. [240] THE TURNPIKES OF NEW HAMPSHIRE mountain named. But the franchise was allowed to expire and was re- vived by legislative act in 1873. In 1877 a time extension of ten years was granted, which seems sufficient to prove that nothing was ever done under that charter. Especially are we inclined to think so because little need would seem to exist for two roads up that one mountain, and another company did build such a road. In 1866 the Warner and Kearsarge Road Company was formed to construct a road to the summit from either Warner or Salisbury and that company carried out its plan. But not immediately, for we find that it had to apply for a revival of its expired rights in 1872, at which time the town of Warner was allowed to subscribe for shares of its capital stock to an amount not exceeding two thousand dollars. That the road had been completed by 1875 appears from an act passed in that year, which allowed the corporation to acquire land on the top of the moun- tain on the line of its road. Permission was given in the same act to sell land to the United States for the purposes of a signal station. On the ninth of March, 1893, the charter of the company was revived and given a new life of ten years, authority then being given to build a branch connecting the toll road with the highway at Smith's Corner. February 10, 1903, a further addition of ten years of life to the charter was en- acted, since which time nothing has been found on the records. Since the expiration of the last period of grace the corporation has lapsed, and its road, while not assumed by the town of Warner, is free from toll. Two other projects for which charters were granted in 1866 did not materialize. The Mount Hayes Turnpike Company sought to build to the summit of that mountain from the county road in Shelburne; and the Mount Lafayette Road Company aspired to provide a toll road from the highway between the Profile and Flume houses to the highest point in the Franconia Range. THE MOUNT WASHINGTON TURNPIKE A successful venture was that of the Mount Washington Turnpike Company, which was chartered in 1867 and allowed a route extending from the Fabyan House to the foot of Mount Washington. After many years of persistent effort, in spite of ridicule and discouragements, Sylves- ter March had at last succeeded in interesting capital in his plan to build a railroad up Mount Washington, construction having been commenced on that undertaking in May, 1866. The form of cars and locomotive to be used on the new road, being adapted to the steep grades to be encountered, naturally was not suitable for operation on level ground and the mountain-climbing railroad necessarily made its terminus at the foot of the mountain. That was several miles from the nearest road, which was the Tenth New Hampshire Turnpike, while the nearest rail- road station was at Littleton, twenty-five miles away. So the turnpike [241] THE TURNPIKES OF NEW ENGLAND was conceived as a means of transporting to the site of the new railroad the various supplies necessary for its construction and equipment, and later to derive profit from the tolls collected from tourists on their way to the mountain. The view here reproduced from an old stereoscopic photograph ' shows the base of Mount Washington and the terminus of the railroad. This point then was the easterly objective of the Mount Washington Turnpike, and the photograph, taken about 1867, shows the nature of the region through which the road was built. The profitable life of this turnpike was destined to be short, for summer travel to the White Mountains was growing very popular and it was unlikely that the railroads would long leave such a lucrative field unoccupied. As already stated, the Boston, Concord, and Montreal Railroad was completed as far as Littleton when the turnpike was pro- jected, and it lost no time in pushing nearer. But times were hard and the construction proceeded by piecemeal. Between 1873 and 1876 the rails crept ahead a little at a time, until Fabyans was reached, after which the remaining five miles to the base was rushed, the whole length being opened for passengers July 6, 1876. But the turnpike still held on, and its rates-of-toll sign at the Fabyans end was long a familiar object to tourists with its unique spacing. Many will recall the heading: RATES OF TOLL ON THE MT. WAS HINGTON TURNPIKE The railroad must have felt the competition of the old-fashioned com- petitor, for early in 1882 a small block, three eighths of the total of the capital stock, was bought by the directors of the Boston, Concord, and Montreal Railroad, and later purchases resulted in the acquisition of it all. In 1885 authority was secured from the legislature to extend the Mount Washington Turnpike, called in the act the " White Mountain Turnpike," to a junction with the Mount Washington Summit Road, but the plan was never carried out. But even railroad managers could not make turnpike success and they were glad to get rid of the road. May 13, 1903, the turnpike was deeded to the state of New Hampshire. The Waumbeck Road Company was incorporated in 1868, the proposition then being to build a road from Jefferson southerly to the line of the Mount Washington Railway. The next year saw a change in the plan, the legislature granting permission to change the terminus from Jefferson to Randolph. It does not seem that anything was done under authority of this charter, but the scheme calls for comment as it anticipated the Jefferson Notch Road which was built by the state, an equal amount being privately contributed in 1902. The tremendous 1 See Plate lxiii. [242] THE TURNPIKES OF NEW HAMPSHIRE difficulties which have been met in maintaining that road show that the turnpike corporation was fortunate in not assuming such a responsibility. Road and bridges have frequently been washed away and the route has often been closed, once for over a year. In 1869 a corporation was created under the name of the Mount Willard Turnpike Road Company for the purpose of building a road from the Crawford House to the summit of that mountain. As a road had been opened to that summit in 1846 it is to be presumed that this venture merely contemplated the acquisition and improvement of the existing road, but it seems doubtful if anything was ever done under the charter. The road of to-day, and for many years past, up Mount Wil- lard is privately owned and is open only to those who travel in the vehicles furnished by the owners of the road. Had that road been built under a turnpike franchise it is hard to see how it could be closed in such a manner. The Franconia and White Mountain Notches Turnpike Company was formed in 1870, and authorized to build a turnpike or horse rail- road " from Sawyer's Bridge in Bethlehem, to Franconia Notch." The next year the right to use steam instead of horses on the railroad was allowed. No construction was done by this company, but it is interesting to note the similarity of its privileges with those afterwards utilized by the branch railroad which runs from Bethlehem Junction to the Profile House. That railroad was built under a charter granted on July 11, 1878, to the Profile and Franconia Notch Railroad, which company operated it from June 25, 1879, until 1891, when the Concord and Montreal Railroad acquired the property. Until 1896 the road was a narrow gauge, the change to standard being made in that and the following year. It is also to be noted that the earlier charter provided an alternative form of construction, either a turnpike or a horse railroad. We have noted in the early days of the railroads such indications of faint-hearted- ness, but it is strange that in 1870 the promoters should have had any doubt of which form of road they wanted. THE MOOSILAUKE MOUNTAIN TURNPIKE The turnpike from Warren to the summit of Moosilauke Mountain is another which is still collecting tolls in this year of grace 19 19. That road was built under authority of a franchise granted in 1870 to the Moosilauke Mountain Road Company, but like many others seems to have had difficulty in its financing. In 1872 the legislature granted the town of Warren the privilege of contributing not over eight hundred dollars toward the construction of the road, which must have overcome [243] THE TURNPIKES OF NEW ENGLAND the troubles, for the road was built about that time. Kilbourne says * that the Tip Top House on Moosilauke was much enlarged in 1872 in consequence of the greatly increased travel over the new road. Leaving Warren Village and following the North Woodstock road along the bank of Baker's River for about three miles, one comes to a corner. The road turning sharply to the left and crossing the river will lead you to Breezy Point where the turnpike begins. Just beyond the Moosilauke Inn the tollgate is located and, having parted with the toll, you may proceed up the mountain. The road is straight for a mountain climber and its steep grades suggest that a better route might have been found by circling more. The length is a little over four miles, but the wonderful views from the summit are well worth the effort. Standing apart from other eminences Moosilauke offers a far wider range of view than other White Mountain peaks. In 1 88 1 the Moosilauke Mountain Road Company obtained addi- tional franchises to build three " bridle paths or carriage roads " from various points to the summit of the mountain, but it does not appear that any work was done in consequence. THE LINCOLN TURNPIKE Visitors to Franconia always seek the Flume as one of the wonders never to be missed, and to reach that interesting spot they pass over and pay toll on another turnpike. The Lincoln Turnpike Company was created by an act of the legislature of 1 871, by which it obtained the right to build its road " from the Flume House in Lincoln, on the main road, to near the Flume." Tourists may have a delightful ride from the Profile House down the Pemigewasset valley, passing Profile Lake, The Old Man of the Mountain, The Basin, The Pool, and after five miles have been counted off find themselves at a picturesque opening in the stone wall through which automobiles are forbidden to pass. This is the gateway and place of collection for the Lincoln Turnpike, but barring automobiles seems inconsistent with the public-utility nature of the road. At first the turnpike follows closely beside the main road but soon curves away from it, and then falls abruptly to the romantic covered bridge over the Pemigewasset River. A succession of steep ascents then brings the traveler to a looped end of the road by the rustic souvenir store. Thence to the Flume the climb must be made on foot. In the first year of its existence the Lincoln Turnpike saw the destruc- tion by fire of the old Flume House, the one named in its charter, but within another year saw the successor arise from a site close by, where it in turn was burned in 1917. The Flume House of 19 19 is but a small building, merely a lunch room. 1 "Chronicles of the White Mountains," page 258. [244] THE TURNPIKES OF NEW HAMPSHIRE THE SANBORN TURNPIKE The Sanborn Turnpike Company was incorporated in 1872 with a franchise confined to the town of Northfield. For many years a private road had existed across the Glidden Meadow in that town, but opinions as to its public necessity varied. Those believing such a road to be demanded by the mass of the people were unable to convince the selectmen who refused to give it a public layout. From the controversy which ensued the turnpike franchise evolved, the view of the landowners apparently being that, if the town would not accept and assume the road, those using it should pay for the privilege. Although the road was kept in good condition and is in use as a public road to-day the privilege of collecting tolls was never utilized, and no gate was ever erected across the road. 1 In 1873 a proposal to connect Bartlett and Albany by a turnpike was brought forward. In that year the Saco and Swift River Turnpike Com- pany was created with authority to build a road " from the White Mountain Notch Road in Bardett to the main road in Albany." A cursory glance at the map shows that that route is devoid of transporta- tion facilities to-day, so we can easily decide that this turnpike was never constructed. The Wilmot and Kearsarge Road Company was another product by the legislature of 1873. This company proposed to build a toll road from the Winslow House in Wdmot up the northerly side of Kearsarge Mountain to the summit. That two charters had been issued for the purpose of climbing this mountain we have already seen, and that each of them was allowed to lapse and be revived. That of the second company, revived in 1872, was at this time in full force, and the road was then or soon after under construction. THE UNCANOONUC ROAD A charter was granted in 1877 forming the Uncanoonuc Road Com- pany and giving it a franchise to build from the mountain road on the southerly side of Uncanoonuc Mountain in Goffstown to the summit of that mountain. The Pierce farm was on the southwesterly side of Uncanoonuc and the homestead set back a short distance from the mountain road. From these farm buildings the turnpike started, and by a precipitous winding course reached the summit altitude of thirteen hundred and twenty-one 1 Statement by William Lang, Esq., an old resident. [245] THE TURNPIKES OF NEW ENGLAND feet. The Pierce family acted as toll gatherers, and the gate was at the beginning of the toll road, convenient to their house. The road was promptly built and was operated for several years. Mr. Flanders, the fire warden on the summit, recalls that one Sunday soon after the open- ing he counted forty teams which had made the ascent. Uncanoonuc Mountain is reached from Manchester by trolley and mountain railway in forty minutes and is the highest point in that vicin- ity. The ride to its base is particularly attractive, and the novel ride up the steep slope on the incline railway affords a most enjoyable experience. The Uncanoonuc Incline Railway and Development Company was incorporated in 1903. Its road climbs the mountain side at an average grade of thirty-five per cent. On the summit of the mountain a hotel has been erected, on which is the fire look-out tower of the New Hamp- shire Forestry Service. In the old days another tower stood on slightly higher ground, a little north of the present tower. It was forty feet high and braced, we can believe, against any possible hurricane, for it is said that the spread of its posts was sufficient to allow the building of a dance hall within them at the bottom. From the top of the present tower, just over the tops of the encircling trees nearly due west, can be seen three groups of farm buildings. The one to the left and closest to the line of tree tops is the Pierce farm and marks where the old turnpike began. The other end is close by but hidden in the trees. Down to 19 1 7 the road had been allowed to shift for itself, and it had become little better than a brook bed where the running waters had gullied it out, but in the spring of that year it was temporarily patched to enable an artesian-well contractor to get his outfit hauled to the summit. The Starr King Mountain Road Company, created in 1881, aspired to operate a turnpike " from Jefferson Road in Jefferson to a point on Starr King Mountain," but its hopes were never realized and the road was never built. Four years then elapsed before another turnpike corporation was chartered. Then on the thirteenth of August, 1885, the Woodstock and Lincoln Turnpike Company appeared. This company proposed to build from the northerly terminus of the Pemigewasset Valley Railroad in North Woodstock to the summit of Pemigewasset Mountain in Lincoln, and to other points of interest " where roads do not now exist." As those desirous of ascending Pemigewasset Mountain to-day are obliged to be content with a primitive path, we conclude that neither that summit nor any other point of interest was made more accessible by the efforts of the Woodstock and Lincoln. [246] THE TURNPIKES OF NEW HAMPSHIRE THE LIBERTY ROAD After another four, years a new turnpike charter appears, this time for access to the summit of Chocorua Mountain in the town of Albany. In the year 1887 James Liberty and his neighbors united to make a road up the south side of the mountain, the first from that direction, and in 1889 Mr. Liberty sought and obtained a charter for himself and those who might associate themselves with him under the name of the Cho- corua Mountain Road. Authority was granted to maintain a " bridle path and carriage road from near the dwelling house of Charles Durell in said Tamworth (where said road is now located and constructed) to the line between the towns of said Tamworth and Albany, thence to the top of Chocorua Mountain in said town of Albany." This was the last turnpike charter granted in New England by virtue of which a turnpike was built or operated. The road of this company offers the easiest of the seven routes by which Chocorua may be ascended. It leaves the highway in the north- central part of Tamworth, at the Durell Farm, and near the " Nat Berry Bridge." The first third of the distance is a carriage road at the termi- nation of which the toll is collected. Thence to the Peak House it is a bridle path. For nearly thirty years the Half Way House stood at the end of the carriage road, housing both the toll gatherer and his victims. But in a violent gale which swept the mountain in September, 191 5, the building was lifted bodily and blown into the valley several hundred feet below. The last turnpike charter granted in New England was enacted by the New Hampshire legislature March 22, 1893, when the Mount Prospect Turnpike and Hotel Company was incorporated. The plan of this company was to build a crossroad in Lancaster, connecting the Whitefield and the Jefferson roads; another road leading to the summit of Mount Prospect; and to erect a hotel on that eminence. Nothing was ever done under this charter. Mount Prospect is now owned by United States Senator John W. Weeks and its summit is crowned by his summer residence. The road up the mountain is the private venture of Mr. Weeks. A historical authority some years ago published the statement that Fifty-three turnpike corporations were formed in New Hampshire, and this statement has been repeated by several other writers regardless of the fact that charters continued to issue from successive legislatures for many years after the first assertion. In addition to the fifty-one which have been noticed in the preceding pages, the following thirty-one corporations were created, which have left no records after their incorporation. [247] THE T URNPIKES OF NEW ENGLAND 1802 Seventh New Hampshire .... Charlestown to Surry. 1803 Charlestown Charlestown to Lempster. 1804 Richmond Royalston, Mass., to Swanzey. Hillsborough Andover to Massachusetts line toward Boston. Chesterfield Chesterfield to Warwick, Mass. Stoddard Walpole to Amoskeag Falls on the Merrimac. Sandwich Sandwich to Dover Landing. Sunapee Sunapee Pond to Hillsboro. Westmoreland Walpole to Northfield, Mass. 1805 Piermont Orford to Piermont. Newport Newport to Keene. Monadnock Milford to Marlboro Hills. Hancock Stoddard to Milford. 1806 Pittsfield Barnstead to Pittsfield. 1807 Rindge Northfield, Mass., to the Branch Turn- pike. 1808 Litchfield Amherst to Methuen, Mass. Winnepiseogee Gilmanton to Bridgewater. Sanbornton Pemigewasset Bridge to Sanbornton. Northern Haverhill Up the Ammonoosuc Valley to the Bath Turnpike. New Chester and Danbury . . . Between the towns named. 1809 Pemigewasset Middle Branch . . Thornton to Lancaster. Great Sunapee Newport to Warner. 18 1 2 Andover Salisbury to Andover. 1815 Sunapee (second) Fisherfield (Newbury) to Wendell. 1820 Pemigewasset Peeling (Woodstock) to Franconia. Upper Coos Franconia to Bethlehem. 1828 Franconia Through that town. 1837 Coos in New Hampshire .... Dalton to Gorham. 1838 Mount Washington Northeast end of the Tenth New Hampshire Turnpike to Table Rock. 1839 Coventry Haverhill to Coventry (repealed 1840). 1852 White Mountains Plank Road . . Littleton or Whitefield to the Notch. [248] THE TURNPIKES OF VERMONT THE TURNPIKES OF VERMONT ALTHOUGH a few colonists had established themselves at Fort Dummer, now Brattleboro, as early as 1724, very little settle- L ment was made in Vermont until about 1760. Then a tide of immigration set in, and between that year and 1768 one hundred and thirty-eight townships were granted to colonists by Governor Benning Wentworth of New Hampshire. When the Revolutionary War was over many of its survivors sought homes in Vermont. The northern part of the state was much more popular than the southern, but access to that section was had only by means of a rough military road which had been built under order of General Washington in 1778. That road, known as the Bayley-Hazen Military Road, extended from what is now the village of Wells River in the town of Newbury, on the Connecticut River, north- westerly to a notch in the mountains in the town of Westfield, near the Canada line. But access to this road was only had over the old Cohos Road in New Hampshire, which led from the valley of the Pemige- wasset River at Plymouth, up the valley of the Baker's River and to the Connecticut in the north part of the town of Haverhill, opposite Wells River, where the village of Woodsville is now found, and it is easily imagined that such dependence upon the older state was distasteful to the Vermonters whose long struggle for a separate government had so lately been successful. There was much fertile land in the lower valley of the Connecticut and back from its banks, and facilities were needed for access to that region as well. So on the twenty-seventh of October, 1795, a resolve was passed by the Vermont legislature by which committees were ap- pointed in the counties of Windham, Windsor, and Orange to lay out a public highway from the south line of this state to the north line of the town of Newbury. The new highway was directed to be laid "as near the banks of the Connecticut River as may be eligible and convenient," and was to con- nect with the Bayley-Hazen Road, thus forming a main highway running the length of the state. In February, 1797, similar action was taken looking to roads between Rutland and Salem, New York; Vergennes and Burlington; Burlington and the province line; and Salisbury to Onion River Bridge; and provi- sion was made for additions to the Connecticut Post Road and for a road to Vergennes. But the turnpike movement had been launched in Vermont three [249] THE TURNPIKES OF NEW ENGLAND months before this last act, for in November, 1796, the First Vermont Turnpike Corporation was chartered with power to build a road from the east line of said Bennington to the east bank of the Deerfield river, in said Wilmington, in such place or places as the said corporation shall choose for the same. It seems that nothing was done under authority of this act of incorpora- tion, for three years later the Windham Turnpike Corporation was created and granted the same route with the further privilege of extend- ing to Brattleboro. But since the first charter in each state has been found to be a pretty accurate forerunner of the rest, a few notes will be given of the First Vermont. Although the regimental system was commenced, as we see, it was not continued and the First Vermont was the only one to be designated numerically. Upon the corporation were conferred the same powers as were pos- sessed by the selectmen of towns to take lands, lay out, and build a highway, and, when its road was approved by the county court of Wind- ham, gates not exceeding two might be erected " in such manner as shall be necessary and convenient." The legislature might dissolve the corpo- ration when its income had repaid the investment with twelve per cent. Five hundred dollars was to be spent within two years and the whole project completed within five. The usual requirement of a signboard appears, upon which the following rates of toll were to be given : Coach, Phaeton, Chariot, or other four-wheeled vehicle, drawn by two horses $0.75 If drawn by four horses 1. 00 If drawn by more than four for each additional horse 06 Cart, Waggon, Sled, or Sleigh drawn by two oxen or horses 50 Each additional ox or horse 06 Chaise, Chair, or other Carriage drawn by one horse .37 Man and Horse 25 Foot passenger 04 Horses, oxen, and other neat cattle, not in teams each 06 Sheep and swine, each 01 Certain of the high rates contained in the foregoing schedule suggest that Vermont had cut a path of its own in the matter of levying tolls, and that it was the intention to prescribe the charges for the whole length of the road, such total to be divided by the number of gates at which toll was demanded. Although such a division of collections was not specified in the act of incorporation of the First Vermont, our supposi- tion is confirmed by the charter of the Green Mountain which followed it. In that a table of toll rates is given, and then follows a paragraph which unmistakably sets forth that such tolls are to be collected at each gate only in the fraction which one gate bears to the entire number. The preamble to the act creating the First Vermont is an exact copy (except for the towns named) of that found in the act of incorporation of the First Massachusetts. [250] Through Ryegate, Vt. North from Ryegate Corner New Free Bridge at Wells River Plate LXVI — Bayley-Hazen Military Road THE TURNPIKES OF VERMONT Those passing to or from public worship were exempt from paying toll, as was anyone engaged in common labor on his own farm or in the " common and ordinary business of family concerns within the same town." A penalty of from one to ten dollars was provided for need- lessly hindering travelers at the gates. As in the other states, each Vermont corporation was created by a special act of the legislature, and very few general laws were passed for turnpike government. The Revised Statutes of Vermont, published in 1839, contained eleven sections of that nature, certain of which en- acted in 1806 are especially interesting as providing governmental con- trol of those public utilities, and being an early anticipation of the modern public-service commissions. Each county court was required annually, in December, " to appoint three judicious freeholders to be inspectors of turnpike-roads in such county." Such appointees could not be stockholders in any turnpike corporation nor in any way connected with one, and upon being installed into office were required to make oath that they were free from that taint. It was the duty of the inspectors, upon application by three free- holders, to inspect any turnpike within their jurisdiction of which com- plaint had been made. They were empowered to order repairs, and to enforce their orders by throwing open the gates for free passage by the public until such repairs were made. The corporations, however, were allowed the right of appeal to the court in cases of unreasonable orders. Anyone who obstructed an inspector with the intention to prevent his allowing free passage by the public, pending the ordered repairs, or anyone who shut a gate after an inspector had ordered it to be left open, was liable to a fine of two hundred dollars. If an inspector after his appointment became a stockholder in a turn- pike corporation, his tenure of office automatically ceased. Costs of the inspectors' proceedings were assessed on the party at fault. Accounts were rendered and it was the duty of the court to assess the costs and order their payment by the corporation or the applicants, issuing an execution at the end of thirty days. The inspectors had authority to examine rates of toll, and could diminish the rate at any gate, if they raised it proportionally at another, giving due consideration to the distances between such gates. In section eleven Vermont appears as the first to make provisions, whereby a town and a corporation having agreed might make the road free without a special act of the legislature. Therein it was provided that any corporation, " in its discretion," might sell a proportionate amount of its stock to any town through which its road passed. The town thereupon became the owner and operator of so much of the turn- pike as lay within its limits, and was allowed to collect tolls thereon until its receipts had repaid the amount paid for the stock. November 19, [251] THE TURNPIKES OF NEW ENGLAND 1839, a further act was passed, giving power to the supreme and county courts " to take any real estate, easement, or franchise of any turnpike or other corporation when, in their judgment, the public good requires a public highway." The taking, however, was to cover the entire fran- chise and could not be made on a portion of a road. An old law which had been repealed in 1839 was revived in 1845, and by it the turnpike inspectors were empowered, upon application, to divide any turnpike into sections, placing a value on each division. Towns or individuals might then buy at the inspectors' prices one or more sections of the turnpike for the purpose of making it free. Such purchasers were allowed to continue the collection of tolls for a while under specified limitations. The second Vermont act of incorporation formed the Green Moun- tain Turnpike Corporation on March 10, 1797, and gave it the right to build a road from the easterly boundary of Clarendon to the bridge over Black River in Ludlow. Evidently this route was not satisfactory to the promoters and they allowed their first charter to lapse, obtaining from the legislature on November 2, 1799, a new charter with a fran- chise covering a longer route. But meanwhile another proposition had received legislative sanction, and under the charter granted for that was built the first Vermont turnpike. ELIJAH PAINE'S TURNPIKE That charter was granted on October 28, 1799, and conferred on " Elijah Paine, his heirs, and assigns," the right to build and operate a turnpike road from Experience Fisk's, in Brookfield, through Williamstown, Northfield, and Ber- lin, to the north side of Onion River. As we are to meet frequent references to this Onion River, it may be well to mention here that the modern Winooski River once bore that name. Although the first two corporations were granted rates of toll which were to be divided by the number of gates erected, that method was abandoned without being put to actual test, neither of the corporations carrying out its plan. Elijah Paine was granted the right to collect cer- tain tolls at each of the three gates which he was authorized to erect. The layout was to be sixty feet wide and the traveled path eighteen feet. In granting lands to new settlers from the public domain it was the early custom to limit the acreage allowed to one person, but an addi- tional area was generally granted sufficient to provide for the land re- quired in the building of future roads. October 15, 1801, an act was passed providing that Elijah Paine need not pay any damages for build- [252] THE TURNPIKES OF VERMONT ing his turnpike through unimproved lands where such allowance had been made. A change in the location of the gates was also allowed in this act. The construction of this turnpike was hot the only contribution made by Elijah Paine toward the development of the state. Born in Con- necticut, he graduated from Harvard in 178,1, and in 1784 began the practice of law in Vermont, making his home in the edge of Williams- town near where he later built his road. He entered largely into agri- cultural enterprises, and while Northfield was yet a wilderness he ex- pended forty thousand dollars in the establishment of a factory in that town for the manufacture of American cloth. At the time the turnpike charter was granted he was serving his adopted state as United States senator, and from 1801 to his death in 1842, he was judge of the United States court for the District of Vermont. The turnpike is often men- tioned as " Governor Paine's turnpike," probably on account of his being succeeded in his business enterprises by his son Charles, who was governor of Vermont from 1841 to 1843. To Governor Paine was largely due the financing which allowed the construction of the Central Vermont Railroad, which must reflect credit on his public spirit, as his turnpike was thereby destroyed. The Paine turnpike ran over the eastern spurs of the Green Moun- tains almost directly north for about twenty miles, and terminated on the north side of the Onion or Winooski River, in the center of Montpelier. THE WINDHAM TURNPIKE The next was the Windham Turnpike Company, created by the act of November 1, 1799. As previously stated this company took over the route which the First Vermont failed to improve from Bennington to Wilmington, with the addition of the further right from Wilmington to Brattleboro. Five tollgates were allowed, the first to be installed when seven miles of road had been completed. Ultimately the gates were to be located: one near the east line of Bennington; one in Readsboro; one near the Deerfield River in Wilmington; one in the west part of Marl- boro ; and one in the west part of Brattleboro. At the two eastern gates less toll was to be collected, for what reason is not apparent. The sec- tion of road in Brattleboro was to be built over an easier country, and it may have been considered that less expenditure was entitled to less returns, but such reasoning could not have been applied to the section to be built in Marlboro, for construction in that part involved steep grades and heavy work. The turnpike climbed over a high divide in Wilmington, passing a short distance south of Ray Pond, to which has lately been given the more pretentious name of Lake Rayponda, and fell steeply into Wil- mington Village. There it passed through the very center, being the [253] THE TURNPIKES OF NEW ENGLAND road on which Child's Tavern fronts. The old Vermont House on the opposite side of the street from Child's could doubtless tell many a stage-coach story. West of Wilmington the old turnpike was the road now regularly traveled to Bennington, passing with many steep grades and circuitous windings through Searsburg and Woodford City. The promoters of the Windham seem to have been able to secure what the Third Massachusetts tried in vain to get, as it is seen in their act of incorporation that the various towns along the road were to be obliged to keep the turnpike clear of snow. The original charter provided that the corporation might build as far as the house of General John Steward in Brattleboro. But on October 27, 1800, another act was secured by which the location of the road was allowed to be changed and the easterly terminus fixed in Brattleboro, at the house of Rutherford Hayes, the grandfather of the nineteenth president of the United States. The road was operated for about twelve years with an incomplete list of rates of toll, for after that lapse of time we find it enacted that a " waggon drawn by one horse " should pay a toll of twelve and one half cents. In 1815 the removal of the eastern gate was allowed, but no increased rates at the others in consequence. October 26, 1821, the corporation was allowed to give up all of its road east of Wilmington, and in 1825 it was authorized to extend its road and change its gates wherever it saw fit. How long the western portion was operated has not been learned, but it apparently had been abandoned before 1828, as another company, the Searsburg, was chartered then to reclaim the road. Over this turnpike journeyed the father of President Hayes about 1808 when, having received his " freedom suit" and attained his major- ity, he sought employment as a merchant's clerk in Wilmington, where he married and lived a few years before making his home in Ohio in 1817. THE GREEN MOUNTAIN TURNPIKE The promoters of the Green Mountain Turnpike Company returned with a more attractive proposition and, on November 2, 1799, were granted a new charter to build from the east line of Clarendon to the post road on Connecticut River, in Rocking- ham. In this act of incorporation a bond in the sum of one thousand dol- lars was required to guarantee that the incorporators would complete their road within five years. Towns were allowed to subscribe to the capital stock, but no one town for more than one sixth of the total. Under this franchise and the eight acts subsequently passed, the road was built from Clarendon to Bellows Falls following closely along the route afterwards taken by the Rutland Railroad. Hayes' " History of [254] THE TURNPIKES OF VERMONT Rockingham " tells us that it was financed by the same interests which built the canal at Bellows Falls, and that the corporation operated the road for forty years. It appears that there was considerable trouble in building the road, and it seems doubtful if it can be said that it ever was finally completed although it was operated for its entire length for many years. The matter of land damages gave much concern to the company and it secured the passage of an act in 1800, providing that roads near the turnpike, and rendered useless by its construction, should be discontinued by the selectmen, and the consequent reversion of the land to the origi- nal owners should be considered as an offset for land taken for the new road. Evidently their further efforts toward economical purchases of land were too successful, for a " great complaint about smallness of damages" resulted in the passage of an act in 1802, which gave the landowners a right of appeal. In 18 17 the road was still under con- struction, and changes in the route for over a quarter of its length were then allowed. Under authority granted in 18 18 the erection of a gate in Cavendish or Chester, with collection of half rates of toll, was made conditional upon the whole road being completed within four years from that date. The road plainly was unsatisfactory, for in 1822 permission was secured to resurvey and alter the location in Mount Holly and Shrews- bury, the abandoned portions to be discontinued. But evidently nothing was done in consequence, for we find another act, passed in 1828, by which they might resurvey and make alterations for the whole length of the turnpike. Again they appeared before the legislature in 1831 and secured authority to make alterations on all of their road within Windsor County. A two years' limit on this last act was extended another year in 1832, after which we find no further legislation. So we must conclude that the extensive alterations were never carried out, much as they were desired. Had they been made, much more legislation would have been needed to provide for alteration of gates and disposi- tion of the discontinued portions of the old turnpike. The location of the eastern end of the Green Mountain Turnpike at Bellows Falls was due to the existence of a bridge over the Con- necticut River there. The Bellows Falls Bridge was provided for by the New Hampshire legislature at its session in 1783, and was the first bridge built over the Connecticut. It was built in 1785 by Colonel Enoch Hale, and its construction is shown in the illustration photo- graphed from an old painting in the Bellows Falls office of the local electric-light company. Considering the occasional turbulence of the Connecticut River it seems doubtful if such a structure could have lasted many years, but the present bridge is the next one of which we have information, and that was erected in 1840. It is called the "Tucker Bridge," and is well shown in the illustration. It is of the type so familiar to travelers in northern New England, the Towne lattice truss, [255] THE TURNPIKES OF NEW ENGLAND said to have been built by the mile and cut off in lengths to suit. Engi- neers will be interested to note the doubled web members over the pier, which can plainly be seen in the illustration. An interesting feature in all the old bridges is the manner in which the early builders provided for the strains, and here we see how the strains over the support of a con- tinuous beam were countered. The " Tucker Bridge " was operated as a toll bridge until recent years and, since no legislative act authorizing its erection has been found subsequent to that of 1783, we must conclude that it was built and operated under the charter then granted. The charter of the Green Mountain preceded that of the Third New Hampshire by about seven weeks. The New Hampshire road, as we have seen, led from Bellows Falls through Keene, and into the town of Ashby, Massachusetts, on the way to Boston. Thus it appears that the two turnpikes, with the Bellows Falls Bridge, were units of a grand scheme whereby the Lake Champlain country was to have an easy outlet for its produce, and an inlet for its supplies to and from Boston, a route in active operation to-day by railroads. THE WINDSOR AND WOODSTOCK TURNPIKE November 5, 1799, the Windsor and Woodstock Turnpike Com- pany was chartered to build from the east parish in Windsor, to or near the Woodstock court house. The road was to be four rods wide and eighteen feet in the traveled portion. Evidently the incorporators expected to follow the old Con- necticut post road for a portion of the way, for we find it enacted that no gate should be erected on any part of that road. This company was expressly allowed to commute tolls, or in others words, to keep book accounts with regular customers. The East Parish in Windsor was situated on the bank of the Con- necticut River at the Vermont end of the Cornish Bridge, which had been erected three years prior to the incorporation of this turnpike com- pany. We have already noted that a heavy traffic in sheep and cattle passed over Cornish Bridge in its early years, and we are justified in assuming that much of it reached the bridge by means of this turnpike. A change in the location of the gates was allowed by an act passed in 1802, and on October 26, 1820, the company was relieved of all obligation to maintain the road east of Lull Brook in Hartland. THE WHITE RIVER TURNPIKE The White River Turnpike Company received its franchise on the first day of November, 1800, and built a road between twenty and twenty-one miles in length, extending from what is now White River [256] THE TURNPIKES OF VERMONT Junction, up and along the north bank of the White River through the towns of Hartford, Sharon, and Royalton or, as the charter expressed it, from the mouth of White River to the mouth of the second branch of said river. Tucker's " History of Hartford" and Lovejoy's " History of Royal- ton " agree that the turnpike was in operation for fifty-two years. No bridges had to be maintained within the limits of Royalton, which elimi- nated one frequent cause of friction between town and corporation, and Lovejoy testifies to the continued harmonious relations in this case. By 1852 the earnings had decreased so far that the owners of the road offered to sell to the three towns for ten dollars each, the turnpike to be given up as soon as one town had paid its ten. The reason is not far to seek. The Vermont Central Railroad, first chartered in 1835, in January, 1850, opened its line from Windsor to Burlington, and for twenty miles of its length was never more than five hundred feet away from the dust of the turnpike. THE CENTER TURNPIKE The Center Turnpike Company, created November 4, 1 80a, was to provide turnpike facilities from Middlebury courthouse to Wood- stock, with a branch turning off " at the most convenient place," and leading to the mouth of the second branch of the White River, at which point it would join the westerly end of the White River Turnpike. Three days later the Royalton and Woodstock was incorporated to build from Woodstock to Royalton, which it is easy to see paved the way for a controversy. In October, 1801, in consequence of the Center's proposing to " fall into " the Royalton and Woodstock location, an act was passed by which amicable relations were secured and the rights of the latter company protected. It is difficult to determine positively where the Center did build its road, but apparently it built a portion of the main line and the authorized branch, leaving out the part of the main location which would have taken it to Woodstock. As it was built, it formed an extension of the White River Turnpike, following up the river of that name to the headwaters of the west branch thereof in the town of Ripton, passing thence into the valley of the Middlebury River, which it followed to the Middlebury courthouse. That money was not easy in this case is evident from an extension of time which was granted, running to 1808. In 1 8 17 the company was relieved of obligation to maintain that part of its road which lay west of " Joshua Hyde's road in Middlebury," and in 181 8 was released from its responsibility for all of the turnpike situated in Bethel and Royalton north of the White River. Nineteen years later, in 1837, the company again appeared in the halls of legisla- tion and secured the passage of an act by which it was relieved of all of its road from the eastern end to where it left the White River, that [257] THE TURNPIKES OF NEW ENGLAND part of the road being made a public highway. A new rate of tolls was granted, to be collected for a few years longer on the remaining portions of the turnpike. That must have been a very few miles in the towns of Ripton and Middlebury. A very little at the eastern end of this turnpike fell within the terri- tory afterwards occupied by the Vermont Central Railroad, but the toll road gave up its existence some years before railroad competition forced it to do so. A farther portion of the location later formed the route of the White River Valley Railroad. THE ROYALTON AND WOODSTOCK TURNPIKE As already stated the Royalton and Woodstock Turnpike Company was incorporated November 7, 1800, to build " from Royalton meeting- house to Woodstock court-house," and its road was built in spite of the effort of the promoters of the Center to improve their franchise, granted three days earlier. Again we are indebted to Lovejoy, who tells us that the turnpike promotion was opposed by the inhabitants of the towns of Pomfret and Woodstock, and that to placate them much latitude was used in defining their domestic concerns, in the prosecution of which they were allowed to pass free over the road. This conciliation was continued until 1838, when David Bosworth, a local " man of the hour," was appointed toll gatherer and promptly drew the lines tighter. A merry war resulted, but it appears that the company, being within its legal rights, prevailed. At the northerly end of the turnpike the company maintained a bridge over the White River, which, after twenty-five years' service, became unsafe. Owing to insufficient revenue the company felt unable to repair the bridge and sought to abandon it, seeking a new location by which it could use a bridge owned by the town. The usual opposition was encountered and as usual a compromise was made. The town of Royal- ton voted in 1830 that, if the company would properly maintain its road, the town would contribute twenty-five dollars annually toward the re- pairs of the bridge. May 1, 1842, the road became free by action of the court under authority of the act of 1839. THE CONNECTICUT RIVER TURNPIKE John Holbrook, Samuel Dickenson, and Lemuel Whiting were granted March 10, 1797, the exclusive right for eight years to run a stage from Brattleboro "on the post road to Dartmouth College," be- cause, as the act recited, " the said John, Samuel, and Lemuel have, at great expense and considerable loss, established a line of stages on said route." By this it appears that the post road contemplated in the act [258] THE TURNPIKES OF VERMONT of 1795 had been constructed as far, at least, as Norwich, which lies on the Vermont shore of the Connecticut and opposite Hanover, the home town of Dartmouth College. Now comes evidence that the road had been poorly built, or if not so, that it was too heavy a burden for the towns to maintain, for we have a franchise granted to the Connecticut River Turnpike Company November 7, 1800, to cover the same ter- ritory as the post road, between Bellows Falls and the south line of Thetford, and probably occupying the post road itself. One would expect to find the afore-mentioned John, Samuel, and Lemuel interested in this turnpike over which their stages were to run for the remaining five years of their exclusive privilege, but apparently their " great ex- pense and considerable loss " continued to follow them, for their names do not appear among the incorporators of the Connecticut River. This charter specified the number of gates which the corporation might erect and prescribed the toll to be collected at each, but introduced a feature which is only found in Massachusetts by permission of a special act of the legislature. The corporation was allowed to erect as many additional gates as it deemed best, but to collect only fractional tolls at such extra barriers. November 9, 18 14, the corporation was relieved of all its road south of the road leading to Cheshire Bridge, but Hayes' " History of Rockingham " is our authority for saying that the rest of the turnpike continued to be so operated until about 1840. THE HUBBARDTON TURNPIKE The trend of transportation in western Vermont to-day is southerly and westerly toward New York City, as evidenced by the records of the Rutland Railroad. While many of the early turnpikes seem to have catered to travel transversely with the Green Mountain range the Hub- bardton Turnpike Company, chartered November 11, 1802, shows that at that date the drift toward New York had set in. That corporation desired to build a road from Sudbury to the road leading from Rutland to Fairhaven, in the most suitable direc- tion for Salem, New York. The only portion of this route which is to-day occupied by any sort of a railroad is the section between Bomoseen and Castleton, which is served by a short branch of the Rutland street-railway system, but the farther portion of the journey which was made to Salem, New York, followed directly along the line later occupied by one of the divisions of the Delaware and Hudson. Doubtless a New York corporation fur- nished a road on the other side of the state line with which this road connected by means of the Poultney Turnpike, chartered in 1805, but it seems worthy of notice that this company, desiring to improve travel [259] THE TURNPIKES OF NEW ENGLAND between Sudbury and Salem, asked for a franchise covering only about a quarter of the distance. In 1808 the company petitioned the legislature, stating that the tolls which it was obliged to collect had a tendency to lessen travel, and ask- ing permission to reduce its rates. The act passed in consequence allowed such reductions, but provided that not over half was to be taken off. Imagine, if you can, the necessity of restricting the reduction of fares by a modern railroad. Little has been found concerning the Hubbardton Turnpike, but enough to show that it continued in business until November, 1851, when its charter was repealed. THE WILLIAMSTOWN CENTER TURNPIKE November 14, 1803, the act incorporating the Williamstown Center Turnpike Company was passed, providing for a road from Experience Fisk's in Brookfield, northerly up the side of the branch of White River, through the notch of the mountains, to the road leading from Williamstown to Chelsea. Twenty-five years after the completion of the road it was to become free and the property of the state, but the more liberal legislature of 1804 granted another fifteen years of corporate life. Nothing was done for two years, and the date set in the original act for the first meeting, at which organization was to be effected, passed without that formality. But hope still lived and permission to hold the meeting on another day was secured in 1805. This turnpike seems to have been known as " Ira Day's turnpike," and followed the " Gulf Route," according to Child's Gazetteer of Washington County. There are fanciful tales of the Boston and Mon- treal stages passing this way carrying the British Royal mail, guarded by a soldier of King George, but the course of the turnpike did not lend itself to direct stage travel in that direction, and the presence of a for- eign soldier seems open to much doubt. It is said that Cottrill and Day's stages followed this route. THE NORTHERN TURNPIKE An imposing array of names opened the act by which the Northern Turnpike Company of Vermont was incorporated February 6, 1804. Eighty-three individuals were therein constituted a corporation for the purpose of building a turnpike from Lake Champlain to Connecticut River, through the counties of Franklin, Or- leans, and Caledonia, and also a part of Essex, if judged best ... in the most con- venient direction for Portland, Maine. [260] First Bridge over the Connecticut River, 1785 Tucker Toll Bridge and Railroad Bridge Plate LXVII — Bellows Falls Bridge - u nj o J3 -w h > i i > J *-* r H S5 o s S w > 0i o b Hi w H w S3 Id u OS w > a z <; w > E- > w THE TURNPIKES OF VERMONT It will be recalled that attention was directed, while considering the Tenth New Hampshire and the Littleton turnpikes, to the comprehen- sive scheme whereby Portland, Maine, was to be put in easy communi- cation with Northern Vermont. Here we have the Vermont section of that scheme. The Northern of Vermont was to commence at the toll bridge at Upper Waterford and run across the state to some point, which we are unable to locate at this remote date, on the shores of Lake Champlain. Some difference of opinion was found among the old resi- dents of Waterford as to whether the easterly terminus was to be at the bridge at Upper Waterford or at the one at Lower Waterford. The route of the turnpike was to include St. Johnsbury, and the present-day stage from that town to Upper Waterford finds its easiest route brings it to the Connecticut River some miles downstream from the site of the lower bridge. But turnpikes did not look for easy routes, while they did look for any influence which would lessen their land damages, and the presence of the name of Nathan Pike among the incorporators of the Northern strengthens the belief that the proposed route led to the upper bridge. Nathan Pike was the owner of a large farm running back from the Connecticut, on the Vermont side, and it was on to his land that travelers across the First Littleton toll bridge at Upper Waterford first stepped, and over his farm led the road by which the public highway was reached from the bridge. This Pike leased to the bridge company an acre of land for toll-house purposes, the consideration being that he and his heirs, with their families, should forever pass free of toll over the bridge. Ere a century had passed a multitude of Pikes, settled from Vermont to Louisiana with a liberal proportion living near the bridge, seemed to fall within the privileges of this rental. As the toll-house lot was owned by only two of the descendants, there seemed to be no way by which the extensive free list could be reduced until the company se- cured the passage of an act under which, in 1899, they took the toll- house lot by condemnation proceedings and thereby became owners instead of lessees. Further confirmation of the belief of a terminus at Upper Waterford is found in the fact that such a point is more nearly in a direct line with the general route, and that a detour by way of Lower Waterford would have required a similar return in order to reach the territory of the Littleton Turnpike. But whichever bridge was aimed at by the turnpike, the road was never built east of St. Johnsbury, and the heavy traffic which followed the route for many years divided itself about equally between the two bridges, as is evidenced by the substantial taverns now standing in each village. We have already given some attention to the bridge at Upper Waterford, that of the First Littleton Bridge Corporation, and noted that it still serves its purpose. The bridge lower down was built by the Second Littleton Bridge Corporation under authority of a charter granted by New Hampshire in 1820, and served the public until about [261] THE TURNPIKES OF NEW ENGLAND 1890, when its westerly span went downstream on the crest of a jam of logs. The lumber company promptly bought up a majority of the stock and then decided not to rebuild. The easterly span remained in place for a few years longer and then followed its mate. The promoters of the Northern may have given too much considera- tion to getting landowners among their incorporators and not enough to men of financial influence, for they seem to have had lots of trouble with their project. Apparently nothing at all was done for nearly two years, for we find the legislature speaking to them October 26, 1805, and providing a forfeiture of their rights unless the survey of the road was completed within nine months, ten miles built within two years, and twelve miles annually thereafter until the whole was done. In 1807 this was modified by an extension of one year, and a committee was appointed to make the layout. In 1809 a further extension was granted, and they were promised a gate when ten miles of road was finished. In 1 8 1 1 it appears that seven miles of turnpike had been built reaching from Dan- ville courthouse to St. Johnsbury Plain, and a special act allowed the erection of a gate in such section. No more road was built by this corporation, a further extension of time granted in 18 14 being insufficient for it, and the rights of the com- pany expired. But that seven miles of road still remained, and in 1815 a new corporation, the Danville, was formed to take over and operate what little the Northern had succeeded in completing. Although not strictly a turnpike tavern, the old house still standing in Upper Waterford Village is of interest in this connection, as it stood on the route of the Northern and furnished accommodations to those who had journeyed over what road the company did own. This old house, long kept by the Streeter family and still occupied by a grand- daughter of the former innkeeper, is of great interest for its old associa- tions with stage-coach travel and for its rare stock of old-fashioned furnishings. To the present occupant the author is indebted for per- mission to enter and secure a photograph of the old bar, which is here reproduced. The memories of many a mug of flip are set aside in the presence of the modern stove and lamp, and the public library, which is Waterford's share of that part of the Vermont educational system. The tavern in Lower Waterford is a more imposing edifice, and from its larger proportions gives the impression that it must have profited from a larger circle of trade. Undoubtedly it did, for many of the teams crossing at the upper bridge followed down the river for the sake of the easier road leading to St. Johnsbury from the lower village. THE WEATHERSFIELD TURNPIKE Another product of the sixth of February, 1804, was the Weathers- field Turnpike Company. Among the incorporators of this company we find the appropriate name of Henry Tolls. [262] THE TURNPIKES OF VERMONT The Weathersfield built from " Sumner's Ferry over Connecticut River, at the mouth of Sugar River," to a point in Cavendish on the Green Mountain Turnpike. The act of incorporation provided a com- mittee of three to lay out the road so as to " best accommodate the public, and promote the general object and design of the corporation," which certainly was a happy form of defining the duty of the committee. Apparently the legislature of 1805 was afraid that its predecessor had been too liberal with the Weathersfield, for we find an act passed in the latter year which gave a privilege of reducing the tolls to the future solons of 1840. The company was dissolved by the legislature, at its own request, November 9, 1831. THE RUTLAND AND STOCKBRIDGE TURNPIKE November 9, 1804, the Rutland and Stockbridge Turnpike Com- pany was formed and granted a franchise for fifty years. The road of this company was to lead from the main road, which ran north and south by the Rutland courthouse to the house of Zebidee Sprout in Pittsfield, and a committee was appointed by the original act to lay it out. But construction did not immediately follow, for in 1805 the com- pany was required to complete three miles within two years, and a time limit of six years was placed on the whole route. That had the desired effect for the road was promptly commenced, and in one year more a franchise for an extension to connect with the Center Turnpike in Stock- bridge was sought and secured. The company was the subject of legis- lative action again in 18 13, 1828, and 1833, the last two acts allowing it to make alterations in its location. TURNPIKE PROPOSED FOR TRAVEL BETWEEN BOSTON AND MONTREAL The most far-reaching name we have yet seen is that of the Boston and Montreal Turnpike Company, chartered November 5, 1805, to build from the Connecticut River, in Orange County, through Hazen's notch, to the north line of Vermont, in the most direct and convenient course from Boston to Montreal. The route over which this company sought to build is full of historic interest, but the full tale of tragedy and human suffering will never be known. Prior to the invasion by the white men the Indians had a trail leading over the same territory, and many an unfortunate captive, taken by the dusky allies of the French in a raid on the lower Connecticut River settlements, had been dragged over this trail with agonized un- certainty concerning his fate. But only a trail existed down to the [263] THE TURNPIKES OF NEW ENGLAND Revolutionary War, and only by those skilled in woodcraft and ac- quainted with the country could it be followed. When Arnold was detached from the Continental Army at Cam- bridge for the purpose of invading Canada, but two routes seemed avail- able, and his forces proceeded northward in two detachments, one going up the Kennebec River and through the wilds of Maine, while the other proceeded along the shore of Lake Champlain. After the disastrous repulse at Quebec it became necessary to send reinforcements northward in short time to save the remnant of the retreating army, and General Jacob Bayley, residing at Newbury, employed Indian Joe, a famous scout, to blaze the old trail so that it could readily be traced. Over such a primitive path several regiments rushed to Arnold's relief on snow shoes. In June, 1776, General Bayley, with sixty men, commenced the con- struction of a road from the mouth of Wells River toward Canada. Some thirty miles of the route had been covered when a false alarm of a British invasion from the north caused a hasty abandonment of the undertaking, which was not resumed until two years later. In 1778 another invasion of Canada was contemplated and General Washington addressed a letter to General Bayley, requesting him to secure the answers to several questions bearing on the matter, and concluding with the following paragraph : If you find a favorable report, from credible people, on the matters herein men- tioned, your situation being so distant from hence, you may in the month of Novem- ber next employ a part of Colonel Bedell's regiment, should it be continued, or a small number of good men, in cutting a road from your house into Canada, which you with others have reported to me to be practicable. Your reasonable expenses in this service will be allowed. 1 Wells states, in his " History of Ryegate," that the route was sur- veyed by Major James Wilkinson, who laid out the road as straight as possible from Wells River through Peacham Corner, the southwest part of Danville, Cabot, Walden, and Hardwick to the Lamoille River; thence passing westerly of Hosmer Pond to the summit of the Notch in Westfield. The road was built under the direction of Colonel Moses Hazen, an officer of note in the Continental Army, and the name of Hazen Military Road has generally been applied to it. The northerly terminus was in the Notch already mentioned, which thereafter bore the name of Hazen's Notch, and the point at which the road ended is now marked by a granite monument with a suitably inscribed tablet. In the village of Wells River, at the upper end of the main street, at the farther corner of the bridge, another monument marks the southerly end of the old military road, the tablet there properly recognizing General Bayley's efforts in its promotion by bestowing the name of " Bayley- Hazen" upon it. 1 Spark's " Life of Washington," Volume VI, page 57. [264] THE TURNPIKES OF VERMONT Much contention has existed as to the objects of the road, but a study of Washington's letters clearly shows that he was considering the in- vasion of Canada in 1778, not, as he plainly wrote, at that time, but for a later period when events had properly shaped themselves. Although never used for hostile purposes by the Americans, and although occa- sionally serving as a convenient route for small raiding parties from Canada, the military road certainly served an excellent purpose in forc- ing the British commander to maintain troops in Canada to meet the invasion which could so easily and quickly be made. After peace had been declared and the soldiers, with others, were looking for new homes, the Bayley-Hazen road offered the only means of transportation to northern Vermont, and it soon became an avenue of great importance. For a long time it was the only main road in Lamoille and Orleans counties, but from it many others soon branched off, and the early settlements were along its line. The Connecticut post road, which was ordered by the Vermont legislature of 1795, was to follow up the Connecticut River to the north line of Newbury, which brought it to Wells River and the end of the Bayley-Hazen road, thus providing a single road the length of the state. Most of the military road is still in use, but the location of the original line would be lost among the many other roads which now cover the region, were it not for the survey made for the Boston and Montreal Turnpike. The map of the route then proposed, which is still preserved in Montpelier, shows the old road for its entire length, the turnpike surveyors seldom being an appreciable distance away from it. According to Wells the turnpike project was thoroughly investigated and several interesting reports about the route, the resources of northern Vermont and part of Canada, are among the Johnson papers gathered in Newbury. The prospects for the turnpike seemed excellent, as it was supported by prominent business men all the way from Boston to Montreal, but no work was ever done. Twice the charter rights ex- pired by limitation and twice were acts passed reviving them. Finally, in 1 815, authority was granted to call a meeting of the company, but nothing further appears and that must have been the last gasp. The first regular stage between Boston and Montreal was established over this route, but it was not a turnpike over which the coaches passed. A toll bridge across the Connecticut between Wells River and that part of Haverhill, now the railroad village of Woodsville, was allowed by the New Hampshire legislature in 1803, and that bridge was the means by which the promoters of the Boston and Montreal ex- pected to transfer their passengers into New Hampshire. The Wells River Bridge continued in business until late in 19 17, but the old- fashioned covered bridge had given place to a product from Pennsyl- vania, a steel truss. Previous to 1903 all the corporation stock had been acquired by the Concord and Montreal Railroad, and the sanction of the legislature of that year having been obtained, railroad and toll bridge [265] THE TURNPIKES OF NEW ENGLAND were combined in one structure. On the upper deck the railroad trains passed and repassed, while below the automobile and horse-drawn travel passed with the foot passengers. Previous to such construction the railroad company offered to relin- quish all its rights to maintain a toll bridge if the towns would provide a free bridge, asking nothing in return, but the towns were unable to see the advantage of the offer. A different view was taken in 19 17, when an agreement was made by which the Boston and Maine Railroad was paid $7500 for the surrender of its rights. The new bridge is a steel truss of four spans supported on concrete piers and abutments and cost $49,500, making, with the amount paid the railroad, $57,000. Toward this each state appropriated $8000, leaving the balance to be borne by the towns of Newbury, Vermont, and Haverhill, New Hampshire. With its old-time resentment of any invasion of its precincts the Connecticut River, when it saw the first pier being erected away from the shore line, rose in its wrath and washed out the contractor's plant, including a hoisting engine which it dumped into the river. As a part of the route in which the Boston and Montreal Turnpike was to form a link, the Coos, Mayhew, and Londonderry turnpikes in New Hampshire would have figured, and in Massachusetts the journey to Boston would have been continued over the Essex, Andover and Medford, and the Medford turnpikes. November 7, 1805, was turnpike day in Montpelier, for on that day fourteen turnpike companies were incorporated, eight of them being combined in one act. THE MOUNT TABER TURNPIKE The Mount Taber Turnpike Company constructed a road from a stone bridge on the East, or Creek Road in Danby, eleven miles through a part of Mount Tabor and Dorset, and ending in the easterly part of Manchester. This road continued in operation for over twenty years. In 181 5 certain exemptions from toll were established, and on Novem- ber 15, 1826, the corporation was allowed to surrender all of its road " south of Deming's saw-mill in Dorset," and the northerly end in Danby. The Dorset and the Pawlet Turnpike companies, conceived for com- munication between adjoining towns, have yielded no information be- yond their incorporation, and it is doubtful if either improved any part of its franchise. [266] THE TURNPIKES OF VERMONT THE WALTHAM TURNPIKE The Waltham Turnpike Company built and operated its road from the end of the Center Turnpike in Middlebury to the courthouse in Vergennes. As in nearly all cases we see indications of difficulties in financing, and it was over three years before the road was completed. Major General Samuel Strong of Vergennes, an extensive landowner in that vicinity, was one of the incorporators of the company, and later acquired most of the stock according to Swift's " History of Middlebury." In 1808 the company sought permission to change its location so that it might pass over a new bridge which had been erected by the public authorities, thereby saving the expense of building one of its own. This was granted with the proviso that the company should return to its original location and build its own bridge thereon within twelve years. Alterations of the road were made in 18 16. In 1 82 1 all of the road in Middlebury, except half of a bridge, and one mile in Weybridge adjacent to Middlebury, was surrendered to the public, and on October 30, 1828, the whole road was declared free, three acres of land with a tollhouse on it being all that was left to the corporation. In the younger days of the generation which is now passing, this road was known as " The Old Plank Road," from which it appears that that form of construction was used in its later years, but since plank roads were of a much later date than 1828, it seems beyond question that the planking was done by the public authorities. THE FAIRHAVEN TURNPIKE The Fairhaven Turnpike Company had a road twenty-two miles in length and extending from the southerly line of Fairhaven, northerly through Fairhaven, Westhaven, Benson, Orwell, and Shoreham to the southerly line of Bridport, with a few miles additional, allowed to it by an act of 1808, which carried the road to the main road in Bridport. This road was aimed at the city of Vergennes, and apparently connected, at its southerly end, with a New York turnpike over which travelers could reach the lower Hudson River places. In 1833 the charter was repealed, subject to the company's accept- ance, and the road was made free with the several towns responsible for their respective portions, although the selectmen were allowed to discontinue the road if they deemed best. [267] THE TURNPIKES OF NEW ENGLAND THE WINOOSKI TURNPIKE The Winooski Turnpike Company had a project for about thirty-six miles of turnpike, extending from Burlington courthouse up the valley of the Onion River to Montpelier, where it connected with the northerly end of Elijah Paine's turnpike. Two years later it appeared that the company had purchased the Onion River Bridge, a proceeding not specified in the charter, for which the legislature took speedy action, forbidding the company to collect any tolls thereon. That the financial bed of the Winooski was no easier than that of many others is seen from the company's seeking in 1809, four years after incorporation, an extension of its time limit, and later in the same session, obtaining permission to erect a gate when eleven of its thirty-six miles had been completed. In 181 1 the route was amended so as to begin at the college in Burlington, instead of at the courthouse; and in 1 8 14 alterations in its main road were allowed. By this time the road appears to have been completed, but an extraordinary situation then developed. From an act of 1815 we learn that the company's bills had not been paid, not even the damages for land taken, and the legislature ordered the committee to give hearings at once and make awards of damages, and if the company did not pay such awards within sixty days the gate between Montpelier and Waterbury was to be removed. In 1 85 1 the surrender of the portion of the road in Montpelier to that town was allowed if the town voted to accept. Apparently the town did not accept, for a final act, passed November 23, 1852, authorized the surrender of the whole road, regardless of the acceptance by the several towns, and made the turnpike free. The Winooski was often called the Chittendon Turnpike on account of the connection with its affairs had by Governor Chittendon. THE POULTNEY TURNPIKE The Poultney Turnpike Company was the one already mentioned as building a road extending from the southerly end of the Hubbardton Turnpike to the line of New York, but the building was a slow process. Five years after the date of the franchise an extension of time was granted, which was again extended in 18 13. Exemptions from toll were specified by an act of 18 16, from which we may infer that the road had been completed, and that the public had a tangible gate to kick at. The charter was repealed in 1834 and the responsibility for the road placed on the towns. For a little short turnpike the Poultney made lots of trouble, seven acts of the legislature being passed in relation to it. [268] Pi u Z 05 H - s 05 CO < l-H X a 9 *-J CQ > D a V f ;- 2i ♦J v. L, is > o -a .S3 *J M J2 3 O w E 2 ai S E- s 5 CO CO X! ►J w H < J PL, THE TURNPIKES OF VERMONT The last of the eight companies formed by the single act of Novem- ber 7, 1805, was the Bennington Turnpike Company, which was to build from the Massachusetts line in Pownal to Bennington courthouse. The company has not again been found in legislation or in local history, and it is a question if the road was ever built. Six more companies were formed on that same day but these were given the distinction of individual acts. THE PASSUMPSIC TURNPIKE The Passumpsic Turnpike Company was allowed to build from near the mouth of Wells River in Newbury, through Ryegate, to the house of Deacon Twaddle in Barnet, to be laid as near the Connecticut River as may be convenient. Under authority of this franchise, after several years, the company built its road not only to the house of Deacon Twaddle but nearly twice as far, reaching to St. Johnsbury. This was an active proposition, when it had survived the difficulties which beset all such enterprises at that time. The first step was a false one, for the meeting for organization was not held on the date specified in the charter, and the legislature of 1806 was called upon to legalize the proceedings of the belated gather- ing. For eleven years the money struggle went on, five acts being passed in that time to assist the corporation's efforts. Extensions of time were granted, privileges of gates conferred if they could only get a few miles built, and, in 18 13 and 1816, permission was obtained to levy a tax on the stockholders for the purpose of raising money to pay the company's debts. Wells tells us in his " History of Ryegate" that about a mile was built in Barnet in 1807, and that, in 1808, the road was finished to the line between Barnet and Ryegate. After that the turnpike was extended a few miles at a time, until it reached Wells River Village, where it terminated at the upper end of the main street. It seems that the later money troubles, to meet which the right to lay a tax on the shares was granted, occurred in connection with the extension to St. Johnsbury for which no franchise has been found, and it is strange that no one seems to have observed that the company was seeking money privileges for an illegal purpose. When we recall how strictly the turnpike companies were held to the purposes of their charters, as in the case of the Winooski, when it had bought the Onion River Bridge, and of many others, it is indeed remarkable that such an over-reaching of its privi- leges should have been overlooked. In 1830 a legislative resolution instructed the " state's attorney " to investigate the right by which this turnpike was being maintained in Newbury, Ryegate, Barnet, Water- ford, and St. Johnsbury, and prosecute for any illegality, but no serious results followed. [269] THE TURNPIKES OF NEW ENGLAND Twenty-six thousand dollars is said to have been the first cost of the turnpike, with another seven thousand spent later for alterations cover- ing seven miles. If these figures are authentic, the road being about twenty miles long, we have a figure of thirteen hundred dollars per mile for first cost, with a thousand dollars per mile for later alterations. These prices seem reasonable for a dirt road built under considerable difficulties. In many places it follows along the face of high hills, so steep as to require heavy grading, and often rock was encountered. A huge wooden plow was used in breaking up the soil preliminary to dig- ging, which may still be seen preserved in the Fairbanks Museum of Natural Science in St. Johnsbury. The tollgate on the lower section was first located on the Beattie Farm in the northerly part of Ryegate, later at a point a little below the Stevens Village toll bridge, and again in the upper end of Mclndoe Village. At the latter place the gate was attended by James Monteith, who occupied his leisure between the passing of teams by knitting stockings. The road seems to have aroused much hostility soon after 1820 and frequent efforts occurred to get it out of private control. In 1824 peti- tion was entered with the supreme court, in consequence of which a committee was appointed to lay out a public road parallel to the turn- pike, but the effort was too great for the towns involved, and the legis- lature of 1826 was sought for relief, which was granted by setting aside the court's decree. The general law, under which towns were allowed to buy turnpike stock for the purpose of making the road free within their limits, seems to have had its inception with this road, for we find the town of Ryegate authorized by the legislature of 1828 to buy Pas- sumpsic stock for such a purpose. The town of Barnet tried another method of attack and built a mile of road adjoining the turnpike, but as soon as the road was finished the corporation took possession of it and incorporated it into its turnpike system. The town entered suit to retain its road, but after several appeals a final decision was handed down in favor of the company. It is to be regretted that more details of that case are not available, for from the facts at hand it is hard to see the justice of the outcome. Efforts in 1839 resulted more successfully, for then a committee was appointed for the purpose of laying out a public road which should parallel the turnpike and, therefore, put it out of business. This, of course, was resisted by the corporation, and more litigation ensued, but this time resulting adversely to the company, which was obliged to give up its road and accept the award of four thousand dollars which was given it. This form of persuasion consisted in giving authority to build a parallel road if the corporation refused to sell at what the authorities considered a reasonable figure. A beautiful ride may be had to-day over the old Passumpsic Turnpike, yielding inspiring views of the upper Connecticut valley scenery. After [270] THE TURNPIKES OF VERMONT leaving Wells River one must first pass through the winds and twists which have been put into the old alignment by the later railroad con- struction, but soon comes out into view of the river, which is seldom out of sight for the next several miles. After passing the busy paper mill at East Ryegate, a splendid view is had, from far down the river, of the Lyman toll bridge at Mclndoe Falls. This quaint old structure, a covered wooden bridge built in 1834, makes a rare picture, framed on either side by the steep wooded banks of the river with a widened ex- panse of water for a foreground. Passing through the village of Mclndoe Falls, one may see on the right the boarding house of the Connecticut Valley Lumber Company, formerly a turnpike tavern, but now, with the large ell added by the company, capable of housing many more people than of old. The Stevens Village toll bridge, a compara- tively recent erection, built under a charter granted in 1846, is seen on the right after passing over the next two miles of road, and then, after passing over a slight hill, the village of Barnet is seen. Originally the turnpike followed close to the river bank above Barnet, about on the line now followed by the railroad, but damage from high water caused its removal to a location high up on the hill before the railroad claimed its superior right to the location on the bank. Above Barnet, then, the old turnpike climbed, where now rises the public road, over the emi- nence most appropriately called " The Mountain " by the local trav- elers, and when it has returned to earth again it is in the valley of the Passumpsic and not in that of the Connecticut. Passing through the little village of East Barnet, also known as Copenhagen, and as Inwood on the railroad time-tables, a hamlet famed for its production of croquet sets, the turnpike continues up the valley of the Passumpsic River, through the village of Passumpsic, and on to St. Johnsbury. The territory served by this turnpike was occupied by the descend- ants of the thrifty Scotch settlers, for whom the county, Caledonia, was named, and they soon perceived that if the road was a good investment for the corporation it would be equally good for the general public, and they chafed under the imposition of tolls. Hence the corporation went out of business when the community became able to maintain free roads. That the road was a paying one is evident from the resistance offered to the efforts to make it free, the company even testing, in the courts, the constitutionality of the act by which it was terminated. The Connecticut and Passumpsic Rivers Railroad was built in this section soon after 1850, so that did not hasten the end of the turnpike. THE RANDOLPH TURNPIKE The Randolph Turnpike Company's road extended from the wes- terly end of the White River Turnpike in Royalton ten miles up the Second Branch of the White River into the town of Randolph. Daniel [271] THE TURNPIKES OF NEW ENGLAND Payne was the surveyor and he laid out the turnpike in the old road with one exception. Across the land of John Kimball he made a new location, and to the said John fell the distinction of being the only property owner in the length of ten miles, to whom was allowed any damages. To him it was allowed that he should receive sixty dollars, but if the section of old road thus cut out was discontinued, the land reverting to him, he was to receive only thirty-five dollars. 1 November 6, 1833, the corporation was dissolved, and on the eighteenth of the same month the corporation voted to accept the terms imposed by the legislature and stepped out. Of the other four incorporated on that seventh of November we have gathered practically nothing, and there seems little reason for believing that any of them built a road. The Woodstock and Rutland Turnpike Company appears but once in the legislative annals, when it was formed to build from Finna Hawkins in Bridgewater, up the Water-Quechee river, through Bridge- water and Sherburne, to die turnpike from Rutland to Pittsfield. We shall later find a turnpike built over this route by the Sherburne Turnpike Company, which was incorporated some twenty-one years afterwards. The Mad River Turnpike Company was to build from the Center Turnpike in Hancock, through Kingston, Warren, Waitsfield, and Moretown to the Onion River. As such a route would have measured about thirty miles, which would have made this road one of the notable ones of the state, it seems incredible that it could have been constructed without bothering the legislature again after the act of incorporation was passed. No other act has been found in relation to this company. The Mississiquoi Turnpike Company was to build from the Canada line in Highgate to the south bank of the Mississiquoi River, on a line for the courthouse in St. Albans. Ten years afterwards this company secured an extension of four years on its time limit, and if they could not begin in ten years it is doubtful if they ever did. The Sandbar Turnpike Company obtained a franchise for a road to lead from the lower bridge over the Onion River in Colchester, by the Sandbar, to the ferry from Middle Hero to Cumberland Head. That this project needed careful nourishing is seen by the act of November 4, 1 806, which decreed that no person living within five miles of the gate which was to be erected on the Sandbar should be exempt 1 Lovejoy's " History of Royalton." [272] THE TURNPIKES OF VERMONT from paying toll. The high rate of four cents for a foot passenger was also allowed to this company, and a further concession was made that the supreme court could not dissolve the corporation until the original investment, plus twelve-per-cent interest, had been paid. But with all that temptation for the investor, the turnpike did not materialize and, in 1808, an extension of time was secured which was renewed in 181 1. Finding nothing more, we will assume, until further evidence be forthcoming, that the franchise rights expired at the end of this last extension. October 26, 1807, after a lapse of nearly two years, the formation of turnpike corporations was resumed, and on that day the Manchester Turnpike Company was chartered. This company's road was to con- nect the Green Mountain Turnpike in Chester with the courthouse in Manchester, and Hayes speaks of it in his " History of Rocking- ham " as later becoming the most popular stage route from Boston to Saratoga Springs. But we must doubt Hayes' accuracy in this instance, for the route of this turnpike is the same as that later improved by the Peru Turnpike Company, and there are no indications that any other road was ever built. Hence we will class the Manchester among the " never-has-beens." THE VERGENNES AND WILLSBORO TURNPIKE On the fourth of November, 1808, a charter was issued to Major General Samuel Strong and others, residents of Vergennes and Ferris- burg, for the construction of a turnpike from the north end of the Waltham Turnpike, jn Vergennes, to Hiern's Ferry, on Lake Cham- plain, in Ferrisburg. Major General Strong was a prominent and in- fluential man in his community, and much of the land through which the building of the turnpike was contemplated belonged to him. Financing the road was a slow proposition, as is evidenced by the fact that acts, extending the limits within which the road might be com- pleted, were passed in 18 10, 18 12, and again in 18 16. Local tradition tells that the turnpike was finally completed in 1820. This is the road which now extends from the center of Vergennes about due west across the town of Panton, close to its northerly boun- dary, to the shore of Lake Champlain at Adams Ferry, which is the modern name for Hiern's. Although originally projected through the town of Ferrisburg, no part of the road to-day is within that town, the section traversed by the turnpike having been transferred to Panton in 1847. Willsboro is a New York town bordering on Lake Champlain, but to-day it is far to the north of any service from Adams Ferry. An old map, however, shows us that Willsboro in the day of the turnpike was a much larger town and included the land opposite Ferrisburg. [273] THE TURNPIKES OF NEW ENGLAND THE STRAFFORD TURNPIKE The Strafford Turnpike Company was granted the right on Novem- ber ii, 1808, to build from the Connecticut River Turnpike in Nor- wich, diagonally across the town of Strafford, to the courthouse in Chelsea. In 18 13 the company made petition to the legislature for an extension of the time within which it should finish the road, stating in explanation that it had nearly finished the turnpike, but that heavy rains had done so much damage that completion within the required time would be impossible. November 4, 1826, the corporation was allowed to surrender its charter and the road became free. THE STRATTON TURNPIKE The Stratton Turnpike Company, created by the act of November 10, 1808, at first proposed to build from the Stratton meeting-house to the foot of the Green Mountain in Sunderland, but later, in 1815, se- cured an extension of its rights by which it was allowed to build east- wardly through Wardsboro to Newfane at a point on the road from Brattleboro to Townshend, with an extension of the time limit on the original portion. By this it can be seen that the first proposition did not look attractive enough to those from whom the money was expected. Nor did the whole proposition for that matter, for we find extensions of time granted again in 1820 and in 1826. But the road was finally built, as can be attested by anyone familiar with the neglected and aban- doned region through which it passed. For the entire town of Stratton, with large parts of the adjoining towns, is given up to the growth of timber, all the farms being sold and deserted and the region devoid of human presence. One sunny September morning, one hundred and five years after the incorporation of the Stratton Turnpike Company, the author found himself one of a jolly party whose automobile trip brought them to this old road at the snug little village of West Wardsboro, from which place the turnpike was followed to its former western terminus. The first four miles was a stiff climb to the site of Stratton Village, with occasional glimpses of Stratton Mountain, 3860 feet high, and shaped like the back of a gigantic elephant, plowing its way toward the Massachusetts line. After leaving the outskirts of West Wardsboro, not a sign of human life was seen for the next twelve miles, although the roadside was marked at irregular intervals by former happy homes and secure shelters, now marred with gaping rents in the walls and fall- ing roofs. Three entire villages are included in the list of desolation, — Stratton, with its white-spired church; Grout's Mills, abandoned like the farms to let the timber grow; and West Jamaica, whose twenty houses and sawmill did not show even a cat to give life to the scene. [274! &H . Id ■Jt >-* a. Z 9 H s 5 to CO «: Oh X X w < Oh ■a > c c w z s h z o c/3 X! X! H H ■< i-3 THE TURNPIKES OF VERMONT Stratton Village yielded the two illustrations which are typical of the roadside adornments for mile after mile. Three miles beyond Stratton we passed a guideboard which let us know that the trail up Stratton Mountain began there. Since our Sep- tember ride a tower has been erected on the summit by the Stratton Mountain Club, in conjunction with the Vermont Forestry Bureau, and a most inspiring view is to be had from the added elevation above the tree tops, giving sights into the three adjoining states. Near here was also passed the field in which Daniel Webster is said to have delivered an address before an audience so large that one wonders where all could have come from. But the country has not always been so forsaken by man, and but a few years ago the little church at Stratton weekly housed a goodly sized congregation, and an attendance of a hundred at the social gatherings was not uncommon. By noon we had covered twelve miles of the old turnpike and had reached " Kelley Stand," one of the old-time taverns, still doing some kind of hotel business in the midst of the desolation, which yielded us a dinner excellent beyond all our expectations. It seemed that " Kelley Stand " possessed some little reputation for its unique lonesomeness, which brought a profitable number of summer boarders from even as far away as New York City, and now that the frosty fall mornings had come, another class had arrived to keep the business alive. For the woods for miles around were alive with a busy throng who sought far and wide for the ferns which grew so abundantly, picking them in great armfuls, and carrying them to the roadside to be packed and shipped to the cities for the florists to use in decorating their boxes of flowers. To these workers the deserted houses and barns are a boon and, for a few weeks in each fall, they camp in such as have sufficient roof re- maining to shed the rain. A large force were camped in some houses near " Kelley Stand," and the call for dinner brought them from all directions like hailstones in a summer storm. Beyond Grout's Mills a long hill led up through the woods, and here, in the winter of 1821, occurred a most mournful tragedy, which was read in verse in many a school reader fifty years ago. A family of three, father, mother, and baby, encountered one of the severe winter storms and the two elders perished, but the baby was found the next morning, wrapped in its mother's shawl, and still alive. Although the scenes along the old road are rather depressing with the striking suggestions of the rupture of old home associations, it is pleasant to think of the bustle of old-time stage travel, for this road pointed straight to Saratoga Springs, and the larger part of the fashion- able visitors from Boston must have journeyed to the springs over the Stratton Turnpike. November 17, 18 13, the Middlebury Turnpike Corporation was created to build a road from the northerly end of the Hubbardton Turn- [275] THE TURNPIKES OF NEW ENGLAND pike to Middlebury. It would seem that there was an urgent demand for a good road along these lines, for it would have opened the way from Middlebury to the lower Hudson towns and New York City. By its connection with the Hubbardton, and over that, with the Poultney and the turnpikes of eastern New York, it would have seemed a promis- ing proposition. But either our inferences are wrong or else the exist- ing roads were good enough, for the promoters never mustered enough courage to build the road. A two years' extension was granted in 1814, after which the company does not appear. Mathews' " History of Cornwall " tells us that the route was sur- veyed and that a proposition was made to that town by which the in- habitants were to pass free of toll, in consideration of one half the highway tax of those living along the route being worked out upon the turnpike. The offer was accepted at a town meeting in March, 1815, but the corporation failed to construct the road. THE PERU TURNPIKE The opening of the year 19 16 saw but few turnpikes in operation in New England. A few were still doing business in New Hampshire but they were all of the summer-tourist variety, being those constructed up the sides of the high mountains for which that state is famed. The last one in New England of what might be called the commercial variety and, with the possible exception of the Plum Island in Massachusetts, the only one which ever collected tolls from automobiles, dates from No- vember -9, 1 8 14, when the Peru Turnpike Company was chartered and allowed to build its road from the (i Lovel farm in Peru to the court- house in Manchester." Chartered late in 1814, the; road was commenced early in 181 5 and completed the next year, it is told in the " History of Peru," by Batch- elder. This company must have had a peculiar brand of trouble over its land damages, for an act entitled " An Act for the relief of the Peru Turnpike Corporation" was passed in 1816, making the judges of the county court the committee on damages, with no appeal from their find- ings. Evidently the company could not secure anyone willing to act as such committee, or having done so, the selections failed to act. This must have been the road mentioned in the " History of Rock- ingham," as connecting the Green Mountain Turnpike in Chester with Manchester courthouse, in which case we must note that authority as stating that this route became the most popular between Boston and Saratoga Springs. But it was a roundabout way to follow between those places, and it seems much more probable that such travel would have taken the Windham or the Stratton turnpikes, either of which lay in a much more direct line. But if not in line for Boston, the Peru Turnpike lay in the easiest pass through the Green Mountain range, and Boston tourists may have gone that way for! more comfortable riding. [276] THE TURNPIKES OF VERMONT Batchelder further tells us that the road was built by General Peter Dudley, who also took care of it for twenty years; and that much team- ing of merchandise and pleasure traveling was done over it until about 1850, when railroad competition reduced the amount seriously. When the " Ideal Tour," from New York, through the Berkshires of Massachusetts to the White Mountains of New Hampshire, was laid out by the Automobile Association, the Peru Turnpike was found to be the most available and easy road by which the Green Mountains could be pierced and it was incorporated into the route. But the delay at the gate, and the imposition of toll at the rate of ten cents a mile so chafed the tourists that an agitation was soon started which was destined to seal the fate of the turnpike. The Rutland (Vermont) Herald said of this road, in January, 19 14, By actual count there are 143 water bars on the six miles of road, mostly of the " comb " type, on which the low cars of recent years frequently become stalled. Many of the tourists after their first trip over the turnpike have carried from Man- chester, short pieces of heavy plank with which to bridge the trenches in front of the water bars. Aided by the protests of the automobile tourists, the local representa- tives succeeded in getting through the legislature of 19 13 a bill designed to free the Peru Turnpike. By this act the state highway commissioner was authorized to purchase the road, or to assist the towns in which it lay to acquire the same by condemnation. Or failing to secure satis- factory terms from the corporation, the commissioner was to be allowed to use the pressure which we have seen applied to the Passumpsic, that is, he was to build a public road parallel to the turnpike and leave the toll road to, its own devices. In September, 1913, the author had the experience of passing over this turnpike, and of paying toll of fifty cents at the gate, a photograph of which he made at the time. The trip over the road is sufficiently described by the photographs which are here reproduced. None of the turnpike was ever built within the town of Manchester. It commenced at the line between that town and Winhall, near where the gate stood, and ran thence northeasterly across the corner of the latter town and into Peru, a length of about six miles. About a mile from the easterly end, the road to South Londonderry branches off, and nearly half the turnpike travel takes that road, making only five miles of turnpike used. Very early in the year 1914 announcements of the immediate open- ing of the road appeared in various newspapers of New York and New England, but the realization was long in following. Encouraged by the support of the state, the towns of Winhall and Peru entered proceedings in the Bennington county court, for the taking of the road under the right of eminent domain. The commissioners appointed by the court duly held a hearing on the matter and made their report in the [277] THE TURNPIKES OF NEW ENGLAND summer of 191 6, fixing the price to be paid the corporation for the loss of its road with its franchise rights and all its real estate holdings at approximately twenty-two thousand dollars. The report receiving the approval of the court, the turnpike finally became free in the early summer of 19 17. The charter of the Burke Turnpike Company, granted November 9, 181 5, allowed the building of a road thirty miles long, from the Canada line in Holland southerly to Burke Hollow. No evidence has been found that such a road was ever built, but the charter calls for comment on account of its providing that towns along the route might vote to have taxes worked out on the turnpike, in which case those working for that purpose should be exempt from toll. The equity of such a provision is not easily seen. Why should the towns do any work at all on a privately owned road maintained for profit; and why should a man, paying his taxes in labor, receive a premium in the shape of toll exemptions ? THE DANVILLE TURNPIKE We have followed the struggles of the Northern Turnpike Company of Vermont, and noted that it succeeded in building only eight miles of its road. We now find an act, passed November II, 1815, creating the Danville Turnpike Company, reciting that the rights of the Northern had expired, and giving the completed portion of its road to the new corporation. Thus the Danville is the only company which has been found which began its existence with a completed turnpike and a tollgate on it. This road connected the village of Danville with St. Johnsbury Plain, ending near the large scale factory of the Fairbanks Company. By 1833 the company had fallen into bad financial condition, and on October 29 of that year an act was passed by which the corporation was to be dissolved, when it voted to accept the provisions of the act and paid a fine which had been imposed on it for failure to keep its road in proper condition. THE WARREN TURNPIKE The Warren Turnpike Company received its charter November 17, 1825. The route over which this company built its road extended from Sterling and Adams mills in Warren to the " east, north, and south road," passing through Lincoln. The length of the road was eight miles and it seems to have been promptly built, for the company was back at the next session of the legislature asking to have an omission in its rates of toll supplied. This was done by an act which specified that a " person and horse " should pay a toll of six cents. [278] THE TURNPIKES OF VERMONT Easterly from Warren the turnpike followed up the valley of Lincoln Brook to the town line, thence taking a direct line to its terminus in Lincoln. THE SHERBURNE TURNPIKE November 6, 1826, the Sherburne Turnpike Company was formed to build a road over the route which the Woodstock and Rutland had tried to occupy in 1805. The year 1826 was more auspicious evidently, for the Sherburne was built from the " flat on the north side of the Queechy river in Bridgewater," up the river and over the hill, to a junc- tion with the Rutland and Stockbridge in the northwesterly corner of the town of Sherburne. In 1829 an alteration in the rates of toll was pro- vided by legislative act and the coveted privilege of reducing its tolls was bestowed on the company. Toll exemptions were reduced in .1835, and in 1847 't was enacted that certain exemptions on loads of goods should not apply to any loads bought outside of the town of Sherburne. These dates show that this turnpike lived to a voting age, but the date of its becoming free has not been found. THE SEARSBURG TURNPIKE There does not seem to have been room for two companies in the territory granted to the Windham Turnpike Corporation, yet the Sears- burg Turnpike Company was chartered October 28, 1828, to build from the east line of Searsburg to the east line of Bennington. Nor are there evidences on the map that two turnpikes ever were built, and the only explanation seems to be that the Windham Company had allowed its road to become impassable and had abandoned it, and that the new company was formed to recover the road and put it into a satisfactory state of repair. But that must have been a hard job, for they had to ask the legislature of 1831 for an extension of one year on their time limit, within which additional time the road was completed. That it was operated for at least thirty years is seen from the act of November 2, i860, in which the portion in Bennington and in the westerly part of Woodford was made free. Apparently the Searsburg, at some period, was a plank road, for the company is named in an act of 1852 as the Searsburg Plank Road Com- pany. A company to build a plank road connecting with the Searsburg Turnpike had been created in 1849, and in 1852 it was allowed to ex- tend its road, section two of the act providing that the Searsburg Plank Road Company might construct and operate such road. THE GOSHEN TURNPIKE A short piece of road to extend from " Blake's furnace in Brandon to Jones' sawmill in Goshen was chartered October 31, 1834, to the [279] THE TURNPIKES OF NEW ENGLAND Goshen Turnpike Company. A slight jolt was given this company the next year by an act which required that the first meeting of the corpora- tion should be held within a year. In 1838, 1840, and 1842, acts were secured extending the time within which the road must be completed, and we are justified in assuming that the turnpike was opened for busi- ness about the end of the year 1842. October 26, 1852, after a scant ten years of life, the company ob» tained legislative authority to assign its stock to the towns involved, and to turn the road over to them whether they wished it or not. The first charter for a plank road in New England was granted November 7, 1849, tc " tne St. Albans and Richford Plank Road Com- pany. This company proposed to build its road from St. Albans Bay to Richford and thence to the Canada line, but no reason has been found to believe it carried out its intentions. THE LAMOILLE COUNTY PLANK ROAD Two days later the Lamoille County Plank Road Company was granted a charter to build from Waterbury Street through Stowe and Morristown to Hyde Park, and the road of this company seems to have been the first plank road in New England, unless the Searsburg Turn- pike had changed over before that date. A peculiar privilege, noted in connection with several Vermont turn- pikes, was granted to this company in 1858, when it was authorized " to survey its road." That this was not a preliminary to construction is seen by the act further providing penalties unless needed repairs were made. Probably the intention was to allow a relocation, but it seems worthy of note that such a simple piece of business was regarded as out- side of the rights and privileges granted to turnpike companies, and only to be done after legislative permission had been secured. The same act abundantly testifies that the business of a plank road had not been remunerative, and that the materials of construction were too short-lived for road purposes. In it the company was forbidden to collect tolls after fifteen days from the passage of the act, unless the road was repaired and kept " to the satisfaction of Hon. Thomas Gleed of Morristown, whose decision shall be final." It is refreshing to note that the honorable gentleman's name is spelled with an " 1 " and not with an " r," for the opportunities for graft thus conferred upon him were limited only by the gross earnings of the road. A notable change in the manner of chartering corporations is found in the charter of the Bellwater Plank Road Company, which was granted November 13, 1849. Here we see the first attempt to regulate the issue of stock, the shares being fixed at a value of fifty dollars and established as personal property, while the total capital was fixed, elas- [280] THE TURNPIKES OF VERMONT tically, at ten thousand dollars, which might be increased " to any neces- sary amount." A further advance was made in allowing the company to fix its own rate of tolls, subject to reduction by proper authority if it appeared that over ten per cent was being earned. Except for the above items we would not give space to this company, for we have not learned that such a road was ever built. THE GLASTONBURY PLANK ROAD The Glastonbury Plank Road Company, created November 13, 1849, was the one which we have already noted as having been absorbed by the Searsburg Company. Its road was to extend from the Searsburg Turn- pike, in Woodford, to the westerly line of the town of Somerset, pass- ing diagonally across the town of Glastonbury. The prospect must have been discouraging, for two years later the company appealed to the legislature and secured an extension of four years on its time limit. It must have been soon after this that the management of the Searsburg became interested and built the road, for the act of October 26, 1852, shows that the Glastonbury had been finished, and that an extension was then allowed from its eastern terminus, through Somerset to the Sears- burg Turnpike near Doane's Mills in Searsburg. THE VERGENNES AND BRISTOL PLANK ROAD The Vergennes and Bristol Plank Road Company received its fran- chise November 9, 1850, and, without asking any extensions of its time limit, built its turnpike between the places named. Nine years later the company was released from all obligation to keep its road planked but, instead, was allowed to " construct and repair their road with earth and gravel in the usual manner of constructing and repairing turnpike roads." This is interesting on account of the information regarding the life and durability of plank roads and the comparative expense of con- struction and maintenance. Here we have a plank road played out at the end of nine years, including the time spent in construction, and the proprietors convinced that the common dirt road is better and cheaper. That there was not travel enough over the road to pay for its upkeep is plainly to be seen, so we are left to conclude that decay was a promi- nent factor in its destruction. But the receipts from tolls were not sufficient to pay for a common dirt road, and in 1861 the company was allowed to surrender its charter and its turnpike. Previous to 1850 all turnpike corporations had been formed by en- acting that certain designated persons should form the corporation, but the charter of the Danville and Passumpsic Plank Road Company, en- acted November 13, 1850, followed a new line of its own. [281] THE TURNPIKES OF NEW ENGLAND Such persons as shall hereafter become Stockholders of said company are hereby constituted a body corporate by the name of . . . was the wording of its opening section. This company was to build from Danville to the Connecticut and Passumpsic Rivers Railroad near the McLaren place in Barnet, but a later act, passed in 1851, gave it an optional terminus in St. Johnsbury. McLaren was the early name of the village of East Barnet, at the station of Inwood on the railroad. What encouragement the promoters of this scheme could find is hard to see. Seventeen years before, the Danville Turnpike had been aban- doned after a disheartening struggle to maintain a road over the identi- cal route allowed by the supplemental act, and we can only conclude that the promoters reasoned that times had improved with the advent of the railroad, and that such a road would pay as a feeder to the larger means of transportation. But if they did so reason they failed to con- vince others, and their scheme passed into the inactive list. THE MOUNT MANSFIELD TURNPIKE Three attempts to climb Mount Mansfield are next noted. The Cambridge-Mount Mansfield Turnpike Road Company, created Oc- tober 27, 1866, calls for comment on account of its location requirement being diametrically opposite the usual conception in the minds of turn- pike promoters. It was to build from the residence of Edward Hanley in Cambridge, . . . on a zig xag line to the " Lake of the Clouds " so called, near that part of Mount Mansfield, known as the " Chin." This company was to be allowed to locate its own gates and deter- mine for itself its rates of toll, but even that privilege did not enable it to build. November 23, 1874, a duplicate of the charter was enacted, only this time the road was to commence at the residence of the " Widow Charles Gallup," and the stockholders were made liable for all debts in excess of one half the paid-in capital. The other attempt was made from the other side, " The Mount Mansfield Hotel Company at Stowe and such persons as may become stockholders " being incorporated as the Mount Mansfield Turnpike Company November 20, 1867. This company, under its franchise to build from " near the Half Way House in Stowe to the Summit House, in such a line as the said stockholders may determine," constructed five miles of mountain- climbing road up the valley of the west branch, and ending on the sum- mit. This road forms a branch of the well-known " Smugglers' Notch Road " and is reached by turning to the northwest about a mile north- erly from Stowe Center on the main road between Waterbury and Morristown. The Turnpike is now maintained, and tolls collected, by the management of the Summit House. In this company, also, the directors and stockholders were liable for [282] THE TURNPIKES OF VERMONT debts in excess of half the paid-in capital. The management was allowed to pick the location of its gates, but the rates of toll were to be fixed by the assistant judges of the county court. The last turnpike charter granted in Vermont was enacted by the legislature November 18, 1892, when the Elmore Pond Turnpike and Building Company was created. It may be objected that this was not a real turnpike company, for really that purpose seems to have been but a side issue, but the turnpike franchise is there. The purpose of the company seems to have been the development of the land around Elmore Pond, and the consequent sales, and for that purpose it proposed to construct a turnpike around the pond and to the summit of Elmore Mountain. It is amusing to note that the charter allows the building of a turnpike but does not provide that the company may operate it when built; and that it was authorized to vote to erect tollgates, but had no authority to so erect them nor to collect toll at them. While a road was very likely built, it is extremely doubtful if it ever was operated as a turnpike, for it would have been folly for anyone seeking to develop land to thus handicap his purpose. In addition to the fifty-three companies whose doings we have at- tempted to chronicle, the following thirty-eight corporations, of which we have learned nothing yet, were incorporated by the Vermont legislature : 1803 Stamford Readsboro, through Stamford to the Massachusetts line. 1804 Caledonia Newbury to Danville. 1807 Chelsea Chelsea to Barre. 181 1 Orange and Corinth Through Corinth to Connecticut River. 1813 Bridport Bridport to Vergennes. Burlington Vergennes to Burlington. 1 81 4 Barre End of Winooski to Williamstown. Panton East and west across Panton. Memphremagog Lyndon Corner to Narrows of lake. 1 81 5 Mansfield Cambridge to Stowe. Benson Massachusetts line to Fairhaven. West River Townshend to Winhall. Putney Through Putney and Brookline to Newfane. 1818 Tinmouth West end of Green Mountain Turn- pike to Middleton. 1822 Winhall From Peru Turnpike into Winhall. 1823 Jamaica Jamaica to Winhall. 1826 Ore-bed Somerset to Glastonbury. Ripton From the Green Mountain in Rip- ton, to the Warren Turnpike. 1833 Pownal McAdam Southeasterly across Pownal. Readsboro Woodford City to Whitingham. 1835 Lincoln Lincoln to Granville. Huntington Bristol to Huntington. [283] THE TURNPIKES OF NEW ENGLAND 1841 Willoughby Lake Through Westmore. Readsboro and Woodford Through those towns. 1842 Branch Danby to Mount Tabor. 1849 Montpelier and Lamoille Plank . . Montpelier to Lamoille Valley. 1850 Shelburne and Hinesburg Between those towns. Williston Williston to Burlington. Williston and Jericho Plank .... Between those towns. Georgia and Johnson " Hinesburg and Burlington " " 1 85 1 St. Albans and Bakersfield Plank . . Stamford and Readsboro " . . Through " 1852 Rutland and Chittendon Plank . . . Between " " 1853 Forestdale Plank Brandon to Forestdale. i860 Fayston Fayston to Bristol. 1865 Bakersfield and Waterville .... Between those towns. 1874 Notch Stowe to Underhill. [284] THE TURNPIKES OF RHODE ISLAND »*-k m bbOAIOtMC ^-\^sj XS "*> c I *<£ (V cu - I.. T ^A - ^fr- **^AT c^^> Q m z 5 1 NH en 3« z mm z w < U Hi 1 tf fi 1 3 o o^ H EC c s OD > u Urn '& S\-; i j.0 \ s U«M to X H a p >" > TO / THE TURNPIKES OF RHODE ISLAND THE first turnpike corporation in New England was created by the general assembly of Rhode Island at the February ses- sion in 1794. As in other states, the first charter has been found to be a pretty accurate forerunner of the later ones, and the following notes are given to show the usual practice in that state." The capital stock, number, and par value of the shares was fixed in the act of incorporation (fifty shares at one hundred dollars each for the first corporation), and each share of stock carried one vote at all meetings at which its holder was present. The time and place for hold- ing the annual meeting was specified, and provision made for calling and holding special meetings. The number necessary to constitute a quorum was established but the corporation was otherwise allowed to determine its own by-laws. The corporation was authorized to " ac- quire and convey " a limited amount of land, the quantity being evi- dently sufficient to provide for the roadway and grounds for the toll- houses and all kinds of personal property. Rates of toll were allowed as follows : Cents A waggon, Cart, or Ox-sled Team, not exceeding Four Cattle .... 12^ A Team of more than Four Cattle 15 A Sleigh with more than One Horse 12I4 A One Horse Sleigh 6 A Coach, Chariot, or Phaeton 4° A Chaise, Chair, or Sulkey 20 A Horse and Horse Cart 6 A Person and Horse 6 Horses or Mules in Droves, per head 2 Neat Cattle in Droves, per head I Swine in Droves, for every Fifteen 10 For any less Number than Fifteen, each 1 Sheep and Store Shoats, each Vi Exemptions from toll were allowed thus: And that Foot Passengers be not liable to any toll nor nigh Inhabitants passing on said Turnpike Road, for the purposes of attending public Worship, Funerals, Town- meetings, or other Town Business, or going to and from Mills, or for the Purposes of Husbandry. " To ascertain the Produce of the said Toll, a fair account shall be kept," which account was to be open at any time for the inspection of any committee which the general assembly might appoint. The obligation of the corporation to maintain its road was plainly [287] THE TURNPIKES OF NEW ENGLAND stated, but it seems that the act provided that the road might be aban- doned whenever the company desired. Witness: And it is further Enacted by the Authority aforesaid, That the said Corporation shall at all times keep the said Turnpike Road in good Repair, at the proper expense of the said Corporation, and their Successors and Assigns, for so long Time as they shall collect and receive the aforesaid Toll. The usual clause appears providing that when the original invest- ment, plus twelve per cent, had been repaid the road should become public property. As in New Hampshire, nearly every petty detail was the subject of a special legislative act, and the Rhode Island General Statutes, com- piled in 1857, contained but one chapter of four sections on the subject of " Turnpikes and Toll Bridges." It was provided that corporations of that nature could not hold land for any purpose other than that contemplated by the original charter, or amendments thereto. A justice of the supreme court, could, upon complaint of a road being in bad order, cause the gates to be opened and to remain open until the road was repaired to his satisfaction. The third section merely reiterated the provision in most of the charters that an account of tolls was to be kept and held open to the inspection of any committee of the general assembly, and section four put it up to the toll gatherer to behave him- self, by making him liable to damages if he demanded toll in excess of that legally allowed. For the first offense the complainant might re- cover from two to five dollars, while subsequent attempts at extortion were to be followed by a twenty-dollar penalty. In the revision of 1872 the same four sections appeared, with three additional ones, which provided that any corporation could sell its road to any town traversed by it on mutually agreed terms. Owners of land adjoining the turnpike were to be notified and a hearing given, after which the road might become a part of the public system and the corporation be relieved from responsibility for its maintenance. Such money as the corporation received was first to be applied in settlement of its debts. The turnpike movement in Rhode Island increased rapidly, and by the year 1820 the state was crisscrossed with such roads, the town of Providence being a veritable turnpike center. Few companies were allowed to build within the town limits of Providence, nearly all being obliged to terminate their roads at the boundary. A map of " Greater Providence " in 19 16 is here reproduced, on which are shown the vari- ous turnpikes which entered that section, only three of which, the branch of the Providence and Douglas, the Pawtuxet, and the Pawtucket and Providence East, were allowed to build within the town limits. Special pains have been taken to show the termination of each of the others at what was then the boundary line of the town, and the map is further interesting for showing what a mere nucleus of the present great city the town of 1820 was. [288] THE TURNPIKES OF RHODE ISLAND The early Rhode Island incorporations allowed the created companies to take over and repair existing roads, after which the investors were to recoup themselves by collecting tolls, but we soon find corporations char- tered for the purpose of building entirely new thoroughfares. The number of gates at which toll was to be collected was specified in the charters, but the location of such gatesi was left to the discretion of the companies, subject sometimes to restrictions within a certain number of miles. ' Persons desiring the privilege of building turnpike roads made peti- tion for a charter to the general assembly, which petition was invari- ably referred to the next session, with an order to advertise giving notice to all parties interested. At the same time a committee would be ap- pointed by the assembly to view the route proposed and report on the same, such committee being usually instructed to present a " plat " to illustrate its report. Many more petitions have been found in the legis- lative records than acts of incorporation, which may indicate that the general assembly weeded out the unnecessary schemes. Late in the sixties the people became restless under the imposition of tolls on certain of the roads over which they had to travel, a feeling which we find reflected in the legislative acts at that time. A joint special committee, which had been appointed to make an investigation of the toll bridges and turnpikes of the state and to devise some method by which all could be freed, made its report to the May session of 1870. This committee had found two toll bridges and six turnpikes, and its report was little more than a tabulation of such with a few comments on each. In conclusion, inability to formulate any plan by which the roads and bridges could be made free was confessed. In January, 1871, Edward Darling was elected commissioner of turnpikes under authority of an act passed a few days earlier by which such an office was created. His term of office was one year and his duties were to annually examine each turnpike and order such repairs as he found necessary. If the corporation failed to obey the orders of the commissioner, he was authorized to use the familiar weapon of opening the gate for free passage of all. If that persuasion failed for three years the road thereupon was to become forever free. Annual reports were required but only one appears to have been made. That was submitted to the general assembly at its January session in 1872 and reported five turnpikes, on all of which repairs had been ordered. The commissioner hoped that all those roads would have become free before he fell under the necessity of writing another report. The comments of the commissioner and of the special committee on the respective roads will be mentioned in connection with each road later. Every Rhode Island turnpike was established on the American prin- ciple of private investment, but a precedent must have been derived from the English turnpike trust system when the assembly enacted that [289] THE TURNPIKES OF NEW ENGLAND the inability of the Proprietors of the Providence and NorwichTurnpike to keep their road in repair should be met by an obligation imposed upon the towns to expend money and labor on that road. This will be mentioned at greater length later. THE WEST GLOCESTER TURNPIKE The official name of the corporation by which this road was operated for many years was " The Society for establishing and supporting a Turnpike Road from Cepatchit Bridge in Glocester, to Connecticut Line," but the road was generally known as above indicated. The corporation was created at the February session of the general as- sembly in 1794, and was the first turnpike corporation formed in New England. For a year or two prior to the incorporation of this company, the old Mohegan Road from New London to Norwich, and the section in Greenwich, Connecticut, of the New York Post Road, had been operated as toll roads, but not by incorporated companies. Commis- sioners had been appointed to manage such roads in behalf of the coun- ties within which they were located, and the receipts from tolls were used entirely on repairs of the road. Hence the West Glocester Turn- pike was the first of what we have chosen to call " commercial turn- pikes " in New England. The charter allowed the company to build its road from Cepatchit Bridge in Glocester to Connecticut Line, on the great Road lead- ing from Providence to Killingly. One gate was allowed at any place within four miles of the Connecticut line. In the petition for a charter the subscribers had set forth that they had subscribed eight hundred and fifty pounds for the purpose of re- pairing the road which they desired for their turnpike, one hundred and fifty pounds for repairing the road toward Providence from " Cepatchit Bridge," and various stated sums for repairs on other connecting roads in Massachusetts and Connecticut, as well as in Rhode Island. So the total of the sums subscribed was made the amount of the capital stock of the company, and the amount which was to be earned, with twelve- per-cent interest, before the road was to become free. Work must have been commenced promptly, for the company appeared at the October session in the same year, stating that its original estimate of eight hun- dred and fifty pounds was not sufficient to accomplish the necessary repairs on the old road, and asking that it might expend an additional one hundred and fifty, the same to be included in the amount for which reimbursement was to be allowed. This was granted by an act passed at the same session. In February, 1800, this company made a rather comprehensive and amusing petition. Strange to say, differences of opinion had arisen with [ago] Plate LXXIV In North Central Gloucester Entering Chepachet from the west Chepachet, R. I. Plate LXXV — -West Glocester Turnpike THE TURNPIKES OF RHODE ISLAND the assessors of taxes for the town of Gloucester, and the turnpike corporation appealed to the general assembly to enact that its capital stock, land, and buildings be exempted from taxation and relieved from past assessments. Either for the sake of getting good measure or to befog the issue, it was further asked that the toll gatherer of the com- pany should be allowed to sell intoxicating liquors without the formality of obtaining a license; and the trivial privilege of holding the cor- poration meetings in the tollhouse was solicited. Evidently the forces of temperance were on the alert, for all that was granted of the prayer was that meetings might be held in the tollhouse, and that Gloucester should not tax any shares of stock owned by residents of other towns. The length of the road operated by this corporation was about seven miles, so the thousand pounds which we have seen available for its repair spread out about seven hundred dollars a mile, which we have seen was sufficient to build certain of the Massachusetts roads of a simi- lar grade. But an insufficient sort of work must have been accomplished on this Rhode Island road, for after the company had had it under its control for six years, a committee of the general assembly, appointed for the purpose of examining the road, reported that it had been found " in very bad order," but that the necessary repairs had been made. Again, in 1817, complaint was made of the condition of the turnpike, which had been bad for several years. Very little has been found in local Rhode Island histories on the sub- ject of turnpikes, and only two of the books consulted are free from .serious errors. A historian of Gloucester speaks of the tavern kept by Hezekiah Cady, in the west part of that town, and says that a tollgate stood opposite it. As Colonel Joseph Cady lived on the West Gloces- ter Turnpike, about two miles from the Connecticut line, in 1815, it seems probable that the gate in question was located on that turnpike. Only one other turnpike was ever built in the west part of Gloucester, and that was so close to the line of Foster that it was not known to be in the former town until steps had been taken to make the road free in 1875. The joint committee of the general assembly, reporting at the May session of 1870, had found the West Glocester Turnpike in good con- dition, but no dividends had been declared for three years and the re- ceipts were not exceeding the expenditures. In spite of such a discourag- ing situation the corporation continued to operate its road for another eighteen years. At the May session of 1888 nine hundred dollars of the state's money was appropriated to compensate the town of Gloucester for assuming the care and responsibility of the turnpike, which was thereby declared free. The corporation received nothing beyond the relief from obliga- tion to maintain the road and thus closed its ninety-four years of corporate existence. [291] THE TURNPIKES OF NEW ENGLAND THE PROVIDENCE TO NORWICH TURNPIKE The old Post Road between Boston and New York, passed through Providence and then followed the old Pequot Path which ran along practically the lines of the present Weybosset and Broad streets, through East Greenwich and over Kingston Hill, to Westerly, where it crossed the Pawcatuck River into Connecticut, and continued thence to the ferry at New London. That ferry, being of great width, must have been a serious obstacle in the days when a canoe was all the business demanded, and by the beginning of the eighteenth century complaints were freely made of its inconvenience. In 171 1 the general assembly of Rhode Island ordered that a road should be laid out and built from Providence to the state line in the proper direction for Norwich, Con- necticut, the intention being to reach the head of the Thames River, where it could be more easily crossed than' at New London. The Connecticut general assembly passed a similar order at its October 'session in 171 2, and the road throughout was completed in 1714, being provided with a " safe and sufficient bridge " at the point where the Moosup had previously been forded. The road thus built was a portion of the route over which the mail riders, at the close of the Revolutionary War, were able to average only about forty miles a day in the best season, so it is not surprising that this main line of travel was the sub- ject of early efforts at improvement. In October, 1794, action for that end was taken in both Rhode Island and Connecticut, the latter state endeavoring to establish a tollgate on the Post Road, with nominal tolls, the entire receipts to be expended for repairs on the road. In the same month the Rhode Island general assembly incorporated " The Providence and Norwich Society for establishing a turnpike-road from Providence to Connecticut line, through Johnston, Scituate, Foster, and Coventry." This corporation was allowed to take over the Post Road as far as the Connecticut line and, when it had expended eighteen hundred pounds in repairing and improving the road, it was to be allowed to erect its tollgate at any place within nine miles of the Connecticut boundary, and to proceed with the collection of tolls. By an act of the January ses- sion of 1795 the location of the gate was permitted two miles nearer Providence. A curious situation developed at the January session in 1798, when certain citizens resident along the Post Road recited their grievances. Prior to the acquisition of the road by the turnpike company those citi- zens had " worked out their taxes " on the town highways, and a reason- able proportion of their labor had been expended on the road which was most used by them. Now that the corporation was responsible for the maintenance of the road the town's energies were entirely given to other sections and, the turnpike company neglecting to properly fulfill [292] St- ^ en ♦J < a w W a ■ 3 OS E- 3 £ > O Q Oh < E S 3 y B" B .s < F o. M z M 9 |h Z H a 3 £ H 3 u 8 13 F a w 0) u u * u fcd *o o i ^ 3 o R £ < o fcf^ Oh S ^ Z l-> £ 3 - w < i i c w > i .9 u « Z •5 > i- o •§.2 o 2 n X Z Oh K Oh Approaching Wawaloam Lake from the east Between Chepachet and Harmony Wawaloam Lake from the west Plate LXXVII — Glocester Turnpike THE TURNPIKES OF RHODE ISLAND its duties, the road and the abutting owners suffered accordingly. Therefore those citizens, having in mind the English turnpike trusts which, failing to properly maintain their roads, devised their obligations to the municipalities, petitioned that the towns of Johnston and Crans- ton might be obliged to include their portion of the Providence and Norwich Turnpike as a road district and keep it in repair. This petition was twice referred, and it was two years before action was finally taken upon it. Then in February, 1800, it was enacted: That the Town Councils and Surveyors of the towns of Johnston and Cranston be and they are hereby directed to cause a just proportion of highway taxes and highway labour to be expended and done in and upon the said turnpike road, by the inhabi- tants living upon or near the same, who usually paid taxes or laboured upon the said road before the charter of incorporation was granted to the turnpike company. Upon first thought such a law seems to be most unjust as apparently it imposed the burden upon the two towns named of maintaining a high- way for the use of which their citizens were obliged to pay toll, but upon second consideration the reader will remember that only one toll- gate was allowed on this road, and that at a considerable distance west of either of the towns named. As the greater part of the travel over the road in Johnston and Cranston, by the citizens of those towns, was to and from Providence, it is seen that in reality such citizens had the free use of the road while contributing largely to its destruction. But the fact that the road was owned by a corporation which was supposed to be deriving revenue therefrom was a point not to be over- come, and the law remained upon the statute books only one year. The two towns concerned entered their remonstrance at the next October session, and the act was repealed in the following February. For two years longer the corporation struggled along and in October, 1803, secured the passage of an act by which it was allowed to raise ten thousand dollars by a lottery, the proceeds " to be laid out and expended in the repairing and amending the turnpike-road of said society." Three managers for this lottery were appointed and, since the state stood sponsor for the scheme, they were to give bonds with sureties to the satisfaction of the general treasurer. Originally the company was allowed one gate within nine miles of the state line. This was changed so that the gate might be anywhere within eleven miles of that boundary, and again to make the eastern limit fourteen miles away. In February, 1805, the western gate was placed within five miles of Connecticut's jurisdiction, and another gate was allowed within eight miles of the bridge in Providence when the road was properly repaired. Many other acts have been found making changes in the manner of holding meetings, altering locations of the gates, and revising the location of the road, until, in 1841, the name was changed, or perhaps it is better to say abbreviated, to " The Providence and Norwich Turnpike Society," and the charter generally revamped to match thooe issued to later companies. [293] THE TURNPIKES OF NEW ENGLAND The portion of the road lying within the town of Johnston was deeded to that town by the corporation on August 27, 1852, but the town apparently did not appreciate the gift, as its acceptance did not materialize until September 9, 1865, over thirteen years later. Scituate accepted the deed of the portion within its territory in 1866. A petition was made in January, 1857, that the charter of the company might be annulled and, although no action was taken on the petition, it seems that the whole road was given up to the public about that time or soon after. In any case none of it was found in operation as a toll road by the com- mittee of 1870. The road which we have been considering commenced at the westerly line of Providence, at the present corner of Westminster and Stokes streets in Olneyville, and followed southwesterly along the present lines of Plainfield Street westerly, forming the boundary between Johnston and Cranston, to South Scituate and Richmond. Thence it bore south- westerly again, crossing corners of Foster and Coventry, and entered Connecticut near the little village of Oneco. The length in Rhode Island was about twenty-one miles, and its con- tinuation to Norwich added about nineteen miles more. The Proprietors of the Providence and Boston Turnpike Road were next incorporated at the October session of 1800. This company never built its road, the contemplated service being rendered a few years later by a Massachusetts company, the Norfolk and Bristol. The charter of the Providence and Boston calls for a passing notice, however, on account of its utter disregard of the state boundary, the corporation being authorized to build and operate its road within the state of Mas- sachusetts as far as a point one mile from the Wrentham meeting-house. THE RHODE ISLAND AND CONNECTICUT TURNPIKE This road formed the direct connection between Providence and Hartford, and it was quite often called the " Hartford Turnpike." The petition for a charter was made to the assembly at the May session of 1802, and asked the franchise to build a turnpike from tar bridge (so called) near Colonel Christopher Olney's, in Providence, by the south end of Moshanticutt pond . . . and on the direct^/ rou< to the northerly part of John Colwill's hill in Foster and from thence on the most direct rout to Connecticut line. The petitioners stated that they were willing to spend fifteen thousand dollars on the construction of the road in return for the privilege of collecting tolls. Tar Bridge was the name given to the bridge over the Woonasqua- tucket River where Manton Avenue now crosses, and the reference to Colonel Olney's place suggests the origin of the name of the Olneyville section of Providence. [294] THE TURNPIKES OF RHODE ISLAND The charter was granted in February, 1803, and gave the corpora- tion the imposing name of " The Rhode Island and Connecticut Society for establishing a turnpike-road from or near the west line of the town of Providence to Connecticut line, through Johnston, Scituate, and Foster." Fortunately for the treasurer national banks had not then been established, so he was not obliged to sign that name to checks. It was provided that, when the company had expended the stated sum of fifteen thousand dollars, it might erect two gates and proceed with the collection of tolls. Apparently the promoters had not waited for the formality of being incorporated but had gone ahead with the preliminaries for opening their road, for the next act passed by the assembly, after that of in- corporation, provided for the appointment of a committee to appraise the damages on land where the company's agents had not been able to make an agreement, and empowered such committee to give possession to the corporation after payment or tender of the award. A complete report of the location and of the awards of damages was rendered in October, 1804, from which it is seen that the road commenced in Providence at a point on the Providence and Norwich Turnpike. Damages had been awarded to twenty-one owners with a total of twelve hundred and sixty-one dollars. In 1805 an extension of two years was granted on the time within which the road must be completed, as the corporation had been unable to finish within the required limit. Proceedings were commenced in the next year, 1806, for carrying the turnpike through to a connection with the Boston Turnpike over which connection with Hartford was to be had. In that year the Connecticut and Rhode Island Turnpike Company was created by the Connecticut legislature to connect with the Rhode Island company's road at the state line, and to build through Killingly, Pomfret, and Ashford. Evidently these two corporations were really one, but the distinction between states was more sharply drawn than in the case of the Providence and Boston, which we have just noticed. It is clear that both roads were under one management in 1816, for permission was then obtained to treat the two roads as one and to locate a gate in Connecticut at which collections would be made for the use of the westerly miles of the Rhode Island road. The Connecticut section of the road was made free about 1840, but the remainder continued under the imposition of tolls for another thirty-one years. The management of this road offered to sell, through the joint com- mittee of 1 87 1, all the property and franchise of the corporation for two thousand dollars. The road was reported to be in good condition, and the gross receipts were stated to be about twelve hundred dollars per annum. The report of the turnpike commissioner, which was made to the general assembly a year and a half later, stated that he had found the road very bad and had ordered repairs. But the assembly had [295] THE TURNPIKES OF NEW ENGLAND enacted that the road should be free, and the towns were then engaged in the necessary work. In May, 1 871, such action had been taken by the assembly. Five hundred dollars was awarded to the corporation, and one thousand to be divided proportionally between the towns of Johnston, Scituate, and Foster, provided the terms were accepted by all interests. The terms were accepted and the road became free, but soon a peculiar fact was brought to light. The course of the road across the town of Foster had borne a little too far to the north, and for about a mile it lay just over the boundary line and in the town of Gloucester. Now that town had not been consulted, and its citizens showed no avidity to take over and maintain a mile of road that was hardly in the town at all, so an act was passed in 1875 appropriating two hundred dollars to be paid to Glouces- ter if it would accept the road. But the town still held off and in May of the same year the two hundred dollars was raised to five hundred, to which the town agreed. This turnpike commenced in Providence at the present corner of Hartford Avenue and Plainfield Street, the latter being the old Provi- dence and Norwich Turnpike. Hartford Avenue was the old Rhode Island and Connecticut Turnpike, which crossed the town of Johnston, passing through Pocasset and Elmdale in Scituate, and entered the town of Killingly, Connecticut, about a half mile south of Killingly Pond. " The Proprietors of the Greenwich Turnpike-Road " were incorpo- rated at the February session of 1803 to build from the compact part of the town of East Greenwich, Westwardly through East Green- wich, West Greenwich, and Coventry, towards Sterling, as far Westward as the boundary line of this state, upon the present road leading from said East Greenwich to Sterling. No other acts have been found referring to this proposition, and since any business at all seemed to require frequent calls upon the law- makers for permission to do one little thing or another, and further, since we can find no road on the map which follows the route described with any appearance of turnpike requirements, we are led to believe that this company never fulfilled its expectations. THE GLOCESTER TURNPIKE The first wagon which reached Providence from Connecticut by any road north of the Norwich Post Road arrived in that town in Septem- ber, 1722, and so poor were all the northern roads for many years after, that, it is said, one traveler between Providence and Pomfret, in 1776, consumed two days in covering the necessary thirty-six miles. The route followed was probably over the old Killingly road, a part of which we have already seen improved under the name of West Glocester Turn- pike. A farther section of that road is now in line for development. [296] THE TURNPIKES OF RHODE ISLAND " The Glocester Turnpike Company in the State of Rhode Island and Providence Plantations," was created at the June session of the general assembly in 1804, and was given the old road through John- ston, Smithfield, and Gloucester, ending at Chepachet Bridge, a length of seven miles. The corporation was to be allowed to straighten the road, if it could purchase the necessary land, but was required to keep the location to the southwest of Chestnut-Oak Hill. This company seems to have had an uneventful, although long career. Unlike most of the others it bothered the general assembly very little, only three acts being found subsequent to that of incorporation. Miss Perry's " History of Gloucester " notes the location of the gate opposite the tavern of Richard Aldrich in the eastern part of the town, although she erroneously attributes the toll collecting to a turnpike corporation which did not carry out its plans and which was not authorized to build in that end of Gloucester. There was no other turnpike than the Glocester which could have had a gate in that section. The road evi- dently appeared to be prosperous, for a petition was made in 1837 to have the corporation accounts examined to see if the collections had not repaid the original investment with interest. Commencing in 1839 the gate was leased for a fixed price per annum, the lessee to have the gross collections for his own. The committee of 1870 found this practice in force and reported that, for the year 1869, the gate had been leased for the sum of thirteen hundred dollars, from which the net receipts had been four hundred. The business done in 1869 had enabled the corporation to finally pay its last debts and declare a dividend of six per cent, which excellent showing caused the stock to be held at thirty-five dollars a share. The committee found the road in good condition, but the town was averse to assuming its maintenance, which later events make us suspect was a matter of business shrewdness rather than satisfaction with turnpike conditions. When the town did finally assume the care of the three roads within its limits, it was paid a goodly sum by the state for so doing. The commissioner, in 1 871, deemed it necessary to order re- pairs to be made on this road. At the May session of 1888, fifteen hundred dollars was appro- priated to make the Glocester Turnpike a free public road, three hun- dred and seventy-five going to the town of Smithfield and eleven hun- dred and twenty-five to Gloucester, the corporation getting nothing. The Glocester Turnpike extended from the village of Greenville in the town of Smithfield, northwesterly through Harmony, to the east- erly end of the West Glocester Turnpike at Chepachet Bridge. Al- drich's Tavern must have been in Harmony, if Miss Perry's story of the gate is well founded, for there the sign giving rates of toll was hung. The same may be seen to-day in the rooms of the Rhode Island His- torical Society in Providence. [297] THE TURNPIKES OF NEW ENGLAND THE RHODE ISLAND TURNPIKE The petition for a charter to build this road was entered with the February session of 1804 and was followed by an amusing method of procedure. At the corresponding session of 1805 an act was passed upon the foregoing petition. First it was voted that a charter, as prayed for, should be granted. The second section provided for appeals from any awards of damages which might be made under authority of the charter which was about to be issued. The third told the expected corporation that, when it had its charter it must not lay out its road through any land for which it had not paid or tendered payment; and the fourth provided that the charter should be void in two years unless utilized. Then, in an entirely separate act, the charter was enacted. Authority was granted to build a road " in Portsmouth, on the island of Rhode Island," and the route was denned as beginning at the fork of the east and west roads near Mr. Job Durfey's, and from thence on a southeasterly course, until it shall meet with the east road near the corner of the orchard late belonging to Mrs. Bathsheba Fish. This corporation bothered the general assembly but little, but signs of life are visible, for it secured an act in 1840 by which its charter was revived. From this it is not to be assumed that the corporation had temporarily given up business, but rather that some trifling formality in the holding of its annual meeting had been omitted. The corporation laws of Rhode Island were so narrow that failure to hold an annual meeting to elect officers has been observed, in another case, as invalidat- ing the charter. According to the index of special laws, William An- thony made some petition regarding this road- in 1853, but the matter referred to could not be found by the pages indicated. However, it seems likely that the road was in operation at as late a date as that. The Rhode Island Turnpike is locally known as such on the island of Rhode Island to-day by the older residents, at least. It commenced near the Bristol Ferry at the northerly end of the island, where the old roads, running up the east and west sides thereof, came together, and from thence it ran southerly and southeasterly, about a mile and three quarters, to a point in the old East Road, now called the Newtown Road, near the present village of Portsmouth. This Bristol Ferry was an ancient institution, being the ferry of which mention was made in an earlier page in quoting an advertisement issued in 1720. It first appears in the Portsmouth records under date of November 1, 1642, when a ferryman was appointed and a " necke of land " was granted to help him eke out a living. [298] THE TURNPIKES OF RHODE ISLAND THE DOUGLAS TURNPIKE The petition for this road was made in October, 1803, but it was not until February, 1805, that the charter was issued. The original name of the corporation was " The Smithfield Turnpike Company " and its authorized route was " from Providence to the line of Massachusetts in the town of Douglas or Uxbridge." Construction evidently pro- ceeded slowly, as the layout and award of damages had not been com- pleted in May, 1807. In that month the corporation made petition to be allowed to build a branch of its turnpike from Providence over common land, by the south-west corner of the North burying ground, from thence north-westerly nearly two miles till it shall open into said turnpike-road as already established. This petition was granted at the June session of 1807 and the work then proceeded promptly. Clearly a better entrance into Providence than that originally laid out was needed to justify the project, and the branch, allowed in 1807, provided it. The first layout began at the North Providence line near Orms Street, and was on the back side of the old Cove, not at all convenient for access from the old compact parts of Providence. At the October session of 1808 the name of the company was changed to " The Providence and Douglas Turnpike Company," and another branch was authorized to be built " near the cotton factory lately erected by Almy and Brown in Smithfield." Under the name of Smithfield the corporation had then opened its road from Providence through North Providence, Smithfield, and Burrillville to " the country road " in Douglas, Massachusetts. Three gates were allowed, but none of them could be placed on any portion of an appropriated old road. Although the road had been completed and was earning money, pay- ments for stock subscriptions were slow in coming in, and in May, 18 10, authority was secured to sell " at public vendue " any shares for which payment had not been made. Although permission to build the branch in Smithfield had been obtained in 1808, nothing was done toward that end until late in 1820, when the assembly appointed a committee to appraise the damages consequent upon the layout. The branch was built within the next nine- teen months but, on account of the long interval between 1808 and 1820, doubts were raised regarding the legality of the proceedings, and legislation was sought to legalize what had been done. Although the layout of the road was made legal it does not seem to have been made satisfactory, for alterations were found necessary within three years. In June, 1839, it was enacted that the gates might be moved to any location the company desired provided ( 1 ) none were placed within a mile and a half of the state house, (2) none on any old road, and (3) [299] THE TURNPIKES OF NEW ENGLAND none within four miles of another. Three whole or six half-gates were allowed to be placed on the main road and one whole or its equivalent in half-gates could bar travel on the Slater branch. The main road of this corporation commenced at the present corner of Douglas Avenue and Goddard Street in what was then North Provi- dence, and ran thence northwesterly, following the lines of Douglas Avenue and continuing in a course easily picked out on the map by its straightness, through Smithfield, North Smithfield, and the northwest corner of Burrillville, to the Massachusetts line in Uxbridge, at which point it joined the road of the Douglas, Sutton, and Oxford Turnpike Corporation in Massachusetts. The branch provided for by the act of 1807 was the present Branch Avenue in Providence, while the branch built in 1820-21 left the main road at the village of Smithfield and ran northerly through Primrose to Slatersville. The eight miles of the main road, north of Smithfield Village, was turned over to the public by permission of the assembly in 1845, the remainder of the road continuing in operation for another year. The town council of North Providence laid out the turnpike and its branch as public roads August 24, 1846. A road of earlier date traversed the country covered by the lower section of this turnpike, but the new road, while it seems to have been superimposed for part of the way, left the line of the old road for quite a portion of the distance. Although abandoned many years ago, por- tions of the embankments of the early road still exist in places. In Providence and North Providence this road is to-day a busy street, but northerly to the Massachusetts line it is a sorry old road, except when occasionally a state highway enters it from the northeast and, after following the old turnpike for a short distance, bears off to the southwest. THE LOISQUISSET TURNPIKE Loisquisset was the old Indian name for the region around the vil- lage of Lime Rock in the present town of Lincoln, so it was quite ap- propriate that the turnpike which was to serve that section should bear the name given by the original inhabitants. The Loisquisset Turnpike Company was created by the general assembly at the October session of 1805, and was allowed to take over and improve the old road from " near John Mann's," in Smithfield, to the Providence line. Smithfield, at that date, comprised the whole region on the west bank of the Black- stone River, north of North Providence, but the Loisquisset was in that part which was later set off as the town of Lincoln. By some it is thought that this turnpike reached as far north as Union Village, but the fact that only one full gate was allowed prevents our concluding that a road as long as that was contemplated. Rather, we think the northerly termination was at the village of Lime Rock. [300] c I i 03 w s 5 o & o Q o K < w u W a > O at £ > H JS « X 1-s H fi > H - p 4 J E w 1- •< C\ SO W Terminus at Holden Street, Providence Centerdale, R. I. West of Centerdale Plate LXXIX — Powder Mill Turnpike THE TURNPIKES OF RHODE ISLAND A petition to be allowed to resurvey the limits of the road was made by the company in 1824, in consequence of which an act was passed the following year permitting it to be done. This proceeding was not as trivial as appears at first thought, for the committee appointed to super- vise the work also had authority to make alterations and new locations in the road. It seems that this road bore a heavy traffic in lime from the quarries and kilns at Lime Rock, which was formerly the center of a thriving industry. In 1830 the corporation was allowed to impose extra tolls on loads of lime exceeding a specified weight. The joint committee of 1870 found this road in operation and re- ported that it could be bought for one thousand dollars, adding that negotiations were then under way between the corporation and the town of North Providence for the public opening of the turnpike. In con- sequence thereof the corporation conveyed its road to the town of North Providence on the twenty-ninth of June, 1870, the town having previ- ously voted to accept it if offered. The old turnpike commenced at what was then the town limit of Providence, on the present Charles Street, near the corner of West River Street, and followed northerly along the Charles Street of to-day, and over the continuation thereof, through North Providence and Lin- coln to Lime Rock. JOHN AND PHILIP BROWNS' ROAD Another stupendous name was given to a corporation at the October session of 1806, when " The John and Philip Browns' Road Company, from Massachusetts line, in Glocester, southeasterly to the house of Nathan Williams, passing by the store of Captain William Rhodes," was created. Strange to say the names of John and Philip Brown are not to be found among the incorporators of this company, and we are left to wonder why they were so prominently mentioned. The petition, filed a year earlier, gives the further information that the road was proposed to start at Allum Pond Hill (now Wallum), and was to be six miles long. No further legislation appears in connection with this company and no road is seen on the map which is suggestive of being the result of this company's efforts. Since another company, three years later, sought unsuccessfully to obtain a charter covering the same route, we feel con- vinced that nothing was done under this franchise. One local history has much to tell about Captain William Rhodes, his store, and many of those named in the act of incorporation, but not a word about " The John and Philip Browns' Road Company, from Massachusetts line, in Glocester, southeasterly to the house of Nathan Williams, passing by the store of Captain William Rhodes." In the Massachusetts act which incorporated the Brookfield and [301] THE TURNPIKES OF NEW ENGLAND Charlton Turnpike Corporation, the John and Philip Browns' Road is mentioned in a manner which seems to indicate that the road had been built, but we have observed in other acts a certain confidence in all schemes being carried out, hence we still feel that the Rhode Island road was not built. But the Massachusetts act gives us one interesting point, — Philip Brown's house was in Massachusetts, in Oxford, South Gore. PROVIDENCE AND PAWTUCKET TURNPIKE CORPORATION The road of this corporation served as an important link in a busy line of travel, and it is to-day an interurban avenue teeming with traffic. North Main Street, from the southerly end of the North Burying Ground in Providence, and Pawtucket Avenue in Pawtucket, date from the opening of this road. The petition for incorporation was entered at the October session of 1806, and a committee was at once appointed to view the route. Most expeditiously did the committee work, for its report was made in a very few days, and then the whole matter was referred to the next session, with an order for a public advertisement. In 1807, at the June session, the act of incorporation was passed, giving a franchise from the north line of the town of Providence, near the dwelling-house of the late Jere- miah Dexter, and run from thence northerly, on the east side of the old road, and passing by the westerly end of Jeremiah Sayles' dwelling-house, extend to such part of Pawtucket village as the committee hereinafter named shall direct. The road was to be three rods in width, and it is interesting to note that, while originally the entire length was in the town of North Provi- dence, the nearest point in that town to-day is nearly a mile from the road. This corporation does not appear very frequently on the legislative records, only four acts being passed in relation to it during its twenty- six years of corporate life, two of these being for the purpose of deter- mining if the state would be justified in taking the road, on account of sufficiency in its earnings. In consequence of the two acts just mentioned, another act was passed at the June session in 1833, by which the state asserted its rights, ap- pointed a committee to take possession of the road and all the corpora- tion's property, and to operate the same in behalf of the state. The committee was instructed at the same time to offer the turnpike to the Boston and Providence Railroad Company, which was then in the process of formation, which is interesting as showing the transition from turnpike to railroad, and how people generally regarded the rail- road as merely an improved form of turnpike. But the railroad people fought shy of the alluring morsel, as we learn from the committee's [302] X X X w h < ►J P* s H < SB II 2 S K "3 0* ■^ .- u. 4> w p £ c CO g 2 rf na s g * > •£ D 1'i H § c« Q 1 * u < CO i — i W a o PB 1 1— I 1—1 u X pi M ►J £ u 2 w 3 jt H a< (2 ■" u CO K,S H ARO N / o b J G S \H E / / .3 »/' /TORRI J0^' ^6f 7 -/ U/^VVinsted WARREN N T NEtV \ H* >- !! J %* ',? £?->. ;#* \ M R R ll S k> i v=r i > X^rfftftiroN \ WEST I HARTFORD ! Iharwinton \ ,»sj 1 BETHLEHAMy \u* _ J S Z i o a, I BRISTOL — — \FARM J , I -,-pii^r net New Britain Kz a \ • _!-- ■*4- " L * a z ■ ) BRIDGE^*" R ^ olcottv ? \hington ' ( ->BE \ V 1-6 V ,' D A N B U R Y I too,,-, c V^NAU N_ \PR0SPECT »/ — Middh / / \ ACON/ ■Jet O X FO rd'v U» betmany\ \ , E Y WO U R XJj, J» /' t> /« Vo t.A / A.-^\ \ ' o^<-„l^ fir t * iJY M I L/F R * pridoeporr^ .4 H U O Z < -1 r ^ D 5 o u JV TURNPIKES OF CONNECTICUT SCALE OF MILES T fe\ a g3JiI o Q O z ■< o w a; o w - V*. ■ -' ' 1 . * *1 THE TURNPIKES OF CONNECTICUT in America and the first in New England, on the newly made old road. Tolls were specified in old currency, ninepence being levied on a four- wheeled pleasure carriage, and threepence on a loaded wagon or cart, while a " man and horse " paid only a penny. The proceeds of the tolls were to be devoted to the repair and maintenance of the road, chiefly in the Mohegan Reservation. The road soon became an important thoroughfare and a heavy traffic in cattle and produce passed over it on the way to the deep water docks of New London, there to be shipped abroad. Early repairs seem to have been needed, for we find that the com- missioners had felt obliged to advance from their own funds four hun- dred dollars in addition to the toll collections, and an act in 1805 allowed them to practically double the tolls until they were repaid. The road under charge of the commissioners and subject to toll was extended in 1806 to "Norwich Landing," from a point a little south- erly from "Trading Cove Bridge," and in 1812, to the courthouse in Norwich. In 1824, for some reason, it was enacted that three tenths of the net proceeds of the toll collections at the gate in Montville should be paid to the town of Waterford. By this it need not be inferred that there was more than one gate, for the indications are that there was not. Apparently on account of the strangeness of giving money collected in one town to another, it was made clear that such was the intention. This division continued until about 1837, after which all net proceeds were required to be spent on repairs, chiefly on that part passing through the reservation. The New London, Willimantic, and Palmer Railroad, now the Cen- tral Vermont, opened its iron road parallel to the Mohegan Road in 1849, with the usual result that toll collections ceased soon after. By act of the general assembly the gate was abolished July 3, 1852. About 1900 the Montville Street Railway opened its line between New London and Norwich, following in large part the lines of the old Mohegan Road. The trip over this line has ever since been deservedly popular for, aside from the historic associations, the pilgrim is well repaid with beautiful scenery. The Mohegan Road was never owned by a corporation but was managed throughout by commissioners in the interest of the road itself. In this it stands alone among all early American roads as the only one operated throughout in accordance with the principles established by Charles II, in 1663. THE GREENWICH ROAD In October, 1792, the general assembly established a gate on the " main County or stage road in the town of Greenwich," the same to be erected by commissioners acting in behalf of the county and the pro- [335] THE TURNPIKES OF NEW ENGLAND ceeds to be applied to the maintenance of the road. Thus was created the third tollgate in America. This was an effort to improve the con- ditions which we have already noticed in the New York Advertiser's statement of the road along the Sound being " rough, rocky, and un- comfortable " and often impassable for wheeled vehicles. The road affected was a part of the Old Post Road between Boston and New York, a route which had been in use then for over a century, and which formed a part of the journey of Madam Knight. As nothing was re- quired beyond the erection of the gate, the road already being there, it seems certain that the road promptly became a toll road, although further information has not been found. The Connecticut Turnpike Company, formed in 1806, was a much more extended proposition and was allowed to absorb the Old Post Road and its tollgate, of which more in its turn. THE NEW LONDON AND WINDHAM COUNTY TURNPIKE This road followed the Old Post Road and formed a continuation of the road of the Providence and Norwich Society, etc., of which we have already read as existing in Rhode Island. In the effort to improve the condition of traveling over this route, the Connecticut assembly in October, 1794, at the same time that the Rhode Island corporation was chartered, authorized the county to erect a tollgate on the road, the proceeds from which were to be devoted to the proper maintenance of the highway. But a condition was attached that the gate should not be erected until the road was first put in good repair. That proved too much of a burden and improvements waited until the next spring, when a corporation was formed to do the work. In May, 1795, the New London and Windham County Society re- ceived a franchise to build a turnpike from Norwich to the Rhode Island line, through Norwich, Lisbon, Preston, Plainfield, and Sterling. One gate was allowed within ten miles of Norwich courthouse and another within five miles of the Rhode Island line. That the road was im- proved in reasonably prompt time is seen from the passage of an act, in 1 801, by which changes in the rates of toll were allowed. The New London and Windham County Turnpike evidently started from Norwich and followed up the westerly bank of the Shetucket River as far as the confluence with the Quinebaug, above which it crossed the first-named stream, and on the bridge thus necessitated erected its tollgate. Thence it followed up the valley of the Quinebaug to Plain- field Center, from which place it struck an easterly course and joined the Rhode Island road at what is now Oneco Station on the railroad between Providence and Willimantic. Sometime prior to 1808 the gate near the Rhode Island line was moved to another location without formality and the assembly, at its [336] THE TURNPIKES OF CONNECTICUT October session in 1808, ordered it put back at once and forbade the collection of tolls until it was done. In May, 1836, the right to collect tolls from those passing over the Shetucket River bridge was taken from the company. Operation as a turnpike was continued for fifty-five years at least for, in 1849, a relocation around Bundy's Hill, in Lisbon, was approved by the assembly and a new gate location was allowed, but no record has yet been found to show when the entire road became free to the public. THE OXFORD TURNPIKE The Oxford Turnpike Company was formed at the May session of 1795 and given authority to open a road from Southbury to Derby. This was clearly a privilege of improving a previously existing road for the charter stated that the incorporators were to be allowed to erect their gate as soon as they had expended seven hundred pounds' lawful money. In considering the territory which this road was to serve it must be borne in mind that Derby, at that date, was a much larger town, terri- torially, than it is to-day. Old Derby included the present towns of Seymour, Beacon Falls, and Oxford, and the terminal proposed for the turnpike was not the present village of Derby, but one of the villages of the old town, which is now known as Seymour, and then was called Chusetown. But a change was made in the plan, for Orcutt and Beards- ley tell us in their " History of Derby," that when first constructed the turnpike did not come quite to the village of Chusetown, but turned from the Little River some distance above its mouth, over the hill and up the Naugatuck River, crossing at Pines Bridge and joining the turn- pike from Naugatuck to New Haven on Beacon Brook. As constructed the turnpike seems to be about the same as the present main road to Southbury. This road was built about the time that New Haven was building the long wharf by which it was hoped to make that city a port of entry, and soon after there was a large trade for many miles around, much of it coming over the Oxford Turnpike. 1 An act of 1797 allowed the company to pass free "the stage to Massachusetts," which leaves rather a confused idea of the route fol- lowed by that stage, and the terminal town in Massachusetts, for the location and direction of the turnpike do not seem favorable for such traveling. Tolls were collected on this old road for nearly ninety years, and the turnpike was finally made free sometime between 1880 and 1887. 1 "Seymour Past and Present," Campbell, Sharpe, and Bassett. [337] THE TURNPIKES OF NEW ENGLAND HARTFORD TO NORWICH TURNPIKE The Hartford, New London, Windham, and Tolland County Turn- pike Society was the full name of the corporation which built this road, receiving its charter from the October session in 1795. Its route was thus described : from the city of Hartford to the city of Norwich, from the court-house in Hartford to the court-house in Norwich. It may be interesting to note that Hartford and Norwich, with three other Connecticut towns, were incorporated as cities in January, 1784, thirty-eight years before that degree was conferred upon Boston. On this road of about twenty-seven miles' length, two tollgates were allowed, to be located between East Hartford and Joshua Hyde's house in Franklin. The first meeting was to be held in Coventry. Considera- tion of the project during the succeeding winter evidently showed the promoters that they had a difficult problem on their hands, for they sought the assembly in the following May and secured a modification of their franchise so that they were only bound to build from White's Monument in Bolton to Joshua Hyde's in Franklin, thus avoiding the question of a means of crossing the Connecticut River at Hartford and being relieved of construction through the compact portions of the two terminal cities. The road was built, by which term in Connecticut we mean that it was improved from its pioneer crudity to a form to justify the collection of tolls, but built in rather a shoddy way, for we learn that in 1800 com- plaint was made to the assembly that the corporation was not keeping it in proper repair. A committee was appointed to investigate, but the company got busy and had its road in satisfactory shape when the legislators arrived, so a favorable report was made. Joshua Hyde was born in Norwich in 1756, and after his marriage with Cynthia Tracy, in 1779, settled in that part of Norwich which was later set off as Franklin. His; house stood about a mile above Yantic, where the Franklin and the Lebanon roads come together, and almost on the boundary line between Franklin and Bozrah. He was a promi- nent man in his day, representing his town in the assembly and serving as a member of the constitutional convention of 1818. He ctyed in Franklin in 1830. THE NORWALK AND DANBURY TURNPIKE The turnpike connecting Norwalk and Danbury extended from Semi Pog Brook in Danbury to Belden's Bridge in Norwalk, the improve- ments being made by the Norwalk and Danbury Turnpike Company which was created by act of the October session of 1795. This road is [338] ,:•'■■» . — — L^fr 1 i »• 1 1 4 •1 ■ *■ '9 4 "f 4nr 1 K' ■ ■ »,#5 I I u u ij 3 sg O D> c/3 cfi - E a OS 9 h a u % H O o H B Bi O U. h ai M H d H 3 j d tn w Em r- < # s ►J S Ch D O JS M _r- ~0J O ^ ■5 >> ' J3 m us o cS I •s o ■a "He CQ 3 V > *j" s z >■ ■J O o a 3 X ►J w < .4 P-. £,= (3 o .5 H > o a THE TURNPIKES OF CONNECTICUT known to-day as the old turnpike and extends almost directly from one terminal to the other, passing through South Wilton, Wilton, George- town, and Topstone. In 1800 the company was permitted to make contracts "to pass by the year " with anyone living within three quarters of a mile of a gate. Apparently the business had not prospered by 1802, for the privilege of taking tolls had been taken away and the assembly came to the relief of the harassed corporation by decreeing that it might renew collections when it had repaired the road. The Norwalk and Danbury was about eighteen miles in length, but only one gate was allowed to be erected. TURNPIKE FROM BETHEL TO WESTON In May, 1797, the Fairfield, Weston, and Reading Turnpike Com- pany was incorporated to improve the road from the meeting-house in Bethel in Danbury to a point in Weston. An act relative to tolls shows that the road was in operation in 1801. This turnpike continued in active life until 1834, when the portion between Bethel and Wild Cat Road was thrown open to the public. The balance continued in private control for four years longer, when the charter was repealed in May, 1838. THE SAUGATUCK TURNPIKE COMPANY Many of the references to the turnpikes of Connecticut refer to the Saugatuck Turnpike as an accomplished fact, but it was never built. The Saugatuck Turnpike Company was incorporated in October, 1797, and given a franchise to build a turnpike road from Dragon Bridge to Byram River, including a section from Fairfield to Norwalk over Saquituck River and Sasco Creek, such a route having been laid out by the assembly a year earlier. In May, 1798, practically the entire franchise was repealed, and a new layout was made for the part crossing the Saquituck River and the creek. The towns of Fairfield and Norwalk were then required to build the bridge and its approaches, being allowed the privilege of collecting tolls on the same. In May, 1800, the two towns, having completed the new bridge, were allowed to discontinue the old one which lay about eighty rods up-stream from its successor. In the report of the committee which laid out the road for the Connecticut Turnpike Company, dated May 18, 1806, we may read: The toll bridge at Saugatuck was built in 1799, is twenty feet wide from outside to outside of the railing and thirty-eight rods long, and cost about one thousand dol- lars. The toll is about half the toll at a turnpike-gate and is let for two hundred dollars annually. The bridge has hitherto required and still requires all the toll to [339] THE TURNPIKES OF NEW ENGLAND be expended in repairs and probably must be rebuilt in the course of six or eight years from this time. The above, considered with the fact that the franchise of the Con- necticut Turnpike Company covered almost exactly the same route, seems to satisfactorily dispose of any question of the failure of the Saugatuck Turnpike to materialize. THE STRAITS TURNPIKE The thirty-six miles between New Haven and Litchfield were cov- ered by the road built by the Straits Turnpike Company, which was incorporated in October, 1797, the franchise reading from courthouse to courthouse. Watrous, in his contribution to the " History of New Haven," says that the road ran through the westerly part of New Haven and the village of Westville, then called Hotchkisstown, where it was later joined by the Rimmon Falls Turnpike. The name of " Straits " was derived from a section along the road which had long borne that name and which was thus described by a writer in the early thirties. About fourteen miles from New Haven the main road to Waterbury passes by Beacon Mountain, a rude ridge of almost naked rock stretching south-west. At this place is Collins' tavern, long known as an excellent public house, and the Straits- ville post office. About half a mile south of Mr. Collins's the road passes through a narrow defile formed by a gap in the mountain, barely sufficient in width for a road and a small but sprightly brook which winds through the narrow passage. On both sides the cliffs are lofty, particularly on the west; on the east, at a little dis- tance from the road, they overhang in a threatening manner. 1 The first meeting of the corporation was held in the house of Irijah Terrill, in Waterbury, in November, 1797. Much controversy arose over the location of the turnpike as Waterbury citizens wanted it to pass through the center of their town, while the people of Watertown made similar demands for their district. Anderson's " History of Waterbury " tells that a great deal of bitterness was bred of the con- tention, which we can imagine was not appeased when the final con- struction left Waterbury well to one side. The turnpike crossed Nau- gatuck River on Salem Bridge, so called from its location in Salem Society, the early name of Naugatuck. The town of Salem is in a part of the state remote from the Naugatuck River and had no connection with the naming of this bridge. Bronson's " History of Waterbury " recites that the first bridge over the Naugatuck at Salem Society was built by the town of Waterbury in 1736 and was washed away in the winter of 1740-41. In 1743 the town, groaning under the expense of maintaining the structure, peti- tioned the assembly to be allowed to collect tolls for passage across the river. Whether that was allowed or not is not known, but if not, it was 1 "Connecticut Historical Collections," J. W. Barber. C340] THE TURNPIKES OF CONNECTICUT conceded later, for the bridge was a toll bridge in 1761. Repairs at a cost of eighty pounds were made in 1748-49. The Salem Bridge, known as the Naugatuck Bridge in later years, soon became a bone of contention between the town of Waterbury and the turnpike corporation. First the company, tiring of waiting for the town to act, made some necessary repairs and then vainly tried to collect pay from the town for the same. After several years the bridge was washed away and the town, considering the fact that the turnpike com- pany sent all its travelers over the bridge and collected its tolls on or near it, refused to rebuild and sought to put that expense on the corpora- tion. But this was one of the old turnpikes, and its franchise had not placed the burden of bridges or land upon it, so the town was obliged to provide a new bridge. That in its turn soon followed its predecessor downstream, and again the town sought to shift the burden of rebuilding. Claiming that the cause of the last catastrophe was a dike which the corporation had built a short distance above the bridge for the purpose of protecting its road where it crossed the low ground, the town brought suit to compel the company to pay the damages. It was claimed that the dike had so diverted the current of the river that it had undermined one of the! abutments, causing it to tip and launch the bridge structure into the river. But again the town was a loser and had to rebuild the bridge and pay the costs. It seems remarkable that permission should have been necessary for such an ordinary matter, but we find that in May, 1806, the company secured an act of the assembly allowing it to erect houses at its gates. Each house was allowed a lot of land not to exceed five acres, but the total cost of house and land was not to be more than seven hundred dollars in each case. The Straits Turnpike was operated in its entirety until May, 1821, when all that portion between Westville and New Haven was made free. How long the balance remained a toll road we have not ascertained. THE NEW MILFORD AND LITCHFIELD TURNPIKE The charter granted to the New Milford and Litchfield Turnpike Company in October, 1797, allowed it to open its road from the Friends' meeting-house in New Milford to some forgotten point in Litchfield, and to erect two gates for its collections. Construction was not rapid, as we find an act passed in 1798, allowing collections to begin at one gate when the road was completed in Litchfield, but by the end of 1800 the entire road was in service. The allowed tolls were found at that date to be insufficient, so an act was secured by which they were doubled. [34i] THE TURNPIKES OF NEW ENGLAND The original turnpike was built over Mount Tom in Litchfield, and we can imagine that the resulting grade was a trial for all concerned, but it was endured for nearly half a century. Then, about 1841, the towns of Litchfield and Washington laid out a section of road passing east and southeast of Mount Tom and having the turnpike on each end. This they asked the corporation to construct, take over as a part of its road, and discontinue the old section over the mountain. An accommo- dating assembly gave its sanction, but the corporation was slow to act, legislative proceedings being observed in 1843 and 1844, extending the time within which the relocation should be made. THE BOSTON TURNPIKE The middle route from New York to Boston, over which President Washington traveled on his trip in 1789, ran from Hartford to the northeasterly corner of Connecticut, where it entered the neighboring Commonwealth of Massachusetts. Travelers over this route were obliged to cross the Connecticut River between Hartford and East Hartford by means of an old established ferry. Goodwin's " East Hartford History and Traditions " gives a com- plete story of this ferry, and from it we learn that it was first authorized by a lease given by the town of Hartford, in 1681, to Thomas Cadwell, who operated it, collecting tolls fixed by the town for seven years, after which his widow continued the business for an equal length of time. In 1728, apparently to make the operation more legal, Hartford secured from the assembly a charter under which to continue the ferry. In 1737 the charter was renewed, this time with the provision that the assembly was to fix the rates of toll. That the business was good is seen from the fact that the proceeds of the collections were sufficient in 1748 to provide firewood for the town schools. East Hartford was established as a separate town in 1783 and one half of the rights in the ferry was granted to it. The ferry continued to be controlled by the two towns until the opening of the Boston Turn- pike, and for eleven years after provided the only means of crossing the broad river at that point. The Boston Turnpike Company was formed by an act of the October session of 1797. It was granted a franchise over the roads from Hartford, through East Hartford, Bolton, Coventry, Mansfield, Ashford, Pomfret, and Thompson, to Massachusetts line. Four gates were to be allowed, — one within two miles of the state boundary; one within one mile of Mashamaquet Brook in Pomfret; one within one mile of the line between the towns of Mansfield and Willing- ton; and one at the notch of the mountain in Bolton. The capital stock of the corporation was fixed within the elastic limit of four thousand eight hundred pounds and more. [342] c o O o ss o *- W M E. s o E O M > X X X w H <: j P- c3| §"3 S c > — u E • — <© v v > 3 2 § ai •a < z D H K o to O PQ > X W H < gc3 I 6 V < z THE TURNPIKES OF CONNECTICUT The project was bitterly opposed, especially in East Hartford and Pomfret. The former town succeeded at first in keeping the turnpike - out, as an act of May, 1798, deprived the company of the right to build its road west of " White's Monument " in Bolton, but that advantage was reversed in 1812 and the toll road entered the town. But Goodwin says that the people succeeded in keeping the tollgates out of the town at all times. Pomfret folks fought the enterprise at all points and when beaten sought to have changes made in the route, but they had to submit and were forced to levy a heavy tax to pay for the land. 1 The Boston Turnpike, as finally constructed, commenced at the corner of Burnside Avenue and Tolland Street in East Hartford Vil- lage, where it formed a junction with the Hartford and Tolland Turn- pike which was built in 1802 and over which the Boston travelers continued their journey to the ferry. Thence it ran easterly through Burnside and past the old powder mills to Manchester Green, from which place it continued directly to the pass through the mountain range at Bolton Notch, where the present-day trains between Willimantic and Hartford wind their way around a sharp curve, cut through the solid rock, with perpendicular walls seventy feet in height. Continuing its easterly course the turnpike passed across the foot of what has since become the Willimantic Reservoir, and into Quarryville, which long had an established reputation for its production of smooth thin layers of beautiful slate which served for flagging in many of our towns and cities. After leaving North Coventry the old road proceeded directly to its crossing of the Willimantic River where now the Central Vermont Railway trains stop at Mansfield Depot. A change in the course oc- curred here and the road went northeasterly across the towns of Mans- field and Ashford, passing the villages of West Ashford and Ashford before reaching the point where the Connecticut and Rhode Island Turnpike, to Providence, later joined it. From that point it went easterly again through the towns of Eastford and Pomfret and north- erly and northeasterly across the town of Thompson to the northeast corner of the state where it joined the road of the Ninth Massachusetts Turnpike Corporation in the town of Douglas. The journey to Boston was continued over the roads of the Ninth Massachusetts, the Hartford and Dedham, and the Norfolk and Bris- tol, after which the traveler pursued his way toll-free over Boston Neck and into the town of Boston. The Old Farmer's Almanac, in 1802, gave the distance from Boston to Hartford as one hundred and six miles, with taverns from one to seven miles apart. Those on the Boston Turnpike were Jacobs' Tavern in Thompson, seven miles from the last tavern in Douglas, and Nichols' in Thompson two miles from Jacobs'. Another seven miles brought the traveler to Grosvenor's in Pomfret, and seven miles farther to 1 " History of Windham County," Lamed. [343] THE TURNPIKES OF NEW ENGLAND Spring's in Ashford, which town maintained two other hostelries, Per- kins' and Clark's, three and five miles respectively beyond Spring's. Covering four miles from Clark's, Utley's in Willington came into view, and another four miles revealed the sign displayed by Dunham in Mansfield. The only chance to obtain accommodations between Mans- field and East Hartford was at Kimball's Tavern, in Coventry, six miles from Dunham's, and it was six miles thence to Woodbridge's in East Hartford. Woodbridge must have kept his house well in the eastern part of the town, for another tavern is noted in East Hartford, nine miles farther west, kept by Little. One mile farther, over the ferry, the pilgrim could rest his weary bones in the bed provided by Bull of Hartford. As the distance from the center of Hartford to the eastern line of Manchester along the old turnpike is but little over eleven miles, it is evident that one looking for the site of Woodbridge's Tavern should wend his way to Manchester Green. To the antiquary such a pilgrimage would be well worth taking, for see what Goodwin has to say on the subject. One of the older public hostelries was that kept by the Wells family. This tavern [noted as still standing] was in its day one of the most resorted to in town. It was kept in 1811 by the Woodbridge family and in 1817, by a Mr. Buckler. It has a low spacious bar room with a slat enclosed bar, until recently intact, with a large fireplace on one side. The " best chamber " was until lately complete in its ancient furnishings, with flowery blue wall-paper, and two high post bedsteads canopied with large figured blue curtains. It had curtain rests like rosettes of brass, and brass andirons in its fireplace, over which hung old-time prints of historic scenes, cheaply colored and nearly a hundred years old. The other chambers were as bare as barracks. A low ceiled hall with two corner fireplaces and a bench around the wall was kept for dancing parties which used especially to resort here in sleighing time, having gay times and racing their horses, with tremendous jangling of bells, up and down the street. Their sleighs were large high-backed green and yellow affairs with yellow or red linings. The barns and sheds that stood north of this tavern, close to the road, were burned down a number of years ago. It is further recorded that Woodbridge's was one of the stopping places of President Monroe on his eastern tour in 18 17. After ten years of turnpike operation the tolls were found insuffi- cient- and an act was secured in October, 1807, by which they were increased by about one third. In 18 12, as already mentioned, authority was obtained for the extension of the road westerly from White's Mon- ument in Bolton to a junction with the Hartford and Tolland Turn- pike, and another whole or two half gates were allowed. Four years previous to this, however, the ferry had become subject to the competition of a toll bridge which was allowed by a charter granted in 1808, and which no doubt greatly increased the popularity of the Middle Route. On account of its position the Boston Turnpike was often locally called the " Middle Turnpike " and as such it is marked on one of the maps published to-day. It continued subject to toll along its whole t344] THE TURNPIKES OF CONNECTICUT length until 1845 when all that part in Pomfret was made free. Similar action was had in reference to Eastford in 1850, and by 1879 all rights to collect toll had ceased. Just west of Mansfield Four Corners a road branched off to Spring- field over which the stages from that city to Norwich used to come, continuing their journey southward over the Windham and Mansfield Turnpike, whose intersection with the Boston formed the Four Corners. Fuller's Tavern is still standing in the northwesterly of the four corners, and the ell of the house opposite is the old tollhouse, which formerly stood about halfway to the Springfield road on foundation stones which are still to be seen. At the summit of the next hill easterly may be seen one of the old milestones telling off twenty-three miles from Hartford courthouse. Farther east, where the turnpike crosses the Fenton River, is the old Mason mill where an old-time cart is yet occasionally turned out. The old "up-and-down" saw is still in use, a relic of the days ere circular saws were known. THE TALCOTT MOUNTAIN TURNPIKE This road extended from the west line of Hartford through Far- mington and Simsbury to New Hartford and was opened by the Talcott Mountain Turnpike Company under authority of a charter granted in May, 1798. Apparently an expert bookkeeper was not employed in the early days for the assembly of 1799 deemed it necessary to appoint a committee to " liquidate the accounts " of the company, determine the amount of stock, audit the accounts, and thereafter report yearly to the^assembly. A change of location was made in the year 1807 across the town of Farmington, and the responsibility for a bridge over the Farmington River was imposed upon the company. Further alterations in the route were made in 18 16. The Talcott Mountain Turnpike connected in New Hartford with the Greenwoods Turnpike, which continued the journey to the Massa- chusetts line in Sheffield, where it joined the road of the Twelfth Massa- chusetts Turnpike Corporation. These three turnpikes, with their extension in New York, formed the great highway between Hartford and Albany and a heavy traffic passed over them for over half a cen- tury. Apparently the system was much more extended than we have outlined for Dr. Timothy Dwight, in his travels, mentioned a continuous turnpike to Wattles' Ferry on the Susquehanna River, and he amusingly calls it a " branch of the Greenwoods." The Greenwoods Turnpike was made free in 1872 and as this one was so closely linked with it, but nearer the developed parts of the state, it is probable that the Talcott Mountain was given up but a few years earlier. ■• • [345] THE TURNPIKES OF NEW ENGLAND THE OUSATONIC TURNPIKE The turnpike thus named extended from New Milford to Derby on the northeast bank of the Housatonic River, following close to the shore and winding in and out as the river changed its course. The corpora- tion which provided this utility was formed in May, 1798, and named the Ousatonic Turnpike Company. Three gates were authorized, but even with that frequency it became necessary to secure increased rates of toll within nine years. Owing to some clerical error the franchise did not clearly specify that New Milford was to be the northerly ter- minus, so an amending act was passed in May, 1800, in which the corporation was plainly allowed to build to the meeting-house in New Milford. A peculiar effect of Connecticut laws, which has been often noted, first appears in connection with this road. It seems that a turnpike corporation, although obliged to remove stones and cut trees from its route, did not have any title to the material thus partly prepared for sale. The Ousatonic Turnpike Company petitioned the assembly of 1807, asking that it might be the owner of such timber and stone, but the matter was referred to the next assembly. In October, 18 13, the portion between Southbury and New Milford, about a third of the total mileage, was discontinued as a turnpike and, in addition to the loss of that much road, the corporation was obliged to deduct from the amount of its capital stock the recorded cost of making that part of the road, which was three thousand seven hundred dollars. The River Turnpike Company was incorporated at the May session of 1834 and given the northerly half of the Ousatonic Company's road. The division was made at Zoar Bridge in Oxford, all southerly of that point remaining the road of the Ousatonic. Whatever this deal may have been the Ousatonic seems to have kept a string on the property, for after seven years of the experiment, as the River Turnpike Com- pany had abandoned the effort to make both ends meet, that corpora- tion was dissolved and the road which it had tried to operate was re- stored to its original owner, the Ousatonic Company. One year more saw the finish. In 1842 the road was reported as out of repair and the corporation took the poor debtor's oath. So the Ousatonic's charter was repealed and its road given to the public. Scanning the map in 1916, the prospects for a road located along the Housatonic valley seem to have been as good as any in the state. In connection with the New Milford and Litchfield and the Derby turn- pikes, this road offered an improved route all the way from Litchfield to New Haven and on the easy grades of a river location. Following down the valley it served the large territory tributary to it with its yields of produce from fertile farms. The Housatonic Railroad Com- [346] Tollgate in Norfolk, Conn., on Greenwoods Turnpike Views of Maple Avenue, Hartford, Hartford and New Haven Turnpike Plate LXXXVII 2 if ii e s s "O I- « s £z w Ou 55 Si D > X X X K < •J Oh i s .a 3 Si u o THE TURNPIKES OF CONNECTICUT pany was not incorporated until shortly after the turnpike had been abandoned, and when it built its railroad it did not follow the river along the route of the turnpike but left the valley at New Milford and bore straight for Bridgeport. That the turnpike management should have been in financial difficulties during the years which we have seen to be the most prosperous for other such enterprises, that is, the decade preceding the introduction of railroads, is hard to understand. THE DERBY TURNPIKE About 1836 the Connecticut assembly made an appropriation for the purpose of having compiled all the special and private laws which had been passed since the establishment of the Union. The learned gentleman to whom was intrusted the work contemplated acquitted him- self well, arranging the laws under subject headings and not chrono- logically as was done in most of the other states. But he made one peculiar error in treating acts establishing turnpike companies. If the charter of a company had later been repealed, even if it was after many years during which the road had been built and operated, he omitted the act creating that company from his compilation, merely citing its heading with a note that the act had been repealed. Thus we read of the Derby Turnpike Company only that it was created in May, 1798, and that its charter was repealed in May, 1832. But another error appears here, for the Derby Turnpike was the last in Connecticut to surrender its privileges, collecting its tolls until 1895, so the charter could not have been revoked on the date given. Even had the canceling of the franchise taken effect in 1832 the fact that the road wa9 built and had then been in operation for over thirty years entitled the company to have its act of incorporation printed in full with the others. The Derby Turnpike is known as such to-day, although no longer are tolls collected. It ran from the center of New Haven to Derby Landing, a distance of eight miles. It is now known, also, as West Chapel Street in New Haven and as New Haven Avenue in Derby. Watrous in the " History of New Haven " says that although there were other roads to Derby the turnpike was the best. The capital stock for this eight-mile road was $7520. The gate stood a few miles from New Haven, just west of Maltby Lakes. The easterly end was at York Street. The expectations which prevailed in Derby of the results which the turnpike would produce are most amusing in the light of later knowl- edge of the tendency of commerce. The " History of Derby " by Orcutt and Beardsley recounts that great expectations were had of the amount of New Haven trade which would come to Derby, little realiz- ing that the larger place would inevitably draw the business from the smaller. [347] THE TURNPIKES OF NEW ENGLAND Previous to the opening of the Derby the Oxford Turnpike had been completed in the northerly part of Derby, passing close to the village of Chusetown, now Seymour, about four and a half miles up the Nauga- tuck River from the end of the Derby Turnpike. The Derby people interested themselves most strangely in having turnpike connection made between these two roads, apparently little appreciating that such an improvement would make of their town nothing more than a way station, past which the commerce of the upper valleys would flow un- interruptedly to New Haven. At a town meeting in 1803 Derby voted "to do something" relative to a turnpike from the Oxford to Derby Landing. But the assembly could not be convinced of the need of that particular utility and, after two years of fruitless effort to have a franchise issued, the town laid out and built the road. New Haven, which became a city in 1774, by 1847 had laid out so many improvements near the line of the Derby Turnpike that the op- eration of the easterly portion became unprofitable, so in the latter year the company secured the passage of an act releasing it from responsi- bility for the road between York and Kensington streets in New Haven. In 1895 the last turnpike in Connecticut passed out of existence, as the Derby was then made free. Eight thousand dollars was awarded to the corporation in compensation and the city of New Haven and the towns of Orange and Derby became the owners of the turnpike. THE GREENWOODS TURNPIKE As already mentioned in the account of the Talcott Mountain Turn- pike, that road, in connection with the road of the Greenwoods Turn- pike Company, formed the Connecticut portion of an important and much-traveled route from Hartford to Albany, and by New York ex- tensions, to the Susquehanna River. The Greenwoods Company was incorporated at the October session of 1798 and allowed to build from Eldad Shepard's in New Hartford to Sheffield line. Crissey's " History of Norfolk " and Boyd's " Annals of Winches- ter " give pertinent facts about this old road, from which the following has been gathered. Through Winchester it passed along the easterly and northerly edge of Mad River, passing through what later became the borough of Winsted. A new and more direct route was thus opened, and the travel was diverted from the old north road over Wallen's Hill and the old south road, through old Winchester, to the more favorable grades of the road along the bottom of the river valleys. The turnpike was finished in 1799 at a cost of nineteen thousand five hundred dollars, and for many years paid a good dividend and was somewhat sought [348] THE TURNPIKES OF CONNECTICUT as an investment. The first gate was located in West Norfolk, and was a primitive swing affair. Later, when it became necessary to construct a second gate, the site was shifted farther east, on which ground the third and last gate was built, which continued its collections until the road was finally dedicated to the public good. An alteration was made in the location of the road in 181 1, by which land was taken from eight owners, the total award for such damages being $48.87. Further alterations were made in 1842, when recom- mendations which had been made in 1830 were carried out. In 1853 a portion of the road in Norfolk was made free. The last of the old turnpike came in 1872 when, on the first of October, the gate ceased to obstruct travelers. During the last years the collections had run between eight and twelve hundred dollars each year. The length of the turnpike was about twenty-four miles so, accepting Crissey's statement of the cost, this road was built at the rate of about eight hundred and fifteen dollars a mile, which accords with the costs of similar Massachusetts roads of that period. THE HARTFORD AND NEW HAVEN TURNPIKE The Connecticut Colonial Records show that in 1717 Captain John Munson had set up a wagon and was granted the exclusive privilege of being a common carrier between New Haven and Hartford for seven years. He was obligated to make the trip once a month at least except during the winter months of December, January, February, and March, starting on the first Monday of the month and making the round trip within a week. The early road passed through Wethersfield, Farming- ton, Middletown, and Wallingford, and does not seem to have caused complaint until 1759 when the general assembly was advised that its condition was bad. A committee reported to the 1760 session, advising certain changes which were ordered and assessed upon the towns. Such a road served until the turnpike march of progress. The Hartford and New Haven Turnpike Company was created by another act of the October session in 1798, and seems to have been one of the first corporations to disregard the old roads and lay out a new route on turnpike fallacies, — the straight line. This road went about as straight from one city to the other as it could be laid out, passing through the northerly part of New Haven over what is now Whitney Avenue, thence through the southeast part of Hampden, the westerly part of Wallingford, and the center of Meriden. Crossing the easterly part of Berlin, the southeast corner of Newington, and the northwest quarter of Wethersfield, it entered Hartford over the street now known as Maple Avenue. Watrous has recorded that the first meeting of the corporation was held in November, 1798, at which time the stock was offered for sub- scription. The outlook must have seemed promising, for by Decem- [349] THE TURNPIKES OF NEW ENGLAND ber 6 it was announced that all shares had been taken with an overflow list of those anxious to buy. The southerly termination in New Haven was at Grove Street, at which street a branch later authorized also ended. Blake, in the " History of Hampden," says that the original road crossed Mill River just above where the dam now impounds the waters of Whitney Lake. When in 1861 the level of the lake was raised, it became necessary to move the turnpike, and the bridge which had car- ried the stages over Mill River was moved about a quarter of a mile up the lake where it was again put in service on another road which crossed a narrow part of the lake. This bridge was one of those ever interesting old structures, — a covered timber-latticed truss, such as are so familiar even yet in northern New England. The one on the turn- pike was built in 1823 by Ithiel Town, the originator of such bridges, and was composed of oak planks three inches thick and eight and a half to nine inches wide. These, arranged in a lattice form, were fastened at their intersections with wooden treenails. Bridges of this style are shown in the illustrations of the bridge at Bellows Falls (Plate lxvi) and of the Stevens Village toll bridge (Plate lxx). The expense of moving the bridge on Whitney Lake was two hundred and fifty dollars, and it remained in its new location at least as late as 1886, and doubtless much longer. For a quarter of a century after the changes in the old road the early roadbed could plainly be seen along the north shore at the lower end of Whitney Lake. " A Century of Meriden " by Curtis states that " as much joy and excitement" attended the opening of the turnpike in 1799 as greeted the railroad thirty-eight years later. The record of damages paid by the corporation enabled that historian to draw a most interesting de- scription of Meriden at the beginning of the nineteenth century, which, however, is not of general interest. One item, however, is interesting. Samuel Yale occupied a house in the center of the town facing on what had previously been the main street. The turnpike, reverencing noth- ing which stood in its direct path, cut its way so close to the rear of Mr. Yale's dwelling that the house stood like a precipice above the roadway and soon became an eyesore and a source of so much mortifica- tion to the town that the citizens bought the house and moved it away. It is hoped that his neighbors were generous and gave Mr. Yale a good price, for he only received fifty-seven dollars for damages from the corporation. The turnpike is now Meriden's Broad Street, and at the corner of East Main Street a tavern built by Dr. Insign Hough in 1792 long served the travelers as a halfway stop for dinner. The Old Farmer's Almanac tells us that this tavern was kept by one Robinson in 1802. Other bonifaces along the Hartford and New Haven Turnpike in that year were Wright of Wethersfield, Riley of Worthington, Carrington of Wallingford, and Ives of North Haven, while Nichols and Butler t35o] THE TURNPIKES OF CONNECTICUT provided the comforts demanded by the traveler who had completed the long trip to New Haven. This was the turnpike of which Secretary Gallatin reported that its thirty-four and three fourths miles had cost $79,261, or about $2280 a mile, and that the net income of the entire road did not exceed $3000 a year. By which we have reason to believe that the investment paid about three and eight tenths per cent previous to 1807. Captain Bailey of Connecticut, who built the first section of the First Massachusetts Turnpike from Western, now Warren, to Palmer in 1796 and 1797, found the business sufficiently good to encourage him to take the con- tract to build the Hartford and New Haven Turnpike. His price in Massachusetts had been three dollars a rod, so it is to be supposed that he tried to get the same figure on the later job, but the Massachusetts men thought that they had paid too much by half, so perhaps he had to shade his figure. In 1 8 15 a branch was authorized in New Haven by which Temple Street was extended to the northerly end of Church Street, after which two entrances into New Haven were available. THE LITCHFIELD AND HARWINTON TURNPIKE In October, 1798, the charter for this road was given to the Litch- field and Harwinton Turnpike Company. The route was described as from Litchfield courthouse to the corner of the Simsbury and Hartford roads. It is evident from the further sections of the act that the road was to pass through the town of Harwinton and into that portion of the town of Bristol which was later set off as Burlington. Just where the road ran is anybody's guess, so here is ours. Let us say that the turnpike started from Litchfield, near the courthouse, and proceeded in a semicircular course to East Litchfield, thence easterly across Har- winton and about a mile into the present town of Burlington, at which point it was later joined by the road of the Farmington and Bristol Company. It is probable that the franchise covered a greater distance and reached into the town of Farmington, as we have to go that far to find conditions which justify the description of " the corner of the Sims- bury and Hartford roads," but it is clear that the road was not built east of the point named above. When the Farmington and Bristol was laid out its route was specified in precise detail and it defined the easterly end of the Litchfield and Harwinton as stated. No mention of this road has been found in any history. In 1803 it was allowed to collect toll from passing mail carriages, and in 1820 permission was granted to move the gates. Again, in 1827, the as- sembly took notice of the corporate existence, confirming certain pro- ceedings and allowing changes in the road. Commencing in 1844 general laws successively appeared as a result [35i] THE TURNPIKES OF NEW ENGLAND of which the abandonment of a road, or the freeing of the same by a town, might be accomplished automatically and without formality. Hence the end of many Connecticut turnpikes is veiled in obscurity. The Farmington and Bristol, which must have been an integral part of the scheme by which the Litchfield and Harwinton was of use to the community, gave up the struggle in 1819, reporting its entire investment a loss, and it seems strange that this road should have done business as much as eight years longer. It does not seem possible that it could have continued many years alone. THE WINDHAM TURNPIKE The first white settlers in Windham County found an old Indian trail leading from Canterbury through Plainfield to Greenwich on Narra- gansett Bay, and they soon developed it into a road which was then considered passable. Soon after 1699, when Major Fitch had estab- lished his home at Peagscomsuck in Canterbury, a road was cut out to that point from Windham. These, offering the best route then avail- able by which the Windham County colonists could reach Providence, became a road of importance which was later known as the " Great Road." It seems that the act of 171 2, to which reference was had in speaking of the Providence and Norwich Turnpike in Rhode Island, contemplated the improvement of a part of this road and that some work was actually done in the town of Plainfield in consequence, but generally the " Great Road " appears to have, like Topsy, " just growed." Under date of September 28, 1795, a report was made to the as- sembly by a committee which had been appointed to view this road, make alterations, and advise regarding the establishment of tollgates upon it when completed. It had been found possible to improve the road by changing its layout at six places in Plainfield, seven in Canterbury, and two in Windham, each of which was described by a surveyor's record, after which the report continued: We would further observe that upon a view of said road we find it proceeds in a very direct course from Windham to Providence ; that it is a road of great travel- ling but extremely rough and out of repair in many places ; that it is capable of being made a pleasant road for carriages ; but in some of the most parts of it the Inhabitants are the thinly settled and the least able to repair it and it is the opinion of your committee that after suitable repairs are made upon said road there ought to be a Turnpike Erected and Established on said road in the town of Canterbury . . . and that the avails thereof will probably be sufficient to support and maintain said road with a reasonable toll. The report was accepted and the alterations declared laid out and established, and then the whole matter was laid aside until capitalists with sufficient courage should appear to undertake the work. They were slow in coming forward, but finally in May, 1799, the Windham [352] THE TURNPIKES OF CONNECTICUT Turnpike Company was incorporated for that purpose, with the addi- tional privilege of extending the road to the Boston Turnpike in North Coventry. Windham, being on the "Great Road," had for many years seen the tide of western emigration flowing past its doors to the new settle- ments in Wyoming County, New York, western Massachusetts, and southern Vermont, and consequently had been at great expense in main- taining its roads and the several bridges over the three large rivers which crossed its territory. In 1771 a destructive flood carried away nearly every bridge in the town and the poor inhabitants rebelled, re- fusing to rebuild bridges for the accommodation of strangers who were merely passing that way. In this they were overruled, the assembly directing the town to rebuild the bridge over the Shetucket on the road from Windham to Hartford, called the Old Town Bridge, and one over the Willimantic, known as the Ironworks Bridge. The first bridge across the Shetucket was built in 1722 and was probably on the site of the Old Town Bridge, and the Ironworks Bridge was first erected in 1727 1 on the site of the present stone arch bridge in Willimantic over which the trolley cars pass as they leave for Norwich. Each of these bridges figured in the turnpike layout. That over the Shetucket evidently did not fall within the mathemati- cal situation required for an ideal turnpike, and the road builders re- fused to utilize it and called upon the town to provide another in a different location. The town being loaded with the burden of provid- ing the bridges and land for the new road naturally wanted the turn- pike to pass over such bridges as were already provided, and strenu- ously objected to building another bridge within a short distance of the older one which it had been forced to build. But again the town was overruled and until 1806 two bridges threw their shadows on the She- tucket. The turnpike was the original of the Plains Road from Wind- ham to Willimantic, and the turnpike bridge was on the site of the present Bingham Bridge. The Ironworks Bridge was acceptable to the corporation and the turnpike crossed the Willimantic on that. Again, between Mansfield and Coventry, the turnpike crossed the Willimantic, but there the burden was put upon the company and the towns were free from that expense. Besides the gate recommended by the committee in Canterbury an- other was allowed which was to be " somewhere between the dwelling- house of Stephen Turner and the iron works bridge over the Williman- tic river." By the best information obtainable to-day Stephen Turner lived in what is now South Coventry Village, so the management was not very closely confined in locating its gate. Main and Union streets, which are really one, in Willimantic were laid out in 1707 to enable the first Windham settlers at the Horseshoe , to carry home the meadow hay which they cut on the banks of the Wil- 1 Larned's "History of Windham County." [353] THE TURNPIKES OF NEW ENGLAND limantic River. The turnpike entered this old road at the point where the name changes, and occupied it from there westerly. The Windham Turnpike when finally completed commenced on the New London and Windham County Turnpike in Plainfield Center and led westerly, crossing the Quinebaug River and passing through Can- terbury Center, Westminster, and Scotland to Windham Green, where the courthouse stood. Thence, as already described, through Willi- mantic and; along the road now followed by the South Coventry trolley cars to that village. There it provided the main street on which South Coventry later concentrated and passed to the north of Lake Wamgum- baug to a junction with the Boston Turnpike in North Coventry. A glance at the map will show that this road offered as direct a road from Providence to Hartford as could be made through the hills of eastern Connecticut. It was an important route before the day of the turnpike, and it continued so until the railroad took the burdens from the horse. It was several years before the entire project was completed, as is seen from an act passed in 1804, which allowed two additional gates when the road was finished. A breaking away from the old conceptions which placed the cost of providing the land for turnpikes on the towns is seen in an act of May, 1835. The corporation had petitioned for an alteration in its road from the bridge across the Willimantic River between Mansfield and Coventry to Joseph Talcott's in Coventry and asked that the cost of the land should be imposed upon the town. The alteration was allowed but not the share of the expense. The corporation had to buy its own land, the only concession being that it might increase its capital by the amount of that cost. The Hop River Turnpike was built about 1835 and entered the Windham at the westerly end of the present city of Willimantic oppo- site the poor farm. Willimantic by this time was becoming a place of importance, and travelers bound there over the Hop River objected to paying another toll for passing a mile over the Windham. So an act passed in 1838 provided that such persons might pass the gate which stood on Willimantic's main street for half toll. The Windham Turnpike passed into history in 1852 when its corporation was dissolved. THE CANAAN AND LITCHFIELD TURNPIKE This road was authorized from Litchfield courthouse to the Shef- field Massachusetts line, but it is unlikely that it was ever built over that whole distance. At Canaan Village the Greenwoods Turnpike was encountered, it having been under construction when the charter now being considered was granted, and since that road gave access to the Massachusetts line it was useless to build another over the same ground. t354l %& X 2 s s o a u K In the southern part of Franklin, Conn. South of the Connecticut Agricultural College Intersection with the Boston Turnpike Plate XC — Windham and Mansfield Turnpike THE TURNPIKES OF CONNECTICUT The Canaan and Litchfield Turnpike Company was enacted into life at the May session in 1799. The turnpike commenced in Litchfield near the courthouse, and ran directly to Goshen Center, thence it bore northwesterly, cutting off a small corner of Cornwall and passing through Cornwall Hollow into the town of Canaan. Another northwesterly bearing carried it through Huntsville and South Canaan, from which place the road headed north- erly to Canaan Village, where it joined the Greenwoods Turnpike. The turnpike was the means of giving to Cornwall its first blessing of a daily mail, the post-office being established in Cornwall Hollow, we read in Gold's " History of Cornwall." Apparently established credits and book accounts were not recog- nized as legitimate in those early days, for this company had to apply to the assembly for permission " to contract for tolls by the year or less term," which was granted at the May term in 1801. The life of this corporation must have been a quiet, uneventful one, for it lasted for many years. In connection with the Straits Turnpike it offered a long-distance route from New Haven to Albany and beyond to the valley of the Susquehanna, and it is probable that much heavy teaming passed over it for many years. In 1853 the corporation, representing that by the opening of rail- roads up the Housatonic and Naugatuck valleys its business had been seriously reduced, was released from its obligations to maintain the road. THE FARMINGTON RIVER TURNPIKE The opening of the nineteenth century was marked by the incorpora- tion of three turnpike corporations, of which the Farmington River Turnpike Company was one, being created by the assembly in its May session of 1800. The road of this company started in New Hartford at the junction of the Talcott Mountain and Greenwoods turnpikes, and followed up the east bank of the Farmington River to the Massachusetts line, where it joined the Tenth Massachusetts Turnpike, thus providing another through route from Hartford to Albany by way of Lee and Lenox. It passed through the Connecticut towns of Barkhamsted, Hartland, and Colebrook. The length was but twelve and a half miles and two gates were allowed, at one of which could be collected only half the rates allowed at the other. About 1803 the town of Barkhamsted built a bridge across the Farmington River at Pleasant Valley, and so much of the travel over the Farmington River Turnpike was diverted to the Greenwoods by this bridge that the assembly was petitioned ,to allow the abandonment of all of the turnpike south of the point of diversion. Hence no road is found to-day on the east bank between Pleasant Valley and New [355] THE TURNPIKES OF NEW ENGLAND Hartford. In consequence of the same act the corporation was allowed to improve a new road from the bridge to the Greenwoods Turnpike and include the same in its turnpike system. An addition to the road was provided by an act of 1813, since which time no mention of this corporation has been found. Local histories are also silent. THE WINDHAM AND MANSFIELD TURNPIKE The Windham and Mansfield Turnpike Company was another product of the 1800 May session and its route was denned as running from Joshua Hyde's in Franklin to the meeting-house in Stafford. The layout had been made by a committee which made its report at the same time that the act of incorporation was passed, and the description of the route teems with references to the houses of old-time residents. First it passed Joshua Hyde's house, then Samuel Hyde's Tavern and the houses of Daniel Ladd, Levi Gager, and Ephraim Browning, after which the route reached Manning's Bridge, an old-time structure which crossed the Shetucket River at the northwesterly corner of the town of Franklin. Then in Windham it passed Colonel Thomas Dyer's house and climbed Sawyer's Hill to Windham Green. Gilbert's Bridge car- ried the turnpike over the Natchaug River into Mansfield, in which town it passed Major Crocker's, Roswell Eaton's, and Captain Bar- rows' houses and Samuel Thompson's Tavern, crossing the Boston Turnpike at Bardsley's Corner. Thence it passed through the center of Willington to Stafford meeting-house. To-day the old road is still in use as the main road across the town of Franklin north and south, but the mile adjacent to the Shetucket River crossing has long been discontinued. Near where the Willimantic- Norwich trolleys cross on an overhead bridge and the highway turns sharply to the left to cross the Central Vermont Railroad at grade, an old wood road can be seen bearing straight ahead to the north. That is the old turnpike and a mile along it will bring one to the site of Manning's Bridge. The bridge disappeared many years ago, but the roads on each side leading to it can still be traced. Gilbert's Bridge, too, has long been gone, and its site is covered by the impounded waters of the Willimantic waterworks. In May, 1806, authority was secured to extend the turnpike from Stafford Center toward the Massachusetts line. The Stafford Pool Turnpike Company, which later changed its name to the Stafford Min- eral Spring, assumed the management of a portion of this road under permission given in an act of October, 18 13. No more has been found concerning the Windham and Mansfield except that it occupied the attention of the assembly occasionally until May, 1828, when certain alterations in the road were allowed. [356] THE TURNPIKES OF CONNECTICUT THE CHESHIRE TURNPIKE On this road we have more definite information, for it is mentioned in Timlow's " History of Southington," Beach's " History of Cheshire," Blake's " History of Hampden," and by Watrous in his New Haven contribution. The Cheshire Turnpike Company was also formed in May, 1800, its franchise reading " through Hampden near the meeting- house as reported by the committee." The committee's report is ac- cessible in the office of the secretary of state and shows the route beyond any question. It commenced in the center of Temple Street in New Haven and followed the Hartford and New Haven Turnpike for 178.71 chains, or to the Gun Factory Dam, and it extended northerly for a total distance of twenty-four miles, one quarter, sixty-two rods, and eleven links to the south line of Farmington. Two gates were allowed, — one between New Haven and Hampden and the other between Cheshire and Southington. A bond for fifteen thousand dollars was required to secure payment of the damages and assure the proper main- tenance of the road. The joint use with the Hartford and New Haven seems to have been a matter of controversy for several years until 18 15, when it was en- acted that the expenses of the Hartford and New Haven in keeping up that section since the Cheshire' commenced using it should be one half repaid by the Cheshire Company, and afterwards equally divided. It was only a few years prior to the opening of this turnpike that Eli Whitney, tiring of the vexatious lawsuits in which his invention of the cotton gin had involved him and despairing of obtaining justice, had turned his attention to the manufacture of muskets. At this time he was engaged in filling his first contract for ten thousand stand for the United States government for the purpose of which he had erected his factory at the foot of East Rock, now the village of Whitneyville. " Whitney's Gun Factory " is mentioned often in the acts concerning the two turnpikes. In Hampden the Cheshire had the familiar trouble over a gate barring travel over an old highway. Passing Mount Carmel an old road had been appropriated which did not seem to worry anyone until the corporation erected its gate on that portion. A town meeting in August, 1803, instructed the selectmen to request the removal of the gate and, in case of refusal, to retaliate by taking away a fence be- longing to the town. Request and threat alike failed to move the cor- poration, so in September the town voted to petition the assembly to order the gate taken off the town's old road. What the result was has not been learned, but it can be safely surmised that the corporation had its own way. Cheshire's history contains an old map on which the turnpike is shown, so we are left in no doubt as to its location in that town. Here [357] THE TURNPIKES OF NEW ENGLAND the turnpike project was hotly opposed, but corporate influence pre- vailed and certain citizens of the town had the grace, in submitting, to become stockholders. In Southington the road was cut through a ridge of ground which extended across the Common from the northeast corner to the south end. That the road was in operation as late as 1856 is shown by an act passed in that year allowing the substitution of two half-gates for one whole one. The road became, free within the next twenty years. When the New Haven and Northampton Railroad was laid out in 1875 the engineers made the location along the old turnpike from " The Steps " in Mount Carmel to Centerville, and proceeded with the construction. Before the rails were laid the assembly intervened and decreed that the town should buy and grade a new right of way in another place, for which the railroad company should pay thirteen thousand dollars and give up its location on the turnpike. THE GRANBY TURNPIKE The Granby Turnpike Company was incorporated in October, 1 800, for the purpose of opening a turnpike " from the Massachusetts line in the county of Hartford to the Talcott Mountain Turnpike near the city of Hartford." Within these limitations the road was built from a corner with the Talcott Mountain Turnpike near the boundary line between Hartford and West Hartford, northwesterly through Bloomfield Center, North Bloomfield, Tariffville, Granby, Pegville, and North Granby to the northwest corner of Granby town. The road was about twenty miles long and the company had the privilege of erecting two gates on it. In May, 1821, the location of the road was confirmed by the as- sembly, but this must not be taken to mean that the road had only then been completed. More likely some irregularity had occurred in the original layout which had been allowed to slumber until someone, brood- ing over the tolls he had been obliged to pay, sought to obtain revenge by a complaint. Several such cases have been observed, in all of which the assembly disposed of the case by legalizing the corporation's position. This turnpike was a part of a scheme for another through route from Hartford to Albany, but the Massachusetts section failed to mate- rialize. We have already seen how the Eleventh Massachusetts Turn- pike Corporation secured a franchise in 1801 and how, eight years later, the Granville Turnpike Corporation received a charter to build over identically the same route. Their plan was to connect at the state line with the Granby Turnpike and to continue the route through the Massa- chusetts towns of Granville and Blandford to a junction with the Hamp- den and Berkshire Turnpike at Blandford Center. The Hampden and Berkshire, by its connections with the Tenth Massachusetts and the [358] -d Q _o a a 6 oT i-T p c > 4> < u d > 2 L 3 tc -D c 9 a K o P 9 5"fc u Z Q X o 3 O w _c o C 3 g T3 C/3 ,0 .s *c3 C s OJ -T3 p o I' 11 '■ I -- THE TURNPIKES OF CONNECTICUT Housatonic River turnpikes, led by at least two different improved routes to the Hudson River. But as we have said, the link from the Hampden and Berkshire to the Connecticut line was ever missing. The turnpike corporations were held strictly in hand even as late as 1845, for we find an act by which the location of the Granby's gate in Bloomfield was legalized. Some detail in the formalities required in changing the location of a gate had not been observed and complaint had been made, but the assembly disposed of the matter by making the gate lawful and confirming all past doings thereat. The Granby Turnpike continued in business until 1854 when its charter was annulled. THE HARTFORD AND NEW LONDON TURNPIKE This road was built by the Hartford and New London Turnpike Company, which received the right to operate a turnpike from the as- sembly of October, 1800. As originally built the turnpike ran from East Hartford, five miles down the river along the road now followed by the South Glastonbury trolley cars, as far as Glastonbury; thence southeasterly through Marlboro Mills and Marlboro to Colchester. From there it turned more to the south and passed through Salem and Chesterfield Village, across the town of Waterford, and entered New London over what is now Broad Street. Miss Caulkins, in her " His- tory of New London," says that the corporation improved an old high- way from State to Hempstead streets and then built a new road to Colchester, passing more to the north than by the old route. All of the road northerly of the " two mile stone " in East Hartford was made public in May, 1807, and in May, 1829, all east of Hunting- ton Street in New London was discontinued as a turnpike and made a part of the city's streets. In 1839 the company represented to the as- sembly that for five miles, at the northerly end, its road was the main street of East Hartford and of Glastonbury, and that over it was hauled " large quantities of coal, wood, and other heavy articles," which wore out the road. Inasmuch as the corporation was not allowed to maintain a gate on that section and therefore collected no tolls from such traffic, its petition to be relieved of that portion of its road was granted. Authority to transfer to New London all of the road be- tween Pound and Huntington streets was given in 1845. The balance of the turnpike was collecting tolls in 1852 and probably for many years longer. From " Famous Old Taverns of New London " x we learn that the stage for Hartford left New London on Tuesdays and Thursdays at eight in the morning in the year 18 18, returning Wednesdays and Fridays. The New London terminus was at the Dutton House, a tavern so old that it had been built by John Richards, who died in 1 By James L. Chew, in Papers of the New London County Historical Society. [359] THE TURNPIKES OF NEW ENGLAND 1720. H. G. Broome, a veteran stage driver, was the proprietor and rein manipulator of this line, and his business must have seemed pre- carious for he appears to have been easily discouraged. In the fall of 1823 a biweekly steamship line was started from New London along the Sound and up the Connecticut River to Hartford, and Broome issued an announcement under date of October 5, 1823, that he feared that the competition of this steamer, which was named The Experiment, would prove disastrous to his business and therefore he withdrew his stages. But Broome continued driving for many years longer on the shorter runs to Norwich, Colchester, and Lyme. • THE FARMINGTON AND BRISTOL TURNPIKE In the published acts of Connecticut we read only that the Farming- ton and Bristol Turnpike Company was incorporated in May, 1801, and that its charter was revoked in May, 18 19; but the reader inter- ested in turnpike history is entitled to know more. This company received in its act of incorporation the right to build a road from the end of the Litchfield and Harwinton Turnpike in Bristol, now Burlington, to Thompson's Corner at the north end of the town street in Farmington and thence to Hartford. The committee appointed to make the layout of the road commenced its labors at the west door of the courthouse in Hartford and laid out the present Asy- lum Street, Farmington Avenue, and Main Street in Farmington. Thence it continued to the east end of the Litchfield and Harwinton Turnpike in the northwest part of Burlington, which was then a part of Bristol. The Hartford courthouse stood on Main Street at the corner of State and nearly opposite the end of Asylum Street. The first building was erected in 17 1 9 but the present building, which for many years served as Hartford's city hall, was built in 1796. During the life of the turnpike the old courthouse sheltered the delegates to the Hartford Convention in 18 14, that famous gathering of pacifists who sought to end the War of 181 2. Recently the city has erected a much more pre- tentious office building two blocks farther south on Main Street and has vacated the old brick house. Construction of the turnpike was evidently slow, for the company was back in May, 1802, asking for a revision of the layout. In yield- ing to the direct-line obsession a saving of eight rods had been made by cutting across some valuable land, and permission was given to make a desired detour. That the road was finished in 1805 is seen from an act by which alterations were allowed in the location of certain gates which were being avoided by the familiar device of a shunpike. In May, 18 19, the company petitioned the assembly to be released from its obligations. The road had never paid and the investment of $15,232.10 was a total loss. In compliance the corporation was re- [360] THE TURNPIKES OF CONNECTICUT leased from its burden of maintaining the road and its charter was " disannulled." The portion between Hartford and Farmington formed a part of the so-called Hartford and Danbury Turnpike, the Middle Road Turn- pike Company, incorporated in October, 1803, maintaining a road from Farmington to Danbury. The layout committee reported the entire length of the Farmington and Bristol Turnpike as nineteen miles, fifty-six rods, and twenty-one links, which we have seen was later increased by eight rods. Thus we are enabled to compute that the road cost at the rate of $793.23 a mile. At the time this charter was granted, Hartford was a small city mostly along the river front, but to-day Asylum Street is a crowded city thoroughfare with the up-to-date rule of one-way traffic in force. On Farmington Avenue, over a mile out, the author had difficulty in exposing for photographs on account of the constant passing of auto- mobiles, trolley cars, and other vehicles. If the old corporation could collect its tolls to-day it would be but a few days before it had recouped its $15,232.10. THE DANBURY AND RIDGEFIELD TURNPIKE This was a short road connecting the two adjoining towns named. It was built by the Danbury and Ridgefield Turnpike Company which was chartered in May, 1801. The route proposed is so indefinitely described that one cannot pick out the road followed, but apparently it was the Sugar Hollow Road of southwest Danbury. An alteration was made in 1832, and the turnpike continued to be operated until June 23, i860, when its charter was repealed. , In 1829 another corporation, the Sugar Hollow Turnpike Company, was formed, which continued the Danbury and Ridgefield on each end. On the south it made connection with the Norwalk and Danbury and over that to the sea at Norwalk, while on the north an extension to the New York line was provided. THE TORRINGTON TURNPIKE The Torrington Turnpike Company, chartered in May, 1801, had a right to build from West Simsbury to Litchfield courthouse, and the road built in accordance passed through the intervening towns of Tor- rington, New Hartford, and Canton, crossing both the Waterbury and Farmington rivers. This was the company which found itself in ill favor with the assembly on account of an early anticipation of " excess land condemnation." The locating committee, finding that the inter- section which they had made with the Talcott Mountain Turnpike was [361] THE TURNPIKES OF NEW ENGLAND at so slight an angle as to make the land between of little value, had made a taking of the entire triangle from Samuel Humphrey, Jr., of Canton. This was subsequently represented as illegal, inasmuch as by that action a layout in excess of four rods in width had been made at that point. The assembly of 1805 was convinced of the illegality and ordered the land to be restored to the former owner. The town of Torrington did not welcome the turnpike with cordiality according to Orcutt's history, as it was obliged to buy the necessary land and build a bridge over the Waterbury River for the use of the com- pany. A tax of five cents per thousand dollars was voted to pay for the land in 1801 but the building of the bridge was flatly refused until twice ordered by the courts. In the end the town was more benefited by the turnpike than the stockholders. Of the bridge over the Farmington River in Canton we hear nothing until 1857, when it met a common fate of bridges in being swept down- stream. The town did not see fit to replace it but did erect another bridge about one hundred rods farther up-stream which left certain stub ends of useless turnpike. Consequently the company secured the pas- sage of an act in 1859 by which it was allowed to build connecting sec- tions of road, giving access to the new bridge, and abandon the parts of no further use to it. In 1838 all of the turnpike east of Luther Higley's in Canton was given over to the public, and in 1861, Orcutt says, the company sur- rendered its charter. THE NORWICH AND WOODSTOCK TURNPIKE The story of this road is all in legislative acts. The act of incorpora- tion was passed in May, 1801, forming the Norwich and Woodstock Turnpike Company for the purpose of building from Norwich Landing through Lisbon, Canterbury, Brooklyn, Pomfret, Woodstock, and Thompson. The route was described and the layout declared a public highway and immediately given to the newly formed corporation on its agreement to make and maintain the same. Three gates were to be allowed, — one near the Norwich-Lisbon line, one in the south part of Brooklyn, and one in Woodstock. By the inclusion of Thompson among the towns to be crossed, it seems that the intention was to make a connection with the Ninth Massa- chusetts Turnpike and to open a route from Norwich to Boston, but, if so, that idea did not hold long, for an amendment was enacted in 1 803 by which the road could be built from Woodstock to the Massa- chusetts line in the direction of Sturbridge. By building on this line no connection was made at the state line with any Massachusetts turnpike but the journey to Sturbridge was continued over public highways. The decision to bear northwesterly instead of heading for a direct connection with the Ninth Massachusetts was a wise one and avoided an error too [362] "'•:.' ii^BI' ':. Kfc^ ■ -' «■ 1 i a O £ 9 Q o o " g W * yj^j fl o u -a" II rl 9 ♦r w w 5 > B O O w M IE 5 9 H Q < o o < a o U. H < u X w < — Si. « n S ■E S .o _5 CO »- 3 3 a* •a * I s 3 e- O K Q IS w S < a < B O * OS o o 55 < w w B u _; o U Oh X O O == THE TURNPIKES OF CONNECTICUT away, and to encourage its rebuilding the assembly suppressed the ferry on condition that the bridge should be replaced by a more substantial construction. The subsequent bridge or bridges continued to serve the public on consideration of tolls until 1879, when it was thrown open to the public. East Hartford persistently appealed to the assembly for the restora- tion of the ferry until 1836, when success met its efforts, but the privilege was finally taken away, never to be restored, in 1841. A monumental masonry structure now occupies the site of the old toll bridge. The Hartford and Tolland Turnpike became later, when the Staf- ford Pool Turnpike and the Worcester and Stafford Turnpike were opened, a part of a through route to Boston by way of Worcester, and the indications are that a heavy travel passed over the road for many years. The old road to the ferry is now known as Governor Street, but the portion south of the bridge has disappeared from the sight of man. The traffic requirements of late years demanded the construction of the present straight boulevard from the bridge to Church Corner, and Governor Street ends at the intersection. The site of the eastern ferry landing is now occupied by the shipyard of the Hartford and New York Transportation Company. Turning sharply to the left where the Bigelow Hall Building now stands the turnpike followed the lines of Main Street to Burnside Avenue, over which it continued to the present corner with Tolland Street. Over Tolland Street it went and crossed the northerly part of Manchester, through Vernon Center, to Tolland courthouse. THE POMFRET AND KILLINGLY TURNPIKE In Larned's history we read that the citizens of Killingly gave much consideration in the early years of the century to the matter of trans- portation, finally deciding, in 1801, to support a turnpike proposition to connect the Norwich Turnpike in Pomfret with the Glocester Turn- pike in Rhode Island. It seems that such a vote must have been .secured by some old-time parliamentary trick, for the town was in no position to aid in construction and later showed a decided disinclination to do so. The Pomfret and Killingly Turnpike Company was created in May, 1802, but, since the charter was revoked in 18 19, the compiler of the special laws gave no details of the act of incorporation and access must be had to the spacious vault in the basement of the Hartford capitol, where the manuscript records of the assembly are kept. There we find the route described, — from the Boston Turnpike in Pomfret through Killingly eastward to the Glocester Turnpike at the Rhode Island line. Eight and one quarter miles was the length and, following the precedent set in the formation of many Rhode Island companies, the corporation [367] THE TURNPIKES OF NEW ENGLAND was allowed to hold land not in excess of thirty acres. The petitioners had estimated that their road would cost at the rate of five hundred dollars a mile, but their ultimate opinions are not available. Miss Larned says that the road was completed in 1803 and that it passed over Killingly Hill by the meeting-house. Killingly, exhausted by previous heavy expenses, refused to build any part of the new bridge demanded by the corporation until cited to court for its neglect. Then the town grudgingly gave in and appointed a committee which per- formed the work in the same grudging spirit, doing the construction so poorly that the structure was soon washed away. Then Killingly had to do it over again. A bridge over the Quinebaug in Pomfret was built at divided cost by the corporation and town after a controversy. In 1809 the Glocester Turnpike Company of Rhode Island joined with various Connecticut citizens in protesting the location of a gate on the Pomfret and Killingly, which had been erected within one hundred and sixty rods of the Rhode Island line and in such a place that it in- tercepted such travelers as journeyed easterly over an old road which entered the turnpike forty rods west of the offending gate. Thus, it is seen, the Pomfret and Killingly was collecting full tolls from people who were using its road for a distance of only two hundred rods. The protest being laid before the assembly resulted in the appointment of a committee charged to change the gate to another location. The road was abandoned by its proprietors about 18 17, and the bridge in Killingly was taken down. In May, 1 8 19, the charter was revoked. THE HEBRON AND MIDDLE HADDAM TURNPIKE The Hebron and Middle Haddam Turnpike Company was chartered in May, 1802, and built its road from the meeting-house in Hebron through Hebron, Colchester, and Chatham to Middle Haddam Land- ing on the Connecticut River. A portion of this old road appears on the road maps to-day with the label of " Turnpike " against it, but very little has been found regarding the operations of the company. Much trouble seems to have been met in collecting tolls, for the mov- ing of a gate was allowed in 1830, 1844, and 1846. From this we see that the turnpike enjoyed a life of at least forty-four years. THE MIDDLESEX TURNPIKE The Middlesex Turnpike Company, which was incorporated in May, 1 802, built a road from the sixth milestone from Hartford, at Goff's Brook, in the town of Wethersfield, to the stage road in Saybrook, passing through Middletown and over Walkley Hill in Haddam. The t368] THE TURNPIKES OF CONNECTICUT corporation was required to file a bond for thirty thousand dollars, guaranteeing to complete its road before the first of November, 1804. In May, 1804, the company was allowed to make an alteration in its layout, taking for that purpose a section of old public highway. Follow- ing the custom the assembly proceeded to take from this piece of road its public dedication, which it did by resolving that it " be and the same hereby is not a highway." The ride along this turnpike must have been one of the most inspiring in Connecticut, for it followed closely along the bank of the Connecti- cut River from a point six miles below Hartford, nearly to the mouth. Until 1 87 1, when the Connecticut Valley Railroad's first trains disturbed the valley, the traveler was free to contemplate Nature's undisturbed beauty, and it must have been with a jar that he was brought back to earth by the demand for toll. The turnpike did not give up business with the advent of the railroad but struggled along for several years, although doubtless under dis- couraging conditions. When its Saybrook tollhouse was burned in April, 1874, circumstances did not warrant its being rebuilt. Tolls were finally discontinued on the whole road on March 29, 1876. For sixteen years the Saybrook gate was tended by Robert Rankin and later by Henry Safferry. Tolls collected after nine at night were allowed to the gatherer for his own, a clever device of the company to prevent the tollman from going to sleep and making it an object for the public to postpone its traveling until after his bedtime. THE NEW PRESTON TURNPIKE This road was built to accommodate the emigrant travel which was then beginning to " the western settlements," and connected the New Milford and Litchfield Turnpike with the New York boundary on the way to Fishkill and Poughkeepsie. The New Preston Turnpike Com- pany was chartered in May, 1802, and evidently built its road soon after. Leaving the New Milford and Litchfield at the village of New Pres- ton the new turnpike ran westerly into and about halfway across the town of New Milford, thence northerly into the town of Kent, and then westerly again through the village of South Kent to the Housatonic River at Bulls Bridge in the southwest corner of Kent. Thence a short run brought it to the New York line. The turnpike enjoyed nearly a half-century of existence, the charter being repealed in 1851. For over a year previously the corporation had neglected and refused to repair its road and had taken down its gate. The necessary repairs had therefore been made by the towns traversed, and their reasonable request to own the road which they had to maintain was granted. [369] THE TURNPIKES OF NEW ENGLAND THE NEW HAVEN AND MILFORD TURNPIKE Another product of the May session in 1802 was the New Haven and Milford Turnpike Company, which was allowed to build a road from the courthouse in New Haven to the meeting-house in Milford. By its charter the company might take the old road or make such altera- tions as would meet the approval of the county court. The road as it stretches from one city to the other to-day shows plainly that the corpo- ration availed itself fully of the privilege of making changes in the crooked sections. Lambert's " History of the Colony of New Haven " testifies to that, for it records that the town of Milford clashed with the new enterprise and sought to make it keep in the bounds of the old road, objecting to the company's " running the turnpike-road through peoples' land." August 26, 1802, the New Haven county court approved the location desired by the corporation, each variation from the old road being described by metes and bounds, and referred to various trees and houses designated by their occupants' names. For good measure the court allowed a few more than were asked, and appointed a committee to make the formal layout and appraise the damages. 1 In October, 1804, the assembly designated the portion of the turn- pike which was to be in New Haven as being the old road from West River Bridge to the southerly end of Church Street where the market then stood. This had previously been thrashed out in the county court and a decision rendered there to the same effect. A friendly arrangement between New Haven and the turnpike was made in 1836 by which the turnpike west of the hospital was exchanged for a city street on the east side of that institution. About a quarter of a mile near the hospital was given up in 1847, as the city improvements were advancing so fast as to require refine- ments not in a turnpike corporation's line of business. The " Milford Pike " is easily detected by the tourist to-day, as it forms a most direct route between its original terminal cities and, more- over, is locally known by that name. THE RIMMON FALLS TURNPIKE With the opening of the Oxford, Straits, and Derby turnpikes inter- course between New Haven and the country northwest of it would seem to have been amply provided with facilities. But the route over the Oxford and the Straits was roundabout and repugnant to turnpike con- ceptions, while there was quite a space of undeveloped country to be passed over between the Oxford and the Derby. Efforts by certain 1 "New Haven County Records," Volume 13, page 118. [370] THE TURNPIKES OF CONNECTICUT Derby citizens to bridge the latter difficulty, by forming a turnpike company to build across the intervening space, were defeated by some of their neighbors, who insisted that any company should pay for its own land and bridges. Hence a deadlock ensued. The Rimmon Falls Turnpike Company, chartered in May, 1802, was first projected in 1798, apparently, to connect with the Derby at Derby Landing, but after years of strife finally located its road straight across country from Chusetown, now Seymour, to New Haven, leaving Derby off on one side. In Sharpe's " History of Seymour " we read that the limits of the road were Thompson's Bridge in New Haven and the Falls Bridge in Chusetown. Pearl and Main streets in Chusetown were straightened In turnpike development so as to lead straight to the bridge. A large cut on Hill Street below Washington Avenue was taken out by diverting a near-by brook and sluicing the gravel into the river. The Falls Bridge was found to be insufficient for the increased travel which would follow the turnpike, so it was rebuilt by the turnpike corporation. Although a short section of public road was between the corner of the Oxford Turnpike, where it turned away from Little River to go to Pines Bridge, and the Falls Bridge, the proprietors of the Oxford seem to have realized the value of a connection with the new Rimmon Falls road enough to cause them to share in the expense of rebuilding the Falls Bridge. The Rimmon Falls Turnpike, as finally located, went directly south- west from Chusetown across the town of Woodbridge to Westville, then called Hotchkisstown, where it entered the Straits Turnpike over which its travelers continued to New Haven. The last reference to this road which has been found is an act passed in 1838 by which the management was allowed to move a gate. THE GOSHEN AND SHARON TURNPIKE This road was built by the Goshen and Sharon Turnpike Company under authority of a franchise granted them in May, 1803, to build from Goshen meeting-house, through Sharon, to " York State line." Although the charter plainly specifies Goshen meeting-house as the east- erly limit there seems little doubt but what the road was actually built and maintained as a turnpike farther east to Torrington, where it united with the Waterbury River Turnpike. Orcutt speaks of it in his " His- tory of Torrington," saying that it was "made mostly" in 1805 and that the town, seeing no other way, voted at once that it would build and maintain four bridges if the corporation would release it from further bridge obligation. Gold's " History of Cornwall " has permanently recorded the loca- tion of the road in that town. It says that it crossed the river at West [37i] THE TURNPIKES OF NEW ENGLAND Cornwall, led through Cornwall Center, and with true spirit of liberty, " climbed Bunker Hill." One tollgate was at the bridge in West Corn- wall and another stood near Tyler Pond in Goshen. In May, 1825, the portion from the foot of Riley Hill in Sharon to the New York, line was made free, and the same procedure was had upon all west of Pine Swamp Road in Sharon, while whatever was left in that town followed suit in 1846. Ten years later the charter was repealed and the entire Goshen and Sharon Turnpike passed into history. THE STAFFORD MINERAL SPRING TURNPIKE The Stafford Pool Turnpike was chartered in October, 1803, to build from Tolland courthouse to the Massachusetts line through Staf- ford, passing by the mineral spring in that town. In 18 14 its name was changed to Stafford Mineral Spring Turnpike. By the construction which this corporation carried out, with that later done in Massachusetts by the Worcester and Stafford Turnpike Corporation, a through route from Worcester to Hartford was opened, using the already built Hartford and Tolland Turnpike for the westerly section. Reference to the map will show at once the idea back of these combined roads. The " northern route " from Boston to New York passed through Worcester, Springfield, and Hartford, and by the cut- ting of a route through Stafford the distance was much reduced, for almost a direct line from Worcester to Hartford was thus developed, although leaving away off on one side the growing town of Springfield. That long-extended through-routes traversing unproductive districts were not remunerative was well demonstrated by the experience of these roads which " gave up the ghost " at the time when other turnpikes were at the height of their prosperity. The Massachusetts road ceased its efforts in 1835 and the Stafford Mineral Spring Turnpike was aban- doned about that time by its owners. In 1839, upon information that the corporation had abandoned its road through Tolland, Ellington, and Stafford as far as the Massachu- setts line, and that the corporate organization itself had not been kept up, the assembly annulled the charter and the road became a public charge. Part of it was not even of local use, for in 1853 that between a new highway and Number Nine Schoolhouse was discontinued as a highway. THE WASHINGTON TURNPIKE This ran from the centre of Woodbury to the centre of Washington, thence across the New Milford and Litchfield Turnpike, to meet at the east end of the New Preston Turnpike Road. [372] THE TURNPIKES OF CONNECTICUT Built by the Washington Turnpike Company, which was incorporated in October, 1803, it seems to have been one of those useful but little known facilities which served its own community for many years. The charter was repealed in 1843. THE THOMPSON TURNPIKE An important old road leading from Providence to the northeast part of Connecticut was improved in 1794 and operated as the West Glocester Turnpike for ninety-four years. In the beginning it was but a section of a rough country road and really of but local importance, but with the continuation of turnpike improvements to Providence and the prospects of business from farther northwest it soon assumed con- siderable importance, and a continuation through Connecticut was de- manded. So the Thompson Turnpike Company was created in October, 1803, with a franchise to build "through said town of Thompson." The gate was to be within three miles of the Rhode Island line. Miss Larned's " History of Windham County " tells of the opposi- tion of unwilling taxpayers who objected to being saddled with the cost of land for the benefit of private investors. But their opposition only served to postpone the coming of the improvement for a few years, the road's completion quickly following the granting of the charter. The new road intersected the Boston Turnpike on Thompson Hill, soon transferred business and population to the hilltop, and caused a flourishing village to be built. The Thompson Turnpike became the main thoroughfare between Providence and Springfield, and it was not long before daily stages passed over it. In 1 8 14 a gate was authorized within three- miles of the Massachu- setts line. As the Rhode Island connection of this road was operated until 1888 there would seem to have been no reason why the Thompson Turnpike should not have been a paying investment for that long also, but we have not learned when it ceased its collections. It is to be noted that no turnpike in Massachusetts connected with the Thompson at the state line and that the entire distance to Springfield was completed over public roads. THE EAST MIDDLE AND WEST MIDDLE TURNPIKES Communication between Hartford and Danbury about the year 1802 must have been difficult and also desirable, for strenuous efforts were then made to secure a satisfactory road, a committee being appointed by the general assembly to lay out such a route and also to submit their recommendations as to the advisability of establishing the same as a turnpike. The first report of the committee, covering the section [373] THE TURNPIKES OF NEW ENGLAND from Danbury to Newtown, was made in October, when the com- mittee was continued and instructed to continue its labors to Poland Bridge in Plymouth. That done and reported in May, 1803, the scheme was still unsatisfactory and the patient committee was further required to continue its labors to Farmington, where the Farmington and Bristol Turnpike would be met, over which the journey to Hartford could be finished. The committee's full report, containing certain alterations in the older part of the route, was accepted in October, 1803, and the road declared laid out as a public highway, with the proviso that the part between Poland Bridge and Farmington should only attain that status when a turnpike corporation had been formed to construct it. The Middle Road Turnpike Company was formed at the October session of 1803 and given the newly created public road, with the obligation to build the section from Poland Bridge to Danbury. The influence which had prevented the part from the bridge to Farmington from being accepted in full was either absent or met defeat, for the towns of Bristol and Farmington were obliged to build that section for the corporation. The turnpike, as recorded in the secretary of state's office, com- menced on the Farmington and Bristol Turnpike in the Main Street in Farmington and went nine miles, seventy-two rods, and seven links to the bridge over the Poland River in the easterly part of the town of Plymouth. Thence it continued generally westerly, passing Plymouth meeting-house, to the Waterbury River Turnpike, which it followed for a distance of eighty chains or one mile. It then crossed the towns of Watertown, Woodbury, and Southbury, to the Main Street in New- town after which it continued directly to Danbury. The road was com- monly known as the Hartford and Danbury Turnpike, although after 1823 the journey between those places took one over the roads of three distinct corporations. In its length it intersected the Middletown and Berlin, Waterbury River, Straits, Pines Bridge, Washington, Flousa- tonic, and Bridgeport and Newtown turnpikes which, with its two im- portant terminals, doubtless seemed to justify the building of forty-six miles of road. After twenty years of operation in May, 1823, the road and corpora- tion were divided; the East Middle and the West Middle Turnpike companies being formed and given respective sections of the old Middle Road Turnpike. The part from Danbury to a point ten miles east of the crossing of the Housatonic River was given to the West Middle Turnpike Company, the Easf Middle taking the balance. The point of division was about where the Washington Turnpike crossed the Middle Road. The East Middle secured permission to make changes in its gates in 1834, 1840, and 1844, but in the last year suffered the repeal of as much of its charter as applied to the towns of Woodbury and Water- [374] THE TURNPIKES OF CONNECTICUT town. When the balance through Plymouth, Bristol, and Farmington became free has not been learned. All franchise rights of the West Middle were revoked by the as- sembly at its May session in 1839. THE COLCHESTER AND NORWICH TURNPIKE The turnpike from Bacon Academy in Colchester to Fitch's Iron- works in Bozrah was built by the Colchester and Norwich Turnpike Company under a franchise granted in October, 1805, two years having then elapsed since such a charter had been granted. In 1807 the corpo- ration was allowed to extend its road to an intersection with the Leba- non Road at Backus' Ironworks in Norwich. That the turnpike was in operation in 18 14 we know from an act which provided a revision in the rates of toll, but further we have not been able to learn. This corporation was allowed to hold fifty acres of land in connec- tion with its tollhouse, a decidedly liberal allowance as compared with the privilege of the Straits Turnpike Company, which had to ask the assembly, in 1806, for permission to erect houses at its gates and was then only allowed five acres with each house. THE CORNWALL AND WASHINGTON TURNPIKE A committee reporting to the assembly in October, 1803, gave a description of a comprehensive road which it had laid out from Nathaniel Loury's in Canaan to Derby Landing, and recommended that it should be built as a turnpike and specified where the gates should be located. The report was accepted and the assembly waited for a corporation to appear. Two years later certain parties signified that if they could be in- corporated as the Cornwall and Washington Turnpike Company they would undertake the construction of a part of the route. In consequence the corporation was formed in October, 1805, to build from Loury's to the Washington Turnpike in the northerly part of Woodbury, of which privilege it did not take advantage for several years. The corpo- ration occupied the attention of the assembly in May, 1806, when cer- tain alterations in the route were permitted. In October, 1812, it again appeared at the capitol. Its road was not completed and the manage- ment tried to blame it on the committee in spite of the late date. All was forgiven, however, and it was enacted that the company might complete the road and do business when it had done so. When the collection of tolls commenced is not known. In May, 1829, all of the turnpike between " Lory's " gate in Canaan and the south line of Cornwall was made free, and in 1839 the entire charter was revoked. [375] THE TURNPIKES OF NEW ENGLAND THE CONNECTICUT TURNPIKE (The Old Boston Post Road) The Old Post Road from Boston to New York, after crossing the Connecticut River, followed as close to the shore as the numerous indentations would allow and, west of New Haven, took, a fairly direct course. We have already seen that the portion in Greenwich was made a turnpike under county control in 1792. In 1798 an act was passed under authority of which the towns of Fairfield and Norwalk built a toll bridge across the Saugatuck River, which was in use before 1800. The road continued with only those improvements until May, 1 806, when the Connecticut Turnpike Company was formed to improve the Old Post Road from the house of Jonathan Sturges in Fairfield to the Byram River, which is the boundary between Connecticut and New York. This franchise is thus seen to include the section in Greenwich which then passed from county to corporation control. Four gates were allowed " including the toll at Saugatuck Bridge." The other gates were to be located in Greenwich; in Stamford, at least eighty rods west of the Noroton River; and in Fairfield, between Mill River and the old road from Greenfield. " Ye Historie of ye Town of Greenwich " by Mead is our authority for saying»that the gate in Greenwich was located just west of Horse Neck Brook and about halfway up the hill, which is still known as Toll- gate Hill. Huntington's " History of Stamford " says that the proposition for this turnpike was received with much dissatisfaction in all the towns along the route except Stamford. The people of that town had evi- dently little knowledge of turnpike methods and failed to realize the dawn of the day of " soulless corporations," for they welcomed the improvement until they saw what was to be done in their midst. War broke out when they learned that the commissioners proposed to straighten the road even to the extent of cutting directly through the center of the village and dividing their cemetery. The town fought desperately to prevent this desecration but lost on the final appeal, and construction commenced. Tradition credits the corporation with proper care in opening the graves and handling the bodies, but Stamford was not appeased by that. Following the first day's grading operations in the cemetery, large numbers of citizens with many yoke of oxen gath- ered in the early darkness and labored all night, hauling large rocks into the opening at each end and blocking the entrances. But what man could put in, man could take away, and for three days Stamford piled rocks in by night and the corporation's forces removed them by day, until the money power finally prevailed. Many of the good people of the town, it is said, were so wrought up by the invasion of their sacred [376] THE TURNPIKES OF CONNECTICUT precincts that they never afterwards would pass over that portion of the road which is now Main Street. The Connecticut Turnpike continued to demand its tolls until 1854, when the corporation gave it up. The continuation of the Old Post Road in New York was improved about the year 1800 by the Westchester Turnpike Company, which collected tolls on the old road from Sawpits, now Port Chester, nearly to New York City. Stephen Jenkins, in writing of the Old Boston Post Road, gives some interesting data on the road of the present day. He says that in leaving Greenwich for Stamford in the olden days, the stagecoach would have taken us out by way of Dumpling Pond, but the trolley car of to-day follows a more direct route, as the various inlets of the Sound have been bridged and much distance saved. The entrance into Stam- ford was the same, and the route was lined with beautiful shade trees, as it is to-day. Further along he writes : " Turnpike " seems to be the favorite term in this section to apply to the Post Road which, after leaving Stamford, passes through many fine estates. At Noroton is the Wee Burn Country Club with its famous golf course. A detour of half a mile at this point takes us to the old Gorham Tide Mill near the shore. The old inhabitants will tell you of the time when this was a busy place, with stores, taverns, mill, and post-office; for here the farmers brought their grain to be ground, and their produce for shipment by vessel to New York. The Connecticut Soldiers' Home is located at Noroton but sets back from the old turnpike. The final soldiers' home, to which so many of the veterans have retired, Spring Grove Cemetery, abuts on the turnpike, and many of the trim regular stones may be seen in passing. THE CONNECTICUT AND RHODE ISLAND TURNPIKE The Rhode Island and Connecticut Turnpike extended from a point on the Providence and Norwich Turnpike at the westerly line of Provi- dence to the state line at a point about half a mile south of Killingly Pond in the town of Killingly. The corporation which built this road was formed in May, 1802, and carried out its purposes within a few years. As a part of the same general scheme and to continue the route to Hartford, the Connecticut and Rhode Island Turnpike Company was formed in Connecticut in May, 1806, to extend the Rhode Island road to an intersection with the Boston Turnpike, over which access to Hart- ford could be had. The Rhode Island Company seems to have had some difficulty in prosecuting its work and only succeeded in the final completion when assurance came of the supplemental work to be done in Connecticut. In fact, it may fairly be surmised that a reorganization was effected in 1806, and that the men connected with the Connecticut enterprise be- came interested in the Rhode Island portion. It is certain that joint ownership prevailed in 1816, for then authority was secured to treat [377] THE TURNPIKES OF NEW ENGLAND the two corporations as one, and a gate on Connecticut soil was used to collect tolls for traveling over Rhode Island miles. Two gates were allowed in the original Connecticut allotment and the corporation was obliged to build its own bridge over the Quinebaug River. In 1813 an alteration was allowed, which apparently had already been made, as confirmation was given to the construction across the Natchaug River at the foot of Snow's mill pond in Ashford, in a part of the town which became Eastford in 1847. Miss Larned tells in her "History of Windham County" that poor Pomfret put up its usual fight to escape being saddled with heavy ex- pense for improvements not locally needed, and failing to shut out the turnpike sought to have it located in a less expensive section. So heavy had been Pomfret's expenses in fighting, turnpikes and then bearing costs and paying damages, that it had been seriously proposed to convert the new town house into cash to relieve the depleted treasury. What a change a century has brought! Now Pomfret is the summer home of millionaires with palatial estates, and has a railroad station worth many times the cost of that town house. Ashford, on the other hand, regarded all turnpikes as harbingers of prosperity and willingly paid for the expected benefits. The route opened by the two corporations just considered and the Boston Turnpike became at once an important channel of traffic, and for many years a heavy teaming travel passed between Hartford and Providence, with daily stages interspersed. The Rhode Island section passed into public control in 1871 and 1875, but the Connecticut road was assumed by the towns in 1851. THE HARTLAND TURNPIKE This road was built by the Hartland Turnpike Company which was formed in May, 1806. The franchise covered from the Greenwoods Turnpike east of the pond in Norfolk to the Green at the East meeting- house in Suffield. The road had been laid out by a committee which reported to the assembly in September, 1805, and from the report it appears that it passed one mile north of Newgate Prison, that notorious underground mine which in later years had been used for the confinement of crimi- nals. The towns through which the turnpike was built were Norfolk, Colebrook, Barkhamsted, Hartland, Granby, and Suffield, but it seems that construction was slow, as in May, 1809, an extension of time to October 1, 18 10, was secured. That was undoubtedly sufficient, for in 18 1 2 we find the corporation making petition for a change of gates. The petition was continued, and a year later was taken up, when the commissioners on that road were instructed to investigate and report. Such slow action must have been too much for the company. At any rate the charter was revoked in October, 18 14. [378] THE TURNPIKES OF CONNECTICUT THE WARREN TURNPIKE No description whatever is given in the act of incorporation of the route which this road was to follow and only by certain references is it seen that it was confined to Litchfield County. The Warren Turnpike Company was chartered in May, 1806. An act passed in October, 1809, shows that the northerly terminus was at what is now Falls Vil- lage in Canaan, where a large hydroelectric plant has recently been installed, and Gold, in his " History of Cornwall," says that the Warren Turnpike is still an important public road. So we know that the road ended at Falls Village and that it passed through Cornwall. It seems probable that the Warren Turnpike was the original of the present East River Road, along the east bank of the Housatonic River, from Kent to Falls Village. By the act of 1809, above mentioned, an extension was granted from Falls Village to the Massachusetts line, where connection was made with a branch of the Twelfth Massachusetts Turnpike which had been authorized by an act of the Massachusetts legislature in 1803. Gold's history, published in the early eighties, speaks of this road as if it had been free for many years. THE NEW LONDON AND LYME TURNPIKE Another section of the Old Post Road was marked for improvement when the New London and Lyme Turnpike Company was chartered in May, 1807, to improve that road between New London and Killing- worth through Waterford and Lyme. The improvement in Waterford consisted in making a new road which extended from the end of Bank Street, across Bream Cove, and over " the Neck," to an intersection with the old road in the westerly part of the town. A bridge over Bream Cove was first established in 171 2, according to a contributor to the New London Historical Society, 1 and then only foot passengers were accommodated. In 1766 a pile bridge sufficient for vehicles replaced the earlier structure, and in 1807, under turnpike incentive, a substantial stone construction, since known as Long Bridge, was erected. That was built by the new corporation, New London contributing five hundred dollars and the materials from the old bridge toward the cost. The section of new road was named Shaw's Avenue in 1 815. One of the milestones set up by Benjamin Franklin along the post roads, when he was postmaster general, is still standing on this old turn- pike on Dorr's Hill between New London and Lyme. The westerly terminus of the turnpike was at the Connecticut River 1 " Fact and Reminiscence," by James L. Chew. [379] THE TURNPIKES OF NEW ENGLAND where it connected with the old Saybrook Ferry, which had been in operation since 1662, and over which the stages were carried to Con- necticut River Village in Old Saybrook. Thence to New Haven the journey was continued over public roads, for no turnpike was ever pro- vided along the Sound from Saybrook to that city. In 1849 a U m Lyme south and west of the main street was made free, and in 1853 all in New London came under the control of that city. Apparently the company never utilized its franchise west of the Connecticut River. In 1824 the Connecticut River Steamboat Company commenced the operation of a line of steamers from Connecticut River ports to New York, its first boat being named Oliver Ellsworth after Connecticut's distinguished jurist. The next year marked the death of Commodore McDonough, the hero of Tripoli and of Plattsburg Bay, and the second boat bore his name. These steamers were met at Calves Island Wharf in Lyme by stages which took passengers to New London over the New London and Lyme Turnpike. The short piece of road by which access was had to Calves Island from the turnpike is still open to the investigating tourist. The Connecticut River Steamboat Company continued in business until 1834, at which time many other steamers were running up and down the river. THE WOODSTOCK AND THOMPSON TURNPIKE This road was built by the Woodstock and Thompson Turnpike Company which was chartered in May, 1808, and it ran northeasterly from the Woodstock meeting-house to the line of the town of Thompson and then easterly to Grosvenor Dale, where it met the Thompson Turn- pike which had been built some five years earlier. Miss Larned speaks of this road as being laid out on turnpike prin- ciples, straight through all obstacles including the " granite hill range of western Thompson." The turnpike was operated for several years but was finally aban- doned by its owners, and in May, 1832, the charter was repealed in order to allow the towns to repair and maintain the road, which seemed to be a public necessity. THE MIDDLETOWN AND BERLIN TURNPIKE Travel between Middletown and Farmington by way of Berlin and New Britain was the next to receive attention, the Middletown and Berlin Turnpike Company being chartered in May, 1808, to cover that district. [380] THE TURNPIKES OF CONNECTICUT The " History of New Britain," by Camp, states that this road was constructed about 1810 and passed through the 1 west part of that town. As New Britain's manufacturing importance had not then developed it is not surprising that the road passed on one side of it. Alterations were made in the location in 1809 and again in 18 10, and in 1841 a gate which had been moved without the required formali- ties was confirmed in its new position, after which no more legislative acts were passed on this road. THE WOODSTOCK AND SOMERS TURNPIKE The prospects of the Woodstock and Thompson Turnpike must have seemed rosy during the first six months of its corporate life, for in October, 1808, the Woodstock and Somers Turnpike Company was chartered for the purpose of continuing the good work of the Wood- stock and Thompson as far as the village of Somers. The road had previously been laid out, as may be read in the manu- script records in the Hartford capitol, through Woodstock, Ashford, Stafford, and Somers, a distance of twenty-six miles and 59.25 chains. On the easterly end it connected with the Woodstock and Thompson Turnpike, and it reached 180.62 chains into Somers, which brought it to Somers Street, as the center was called. Alterations were allowed in the location in 18 13 and the turnpike was operated for several years. Conditions in the northern tier of Connecticut towns must have been radically different a hundred years ago from what they are to-day or such a project would have proved a vain dream. Indeed it is hard to see how the corporation managed to pick up a fraction of its expenses, and very likely it did not. Like the Woodstock and Thompson it was abandoned by its owners and for several years was neglected. Finally in May, 1832, the as- sembly revoked the charter, and the road became an obligation of the various towns traversed by it. THE COLCHESTER AND CHATHAM TURNPIKE Throughout the turnpike era there were no bridges across the Con- necticut River below Hartford, and the only means of crossing was by ferries, of which there were several, and naturally any turnpike leading to that river planned to make one of the ferries its terminal. A ferry was established between Middletown and Portland in 1726, and thither the promoters of the Colchester and Chatham Turnpike projected their road. This company was formed at the October session of 1808 to build from Colchester to Middletown. The Hebron and Middle Haddam was already in the field, but it is hard to see that the two propositions conflicted with each other. Nevertheless, sufficient opposition was put up by that company to compel the new proprietors [381] THE TURNPIKES OF NEW ENGLAND to enter into an elaborate agreement as to division of tolls in the region where the two roads were) to cross each other, and the full text of that agreement was inserted in the act of incorporation of the Colchester and Chatham. The report of the laying-out committee of this road is interesting because the surveyor, whenever he could see two church spires at once, read a compass bearing on each. Those notes would be of great as- sistance in locating the road if we could be sure of the location of the various churches. This turnpike commenced in Colchester Center and ran a little south of westerly to the head of Babcock Pond, thence through the village of Westminster and the town of Chatham, passing close to the present Cobalt and Middle Haddam Station of the Air-Line Division, and across the town of Portland to the Middletown Ferry, just below where the railroad now crosses. THE COLUMBIA TURNPIKE Under date of August 27, 1808, a committee reported to the as- sembly that it had laid out a road from a point on the Hartford and Windham Turnpike, 4.04 chains southerly from the south end of a bridge near Clark and Gray's paper mill to the meeting-house in Hebron, at the easterly end of the Hebron and Middle Haddam Turn- pike. The report was accepted, and the road declared established, pro- vided a corporation was formed to build it. But the investigation had been urged in good faith, for the men with capital stood ready and the Columbia Turnpike Company was formed in October of the same year. The bridge mentioned in the above-quoted report was the old Iron- works Bridge in Willimantic, and the paper mill of Clark and Gray stood about where the Number One Mill of the American Thread Com- pany's Willimantic plant now stands. The Hartford and Windham Turnpike will not be found in our list of companies, as that was a name which could have been only locally applied. The road from which the survey started was that of the Windham Turnpike Company which, by its connection with the Boston Turnpike in North Coventry, led to Hartford. By its turnpike connections on either end the road of the Colum- bia Company offered a direct route from Providence to Middle Haddam on the Connecticut River, and it is easy to see that the promoters be- lieved that they were opening a road which would be of great use to long-distance travelers. The river was reached at a point accessible by boats from the Sound, and it was not a wild dream, at that date, to picture a heavy commerce transferring at Middle Haddam to boats for New York. But there is no evidence that such dreams were ever realized. T382] THE TURNPIKES OF CONNECTICUT Pleasant Street, which lies u over the river " in Willimantic and its continuation as Willimantic Road across Columbia to Hebron, is the old Columbia Turnpike. Willimantic at that date was still the " Old State," *so called from the location there of an arsenal during the Revolution, and its future greatness as a manufacturing center was not anticipated. So the Columbia Turnpike made no effort to cross the Willimantic River but continued down its southerly bank to the intersection with the Windham Turnpike, which it might have joined a mile farther to the west with a great saving in cost and distance. But " Old Windham " was then the county seat and a place of much more importance than Willimantic, so the turnpike committee proceeded toward it as directly as they could. State highway improvement has corrected that error and the modern road from Columbia to Willimantic branches off from the old turnpike about a half mile east of Columbia Green and crosses over to the Hop River Turnpike. Between the point of divergence and Willi- mantic the old road is but a woods lane, kept open only on account of a few residents along its borders. A tollgate stood in Willimantic where the corner of Bridge Street is now and opposite Burnham's carriage shop. Mr. Burnham in his seventy-ninth year could just remember when tolls were collected and so judged that the road became free about the year 1845. When he built his shop he removed the foundations of the old tollhouse in preparing the site for the new building. An old plan found in the Windham town office also showed the location of the tollgate, as above stated. THE TOLLAND COUNTY TURNPIKE The Tolland County Turnpike Company was chartered in May, 1809, and opened its road in about a year from that date. Its route was easterly through Ellington, Tolland, and Willington to the Boston Turnpike in Ashford, and Miss Larned says that it met the latter road two miles west of Ashford Village. Business was poor and the company petitioned for extra gates in October, 18 10. According to rule the petition was continued, and in the next May was practically denied, as all that was allowed was to change one of the gates into two half-gates. The company's charter was revoked in May, 1834. THE SHARON AND CORNWALL TURNPIKE The Sharon and Cornwall Turnpike Company, formed in May, 1809, built from the Warren Turnpike in Cornwall to Swift's Bridge and thence to Amasa Beebe's in Sharon. A subsequent act shows that the said Beebe's place was close to the meeting-house in Sharon, and [383] THE TURNPIKES OF NEW ENGLAND Swift's Bridge may be found on the maps of to-day across the Housa- tonic River near the southerly boundaries of both Cornwall and Sharon. This was another of the useful but little known utilities, and appar- ently it filled an important niche in its community, for it continued tor quietly collect its tolls for thirty-six years. In 1845 a ll or " the road in Sharon was made free and the gate was moved to a new location, prob- ably on the bridge. There could not have been any length of road in the town of Cornwall, so it is probable that the corporation continued 4ts existence for a while longer as a toll-bridge company. But of that we have found no data. THE CHATHAM AND MARLBOROUGH TURNPIKE In early September, 1809, a committee of the assembly was en- gaged in surveying the line for a new route by which the Connecticut River could be reached from the western part of Windham County. Its report, dated September 16, 1809, is to be commended for the definite location of the terminal points of the survey. The beginning was on the Hartford and New London Turnpike, south 34 east, 1.60 chains from the thirteenth milestone, and the ending was at Pistol- point Bar, where a line drawn south 8o° west from the north end of the meeting-house in Middletown Upper Houses intersected the easterly bank of the Connecticut River. In October, 1809, the Chatham and Marlborough Turnpike Com- pany was incorporated to open the road, which duty it performed within the next two and a half years at least, for in May, 18 12, an alteration of the westerly three miles was made. Of the further history of this road nothing has been learned. THE MIDDLETOWN AND MERIDEN TURNPIKE In October, 1809, the Middletown and Meriden Turnpike Company was formed to connect those towns, and, according to Curtis's " A Cen- tury of Meriden," the road was built the same year. It was a short road, only about eight miles long, so it is possible that it was com- pleted in the few months remaining in that year after incorporation. The turnpike passed through Middlefield and East Meriden, swing- ing in a big bow to the south and followed the street now used by the East Meriden trolley cars. A gate was moved, with proper consent, in 1841, but further in- formation has not been forthcoming. But that shows an active life of over thirty years. [384] THE TURNPIKES OF CONNECTICUT THE EAST HADDAM AND COLCHESTER TURNPIKE The road running southwesterly from Colchester to Goodspeed's Landing in East Haddam was built by the East Haddam and Col- chester Turnpike Company, which was chartered in October, 1809. The single gate allowed was located in East Haddam town. The life of this road was too quiet to attract the notice of local historians and no items regarding it have been found. It was in opera- tion as a turnpike as late as 1852, for in that year a change of gate was allowed. The Connecticut River terminus of this road was determined by the presence of a ferry, or opportunity for one, at East Haddam. Provision was made for the maintenance of means of crossing at that point as early as 1664. In 1741 a new grant was made, and a ferry was operated intermittently after that until 181 1, when a ferry charter was secured from the assembly, presumably by the turnpike interests. THE DURHAM AND EAST GUILFORD TURNPIKE This road was commonly and more properly called the Durham and Madison Turnpike, for it ran to Madison and not to Guilford at all. But the official name of the corporation responsible for it was the Durham and East Guilford Turnpike Company, which was chartered in May, 18 n. One of the provisions in the charter was that only half tolls should be charged for vehicles having rims over seven inches in width. The capital stock of the company was ten thousand dollars, accord- ing to Steiner's " History of Guilford and Madison," which gives a pro rata of about seven hundred and forty dollars a mile. This accords with costs of the Massachusetts roads of which we have data. The turnpike started at Durham Street and ran through the center of North Madison to Madison Green, following like a backbone down the center line of the long narrow town of Madison. In its thirteen and a half miles it was allowed one gate, which was changed for two half- gates by the assembly of 1830. Thirty-four years did this turnpike last, the surrender of its charter being accepted in 1845. The corporation was allowed six months longer in which to close its affairs and sell its property. THE SOUTHINGTON AND WATERBURY TURNPIKE October, 18 12, was the date of incorporation of the Southington and Waterbury Turnpike Company which built the road from Meriden to Waterbury between the years 18 12 and 1815. [385] THE TURNPIKES OF NEW ENGLAND To follow the road to-day one should go to the corner of Meriden Road and South Main Street in Waterbury, then follow Meriden Road along the southerly boundary of Wolcott and through the south part of Southington, then over Southington Avenue, along the trol- ley line of the Meriden, Southington, and Compounce Tramway Com- pany, to the corner of Blackwood Road in Meriden. One tollgate stood in the south part of Wolcott, according to Orcutt's history of that town. In that we are also told that a large part of the stock in this corporation was owned by the Upson family of Wolcott. The franchise of this company also contained the provision that only half tolls should be collected when the tires were over seven inches wide. THE KILLINGWORTH AND HADDAM TURNPIKE A connection with the Middlesex Turnpike at Higganum in the north corner of Haddam, and leading thence to Killingworth Center, was made by the Killingworth and Haddam Turnpike Company under a charter issued in October, 1813. In October, 1815, a branch road was author- ized to connect with the Middlesex at another point. A change of gates has been noticed in 1825. This was another of those country roads which seem to have filled a useful niche in the local development but which have not left any indelible records for history. It rounded out an even thirty-seven years of life, the charter being repealed in 1850. Four years later it appeared that there was still some property in real estate owned by the defunct corporation, and it became necessary for the assembly to appoint an agent, giving him power to sell such. The proceeds, after satisfying any outstanding indebtedness, were to be divided among the stockholders. The branch above mentioned was locally known as the " Beaver Brook Turnpike " and seems to have extended from the crossroads known as Duncan, in the south part of Haddam, to Haddam Street on the river. It was a little over four miles in length and the main road was about ten. THE MIDDLETOWN TURNPIKE . The Middletown, Durham, and New Haven Turnpike Company was granted a franchise in October, 18 13, for a road from Middletown to New Haven through Durham, Northford, and North Haven. In New Haven an old road, early known as Negro or Neck Lane, was utilized for turnpike purposes, which in later days was called Hancock Avenue and is now the State Street of that city. In Middle- town the modern name of the turnpike is Durham Avenue, and as the Durham Pike it is known through the intervening towns. This road does not seem to have its mark in history. Watrous, who [386] THE TURNPIKES OF CONNECTICUT has noted many interesting points in connection with other roads, found nothing to say about the Middletown Turnpike except that it was char- tered in i 8 13. That it was in operation as late as 1846 is proved by the passage of an act in that year making an alteration in the road. THE LITCHFIELD AND CORNWALL TURNPIKE Under a charter issued in October, 18 14, the Litchfield and Corn- wall Turnpike Company built a road from Litchfield through Goshen into Cornwall, where it probably joined the road of the Goshen and Sharon Turnpike Company, which was built in 1803. This road was not much of a history maker, but undoubtedly served its rural communities for many years. It was in operation in 1834, for in that year an act was passed by which a change of gates was allowed. Gold's " History of Cornwall," which had something to say about other turnpikes, is silent regarding the Litchfield and Cornwall. THE HADDAM AND DURHAM TURNPIKE The Haddam and Durham Turnpike Company was incorporated in May, 18 15, and built its road from Higganum, in the northeast part of Haddam on the Middlesex Turnpike, to Durham Street, a distance of less than eight miles. This was practically a branch of the Middletown, Durham, and New Haven Turnpike with which it connected at Durham Street. That hamlet must have presented a hustling aspect in stage-coach days, with four turnpikes intersecting there. On the other end the Haddam and Durham connected with the Middlesex Turnpike, but at such an angle that it is hard to see how either derived any advantage from the junc- tion. ^ The Killingworth and Haddam Turnpike made the intersection at Higganum a three-cornered one. Higganum owed its distinction as a turnpike terminal to the Hig- ganum Ferry, between that village and the Middle Haddam, which was established in 1763. THE STILL RIVER TURNPIKE In May, 18 15, the Still River Turnpike Company was formed to open a road from the Farmington River in Colebrook to Wolcottsville, now known as Torrington. This is a busy street to-day, being the main street in both Torring- ton and Winsted, while over the section between, the cars of the Tor- rington and Winchester Street Railway pass frequently. North from Winsted the road skirted the easterly edge of Colebrook, crossing the [387] THE TURNPIKES OF NEW ENGLAND Farmington River and uniting with the Farmington River Turnpike in the northeast corner of that town. By that connection access was had over the Tenth Massachusetts Turnpike to Albany by way of Lee and Lenox, while on the south a route, as direct as could be expected, was had to New Haven over the Waterbury River Turnpike and the Straits or Rimmon Falls. By all indications the Still River should have been an important and successful road. Its charter was repealed in 1844 after twenty-nine years of corporate existence. Another corporation, the Wolcottsville Turnpike Company, was formed in May, 1826, with a franchise from the meeting-house in Winsted to Wolcottsville in Torrington, " and running near Still River." Whether the Still River Company had failed to develop this lower sec- tion of its franchise and the second company was organized to complete it, or the second effort was for the purposes of competition with an already established road, we are unable to state. Nothing further has been found regarding the Wolcottsville Company. THE CHESTER AND NORTH KILLINGWORTH TURNPIKE In May, 18 16, the Chester and North Killingworth Turnpike Com- pany was formed to build between the places named. Chester and the north part of Killingworth being adjoining towns, the road was but a short one and of only local importance. That it was opened and oper- ated for several years is seen from two acts relating to it which were passed in 1817 and 1827, but nothing more is known on the subject. By the construction of the Hadlyme, and Chester and North Killing- worth Second turnpikes, which were chartered in 1834, an effort was made to make this road a part of a through route from Norwich to New Haven. The Chester and North Killingworth Second extended its parent company's road on the east to the Connecticut River and on the west to a connection with the Fairhaven Turnpike. The Hadlyme Turnpike started from the opposite side of the Connecticut River and ran to the Salem and Hamburg Turnpike in Salem. Probably the whole system was given up in 1846 and 1847, when the two roads just described were made free. THE NEW MILFORD AND SHERMAN TURNPIKE This adventure was disappointing at the outset. The New Milford and Sherman Turnpike Company was formed in May, 1818, when the Philipstown Turnpike Company of New York was busy with its pre- liminaries. Connecting with that road the Connecticut corporation would have been able to offer a route to Cold Spring Landing on the [388] THE TURNPIKES OF CONNECTICUT Hudson River, from Hartford by way of Litchfield, and from New Haven over the Derby and Ousatonic River turnpikes. But the Philips- town Turnpike was an air castle, according to the petition filed by the New Milford and Sherman Company in 1837, and that corporation faced an unprofitable business for nineteen years, at the end of which time its bridge over the Housatonic River was carried away by " a big ice flood." The company had expended about five thousand dollars which it considered a total loss, as the receipts had never been sufficient to keep the road in repair, and now that it was called upon to lay out some fif- teen to eighteen hundred dollars more to rebuild the bridge, the stock- holders were in despair. A petition was therefore made asking to be relieved from responsibility for the road, offering in return to rebuild the bridge. Consequently an act was passed in 1837 by which the New Milford and Sherman Turnpike Company was relieved of all its obligations " except the bridge place across the Ousatonick river in New Milford at the place commonly called Boardman's bridge and the approaches thereto." The company was allowed until January i, 1839, to comply with the conditions. THE PETTIPAUGE AND GUILFORD TURNPIKE This road ran from Petti-paug, on the Middle Cove, in Essex, east- erly and northerly along the Middlesex Turnpike and then to Killing- worth Center, from which place it went directly to the stage road in the southeasterly corner of Guilford. It was built by the Pettipauge and Guilford Turnpike Company under a charter granted in October, 18 18. The length of the road is stated by Steiner to have been sixteen miles and the cost $10,000, or $625 a mile. In May, 1839, the charter was repealed and the towns were obliged to assume the care of the road. Madison offered strenuous objections but was compelled to submit. The entire road was ready for business seven months after the fran- chise was granted. That the investment was not a good one is seen by the frequent acts by which rates of toll were altered and gates changed. THE GROTON AND STONINGTON TURNPIKE " From the River Thames to the state of Rhode Island," including from Groton Ferry to the Head of Mystic, was the next franchise granted, which was given to the Groton and Stonington Turnpike Com- pany in October, 181 8. By this link was completed the turnpike an- ticipation of the New Haven Road's Shore Line from Boston to the Connecticut River, for this road continued the line of the Providence and Pawcatuck and the Hopkinton and Richmond turnpikes in Rhode [389] THE TURNPIKES OF NEW ENGLAND Island, the three making a continuous turnpike from Providence to the shore opposite New London. We have seen, in Rhode Island, the efforts put forth by Westerly to retain for itself a place on the through route between Providence and New York. In pursuance of that desire a new stage road was built west from Westerly for the purpose of drawing that form of travel, and it was confidently expected that the new turnpike would see fit to absorb that piece of new road. But the same idea prevailed in Connecticut as elsewhere and, carrying out the conception of a turnpike, the route was made direct without regard to grades or important centers left off the line. Wheeler's " History of Stonington " tells us that the project was first broached in 1816 by the stage interests which appear to have favored Westerly, but if so, the control must have changed by the time of incor- poration. Stonington did not oppose the turnpike charter but did object to the corporation being fettered to any particular route, preferring that the location should be left to the judgment of the men responsible, and that request prevailed, we can imagine, to Stonington's ultimate mortification. Starting from Groton Ferry the new road followed the Old Post Road through Groton, with several improvements, to the Head of Mystic, but from there the locating surveyors cut loose and showed their independence. Instead of continuing on the new stage road to Westerly they took an old country road, which led to North Stonington as far as Wolf Neck, and then blazed a way of their own easterly through Stonington and North Stonington to the line of Rhode Island in the town of Hopkinton, where they connected with the southwesterly end of the Hopkinton and Richmond Turnpike, which was undoubtedly surveyed at the same time. The length of this turnpike was about seventeen miles and it cost, according to a statement made by the corporation, $12,000, which makes about $710 a mile. Upon completion it immediately became the through stage and mail route between New London, Providence, and Boston. An interesting light upon conditions of travel from Boston to New York at the time of the opening of this road is thrown by the following announcement which appeared in a New London paper in November, 1818: The steamboat "Fulton" will discontinue running after December 5, for the present season ; the stage with the mail on the New London route from Boston will be extended to New Haven during the winter for the accommodation of such pas- sengers as wish to join the Connecticut, Captain Bunker, at that place on their way to New York. The ferry across the Thames at New London is described by Miss Caulkins as "one of the standing embarassments of the town." From earliest times the policy of the town had been to lease the right on the best terms it could exact. One Robert Bartlett, dying in 1673, devised [39o] THE TURNPIKES OF CONNECTICUT property to the town, the income from which was to be used for the support of a free school for the children of New London's poor. In consequence of neglect by the authorities the property seriously depre- ciated, and to make good the town voted from 1702 to 1875 that the ferry proceeds should be applied to that end. Down to 1821 the propel- ling force was applied by means of sails or oars, but in that year horses were used. Steam power was tried in 1835 Dut was found too expensive. Ten years, however, showed such improvement that steam was per- manently installed, and in 1849 the famous steamer Mohegan was put in service. Even in the present year of grace the traveler desiring to go that way may be ferried across the river to Groton. The opening of the New York, Providence, and Boston Railroad, which in spite of its pretentious name only ran from New London to Providence, occurred in 1839 and does not seem to have troubled the turnpike business a great deal, but when the Shore Line from New Haven to New London was completed in 1852 and rail connection made continuous from New York to Boston, the deathblow was struck. In the next year, 1853, the corporation asked to be dissolved, stating that " in consequence of the entire change of travel by the facilities offered by steamboats and railroads along the Sound and between Con- necticut and Rhode Island " its turnpike had become " unproductive." The assembly acquiesced and the road became free. THE ESSEX TURNPIKE We have traced the New London and Lyme Turnpike to the east bank of the Connecticut, and we have seen how travelers were accom- modated on their western continuation of that journey by a turnpike running from Petti-paug in Essex. But quite a gap was left between those roads, and the ferry across the mouth of the large river must have had serious disadvantages. Now comes a turnpike to make a short con- nection from the New London and Lyme and the Pettipauge and Guilford. The Essex Turnpike Company was enacted into life in May, 1822, for that purpose, provided that it should maintain a ferry over the Con- necticut River at the North Cove in Essex. Its road was to run through Essex and Lyme. This turnpike appears to have been the road running from Ely's Wharf Ferry, southeasterly to the New London and Lyme Turnpike at the foot of Rogers Lake in the north part of Old Lyme. On the other side of the Connecticut it had a short section from the ferry to Petti- paug with a drawbridge over the mouth of North Cove. In 1825 the assembly made free all of the road east of its crossing with the Salem and Hamburg Turnpike. Apparently what was left of the Essex, with the Salem and Hamburg, and another road from Salem [391] THE TURNPIKES OF NEW ENGLAND to Norwich, were later consolidated and known by various names, such as Essex, Salem, Salem and Norwich, and Norwich and Essex. Under this combination the Essex later got into trouble with the maritime interests, for it appears that, in 1853, its draw in the bridge over North Cove was too narrow for the demands upon it. The as- sembly of that year ordered the company to make the draw wide enough for any vessel, equip it for easy operation, and put in charge some per- son living within half a mile of the bridge. This road is said to have been relinquished about i860. The steamers Oliver Ellsworth and McDonough, which have been noticed in connection with the New London and Lyme Turnpike, made regular stops at the wharf at Ely's Ferry, where passengers for Nor- wich transferred to the waiting stages and were rushed over the Essex, Salem and Hamburg, and Norwich and Salem turnpikes to the city at the head of the Thames. THE SALEM AND HAMBURG TURNPIKE The Salem and Hamburg Turnpike Company was formed in May, 1824, with a franchise very indefinitely worded, so that it is difficult to determine from it just what route was intended. But from its later consolidation with roads on either end of it, it seems clear that the Salem and Hamburg started from Salem Center, ran through North Lyme and Hamburg, and joined the Essex Turnpike a very short dis- tance east of the ferry of that road. As stated in connection with the Essex this road became a part of a through route from Norwich to Essex, which seems to have been regarded at the time as one road, al- though we have no evidence that a consolidation of corporations was really made. Probably not, as such a proceeding would have called for elaborate legislative action. It is said that Andrew Jackson, on his presidential tour, passed over this turnpike on his way to Norwich. It has been noted in connection with the whole road from Norwich to Essex that it was discontinued about i860, so we will take a chance on that date being the one for the end of the Salem and Hamburg Turnpike. THE PINES BRIDGE TURNPIKE Another of the radial feeders for New Haven was projected by the Pines Bridge Turnpike Company, chartered in May, 1824, to build from the northeast part of Woodbury to the west abutment of Pines Bridge in the east part of Oxford, in which length of road of about thir- teen miles one gate was allowed. Starting from Pines Bridge the road followed a northwesterly course into the town of Woodbury, after which it turned northerly, skirting the [392] THE TURNPIKES OF CONNECTICUT cast side of Quassapaug Lake and running on the boundary between the towns of Watertown and Woodbury. Then it turned into Woodbury, ending in the northeast quarter of that town. Twelve years was long enough to try the experiment in the town of Oxford and in May, 1836, the assembly allowed all in that town to be turned over to the public. In 1841 the charter was repealed and that marked the end of the whole turnpike. THE GUILFORD AND DURHAM TURNPIKE For the purpose of building a road " from Durham to the public square in Guilford and thence to Sachem's Head Harbor in said Guil- ford," the Guilford and Durham Turnpike Company was chartered in May, 1824, filing a bond for ten thousand dollars to carry out its plans before November 1, 1828. Steiner knew of this road when he wrote his " History of Guilford and Madison," for he says that it followed the West, or Menunkatuck, River to Lake Quonepaug and then ran along another West River to Durham Street where it connected with the road of the Middletown, Durham, and New Haven Turnpike Company. In the borough, above Guilford Green, the road is now known as Church Street. At an 1 83 1 town meeting Guilford voted to bear the expense of repairing the road, if its inhabitants might use the same toll free, but it does not appear that the offer was accepted, for it would have meant practically the giving up of the whole road. The turnpike management was still in control in 1855, for then a revision of tolls was enacted by the assembly. THE' FAIRHAVEN TURNPIKE From Killingworth to Dragon Bridge was the next section to receive attention and the Fairhaven Turnpike Company was incorporated in May, 1824, to provide a turnpike over such a route. Steiner again helps us out, for he has noticed that this road branched from the Pettipauge and Guilford Turnpike in the center of Killing- worth and ran by the North Madison meeting-house, through North Guilford, North Branford, and the northerly section of the town of East Haven to Fairhaven Village. It was nineteen and a quarter miles long and cost $7500, making a pro rata of about? $390. a mile, a very low figure. Clearly this company did nothing beyond the repairing of an old road. A portion of the turnpike was surrendered to the towns in which it lay in April, 1843, but some of it was in operation in 1846, when con- firmation was given to the location of a gate which had been moved. [393] THE TURNPIKES OF NEW ENGLAND THE PROVIDENCE TURNPIKE When the Foster and Scituate Turnpike was projected in Rhode Island in 1811, it plainly was the intention to open a road into Con- necticut as far as Danielson. That road was chartered in 18 13, but the part in Connecticut was a long time coming. In May, 1825, the Providence Turnpike Company was incorpo- rated in Connecticut for the purpose of enabling the Foster and Scituate to realize its ambition. The franchise covered " from the Foster and Scituate Turnpike at the Rhode Island line to Danielson in Killingly." The road as built ran southeasterly from Danielson about one and a half miles, then easterly through South Killingly to the state line and the Foster and Scituate. It seems improbable that this corporation was formed or financed by any other interests than those in control of the Rhode Island con- necting road. The length in Connecticut was only a little over five miles, which of course only allowed one gate, but that was stipulated as not " to be in addition to the last one in Rhode Island." In other words, if the Rhode Island gate was within the usual gate interval from Daniel- son, no gate could be erected in Connecticut. Unless the same interests benefited by the collections in each state such an arrangement would not have been equitable. The Rhode Island road became free in 1866 and, as the Providence Turnpike seems to have been a part and parcel of the same scheme, we will assign the same year for its demise. THE SANDY BROOK TURNPIKE A cross turnpike leading from the Waterbury River Turnpike in the northwesterly part of Colebrook, across the Still River Turnpike to the Farmington River Turnpike in Barkhamsted, was built by the Sandy Brook Turnpike Company under a charter granted in May, 1825. The layout of the road had been made by the towns, but the assembly saw fit to make the road a private one and gave it to the turnpike company. The road made a short jump from the Waterbury River Road to the upper valley of Sandy Brook and then followed the course of that small stream until it came to the Still River Turnpike, which it crossed, and continued southeasterly for a short distance to its junction with the Farmington River. This corporation never bothered the assembly after its incorpora- tion, an unusual record. t394] THE TURNPIKES OF CONNECTICUT THE HUMPHREYSVILLE AND SALEM TURNPIKE We have previously seen how the residents of Derby Landing were dissatisfied with the turnpike connection whereby the Oxford turned to the north and connected with the Straits, going thence to New Haven by a route remote from Derby; and how efforts were made to have a turn- pike come down the Naugatuck River, connecting the Oxford with Derby Landing, after which the journey to New Haven would be made over the Derby Turnpike; and of the building of the Rimmon Falls Turnpike which did not go north of the Falls Bridge in Chusetown. Now comes a corporation which desires to fill the gap left in the river valley when the Rimmon Falls was laid out, without connecting with the Oxford. So the Humphreysville and Salem Turnpike Company was formed in May, 1825, with a franchise to build "on both sides of the Naugatuck River from said Salem Bridge to said Falls Bridge." Salem, as has already been mentioned, had no reference to the town of Salem, which is in the easterly part of the state adjacent to Norwich, but referred to Salem Society, the ancient name of Naugatuck prior to its separation from Waterbury, and Salem Bridge was the Main Street Bridge of Naugatuck. The Falls Bridge was at the old village of Chusetown, now Seymour. It does not appear that the corporation exercised its power to build on both sides of the river but that it kept wholly on the east side. In that appears an apparent discrepancy, for we have already ob- served that the Oxford Turnpike built up the east side of the river almost to Beacon Brook, and now that section seems to be given to the new turnpike. We will not attempt to explain this but will state that it was quite common for a corporation to be given a franchise allowing it to run for certain distances along the road of another company. Sometimes a division of tolls was prescribed, and in one case an elabo- rate agreement, which had been made in advance, was incorporated into the charter. But nothing of that sort appears in this case and we are left in doubt as to what really occurred. At any rate the Hum- phreysville and Salem had a clear field along the east river bank after entering the town of Naugatuck, as now divided, and we learn from Anderson's " History of Waterbury " that some heroic work was done there, for the road was " cut into the foundations of the hills along the east side of the river." Sharpe's " History of Seymour " tells us that the company did not get down to work until 1832, and the assembly records show that the charter for the road was repealed in 1856. [395] THE TURNPIKES OF NEW ENGLAND THE CENTER TURNPIKE In June, 1824, the Central Turnpike Corporation was formed in Massachusetts to build from the Worcester Turnpike in Needham to the Connecticut line in Dudley, and in May, 1826, the Center Turnpike Company was chartered in Connecticut to continue the work as far as Tolland courthouse. The Worcester Turnpike, leading out from Bos- ton, had long been built and a turnpike from Tolland to Hartford had been in operation for a quarter of a century, so it is seen that by the opening of the Central and the Center a new route from Boston to Hartford was provided. What need could have been imagined or what encouragement found to build another route is hard to conceive. Turn- pikes by this time were known to all to be very poor investments, and connection between the two important New England centers was amply provided. But sufficient faith or credulity was found and the roads were built. Immediately a new line of stages appeared, and residents along the Center had the daily pleasure of watching for the passage of the " Boston and Hartford Telegraph " coaches. The Massachusetts road was completed and opened for travel in the early part of 1830, and in 1836 the corporation gave it up and had its road made free. The Connecticut company however held on until 1853, when its charter was repealed and the corporation dissolved. The Connecticut road is known to-day as the old Hartford and Bos- ton Turnpike and may be easily followed. Entering the state in the northwest corner of Thompson at Quinebaug post-office, it runs across Woodstock, skirting the northerly slopes of Child, Pigeon, and Tommy Lyon hills, the southerly edge of Winthrop Swamp, and the north shore of Black Pond, and passes over the corner of Union, Woodstock, and Eastford. Thence it passes through North Ashford and Westford, northerly of Sharpe's Hill and into Willington, crossing that town by northwesterly and southwesterly courses, and passing over the Willi- mantic River about a mile up-stream from Tolland Station on the Cen- tral Vermont Railroad. The road is crooked, like any ordinary country highway, and it is hard to reconcile it with the idea of a turnpike. THE NORTHFIELD TURNPIKE The Northfield Turnpike Company was chartered in May, 1826, with the right to build from a point in Redding near a gristmill, south- erly near the Saugatuck River, through Redding into Weston as far as the " second cross road from the front, so called." It was a short road as is seen from the allowance of but one gate, or two with half rates of toll. That the road was completed is shown by the act passed in May, T396] THE TURNPIKES OF CONNECTICUT 1828, which recited that the turnpike had been built and corrected an error in the record of the layout. It is also referred to in 1841, in an act in connection with the Newtown and Norwalk Turnpike, and in 1 85 1 in the charter for the Danbury, Redding, Weston, and Westport Plank Road. Except for the facts mentioned above no information has been found. The road evidently came down the valley of the Saugatuck into the present town of Weston. THE WINDHAM AND BROOKLYN TURNPIKE This road extended from the courthouse in Brooklyn to an inter- section with the Windham Turnpike in Windham about a mile east of Windham Green and near the scene of the famous Windham Frog Fight. It was built by the Windham and Brooklyn Turnpike Company under a charter granted at the May session of 1826, and was probably completed during the following summer. It is now the direct road from Brooklyn through Howard Valley and the northerly part of Scotland to Windham Green, or Old Windham. The corporation endeavored to make money for nineteen years, moving its gates and altering its location in the effort, evidently with some success for, in 1845, lt was willing to take over the road from Brooklyn to the bridge over the Quinebaug at Danielson, and bear one half the expense of the bridge. Probably the bridge had been recently washed away and the town was willing to make such a trade to secure a new one. On this new road the company was allowed to erect a gate with half tolls. A gate at one time stood in Scotland where a cellar hole in the bushes now marks the site of the tollhouse. The corporation owned an acre and a quarter of land there and subsequent sales of the surrounding land have had to take notice of the adverse ownership. By extending to Danielson, the Windham and Brooklyn made a connection with the Providence Turnpike, and can easily be seen to have thus opened a through and improved route from Providence to Hart- ford. But how, in 1845, with railroads already well demonstrated and plenty of the old-time turnpikes filling the need, could anyone have seen merit in opening such a through route? THE MONROE AND ZOAR BRIDGE TURNPIKE Two corporations were formed at the May session of 1826 for the purpose of opening turnpike connection from Bridgeport to Zoar Bridge over the Housatonic River between the towns of Monroe and Oxford. One of these was the Zoar Bridge Turnpike Company, which aspired to build an independent line all the way to tidewater at Bridgeport, not- withstanding the fact that the Bridgeport and Newtown Turnpike, then [397] THE TURNPIKES OF NEW ENGLAND in operation, would be practically paralleled for several miles. The second was the Monroe and Zoar Bridge Turnpike Company which had a much more sensible proposition to build from the bridge to the nearest point on the existing Bridgeport and Newtown Turnpike. It is hard to understand how the assembly could have seen it con- sistent with the public good to thus charter a company to parallel an existing road, compelling it to divide a revenue which probably was none too much anyway, or how it could have deemed it advisable to charter two companies to cover the same ground and leave them to fight for possession. The routes were identical from the bridge to Monroe Center. But protection of invested capital in public utilities was then far from realization and many other cases of parallel franchises have been observed in turnpike charters. Apparently the Monroe and Zoar Bridge Company was the only one to carry out the intention, and that company did build its road on a southwesterly course from Zoar Bridge to a point on the Bridgeport and Newtown in the town of Trumbull about halfway between Stepney Depot and Long Hill stations on the Bridgeport Branch of the New Haven Road. Operations continued until 1852, when the company was relieved of all its road between Zoar Bridge and the town house in Monroe Vil- lage. Permission was granted to sell the tollhouse, and the company was allowed to retain the balance of its road with one gate at which half-rate collections could be made. How long this short piece re- mained a toll road has not been ascertained. THE NORWICH AND SALEM TURNPIKE In May, 1827, the Norwich and Salem Turnpike Company was cre- ated, its franchise reading from the Wharf bridge in Norwich Landing to Salem to meet the road leading from Essex to Salem. The Salem we meet this time is the real town of Salem, which is in New London County and about halfway between the Thames and Connecticut rivers. The road " leading from Essex to Salem " was the consolidation, which we have already noticed, of the Salem and Ham- burg, and the Essex turnpikes. As previously stated this corporation, the Norwich and Salem, formed, with the Salem and Hamburg and a portion of the Essex, one continuous road from Norwich to Essex, which was generally regarded as a single turnpike, although there is no evidence of the corporations ever having been actually merged. The Norwich and Salem started from the Wharf Bridge, which stood across the estuary of the Yantic River on the southwesterly side of Norwich, and ran directly to the southwest corner of the town. Thence it passed across a small tip of the town of Bozrah, through the [398] THE TURNPIKES OF CONNECTICUT northerly part of Montville, and entered Salem by the old Willoughby Tavern near the south end of Gardner Lake. In the early summer of 1833 President Andrew Jackson, on his offi- cial trip to New England, passed over the Essex, Salem and Hamburg, and Norwich and Salem turnpikes on his way to Providence, and Boston. In an act passed in 1856 the assembly recited that the Norwich and Salem Turnpike had been out of repair for many years and proceeded to suspend the charter of the corporation. The towns of Norwich, Bozrah, Montville, and Salem were directed to repair the road, and it was provided that, if the corporation should repay them for the amounts expended, its rights under the charter should be renewed. This indefinite condition seems to have existed for about four years, for Miss Caulkins says, in her " History of Norwich," that the rights in the road were relinquished in i860. THE NEW MILFORD AND ROXBURY TURNPIKE A proposition to connect New Milford with Woodbury, running from a connection with the West Point Turnpike in New York to the Middle Turnpike in the town of Woodbury, was chartered by the assembly in May, 1823, under the name of the New Milford and Woodbury Turnpike Company. It is to be noted in connection with this late charter that the towns were to be obliged to pay the land damages. But for some reason or other, this project of 1823 does not seem to have materialized. In May, 1827, the New Milford and Roxbury Turnpike Company was chartered to build from the east end of the New Milford and Sher- man Turnpike to the meeting-house in Roxbury, and all portions of the route granted to the New Milford and Woodbury which conflicted with the newly granted rights were declared void. Orcutt's " History of New Milford " tells us that that town opposed the granting of the charter, but unsuccessfully. The road was built and was in operation in 1 83 1 . Probably it continued a great many years longer, for this was one of those local roads which, we have observed, pursued a quiet and moderately profitable career. THE TOLLAND AND MANSFIELD TURNPIKE Some calculating mind, in which distances to be traveled by stages were not seriously considered, conceived a plan about 1820 by which the stage travel over the Northern Route from Boston to New York was to be diverted at the westerly end of the First Massachusetts Turn- pike and carried to Hartford by way of Tolland. As parts of this scheme the Wilbraham Turnpike was chartered in Massachusetts in 1820, and in Connecticut efforts were made to have the Burbank Road [399] THE TURNPIKES OF NEW ENGLAND completed. This road had been laid out from the Massachusetts line through Somers, Stafford, Ellington, and Tolland to the Tolland court- house, by the towns involved, in 1805, but the cost seemed prohibitive, so the project languished for many years. Finally, in May, 1828, the Tolland and Mansfield Turnpike Company was formed for the purpose of building the Burbank Road, with an additional section running from Tolland Street to Daniel Fuller's in Mansfield. Had the whole plan been carried out, a roundabout route between Worcester and Hartford would have been provided, but the need of it is not evident to the present generation. Apparently it was not to the people of a century ago, for the Wilbraham was never built. But the Tolland and Mansfield was and, by its southerly connection at Daniel Fuller's with the Windham and Mansfield Turnpike, un- doubtedly provided for some business between Norwich and Springfield. This corporation was obliged to build its own bridges, except those over the Willimantic and Skunkermaug rivers. The freedom from this obli- gation seems to have troubled the town of Somers, for it voted to assume the burden of the three bridges within its limits, an arrangement which the assembly sanctioned in May, 1834. The charter of the Tolland and Mansfield was repealed in 1847. THE HUNTINGTON TURNPIKE A short time previous to May, 1828, the Fairfield county court made a layout of a highway from the center of Huntington to the borough of Bridgeport, for the purpose of having the same built as a turnpike. The assembly of the month named deprived the road of its public character and formed the Huntington Turnpike Company to take over the location and build the road. In 1830 authority was given to extend the turnpike to the west bank of the flousatonic River, thus giving a through route from Bridgeport to Derby Landing. The road as finally built started from the river opposite Derby Land- ing and ran westerly and southerly to Huntington Center, thence south- westerly through Trumbull into Bridgeport, where it intersected a new road which led into the center of the borough. In 1852 all of the road west of the easterly abutment of the Berk- shire Bridge was made free. This, it is seen, included the bridge which Bridgeport was loath to take on account of its condition. So the cor- poration was obliged to pay the town four hundred and fifty dollars toward the needed repairs. The rest of the road continued under the imposition of tolls until March 24, 1886, when an act was passed authorizing the corporation to relinquish its rights and make the road free. [400] THE TURNPIKES OF CONNECTICUT THE WESTON TURNPIKE This turnpike was built from Philo Lyons to the Black Rock Road in Fairfield with a branch from Fairfield to the Academy in Weston. From Barber's " Connecticut Historical Collections " we learn that the academy mentioned was in the village of Easton, which was then a part of Weston, and that it was possessed of a fund that rendered it a free school. It was presented to the town by Samuel Staples, who in- cluded in his gift sufficient land in the vicinity to support it. A revision of the tolls was made in 1861 and the road was made free on the day on which Fairfield County had a clearance of turnpikes, March 24, 1886. The Weston Turnpike Company was incorporated in May, 1828, and had a life of fifty-eight years. THE SUGAR HOLLOW TURNPIKE The Sugar Hollow Turnpike was remarkable because it provided for extensions on each end of a previously established turnpike, using the older road for a connection for its two sections, and further because it derived its name from the particular section traversed by the road first built. One would say that the charter really was an amendment of the first one, but additions to or alterations of existing roads were com- monly provided by amending acts and could easily have been so secured in this case. Evidence favors the idea of two separate companies. The road commenced in Wilton on the Norwalk and Danbury Turn- pike and then passed through the Mountain Gap to Ridgefield Center, where it met the southerly end of the Danbury and Ridgefield Turn- pike. The layout is then described as " on said turnpike-road through Sugar Hollow." At a point almost at the end of the Danbury and Ridgefield in Danbury, the new road branched northwesterly and, cross- ing the outlet of Mill Plain Pond, extended to the New York line. The Sugar Hollow Turnpike Company was formed at the May ses- sion of 1829, and nothing appears regarding it after 1836, when a change of gates was allowed. The Danbury and Ridgefield's charter was repealed in i860 and, since the two roads were so interwoven, it seems probable that the Sugar Hollow became free at the same time, although no act to that effect has been found. THE NEWTOWN AND NORWALK TURNPIKE The franchise under which this road was located allowed it to be built from the foot of Main Street in Newtown, passing near the Epis- copal Church in Redding, through the westerly part of Weston, with the option of passing through the easterly part of Wilton, to the Great Bridge in Norwalk at the head of Norwalk Harbor. It was granted [401] THE TURNPIKES OF NEW ENGLAND to the Newtown and Norwalk Turnpike Company in May, 1829, a late date for so long a road. Financing evidently was not easy, for the company was obliged to apply for an extension of time, which was granted in 1830. Apparently this turnpike is the Newtown Avenue of to-day in Nor- walk, and the road in continuation, which twists through the southeast corner of Wilton and then passes northerly through Weston and Red- ding and into Newtown, where it reaches Newtown Center after going near Hattertown and Dodgingtown. It intersected the Northfield Turnpike near where it crossed the Saugatuck River in the northeast corner of Weston. All of the road north of the Northfield Turnpike was made free in 1 841, and the balance, through the towns of Weston, Wilton, Westport, and Norwalk, passed into public control in 185 1. THE SHETUCKET TURNPIKE Although by the building of the Providence and Norwich Turnpike in Rhode Island, and the New London and Windham County Turnpike in Connecticut, travel between Providence and Norwich had been ac- commodated to a greater extent than it was able to pay for, certain optimists found encouragement to believe that a rival route, having no advantages beyond the saving of a mile or two, would prove a paying investment. We have already seen how Duty Green labored in Rhode Island to promote the Providence and Norwich City Turnpike but failed to interest the necessary capital. We will now consider the efforts to carry out the Connecticut end of the same scheme. The Shetucket Turnpike Company received from the assembly of May, 1829, a charter to build a road from the toll bridge over the She- tucket at Norwich Landing through Preston, Griswold, Voluntown, and Sterling, to the Rhode Island line, and, although obliged to secure an extension of its time in 183 1, managed to have its turnpike in operation by 1832. Miss Caulkins' " History of Norwich " says that the capital invested was eleven thousand dollars, and that during its thirty years of existence the corporation paid an average of only one and one third per cent in dividends. Considering that the Rhode Island part of the plan contemplated a road running straight from the state boundary to Providence, and that that part failed of consummation, leaving practi- cally no connection at all with Providence, it is a wonder that the man- agement was able to make both ends meet. But the Shetucket Turn- pike connected at Voluntown Center with the old " Ten Rod Road," which led by Beach Pond on the state boundary to Wickford on Narra- gansett Bay, and since over that road large numbers of cattle were driven for shipment abroad, it is possible that the Shetucket may have shared that business. The cost of this road appears to have been about $610 a mile, and [402] THE TURNPIKES OF CONNECTICUT the average of its net earnings, according to Miss Caulkins, was about $8.15 per mile per year. By 1859 tne corporation had had enough and it then asked for an additional gate, or that a portion of its road might be assumed by the t towns. Another gate was too much, but the assembly obligingly al- lowed the company to unload on to the town of Voluntown that part of its road between the east line of that town and the highway at Robbins Tavern. As long as tolls were collected in Voluntown on the remainder of the road, the corporation was obliged to pay forty dollars annually to Voluntown to make repairs on the part given up. In June, i860, provision was made for the surrender of the entire road, upon such terms as might be agreed. If agreement was found impossible the superior court of New London County was to appoint commissioners to fix the price, but acceptance of their award was de- pendent upon a vote of the town implicated, so that law did not amount to anything. In July, 1 86 1, the same act was renewed but without the provision that the towns might vote on acceptance. They were then forced to take the road and pay the commissioners' award for it, and Voluntown lost the forty dollars which it had been collecting yearly. Under this act Preston, Griswold, and Voluntown assumed the She- tucket Turnpike and made up the price of $1375 between them. THE WELLS HOLLOW TURNPIKE Incorporated in May, 1830, the Wells Hollow Turnpike Company built its road from the west side of the Housatonic River, where the Leavenworth Bridge Company was about to erect a bridge, toward Bridgeport, through the valley called Wells Hollow, and joining the Huntington Turnpike near Elan Hawley's store in the center of Huntington. The Leavenworth Bridge Company was first incorporated in May, 1804, when Gideon Leavenworth and others received a charter to bridge the Housatonic at Derby Landing. In May, 1830, an act was passed by which the company was allowed to sell its bridge, tollhouse, and all other property, dividing the proceeds among its stockholders. Then a new corporation was to be formed, or rather new stock of the old corporation was to be created, which was to be sold, prefer- ence being given to former shareholders. From the capital thus raised a new bridge was to be erected at Hawkins Point in Derby or farther north at " the point of rock." That was the bridge referred to in the charter of the Wells Hollow Turnpike. In 1833 the name of the Leavenworth Bridge Company was changed to Derby Bridge and Ferry Company, and under that name the bridge was operated as a toll bridge until 1872, when it was sold to the towns of Derby and Huntington and by them made free. [403] THE TURNPIKES OF NEW ENGLAND The Wells Hollow Turnpike, in connection with the Huntington Turnpike, formed nearly a direct route from Derby Landing to Bridge- port. In the final clean-up of Fairfield County on March 24, 1886, both the Huntington and the Wells Hollow turnpikes were made free. THE BRANCH TURNPIKE The Branch Turnpike Company was incorporated in May, 1831, and built a road from Bennett's Bridge over the Housatonic River between Newtown and Southbury, through Newtown, Monroe, Weston, Fair- field, and Westport. In 1836 an alteration was allowed from a point in Monroe to Bennett's Bridge. Apparently this is the road which now starts a little south of West- port Village and runs northeasterly, forming the boundary between Weston and Fairfield, across the town of Easton and the northwesterly part of Monroe to Bennett's Bridge. In 1837 all of the road, about one mile, which lay south of West- port Village was made free, and the balance of the road was similarly treated in 1851 when the charter was repealed. THE BLACK ROCK AND WESTON TURNPIKE The road running northwesterly from Black Rock Harbor across the town of Fairfield and to some point in Weston, north of the Branch Turnpike, was built by the Black Rock and Weston Turnpike Company under a charter granted in May, 1832. The lower end between Fairfield and Black Rock was made free in 1844, with the apparently unreasonable provision that no gate should be maintained on the remainder for which the corporation still was held responsible. The rest within Fairfield's limits was discontinued as a turnpike in 1847, and all in Easton became public in 1851. The reason for selecting Black Rock Harbor for the terminus is learned from Barber's " Historical Collections," which were published soon after the opening of this road. We there read: BLACK ROCK harbor, about I 1 ,/; miles from Fairfield court house, is, with the exception of New London, one of the best harbors in the Sound, being safe and com- modious, and having 19 feet of water at summer tides, below what is called the middle ground. There is a lighthouse on Fairweather's Island, which forms the easterly chop of the harbor. Vessels can, enter and depart from this harbor at any time of the tide. THE MONROE AND NEWTOWN TURNPIKE This was a short road which led from the Bridgeport and Newtown Turnpike at Upper Stepney and ran northwesterly close to the line between Monroe and Easton, across the southwesterly corner of New- [404] THE TURNPIKES OF CONNECTICUT town to Dodgingtown, where it ended at the line of Bethel, then a part of Danbury. In 1847 the company was allowed to move a gate and was author- ized to sell the tollhouse and the connected land. The Monroe and Newtown Turnpike Company was chartered in May, 1833. THE FAIRFIELD COUNTY TURNPIKE The Fairfield County Turnpike Company was formed in May, 1834, with a franchise to build a road from the northerly end of the Black Rock and Weston Turnpike, through Weston and Newtown to the intersection of the Brookfield Road with the Middle Road Turnpike, and thence to Meeker's Mills in Brookfield. The location was changed in 1836 and again in 1837, and the charter was repealed in 1848. THE HADLYME, AND CHESTER AND NORTH KILLINGWORTH SECOND TURNPIKES By the opening in 1816 of the Chester and North Killingworth Turnpike a short local road was provided between two country centers, but it happened that the road lay in almost a direct line between Nor- wich and New Haven, although far from both cities and without turn- pike connection on either end in their direction. In May, 1834, various parties who were subject to the turnpike delu- sion regarding the value of shortened distances, and who failed to realize the approach of the railroad, saw in the route along the line of the Chester and North Killingworth a desirable opening for turnpike investment. Consequently the Hadlyme Turnpike Company was char- tered in that month for the purpose of building from Warner's Ferry through Lyme and East Haddam to a junction with the Salem and Hamburg Turnpike in the westerly part of Salem; and the Chester and North Killingworth Second Turnpike Company was formed at the same session to continue the route westerly, starting from Warner's Ferry and running to the easterly end of the Chester and North Killingworth. The Chester and North Killingworth Second's charter further allowed that company to build westerly from the west end of the older road to a junction with the Fairhaven Turnpike, but it does not appear that that part of the franchise was utilized by this company. Warner's Ferry had been in operation across the Connecticut River between Chester and Hadlyme for sixty-five years at this time, having been established in 1769. On account of the well-known inability of turnpikes to pay on their investment and the agitation for railroads which had been under way for several years, it can be imagined that the promoters of this turnpike [405] THE TURNPIKES OF NEW ENGLAND enterprise found it difficult to persuade moneyed men to join them. Nevertheless as the time limit of the Hadlyme neared expiration that corporation found itself with a road seven eighths completed and mostly paid for, so the assembly of 1837 saw fit to grant an extension of time for completion. The Chester and North Killingworth Second must have proceeded with as much promptness and built its road from Warner's Ferry to Chester, but since another corporation was formed in 1835 with a fran- chise covering the same ground as the Second's western section it is plain that that portion was not built at this time. In a petition filed by the Chester and North Killingworth Second the investment is given as twenty-three hundred dollars, about enough to pay for two miles with ferry approaches and improvements. The same petition gave the " total dividends " as 1.3 per cent. That covered a period of about ten years, and it is quite possible that " total " was properly used and that the average dividend yearly had been about 0.13 per cent. In 1846 the charter of the Chester and North Killingworth Second was annulled, and that of the Hadlyme was repealed in 1847. It may be remarked that a charter for a railroad was passed at the same session which granted the two turnpike franchises here considered. THE SHERMAN AND REDDING TURNPIKE The Sherman and Redding Turnpike Company was formed at the May session in 1834 and allowed to build from Sherman to either the Newtown and Norwalk Turnpike in Redding, or to the Northfield in Weston. It is clear that the plans were carried out, but it is impossible to-day to pick out the location of the road. A petition filed in 1846 declared that the turnpike was never de- manded by public necessity or convenience and that for six years it had been " wholly and entirely abandoned," and consequently was im- passable and useless. From that it appears that the life of the turn- pike had been less than six years and that the corporation had practi- cally made its road free. But some form of public dedication seems to have remained and the assembly, therefore, discontinued a section be- tween the Danbury and Brookfield line and the highway leading from Danbury to Newtown, which thereby ceased to be a road at all, and the land reverted to the former owners. In 1852 similar action was taken with reference to several disconnected parts of the road, so that all that could be expected to exist to-day are a few short pieces of coun- try road in separate places. [406] o w .O o u § 'e e 1 .2 :2 c c O H s 1 8 3 3 03 W w Approaching the Windham Turnpike Near Hop River Station In Andover, Conn. Plate XCVI — Hop River Turnpike THE TURNPIKES OF CONNECTICUT THE MADISON AND NORTH KILLINGWORTH TURNPIKE It has been noted that the Chester and North Killingworth Second Turnpike Company did not improve its franchise on the westerly end, but that that was left for another corporation. A year later, in May, 1835, the Madison and North Killingworth Turnpike Company was incorporated with a franchise reaching from the west end of the Chester and North Killingworth Turnpike to the Fairhaven Turnpike in North Madison. By the construction of this road the short line of turnpike communication between Norwich and New Haven was completed, but it was a disappointment to its projectors. We have noted the demise! of the Hadlyme and of the Chester and North Killingworth Second in 1847 an d 1846 respectively. The Madi- son and North Killingworth preceded them by four years, its charter having been repealed in 1842. THE HOP RIVER TURNPIKE The Hartford, New London, Windham, and Tolland County Turn- pike, which extended from Bolton Notch to Norwichtown, must have gone out of business, at least on its westerly end, before 1835, for on that date in May, the Hop River Turnpike Company was formed and granted a franchise which covered the road of the long-named company from Andover to Bolton Notch. The rest of the Hop River route carried it to the village of Willimantic, where it entered the Windham Turnpike over the street which now forms the westerly boundary of the Willimantic Cemetery and terminates opposite the almshouse. This company invested over five thousand dollars, according to its own statement in a petition filed in 1851, which makes an average cost of about three hundred and sixty dollars a mile. The Hartford, Providence, and Fishkill Railroad commenced opera- tions in 1842 and paralleled the turnpike, close by, for its entire length. Poor enough before, the business of the Hop River then became abso- lutely valueless, but the company held on until 1851 when it sought to be. relieved of the responsibility for the road. The assembly allowed that it might be so relieved, if no one of the towns interested made pro- test, but apparently one did, for the act was of no effect. In 1853 outside parties made petition that the road might be made a public obligation. The road was very much out of repair and one of the bridges was broken down and impassable. The corporation had vanished, and no process could be served on it, but the road was a public necessity. So the Hop River Turnpike was legislated into the past, and the towns of Windham, Columbia, Andover, and Bolton were obliged to assume its maintenance. [407] THE TURNPIKES OF NEW ENGLAND CONNECTICUT'S PLANK ROADS Plank roads had been thoroughly demonstrated for about sixteen years before the venture was made in Connecticut. The first company was the Danbury, Redding, Weston, and Westport Plank Road Com- pany which was incorporated in 185 1. In this charter a mild form of specification for the road was included. The track of which plank road shall be made of timber, plank, or other hard mate- rial, so that the same shall form a hard and even surface. The authority given the corporation for laying out its road and tak- ing land was comprehensively expressed and has since been followed in its language in railroad franchises. The capital stock was fixed at one hundred thousand dollars, divided into shares of a par value of fifty dollars each, which shares were declared to be personal property. Gates could be erected where the management saw fit, provided they were not less than three miles apart. Tolls were to be fixed by the cor- poration but were not to be in excess of the following schedule : Any vehicle drawn by two animals 2 cents a mile Each additional animal !/2 Any vehicle drawn by one animal I Each horse and rider, or led animal Y2 Each mule, cattle, sheep, or swine 1/10 No mention of this road has been found in local histories and only the act of incorporation appears in the publication of special acts. On account of its late date it is unlikely that it could have escaped the notice of the historians if it had been built. The distance was about thirty- four miles and, since the Danbury and Norwalk Railroad was even at the date of the charter under construction and commenced operations in 1852, an investment of one hundred thousand dollars in a decadent type of road would have been injudicious. It seems safe to say that the road was not built. The Stamford, New Canaan, and Ridgefield Plank Road Company was created in the same year to build from Stamford through Darien to New Canaan " with permission to extend said plank road to and into the town of Ridgefield." Nothing more has been found regarding this effort. Two roads to lead into New Haven were authorized. The New Haven and Seymour Plank Road Company and the Wallingford, North Haven and New Haven Plank Road Company received their charters in 1852 and 1853 respectively. In the " History of New Haven," writ- ten by George H. Watrous, a successful attorney of New Haven and president of the New York, New Haven, and Hartford Railroad Com- pany for several years, is found a thorough summary of transportation affecting that city. Since he included every other form of roadway, [408] THE TURNPIKES OF CONNECTICUT pioneer paths, turnpikes, railroads, and canals, his omission of any reference to plank roads seems to remove them from the history of New Haven. Sharpe, in his " History of Seymour," refers to the for- mation of the New Haven and Seymour Company but leaves the reader with an impression that it did nothing. The Woodbury and Seymour Plank Road Company was chartered in 1852 to build from some point in Woodbury through Southbury, Oxford, and Seymour to Seymour on the Naugatuck River. Although Sharpe, in his " History of Seymour," mentions this as the only company collecting tolls in 1879, positive assertion is made by competent Woodbury authority that no such plank road ever existed. Perhaps a short section was built and operated in Seymour only. In 1853 another company, the Salisbury Plank Road Company, was incorporated to build from the New York line acrossi the town of Salis- bury, through Lime Rock, and to end at Falls Village in Canaan. The New York and Harlem and the Housatonic railroads were then cross- ing the ends of this proposed route in parallel directions and only about nine miles apart, so the need of an investment of about fifteen thousand dollars is hard to see. An old resident of Falls Village who said, " I knew them all," when the names of the incorporators were read to him, had never heard of the Salisbury Plank Road and was very certain that nothing of the kind was ever built. But one charter was granted which was not issued in vain. THE WATERBURY AND CHESHIRE PLANK ROAD The Waterbury and Cheshire Plank Road Company was formed in 1852 to provide plank-road communication between the towns named. Its road was built and is mentioned in Bronson's " History of Water- bury," published in 1858, as "the new plank road." Anderson also mentions it, but in a casual way. It ran from Waterbury Village easterly and entered the old Cheshire Road just north of Spectacle Pond. Besides the companies which have been mentioned in the preceding pages the following, of which we have been able to glean no further facts, were incorporated by the Connecticut general assembly. October 1797 Stratfield and Weston Turnpike Company. Apparently wholly in the town of Weston. May 1802 Greenwich and Ridgefield Turnpike Company. Mostly within New York State. October 181 2 Farmington and Harwinton Turnpike Company. Between those towns. October 181 7 Dragon Turnpike Company. New Haven to Connecticut River. Was not built. May 1818 Granby and Barkhamsted Turnpike Company. Was never finished. May 1 818 Wolcott and Hampden Turnpike Company. Through Plymouth, Wolcott, and Hampden. [409] THE TURNPIKES OF NEW ENGLAND May 1820 Pleasant Valley Turnpike Company. River Head to Warner's Ferry. May 1823 Woodbridge and Waterbury Turnpike Company. Waterbury to Woodbury. Moosup Turnpike Company. Union Factory Village to Rhode Island line. Simpaug Turnpike Company. In Ridgefield. Kent and Warren Turnpike Company. New York line, through Kent, to Litchfield. Litchfield and Plymouth Turnpike Company. Between those towns. Millington Turnpike Company. East Haddam to Colchester. May 1830 May 1832 May 1834 May 1836 May 1839 [410] Gate near Fredericksburg, Va. Typical view of the road Middle Gate Plate XCVII — Turnpike of Spotsylvania County, Virginia ENDING AS IT BEGAN ENDING AS IT BEGAN Many states still have toll roads in this year 1919, and in Virginia we find systematic efforts by the counties, assisted by the state, to finally make free all highways. At the beginning of the present demand for good roads that state responded enthusiastically and entered upon as extensive a program of construction as could then be financed. Provision was made for a sys- tem of state aid for the various counties by which the state was to pay one half of the cost of road construction, and under this encouragement many of the counties embarked upon an extensive line of work. About 1 9 10, feeling that the rate of progress was not fast enough, an act was passed by which authority was given for the counties of the state to issue bonds for the construction of roads and bridges, and many miles of Virginia roads appeared in response, a total of $9,198,200 being ob- tained by bond issues in forty-three counties for that purpose since 1907. After a few years of this commendable construction the maintenance problem appeared and soon became insistent. This introduced new fea- tures, as the counties had already obligated themselves to their limit and no means seemed at hand by which the new expenses could be met. In this dilemma recourse was had, perhaps unconsciously, to the two-and- a-half-century-old precedent established by Charles II when, after pro- viding that a road should first be put in thorough repair, he authorized the erection of tollgates across it by which it was hoped to collect from those using the road the cost of maintaining it. Accordingly it was enacted in Virginia a few years ago that different counties might estab- lish tollgates and collect toll upon such roads as had been built by bond issues. Under such authority Spotsylvania County proceeded to derive reve- nue from the main road leading south from Fredericksburg toward Rich- mond, and tolls were collected on that road at three gates for the three years ending December 31, 19 19. Augusta County, since 1907, has been building about ten miles of good roads annually, one half of the cost being met by the state, and in 191 2 a bond issue produced $250,000 which was expended for aboat thirty miles of water-bound and penetration macadam. In 191 1 the maintenance problem appeared in this county, and relief was sought by the erection of tollgates on such roads as had been built by state aid. Not much was accomplished by such means as the rates of toll were insufficient and the system of maintenance faulty, but in 1914 a reorgani- zation was made in both departments, since which time the tolls collected have provided sufficient funds for the maintenance. But a business which only collects enough to meet its expenses is not attractive as an invest- ment, and this further emphasizes the fact which has been often pointed out in previous pages, that a turnpike never was and never can be sound [411] THE TURNPIKES OF NEW ENGLAND financially. From the monthly and yearly reports of Augusta County the following is taken. Report of the Churchville Road for 191 8. Total tolls collected $5880.89 Average per mile $588.09 Total expenditures 4590.85 Average per mile 459-09 $1290.04 $129.00 From which it is seen that there is derived, above the unavoidable ex- penses which are met regularly, an amount sufficient only to pay the inter- est on a bond issue of about $2500 per mile. The " total expenditures " listed above probably contains none of the items commonly listed as "overhead," such as supervision by the county superintendent or his assistants or the necessary bookkeeping. From the above it is plain that even with the increased rates of toll and additional travel due to automobiles a turnpike is no more to be recommended as an investment now than it was a century ago. But the counties are not in the toll business for profit, and the gates, established for the purpose of eking out a fund which was too large for taxation, are well serving their purpose. The arrangement has been followed in many Virginia counties, purely as a temporary measure until some definite financial plan could be produced by which the counties could be relieved from their burdens and at the same time cause the removal of the tollgates. That has largely been accomplished by the adoption of the state highway system (chapter 10, Acts of 191 8) by which the maintenance and repair of an extensive mileage of main trunk highways has been assumed entirely by the state, leaving the counties to concen- trate their resources on other roads. Toll collections are forbidden by law on state maintained roads. It seems safe to say that within the next five years Virginia will have largely rid herself of tollgates, and tourists in that section will freely ride where they will. [412] BIBLIOGRAPHY BIBLIOGRAPHY Abdy, E. S. Journal of a Residence and Tour in the United States from April, 1833, to October, 1834. Adams, Abigail (Mrs. John) Diary. Advertiser, New York Daily, 1833 Almanac, The Old Farmer's Anderson History of Waterbury (Conn.). Angell Annals of Centerdale (R. I.). Anthony, Daniel Map of Providence in 1803. Badger and Porter Stage Register. Baker, Edward W. The Old Worcester Turnpike. Ballou History of Milford (Mass.). Barber, J. W. Connecticut Historical Collections. Bassett, Campbell, and Sharpe Seymour Past and Present (Conn.). Batchelder History of Peru (Vt.). Bateson, Mary Mediaeval England. Beach History of Cheshire (Conn.). Berkshire (Mass.), History of the County of (Anon.) Bettinger History of Haverhill (N. H). Bishop History of Manufacturing. Blake History of Hampden ( Conn. ) . Boston, City of Record of Streets. [415] THE TURNPIKES OF NEW ENGLAND Bowles History of Bethlehem (N. H.). Boyd Annals of Winchester (Conn.). Brayley History of the Granite Industry in New England. Brissot de Warville Notes on his American Journey. Bronson History of Waterbury (Conn.). Brooks History of Medford (Mass.). Browning, John F. The Salem Turnpike in the Salem News, January 15, 1915. Burt, Frank H. Mount Washington. Camp History of New Britain (Conn.). Campbell, Sharpe, and Bassett Seymour Past and Present (Conn.). Canal Commissioners of Pennsylvania Report of 1 83 1. Caulkins, Miss Frances M. History of Norwich (Conn.). History of New London (Conn.). Centinel, Columbian January 8, 1800; January 2, 1802; November 21, 18 12. Chambers' Cyclopedia Chase History of Ware (Mass.). Chew, James L. Fact and Reminiscence. Famous Old Taverns of New London. Child, Hamilton Gazetteer of Washington County (Vt.). Child, William H. History of Cornish (N. H.). Clark History of Needham (Mass.). Cochrane History of Antrim (N. H.). Coffin, Joshua History of Newbury (Mass.). Coffin, Charles Carleton History of Boscawen and Webster (N. H). [416] BIBLIOGRAPHY Concord Social Circle (Mass.) Second Series of Memoirs. Coos County (N. H.), History of Cornhill Magazine — 1864 Crissey History of Norfolk (Conn.). Currier, John J. History of Newburyport (Mass.). Currier, Frederick A. The Fifth Massachusetts Turnpike. Curtis A Century of Meriden (Conn.). Cutter, Benjamin and William R. History of Arlington (Mass.). Cutter, Daniel B. History of Jaffrey (N. H.). Daggett, John History of Attleboro (Mass.). Daniels History of Oxford (Mass.). Davis History of Hampton (N. H.). Dickens, Charles American Notes. Directors of Internal Improvement (Mass.) Report of 1829. Drake Old Landmarks and Historic Personages of Boston. The Town of Roxbury. Dwight, Thomas Letter on Turnpikes written in 1800 to Philip Ammidon. Earle, Alice Morce Stage Coach and Tavern Days. Eastman History of Andover (N. H.). Engineering Record Volume 65, page 182. English History of Bedford (Mass.). Estes History of Holden (Mass.). Felton, William Reminiscences of Coach Building. [417] THE TURNPIKES OF NEW ENGLAND Fuller History of Warwick (R. I.). Fulton, Robert Letter to Secretary Gallatin on Turnpikes and Canals. Gage History of Rowley (Mass.). Gallatin, Albert, Secretary of the Treasury Report on Internal Improvements — 1808. Gazette, New Hampshire October 26, 1824. Gazette, Salem February 11, 1803; August 13, 1804; December 28, 1804. Gibson, Robert The Theory and Practice of Surveying — 18 11. Gold, T. S. History of Cornwall (Conn.). Goodrich Historical Sketch of Pawtucket (R. I.). Goodwin East Hartford (Conn.), History and Traditions. Granite Monthly The Fourth New Hampshire Turnpike. Greenfield, Town of Circular of Claims for County Seat. Grieve History of Pawtucket (R. I.). Griffin History of Keene (N. H.). Hadley, Arthur T. Railroad Transportation. Hamilton, Alexander Census of United States Manufactures — 1791. Harper's Monthly The White Mountains — August, 1877. The Old National Pike — November, 1879. Hayes History of Rockingham (N. H.). Highway Commission, Massachusetts Reports. Holland, J. G. History of Western Massachusetts. HORREBOW Natural History of Iceland. [418] BIBLIOGRAPHY Hoyt, Ebenezer Survey and Map of the Fifth Massachusetts Turnpike. Hudson. Memorial History of Lexington (Mass.). Hulbert, A. B. Historic Highways of America. Huntington History of Stamford (Conn.). Hurd, Sarah Elizabeth; Diary of a Carriage Journey in 1829. Jenkins, Stephen The Old Boston Post Road. Johnson, S. W. Rural Economy. Journal, New York June 25, 1772. Kendall, Francis H. Turnpike Roads of Middlesex County. Kilbourne, Frederick W. Chronicles of the White Mountains. Kingman History of North Bridgewater (Brockton, Mass.). Kingsford, W. The History, Structure, and Statistics of Plank Roads. Kittredge, Professor George L. The Old Farmer and his Almanack. Knight, Madam Sarah Journal of Journey from Boston to New York in 1704. Lambert History of the Colony of New Haven. Landis, Charles I. The First Long Turnpike in the United States. Larned, Miss Ellen M. History of Windham County (Conn.). Lemont Historical Dates of Bath (Maine). Lewis, Alonzo History of Lynn (Mass.). Lewis, Isaac Newton History of Walpole (Mass.). Lewis, J. W, and Company History of Litchfield County (Conn.). [419] THE TURNPIKES OF NEW ENGLAND Lincoln History of Worcester (Mass.). Lovejoy History of Royalton (Vt.). Lowell Historical Society Proceedings. Lyford, James O. History of Concord (N. H.). MacGill, Caroline C. A History of Transportation in the United States before i860. McClintock History of New Hampshire. McMasters History of the United States. Marvin, Abijah P. History of Lancaster (Mass.). Mathews History of Cornwall (Vt.). Mead Ye Historie of ye Towne of Greenwich ( Conn. ) . Medway, Town's History of Melish, John Travels in the United States of America. Metcalf Annals of Mendon (Mass.). Musgrove History of Bristol (N. H.). Nash History of Weymouth (Mass.). New England Magazine The National Pike and its Memories — May, 1902. Turnpike Roads of Middlesex County — August, 1903. New London Historical Society Fact and Reminiscence. Famous Old Taverns of New London. News-Letter, Boston April 4, 1720. News, Salem The Salem Turnpike — January 15, 191 5. Niles, John M., and John C. Pease A Gazetteer of the States of Rhode Island and Connecticut. North History of Augusta (Maine). [420] BIBLIOGRAPHY Old Farmer's Almanac — 1802 Orcutt, William Dana Good Old Dorchester. Orcutt, Samuel History of New Milford (Conn.). History of Torrington (Conn.). History of Wolcott (Conn.). Parker History of Arlington (Mass.). Parmenter History of Pelham (Mass.). Patriot, Quincy — 1864 Pease, John C, and John M. Niles A Gazetteer of the States of Rhode Island and Connecticut. Perry, Miss History of Gloucester (R. I.). Porter, Badger and Stage Register. Pratt, Edwin A. A History of Inland Transport and Communication in England. Quincy, Josiah Read, Charles F. Milestones in and near Boston. Reed, Parker McCobb History of Bath (Maine). Reed, Jonas History of the Town of Rutland (Mass.). Register, Salem August 29, 1803. Ringwalt, J. L. Development of Transportation Systems in the United States. Robinson History of Camden and Rockport (Maine). Rutland (Vt.) Herald January, 19 14. Saunderson History of Charlestown (N. H.). Scott, Sir Walter Description of Old-time Stages. [421] THE TURNPIKES OF NEW ENGLAND Sharpe History of Seymour (Conn.). Sharpe, Bassett, and Campbell Seymour Past and Present (Conn.). Sheldon, Temple and History of Northfield (Mass.). Shirley, John M. The Fourth New Hampshire Turnpike. Skeat, W. W. Etymological Dictionary of the English Language. Smith, S. F. History of Newton (Mass.). Smith, J. E. A. History of Pittsfield (Mass.). Somers, Reverend A. N. History of Lancaster (N. H.). Sparks, Jared Life of Washington. State Street Trust Company Boston's Growth. Stearns History of Ashburnham (Mass.). Steere History of Smithfield (R. I.). Steiner History of Guilford and Madison (Conn.). Stone, Edwin M. History of Beverly (Mass.). Stone, Richmond United States Department of Agriculture Bulletin Number 17. Straus, Ralph Coaches and Carriages. Stratton The World on Wheels. Teele History of Milton (Mass.). Temple History of Palmer (Mass.). Temple and Sheldon History of Northfield (Mass.). Thomas, Chauncey American Carriage and Wagon Works. Thomas, R. B. Old Farmer's Almanac. [422] BIBLIOGRAPHY Thompson, Francis M. History of Greenfield. Thompson, Miss Mary P. Landmarks in Ancient Dover (N. H.). Thrupp History of Coaches. Tilden History of Medfield (Mass.). Tillinghast, C. B. Index of Senate and House Members (Mass.). Timlow History of Southington (Conn.). Tracy History of Essex County (Mass.). Traveller, Boston October 2, 1833. Tucker History of Hartford (Vt). Twining, Thomas Notes and Reminiscences of Travel in America. Wadleigh Notable Events in the History of Dover (N. H). Waldo, S. Putnam The Tour of James Monroe, President of the United States in 1 8 1 7. Wallace History of Canaan (N. H). Ward, Andrew H. History of Shrewsbury (Mass.) — 1826. Watrous, George H. History of New Haven (Conn.). Wells History of Ryegate (Vt. ). Weston History of Middleboro (Mass.). Wheeler, George Augustus History of Brunswick (Maine). Wheeler, Richard Anson History of Stonington (Conn.). Whipple Geological View of the District of Maine — 1816. Willard History of Lancaster (Mass.). Wilson, Samuel M. The Maysville Pike. [423] THE TURNPIKES OF NEW ENGLAND WlTMER, A. E. The Old Turnpike. Wood, Sumner Gilbert Taverns and Turnpikes of Blandford (Mass.). Woodbury, C. H. J. The Floating Bridge on the Salem Turnpike. [424] INDEX INDEX References in heavy type indicate special articles on the roads mentioned Abandoned section of Middle- sex Turnpike, 155, 156 Union Turnpike, 136 Abattoir, Brighton, 194 Abbott, Downing, and Co., builders of Concord coaches, 49 Aberdeen, Ohio, 23 Abington, Mass., 131 Aborn Street, Providence, R. I., 3°9 Academy, Weston, Conn., 401 Accident on Dorchester Turn- pike, 142 Hingham and Quincy Turn- pike, 179 Mount Washington Sum- mit Road, 240 Act for relief of Plum Island Bridge and Turnpike Co., 160 Acton, Mass., 176 Acushnet River (Mass.), 137, 182 Adams, Mass., 66 Adams Ferry (see Hiern's Ferry) Adams, Gov. Samuel, 63 John Quincy, 23 Adams, Mount, 240 Adams, Mrs. John, diary of, 178 Adams Street, Dorchester, Mass., 103, 207 Milton, Mass., 147 Williamstown, Mass., 67 East Milton, Mass., 207 Agawam, Mass., 187 Aiken's Bridge (N. H.), 223 Air Line Division, N. Y., N. H. & H. R. R., 382 Albany, N. H., 237, 245, 247 N. Y., 25, 51, 67, 76, 79, 80, 166, 181, 204, 345, 348, 355, 358, 365, 388 fare from Boston, 52 railroad from Boston, 200 Albany Street, West Stock- bridge, Mass., 167 Aldie, Va., 8 Aldrich, Elisha, house of, 314 Richard, tavern of, 297 Alewife Brook, Cambridge, Mass., 120 Alexandria, Va., 7, 17 Alford, Mass., 79, 168, 186 Alford and Egremont Turn- pike (Mass.), 168, 191 Alford and West Stockbridge Turnpike Corp. (Mass.), 175, 191 Allegheny Mountains, 17 Allen Road, Attleboro, Mass., 90 Allum Pond (R. I.), 307 Allum Pond Hill (R. I.), 301 Almshouse, Will im an tic, Conn., 354 Almy and Brown, cotton fac- tory, 299 Alpine Garden, White Moun- tains, 237, 240 Alpine House, Gorham, N. H, 238 Alstead, N. H., 232 Alterations in Pontoosac account of railroad, 201 American Thread Co., 382 Ames, Fisher, 88, 89 Oliver, Sr., beginnings of shovel factory, 37 Ames Shovel Factory, 37 Amesbury, Mass., fare from Boston, 52 Amherst, N. H., 155, 219 Mass., 71 Amherst Turnpike (N. H.), 154, 236 Ammidon, Philip, 75 Andover, Conn., 407 Mass., 129, 149 N. H., 231, 222, 230 Andover Bridge, Mass., 128, 130, 231 Andover Street, Danvers, Mass., 124, 129 Andover Turnpike (N. H.), 248 Andover and Medford Turn- pike (Mass.), 128, 129, 149, 266 Androscoggin Valley, 238 Angell, Fenner, landowner, 308 Anthony, R. I., 310, 311 Anthony. Daniel, surveyor, 319 Earle B., store of, 326 William, petitioner, 298 Antrim, N. H., 219 Appalachian Mountain Club, 238 Appeal to legislature by Mid- dlesex Turnpike Co., 152, 153- Appeal to supreme court by Hingham and Quincy, 181 Appius Claudius Caecus, road of, 314 Appleby's Road, Smithfield, R. I., 307 Apponaug, R. I., 311 Apponegansett, Mass., 182 April 19, 1775, 123, 153 Ap thorp, John T., 119, 120 Arch in Brookline, Mass., 164 Arlington, Mass., 52, 151, 152, 153, 155 Arlington Heights, Mass., 151, 155, 183 Arnold's invasion of Canada, 264 Arnold, Simon H, diligence Providence to Pawtucket, 305 Thomas, landowner, 322 Arsenal at Willimantic, Conn., 383 Arsenal Street, Watertown, Mass., 196 Ashburnham, Mass., 71, 131, 157, 176 Ashby, Mass., 157, 176, 256 gate in, 158 Ashby Turnpike (Mass.), 157 Ashford, Conn., 75, 140, 194, 295, 342, 343, 378, 381, 383 Ashuelot Turnpike, 131, 234 Ashmont, Mass., 142 Assonet, Mass., 137 Assonet Bay (Mass.), 303 Asylum Street, Hartford, Conn., 360, 361 [427] INDEX Athol, Mass., 69, 70, 133 Atlantic, Mass., 208 Atlantic and St. Lawrence Railroad, 238 Attleboro, Mass., 87, 100, 170, tavern in, 88 Attorney-general of Maine, no Atwells Avenue, Providence, R. I., 309, 310 Atwood, Caleb, tavern of, 311 George B., bar room of, 202 Auburn, N. H., 231 Augusta, Maine, 106, 1 14, 127, 130, 227 Augusta County, Va., erected tollgates to provide for maintenance of roads, 411 road building since 1907, 411 Avenue Street, Brighton, Mass., 194 Babcock, I., Jr., store of, 207 Joseph, 137 Babcock Pond, Conn., 382 Babylon, 4 Back Bay, Boston, Mass., 188 filling of, 191 nuisance of, 191 water power from, 188 Back River, Weymouth, Mass., 177. 178 Bacon Academy, Colchester, Conn., 375 Backus' Ironworks, Norwich, Conn., 375 Badger and Porter, 51 Bailey, Captain, contractor, 64, 351 Baker, Captain George, house of, 313, 314 Bakers River (N. H.), 223, 233, 244 Bakersfield and Waterville Turnpike Corp. (Vt.), 284 Batch's freight wagons, 221 Baldwin, Captain Benjamin P., surveyor, 233 Baldwin's map of railroad to Albany, 199 Baldwin's Mills, Templeton, Mass., 157, 235 Baldwinsville, Mass., 157 Baltimore, Md., 8, 17 Baltimore Gate, 9 Baltimore, Liberty, and Ha- gerstown Turnpike Road Co., 20 Baltimore and Ohio Railway, 22, 23 Bank Street, New London, Conn., 379 Banks of Maryland, 20, 21 Barden Reservoir, R. I., 314 Bardsley's Corner, Conn., 356 Barkhamsted, Conn., 355, 378, 394 Barnet, Vt., 230, 269, 271 Barre, Mass., 69, 192 Barre Turnpike (Mass.), 192 Barre Turnpike Corp. (Vt.), 283 Barrett, Daniel, 104, 105 Barricade against sortie by British from Boston, 207 Barrington, N. H., 217 R. I., 206, 324 [428] B Bar room of George B. At- wood, Taunton, Mass., 202 Barrows, Captain, house of, 356 Barrows, Milton, 98 Barrows' Tavern, South At- tleboro, Mass., 98 Bartlett, N. H., 223, 245 Bartlett, Robert, devised to New London's poor, 390 Bartlett Street, Boston, 89, 94 Bateman, Jonas, landowner, 135 Bath, Maine, 130, 144, 145, 211 N. H., 228 Bath Bridge and Turnpike (Maine), 144, 211 Bath Street, Brunswick, Maine, 145 Bath Turnpike Co. (N. H.), 228 Bay Road, Old, to Taunton, 25, 148, 157, 171 Bay Street, Fall River, Mass., 325 regarded as a public high- way, 326 Bayley, General Jacob, 264 Bayley-Hazen Military Road, 249, 264 object of, 265 route for settlers, 265 Beach Pond (R. I.), 306, 402 Beacon Brook (Conn.), 337, 395 Beacon Falls, Conn., part of old Derby, 337 Beacon Mountain, Conn., 340 Beacon Street, Boston, Mass., 188, 189, 191 Brighton, Mass., 194 Somerville, Mass., 155 Beal Street, Hingham, Mass., 181 Bear's Den, Greenfield, Mass., 70 Beattie Farm, Ryegate, Vt., gate on, 270 Beaver Brook, Ware, Mass., 133 " Beaver Brook Turnpike " (Conn.), 386 Beaver Lake, Ware, Mass., 133 Becket, Mass., 74, 76, 78, 127, 128, 176, 193, 199, 203, 204 Becket Mountain (Mass.), 127 Becket Turnpike (Mass.), 74, 127, 176, 193, 199, 203,204 Bedell, Colonel, 264 Bedford, Mass., 121, 141, 151, 152 Penn., 16 Bedford Street, Middleboro, Mass., 132 Bedford, taverns in, 156 Beebe, Amasa, landowner, 383 Belden's Bridge, Norwalk, Conn., 338 Belchcrtown, Mass., in Belchertown and Greenwich Turnpike (Mass.), Ill, 133 Bellingham, Mass., 75, 76, 138 Bellows Falls, Vt, 78, 131, 219, 220, 254, 256, 259 Bellows Falls bridge, 220, 255, 350 Bellows, John, for land on Mount Washington, 239 Bellwater Plank Road Corp. (Vt), 280 Belmont, Mass., 120, 122 Belmont Street, Westboro and Worcester, Mass., 166 Belmont town hall, 122 Bennett's Bridge, Newtown, Conn., 404 Bennett, Wetherell and, omni- bus line, 305 Bennington, Vt, 51, 69, 250, 253. 279 gate in, 253 Bennington County, Vt., pro- ceedings in, 277 Bennington Turnpike Corp. (Vt), 269 Benson, Vt., 267 Benson Turnpike Corp. (Vt), 283 Bergen Point, N. J., 41 Berkley, Mass., 137 Berkshires, Mass., 277 rough country, 199 Berkshire Bridge, Conn., 400 Berkshire County, proceed- ings in, 66, 78, 79, 113, 119, 127, 128, 166, 167, 173- 175. 182, 186, 187, 191, 193, 201 INDEX Berkshire County, indifferent to Pontoosac Turnpike, 200 Berlin, Conn., 349 Vt, 252 Berwick Lane, Providence, R. I-, 319 Bethel, Conn., 339, 405 Vt., 257 Bethel to Weston Turnpike (Conn.), 339 Bethlehem, Mass., 175 N. H., 229 Bethlehem Junction, N. H., 243 Bethlehem and Tyringham Turnpike (Mass.), 175 Beverly, Mass., 114 fare from Boston, 52 Beverly cotton factory, 29 Big Conococheague Creek, 20 Bigelow Hall, East Hartford, Conn., 367 Billerica, Mass., 141, 151, 152, Billerica Branch Boston and Maine Railroad, 155 Billing's Rocks, Quincy, Mass., 101 Bingham Bridge, Windham, Conn., 353 Birch Intervale, N. H., 237 Black Pond, Woodstock, Conn., 396 Black River, Ludlow, Vt., 252 Black Rock Harbor, Conn., 404 description of, 404 Black Rock Road, Fairfield, Conn., 401 Black Rock and Weston Turnpike (Conn.), 404, 405 Blackmore Pond, R. I., 317 Blackstone River (R. I.), 300, 310, 323 claimed as boundary, 303 herring runs, 305 Blackwater River (N. H.), 235 Blackwood Road, Meriden, Conn., 386 Blair, contractor, 65 Blake's Furnace, Brandon, Vt., 279 Blanchard, Andrew, 115 Blandford, Mass., 79, 184, 199, 358 Blandford Center, Mass., 203, 204 Blandford and Russell Turn- pike (Mass.), 146 Blasting, 37 Bloomfield, Conn., 358 Blue Hill Avenue, Boston, 147 Blue Hill, Milton, Mass., 146 Blue Hill Turnpike (Mass.), 137, 142, 144, 171. 172 estimate of earnings, 62 Blue Hills, Mass., 137 Bluemont, Va., 7 Blue Ridge Mountains, 15, 17 Board runner sleighs, 49 Boardman's Bridge, Conn., 389 Boies' Mills, Milton, Mass., 146 Boise, Enos W., town clerk of Blandford, 205 Bolton, Conn., 140, 141, 342, 343, 407 Mass., 169 1830, map of, 169 Bolton Notch, Conn., 140, 342, 343- 407 Bomoseen, Vt., 259 Boonesboro, Md., 17, 20 Boonesboro Turnpike Co., 21 Boscawen, N. H., 220 Boston, 15, 25, 27, 50, S3, 62, 63. 64, 67, 75, 76, 80, 95, 99, 100, 103, 114, 115, 117, 120, 121, 125, 129, 131, 138, 141, 142, 144, 148, 155, 157, 159, 161, 162, 163, 169, 170, 172, 175, 183, 185, 189, 190, 193, 194, 195, 197, 206, 219, 231, 256, 263, 273, 275, 276, 292, 306, 316, 325, 331, 336, 343, 362, 363, 367, 389, 39i, 396, 399 Boston, railroads to Provi- dence and Albany, 200 Boston, Concord, and Mon- treal Railroad, 242 Boston Elevated Railway, 94 115, 160 Boston Free Bridge Corp., 142 Boston Neck, 27, 160, 189, 193- 343 Boston Neck Turnpike Corp. (Mass.), 163, 184 Boston South Bridge, 141 Boston, tavern in, 88 Boston town house, 147, 160 Boston Turnpike (Conn.), 138, 140, 29s, 338, 342, 353, 354, 356, 363, 367, 373, 377, 378, 382, 383 Boston Water Power Co., 190 Boston and Albany Railroad, 74, 201 Boston and Hartford Tele- graph Line, 195, 396 Boston and Haverhill Turn- pike Corp. (Mass.), 127, 128 Boston and Lowell Railroad, 157, 208 Boston and Maine Railroad, 126, 155, 266 Boston and Montreal Turn- pike Corp. (Vt.), 263 Boston and Providence Rail- road, 92, 100, 185, 208, 302, 322 Boston and Roxbury Mill Corp., 163, 188, 195 Boston and Worcester Rail- road, 165, 208 Boston and Worcester Street Railway, 163, 166 Bosworth, David, toll gath- erer, 258 Boulevard — Lowell to Nashua, 156 Boundary — Mass. and R. I., 95, 203, 303, 326 Bow, N. H., 231, 236 Bowdoin College, 144 Bowdoin Street, Dorchester, Mass., 207 Boxboro, Mass., 134 Boyden, James, toll gatherer, 99 Boylston Street, Brookline and Newton, 161, 166 Bozrah, Conn., 338, 375, 398, 399 Brackett, Lemuel, clerk, 179 Braddock's Road, 18 Braintree, Mass., 117, 176 Braintree and Weymouth Turnpike (Mass.), 103, 115, 131 Branch Avenue, Providence, R. I., 300 Branch Road and Bridge Turnpike (N. H.), 131, 222 Branch Turnpike (Conn.), 404 Branch Turnpike Co. (Vt.), 284 Brandon, Vt, 279 fare from Boston, 52 Brandywine Creek bridge, 13, 16 Brattleboro, Vt., 250, 253, 254 first settlements, 249 gate in, 253 Bray, Major John, robbed, "5 Breakwater in Newburyport Harbor, 159 Bream Cove, New London, Conn., 379 Breed's Island, Lynn, Mass., 81, 86 Breezy Point, Warren, N, H., 244 Breton, William, house of, 7i Bretton Woods, N. H„ 229 Brick oven on wheels, 221 Brick schoolhouse in Rox- bury, Mass., 89 Bridge, Alford and Egremont Turnpike (Mass.), 168 first at Naugatuck, Conn., 340 Hartford to East Hartford, Conn., 366 at Islehookset Falls, N. H., 231 [429] INDEX Bridge across Lake Quin- sigamond (Mass.), 166 over North Cove, Essex, Conn., 392 at Norwich Landing, Conn., 402 over Quinebaug River, Danielson, Conn., 397 Salem to Beverly (Mass.), 85 at Saugatuck River, Conn., 339 Willimantic River, 354 Bridge disaster, Worcester Turnpike, 165 Bridge Street, Concord, N. H., 219 Medfield, Mass., 140 Weymouth, Mass., 181 Bridgeport, Conn., 347, 364, 365, 397, 398, 400, 403, 404 Bridgeport and Newtown Turnpike (Conn.), 364, 374, 397, 398, 404 Bridges, Boston to Cam- bridge, 197 Connecticut corporations' responsibility for, 334 Merrimac River (Mass.), 85 in Windham, Conn., 353 Bridge's Bridge, Dresden, Maine, 114 Bridgewater, Mass., 131, 132, 171, 172, 182 N. H., 226 Vt, 272, 279 Bridport, Vt., 267 Bridport Turnpike Co. (Vt.), 283 Briggsville, Mass., 205 Brighton, Mass., 194, 196 accepted tender of Han- cock Free Bridge Corp., 197 Brighton Avenue, Brighton, Mass., 194 Bristol, Conn., 351, 360, 374, 375 N. H., 226 Penn., 16 Bristol, R. I., 25, 206 fare from Boston, 52 Bristol County (Mass.), pro- ceedings in, 118, 171, 172 Bristol Ferry (R. I.), 51, 298 British officers at Punch Bowl Tavern, 162 British Royal Mail, 260 British soldiers, 123, 153 British supply train, 153 Broad Street, Meriden, Conn., 35o New London, Conn., 359 Pawtucket, R. I., 310 Providence, R. I., 292, 315, 318 Broadway, Cambridge, Mass., 121, 122 Chelsea, Mass., 86 Chelsea, Revere, and Sau- gus, Mass., 81 Lawrence, Mass., 129 Pawtucket, R. I., 95 Raynham and Taunton, Mass., 172 Brockton, Mass., 138 Brookfield, Conn., 365, 405, 406 Mass., 51, 182 Vt, 252, 260 Brookfield and Charlton Turnpike Corp. (Mass.), 182, 301 Brookfield Road, Newtown, Conn., 405 Brookline, Mass., 160, 162, 185, 188, 203 Brookline Avenue, Brookline, Mass., 189, 190 Brookline Village, Mass., 160, 161, 164 Brooklyn, Conn., 362, 397 Broome, H. G., stage driver, 360 Brown, John and Philip, 301 Philip, house of, 302 Brown's Ferry, Maine, 145 Browning, Ephraim, house of, 356 Brownsville, Penn., 17 Brunswick, Maine, 114, 130, 144, 145, 211 N. J., is Brush Hill Turnpike (Mass.), 146, 157, 169, 171, 175 Buckland's Corner, Conn., 366 Buckler, tavern keeper, 344 Buckley brook, 66 Buffum's Corner, Salem, Mass., 81 Bugbee's Tavern, 147 " Buisket Bridge in Tyngs- bury," 151 Bull's Bridge, Kent, Conn., 369 Bull's tavern in Hartford, Conn., 344 Bundy's Hill, Lisbon, Conn., 337 Bunker, captain of steamboat, 390 Bunker Hill, battle of, 155 Bunker Hill, Conn., 372 Bunker Hill Monument. 206 Burbank Road, Somers, Conn., 399, 400 Burgess, Thomas, state turn- pike agent, 303 Burke Hollow, Vt., 278 Burke Turnpike Co. (Vt.), 278 Burlington, Conn., 351, 360 Mass., 152, 155 Vt., 249, 257, 268 fare from Boston, 52 Burlington College, Vt., 268 Burlington Turnpike Co. (Vt.), 283 Burrillville Turnpike Co. (R. L), 312 Burnham's carriage shop, Willimantic, Conn., 383 Burnside, Conn., 343 Burnside Avenue, East Hart- ford, Conn., 343, 366, 367 Burrall's Bridge, Conn., 364 Burrillville, R. I., 299, 300, 312 Butters Corner, Concord, N. H., 231 Byram River (Conn, and N. Y.), 339, 376 Cabot, Vt, 264 Cadwell, Thomas, ferryman, 342 Caledonia County, Vt, 260 settled by Scotch, 271 Caledonia Turnpike Co. ( Vt.) , 283 Calves Island, Conn., 380 Cambridge, Mass., 119, 151, 155, 189, 195, 196, 197, 236 fare from Boston, 52 Vt, 282 [430] Cambridge, Mass., assumed road of Hancock Free Bridge Corp., 197 Cambridge Common, Mass., 119, 120, 122 Cambridge-Mount Mansfield Turnpike Co. (Vt.), 282 Cambridge Road (Mass.), 160, 185 "Cambridge Turnpike" (Mass.), 122 Cambridge waterworks, 123 Cambridge and Concord Turn- pike (Mass.), 52, 119, 127, 133, 134, 146, 151, 152, 169, 176 Cambridge to Watertown Turnpike (Mass.), 195 Cambridgeport, Mass., 122, 195 Camden, Maine, 104, 105 Camden Harbor, Maine, 104 Camden Turnpike (Maine), 104, 211 Canaan, Conn., 354, 355, 364, 375, 379, 409 INDEX Canaan, Maine, 104 N. H., invested in Grafton Turnpike, 230 Canaan and Litchfield Turn- pike (Conn.), 354, 364 Canada, Arnold's invasion of, 264 Canada, invasion planned in 1778, 265 Canal, Chesapeake and Dela- ware, 22 Chesapeake and Ohio, 22 Dismal Swamp, 22 Louisville, 22 Portland, 22 Canal at Bellows Falls, Vt., 255 Canals, Commissioners of, Pennsylvania, 36 Canals and Locks of Lowell, Mass., 156 Canastoga Valley, 11 Canobie Lake, N. H., 231 Canterbury, Conn., 352, 353, 354, 362 Canterbury Street, Boston, Mass., 149 Canton, Conn., 361, 362 Mass., 148, 149, 157, 171 Cape Cod, Mass., 115 Cape Road (Mass.), 98 Capital, Boston and Roxbury Mill Corp., 188 Boston Turnpike (Conn.), 342 Danbury, Redding, Weston andWestport Plank Road Co. (Conn.), 408 Derby Turnpike Co. (Conn.), 347 Durham and East Guilford Turnpike (Conn.), 385 Fifth Mass. Turnpike, 69 Newburyport Turnpike (Mass.), 126 Norfolk and Bristol Turn- pike (Mass.), 88 Shetucket Turnpike (Conn.), 402 Worcester Turnpike (Mass.), 161 Captives, French and Indian War, 263 Carmel, Maine, 106 Carriages, 43 Carriage manufacturing, 1795, 95 Carrington's tavern, Walling- ford, Conn., 350 Carts, 37, 43 Castleman's Ferry, 7 Castleton, Vt., 259 Catholic Oak, Lonsdale, R. I., 310 Cattle, accident on Floating Bridge, 85 Causeway, Hampton, 234 Cavendish. Vt., 263 Cavis, C. H. V., engineer, 240 Cedar Hill Street, Medfield, Mass., 138 Cedar swamps of Mass., 172 Cemetery, oldest, in New England, 207 at Salem Bridge, Conn., 366 Spring Grove, Noroton, Conn., 377 Stamford, Conn., Turnpike built through, 376 Census, manufactures in 1791, 29 Center Avenue, Belmont, Mass., 122 Center Pond, Becket, Mass., 127 Center Street, Bath, Maine, 145 Newton, Mass., 163 Center Turnpike Co. (Conn.), 194, 396 Center Turnpike (Vt.), 257, 258, 263, 267, 272 Centerdale, R. I., 307 Centerville, Conn., 358 R. I., 317 Central Falls, R. I., 310, 323 Central Square, Keene, N. H., 220 Central Street, Wellesley, Mass., 195 Central Turnpike (Mass.), 183, 194, 396 Central Turnpike (R. I.), 314 Central Vermont Railway, 253, 335, 343, 356, 396 Cepatchit Bridge, R. I., 290 Chain Bridge', Washington, D. C, 18 Chaise, 45 Chaises, post, 44 Champlain, Lake, 224, 225, 229, .256, 260, 261, 273 route to Canada, 264 Chandler Ridge, Mount Wash- ington, 240 Chapin, Oliver, tavern of, 69 Chariot, 46 Chariots, war, 43 Charlemont, Mass., 66, 205 Charles II, 4, 411 charter of Rhode Island, 303 Charles-gate, Boston, Mass., 191 Charles River, 99, 161, 193 Charles River Bridge, 81 Charles Street, Boston, Mass., 188, 189 Providence, R. I., 301 Charlestown, Mass., 81, 115, 129, 206 N. H., 232 Charlestown Ferry (Mass.), 125 Charlestown Pond, R. I., 315 Charlestown Square, Charles- town, Mass., 84, 85 Charlestown Turnpike (N. H.), 248 Charlton, Mass., 159 Charlton City, Mass., 158 gate in, 158 Chatham, Conn., 368, 382 Chatham and Marlboro Turn- pike (Conn.), 384 Chaubunagungamaug, Lake (Mass.), 198 Cheever's Hill, Chelsea, Mass., 81 Chelmsford, Mass., 151, 152, 156 fare from Boston, 52 Chelsea, Mass., 85 Vt. 260, 274 Chelsea Bridge (Mass.), 81, 86, 123, 124 Chelsea Street, Charlestown, Mass., 81 Chelsea Beach and Saugus Bridge Turnpike (Mass.), 209 Chelsea Turnpike Co. (Vt.), 283 Cherokee Lands, 10 Cherry Mountain, White Mountains, 238 Chesapeake and Shannon, naval battle, 81 Cheshire, Conn., 357, 388, 406, 409 Mass., 149, 206 Cheshire Branch Boston and Maine Railroad, 131 Cheshire Bridge (N. H.),232, 259 Cheshire Railroad, 220, 222 Cheshire Road, Cheshire, Conn., 409 Cheshire Turnpike (N. H.), 232 Cheshire Turnpike (Conn.), 357 Chester, Mass., 74, 118, 119, 193, 199. 201 N. H., 232 Vt, 273, 276 fare from Boston, 52 Chester, east meeting-house, N. H., 232 Chester Hill Road, Middle- field, Mass., 119 Chester Station, Boston and Albany Railroad, 200 Chester Turnpike (Mass.), 118, 128, 199 Chester Turnpike (1822), (Mass.), 119, 193 Chester Turnpike (N. H.), 232 Chester and North Killing- worth Turnpike (Conn.), 388, 405, 407 Chester and North Killing- worth Second Turnpike (Conn.), 388, 405, 407 Chesterfield, Conn., 359 [431] INDEX Chesterfield Turnpike(N.H.), 248 Chestnut Hill, Perm., 16 Chestnut-Oak Hill, R. I., 297 Chepachet Bridge, R. I., 297, 314 Chepachet Route, Providence Street Railway, R. I., 308 Chichester, N. H., 217 Chicopee River, 65 Child Hill, Woodstock, Conn., 396 Child's Tavern, Wilmington, Vt., 254 Chillicothe, Ohio, 23 Chin, Mount Mansfield, Vt., 282 "Chittendon Turnpike" (Vt.), 268 Chittendon, Governor, 268 Chocorua Mountain, N. H., 247 Chocorua Mountain Turn- pike (N. H.), 247 Chopmist, R. I., 313 Church Corner, East Hart- ford, Conn., 367 Church Street, Guilford Green, Conn., 393 New Haven, Conn., 351 Pawtucket, R. I., 322, 323 Churchville Road, Augusta County, Va., operations in 1918, 412 Chusetown, Conn., 337, 348, 37i. 395 Circumferentor, 38 Cities, five in Connecticut in- corporated 1784, 338 Citizens' Coach Co., 09 Citizens' Line stages, 99 City Square, Charlestown, Mass., 81 Clam River, Sandisfield, Mass., 209 Clam River Turnpike Corp. (Mass.), 186, 209 Claremont, N. H., 129, 15s, 219, 236 Clarendon, Vt, 252, 254 Clark, Peter, director, 120 Clark's tavern in Ashford, Conn., 344 Clark and Gray's paper mill, Willimantic, Conn., 382 Clarksburg, Mass., 205 Clay, Henry, 19 Clear Spring. Md., 20 Cliftondale, Mass., 124 Cliffwood Street, Lenox, Mass., 78 Clinton, Maine, 106 Coaches, see Stages Coast Path (Mass.), 25 Coates, Ezra, owner of apple- tree, 137 Coatesville, Penn., 14 Cobb, Rev. Alvan, 203 [432] Cobb, Pennyroyal, tavern of, 98 Cochituate, Lake (Mass.), 161 Cohasset, Mass., lis Cohos Road (N. H.), 226, 227, 249 Cobalt, Conn., 382 Colburn, Gen. James, 134 Colchester, Conn., 359, 360, 368,375,381,38s Vt., 272 Colchester Center, Conn., 382 Colchester and Chatham Turn- pike (Conn.), 381 Colchester and Norwich Turn- pike (Conn.), 375 Cold Brook, Florida, Mass., 205, 206 Cold Spring Landing, N. Y., 388 Colebrook, Conn., 355, 365, 378, 387, 394 Coleman, Rev. Henry, aid of, solicited, 178 College Hill, Providence, R. I., 322 Collins Pond, Lynn, Mass., ?S Collins' Tavern, Straits, Conn., 340 Colonial Inn, Concord, Mass., 176 Columbia, Conn., 383, 407 Penn., 16 Columbia Green, Conn., 383 Columbia Turnpike (Conn.), 382 Commissioner ' of turnpikes (R. I.), 289 Commonwealth of Mass., Mill Dam to be conveyed to, 190 Commonwealth Avenue, Bos- ton, Mass., 104 Commonwealth Flats, South Boston, Mass., 141 Commuted tolls, 94, 126 Companies' Clauses Consolida- tion Act (Great Britain), 31 Compass, 38 Concert Hall, Boston, Mass., 161 Conestoga River bridge, 16 Conestoga wagons, 50 Concord, Mass., 119, 120, 131, 122, 123, 133, 176 fare from Boston, 52 Concord, N. H., 129, 150, 217, 227, 229, 231 fare from Boston, 52 voted to purchase turnpike, 218 Concord Avenue, Belmont, Mass., 123 Cambridge. Mass., 122 Concord Bridge, Concord, N. H., 217, 219 Concord coach, 49 Concord Common, Mass., 123, 134 Concord River (Mass.), 155 Concord and Montreal R. R., 233, 243, 265 Conditions imposed on draw- bridges, 177 Connecticut, compilation of special laws, 347 density of population, 331 early public-service com- missions, 34 franchises perpetual, 333 Revised Statutes, 1835, 333 steamboat, 390 turnpikes in, 14 Connecticut and Passumpsic Rivers Railroad, 271, 282 Connecticut and Rhode Island Turnpike (Conn.), 295, 343 Connecticut Path (Mass.), 25, 158, 160 Connecticut Post Road (Vt.), 249, 254, 256, 258, 265 Connecticut River, 69, 141, 223, 225, 228, 229, 230, 232, 235, 260, 261, 263, 269, 310, 338, 342, 366, 368, 369, 379, 382, 384, 388, 391 post road along, 249 Connecticut River Steamboat Co., 380 Connecticut River Turnpike (Vt.), 258, 274 Connecticut River Village, Conn., 380 Connecticut River water route, 133 Connecticut Turnpike Co. (Conn.), 336, 340, 376 Connecticut Valley, 66, 155, 176, 192 Connecticut Valley Lumber Co., 229 Connecticut Valley route from Coos, N. H., 233 Connecticut Valley Railroad, 369 Connecticut and Rhode Island Turnpike (Conn.), 377 Constitutionality of Mount Washington Road at- tacked, 239 Continental troops, 155 Contract, First Massachusetts Turnpike, 64, 65 Hartford and New Haven Turnpike (Conn.), 351 Norfolk and Bristol Turn- pike (Mass.), 90 Sixth Massachusetts Turn- pike, 73 Controversy over location of Middlesex Turnpike (Mass.), 152 Cook's Corner, Maine, 144, 145 INDEX Cook, Parley, landowner, 118 Cook Road, Chester, Mass., 119 Cook Tavern, Newton, Mass., 163 Cooper's Tavern, Arlington, Mass., 155 Coos County, N. H., inacces- sibility of, 223 outlet for, 233 Coos Turnpike (N. H.), 232 266 Coos in New Hampshire Turnpike Corp., 248 Copenhagen (see East Bar- net, Vt.) Corduroy road, Columbus to Sandusky, 39 Corduroy roads, 38 Cornish Turnpike (N. H.), 235 Cornwall, Conn., 355, 372, 375. 379, 383, 384, 387 Vt., 276 Cornwall Hollow, Conn., 355 Cornwall and Washington Turnpike (Conn.), 375 Cornish, N. H., 235 Cornish Bridge (N. H.), 235, 256 Corporations, capital stock, 33 Connecticut, 331 designation of, 65 formation, 57, 61 formed in Massachusetts, 65 formed in District of Maine, 65 laws, general, 31 liability, 61 limitations, 32 Maine, 211 management, 32 New Hampshire, 215 powers, 32 preliminaries to organiza- tion, 57 Rhode Island, 287 rights and powers of, in Massachusetts, 57 sole, 128, 366 turnpike, first in New Eng- land, 287 unpopularity, 32 Vermont, 248 Costs, Alford and Egremont Turnpike (Mass.), 168 Andover and Medford Turnpike (Mass.), 149 Barre Turnpike (Mass.), 192 Bath Bridge and Turnpike (Maine), 144 Becket Turnpike (Mass.), 127 Belchertown and Green- wich Turnpike (Mass.), Blue Hill Turnpike (Mass.), 137 Braintree and Weymouth Turnpike (Mass.), 115 Camden Turnpike (Maine), 104 Chelsea Bridge (Mass.), 84 Chester and North Killing- worth Second Turnpike (Conn.), 406 Contract price on First Massachusetts Turnpike, 64, 65 Cornish Bridge (N. H.), 235 Dorchester Turnpike (Mass.), 142 Douglas, Sutton, and Ox- ford Turnpike (Mass.), 183 ' Durham and East Guilford Turnpike (Conn.), 385 Essex Turnpike (Mass.), 129 Fairhaven Turnpike (Conn.), 393 Farmington and Bristol Turnpike (Conn.), 360 Floating Bridge on Salem Turnpike (Mass.), 85 Gate on First Cumberland Turnpike (Maine), no Granite Bridge (Mass.), 208 Great Barrington and Al- ford Turnpike (Mass.), 186 Greenwoods Turnpike (Conn.), 348 Groton and Stonington Turnpike (Conn.), 390 Hartford and Dedham Turnpike (Mass.), 140 Hartford and New Haven Turnpike (Conn.), 351 Hingham and Quincy Turn- pike (Mass.), 178 Housatonic River Turn- pike (Mass.), 167 Hop River Turnpike (Conn.), 407 Lancaster and Bolton Turn- pike (Mass.), 169 Fifth Massachusetts Turn- pike, 70 Sixth Massachusetts Turn- pike, 73 Ninth Massachusetts Turn- pike, 75 Tenth Massachusetts Turn- pike, 78 Twelfth Massachusetts Turnpike, 80 Fifteenth Massachusetts Turnpike, 113 New Bedford and Bridge- water Turnpike (Mass.), 132 New Hampshire Turnpike, 217 Fourth New Hampshire Turnpike, 221 Norfolk and Bristol Turn- pike (Mass.), 90 North Branch Turnpike (Mass.), 131 Norwich and Woodstock Turnpike (Conn.), 363 Passumpsic Turnpike (Vt.), 270 Petersham and Monson Turnpike (Mass.), 133 Pettipauge and Guilford Turnpike (Conn.), 389 Plank roads, 40 Salem Turnpike (Mass.), 81 Saugatuck Bridge (Conn.), 339 Shetucket Turnpike (Conn.), 402 Taunton and South Boston Turnpike (Mass.), 173 Taunton and South Boston Turnpike land, 172 Transportation on turn- pikes, 36 Union Turnpike (Mass.), 134 Worcester Turnpike (Mass.), 161 Worcester and Fitzwilliam Turnpike (Mass.), 157 Cotton factory, Smithfield, R. I.. 299 Samuel Slater's, 198 County commissioners to lay out roads in Maine, 211 County road, Harrington's to " the Rocks," 152, 153 Court Street, Dedham, Mass., 94 Keene, N. H., 220 Cove, Providence, R. I., 299, 322 Coventry, Conn., 140, 338, 342, 353, 354 N. H., 228 R. I., 292, 294, 296, 310 Coventry Mfg. Co. (R. I.), 3" Coventry Turnpike Co. (N. H.), 227, 248 Coventry and Cranston Turn- pike (R. I.), 310 Craigie, Andrew, 119 Crane, Elijah, committee, 170 Crane Pond, West Stock- bridge, Mass., 182 Cranston, R. I., 293, 294, 311, 317 Cranston Street, Providence, R- I-, 325 Crawford, Ethan, pioneer, 238 Crawford House, N. H., 237, 243 [433] INDEX Crawford Notch, N. H., 224, 225, 229, 233, 238 discovery of, 223 pioneer road in, 223, 225 Creek Road, Danby, Vt., 266 Crocker, Major, house of, 356 Cromack, Irwin C, preserved milestone, 161 Crompton, R. I., 317 Croyden, N. H., 232 Croyden Turnpike (N. H.), 232, 235, 236 Cumberland, Md., 17, 20 R. I., 188 Cumberland Gap, 10 Cumberland Road, appropria- tions for, 19 completed to Wheeling, 19 completed to Mississippi River, 19 last tolls on, 21 mail stages on, 22 transferred to states, 21 various sections of, 21 Cumberland Turnpike Co. (R. I.), 326 Cumberland Turnpike-road Co. (Md.), 20 Cumberland and Smithfield Turnpike (R. I.), 317 Cummington, Mass., 149 Curricle, 46 Currier, John, contractor, 231 Cushing, Thomas, toll gath- erer, 179 gift to, 179 Dalton, N. H., 230 Dalton and Middlefield Turn- pike Corp. (Mass.), 176, 199 Damages to road, penalty for, 61, 79 Dana, Mass., 133 Danbury, Conn., 338, 339, 361, 373, 374, 401, 406 N. H., 231 Danbury and Norwalk Rail- road, 408 Danbury, Redding, Weston, and Westport Plank Road Co., 397, 408 Danbury and Ridgefield Turn- pike (Conn.), 361, 401 Danby, Vt., 266 Danielson, Conn., 313, 394, 397 Danvers, Mass., 126, 128, 129 Danville, Vt., 225, 262, 264, 278, 282 Danville Turnpike (Vt.), 262, 278, 282 Danville and Passumpsic Plank Road Co. (Vt.), 281 Darien, Conn., 408 Dark Plains, Concord, N. H., 217, 219 Darling, Edward, commis- sioner of turnpikes, 289 Dartmouth College, 259 Dartmouth and New Bedford Turnpike Corp. (Mass.), 182 Davenport, Charles F., peti- tioner, 203 Isaac, set milestones, 148 Davenport's Corner, Milton, Mass., 146 Davis, John, contractor, 20 Davis Pond, 111 Davis Trail, Mount Washing- ton, 238 Day's Ferry, Maine, 130, 14s Dean, Abiezer, coroner, 173 Dearborn Street, Boston, 207 Dearborn and Emerson's Stage, 79 Death notice, 126 [434] D Dedham, Mass., 25, 27, 87, 89, 90, 95, 100, 138, 140, 185 Dedham Common, Mass., 99 Dedham Courthouse, Mass., 89 Dedham Historical Society, 64 Dedham Road Station, Mass., gravel supply for Back Bay, 191 Dedham Square, Dedham. Mass., 94 Deerfield River (Mass.), 66, 205 bridge over, 66 in Wilmington, Vt., gate at, 253 Vt., 250 Delaware and Hudson Rail- road, 259 Deming's Saw Mill, Dorset, Vt., 266 Deonkook Mountain, 167 Depot Road, Princeton, Mass., 192 Derby, Conn., 337, 346, 348, 370, 371 • old town much larger, 337 Derby Bridge and Ferry Co., 403 Derby Landing, Conn., 347, 348, 375, 395, 400, 403, 404 Derby Turnpike (Conn.), 346, 347, 370, 371, 389, 395 Derby Center, N. H., 231 Dexter, Dr. Aaron, land- owner, 81 Jeremiah, house, of, 302 Diamond Hill Road, Cumber- land, R. I., 310 Dicker system, 47 Dickey, mail contractor, 24 Dickenson, Samuel, stage, 258 Ditkinson's Hill (Mass.), 74 Directors of Internal Im- provement (Mass.), 99 Distance, reduction in, Boston to New York, 51 Dividends, Chester and North Killingworth Second Turnpike (Conn.), 406 Fifth Massachusetts Turn- pike, 71 Glocester Turnpike (R. I.), 297 Newburyport Turnpike (Mass.), 126 Norfolk and Bristol Turn- pike (Mass.), 92 Shetucket Turnpike (Conn.), 402 Worcester Turnpike (Mass.), 161 Division of tolls, 168, 173, 382 Doane's Mills, Searsburg, Vt., 281 Dodgingtown, Conn., 402, 405 Dole, Moses, tavern of, 231 Dollycops, domestic felicity, 237 Dollycops Road, Gorham, N. H., 237 Dolly's, South Walpole, Mass., 97 Dorchester, Mass., 101, 103, 117, 118, 144, 147, 149, 185, 207, 209 Dorchester Avenue, Boston, Mass., 142, 144 Dorchester Lower Road, 101 Dorchester Neck, Mass., 144 Dorchester Turnpike (Mass.), 138, 141, 172, 189 best year's business, 62 Dorchester and Milton Branch Railroad, 208 Dorr's Hill, Conn., 379 Dorset, Vt., 266 Dorset Turnpike Co. (Vt.), 266 Douglas Avenue, Providence, R. I., 300 Douglas Center, Mass., 183 Douglas meeting-house, Mass., 198 Douglas Road, Webster, Mass., 198 Douglas, Sutton, and Oxford Turnpike (Mass.), 183, 300 Douglas, Mass., 75, 76, 195, 299, 343 Dover, Mass., 138, 140, 203 N. H., 227 fare from Boston, 52 INDEX Dover Street, Boston, Mass.. 141 Dover Street Bridge, Boston, Mass., 141, 142, 189 Dover Turnpike (N. H.),227 Downing, Lewis, designer of Concord coach, 49 Dragon Bridge, Conn., 339, 393 Dragon Turnpike Co.(Conn.), 409 Drawbridge, crude form in use, 1909, 178 Drawbridges, utility conceded, 179 regarded as public nui- sances, 177 Dresden, Maine, 114, 141 Drills, 37 Dudley, Mass., 194, 195, 396 Dudley, Paul, set milestones, 147, 148 General Peter, built turn- pike, 277 Dudley Street, Boston, Mass., 207 Dudley Street Station, Bos- ton, Mass., 160 Duke Street, Alexandria, Va.,8 Dummer, Richard, early mill owner, 185 Dumpling Pond, Conn., 377 Duncan, Conn., 386 Dunham's Tavern in Mans- field, Conn., 344 Dunstan's Corner, Maine, 106 Durell, Charles, landowner, 247 Durfey, Job, landowner, 298 Durham, Conn., 386, 393 N. H., 217, 218 Durham Avenue, Middletown, Conn., 386 Durham Street, Conn., 385, 387. 393 Durham and East Guilford Turnpike (Conn.), 385 " Durham and Madison Turn- pike " (Conn.), 385 Dutton House, New London, Conn., 359 Dwight, Thomas, letter of, 64, 75. 90 Dr. Timothy, travels of, 345 Dyer, Colonel Thomas, house of, 356 Earnings on Blue Hill Turn- pike estimated, 62 Earnings on Shetucket Turn- pike (Conn.), 403 East Avenue, Pawtucket, R.I., 322 East Barnet, Vt, 271, 282 East Bridgewater, Mass., 131 fare from Boston, 52 East Central Street, Natick, Mass., 195 East Greenwich, R. I., 292, 296, 315 East Haddam, Conn., 385, 405 East Haddam Ferry, Conn., 385 East Haddam and Colchester Turnpike (Conn.), 385 East Hartford, Conn., 140, 141, 338, 342, 343, 359. 366. 367 East Hartford Bridge, 344 East Hartford Ferry, 141, 342, 343, 344, 366 suppressed in favor of bridge, 367 East Haven, Conn., 393 East Lee, Mass., 166 East Litchfield, Conn., 351 East Main Street, Meriden, Conn., 350 East Meriden, Conn., 384 East Middle Turnpike (Conn.), 373 East Milton, Mass., 147 East Milton Village, Mass., 207 East, North, and South Road, Lincoln, Vt., 278 East Providence, R. I., 202, 203 East River Road, Cornwall, Conn., 379 East Road, Portsmouth, R. I., 208 East Rock, Conn., 357 East Ryegate, Vt., paper mill, 271 East Side Road, N. H., 237 East Street, Dedham, Mass., 90, 99 gate near, 99 East Walpole, Mass., 25, 95 Eastern Avenue, Framing- ham, Mass., 166 Eastern Mail Stage, 52 Eastern Railroad, 126 Eastern Stage Co., 126 Eastern Turnpike (N. Y.), 67 Eastford, Conn., 343, 345, 378, 396 Eastman, Capt. Ebenezer, first ferryman, 218 Easton, Conn., 401, 404 Mass., 148, 171, 173 . N. J., is Eaton, Roswell, house of, 356 Solomon, tavern of, 132 Echo Bridge, Newton Upper Falls, Mass., 161 Eddy's Point, Providence, R. I., 318, 319 Eddy Street, Providence, R. I., 3i8, 319 Edgewood, Providence, R. I., 3l8 Edmond's gristmill, Coven- try, R. I., 310 Edward III, 4 Effingham, N. H., 149, 229 Efforts to abolish turnpikes in Rhode Island, 289 Egremont, Mass., 79, 168, 186 Egremont Plain, Mass., 168 Eighth Massachusetts Turn- pike, 73, 79, 127, 128, 176, 193. 199. 204 El Dorado of turnpike pro- moters, 186 Electric cars, East Hartford, to South Glastonbury, Conn., 359 Fall River to New Bed- ford, 324 Middletown and Meriden Turnpike (Conn.), 384 Plum Island Turnpike (Mass.), 160 Southington and Water- bury Turnpike (Conn.), 386 Still River Turnpike (Conn.), 387 Taunton and Providence Turnpike, 203 Willimantic to Norwich, Conn., 353, 356 Willimantic to South Cov- entry, Conn., 354 Eleventh Massachusetts Turn- pike Corp., 79, 183, 358 Eliot, General, mills of, 161 Eliot Square. Boston, Mass., 97. 161 Eliot Street, Newton, Mass., 163 Elizabethtown, N. J., 15 Elkins, Grant, N. H., 237 Ellington. Conn., 372, 383, 400 Elliot, Obadiah, inventor of elliptic spring, 47 Elliptic spring invented, 47 Ellis River (N. H), 236, 237 Elm Street, Concord, Mass., 134 Elmdale, R. I., 296 Elmore Pond Turnpike and Building Co. (Vt.). 283 Elmore Mountain, Vt., 283 Elmore Pond, Vt., 283 Elmwood Avenue, Provi- dence, R. I., 315, 317 Ely's Wharf Ferry, Conn., 391, 392 Emerson, Dearborn, stage line, 220 [435] INDEX Emerson, Ralph Waldo, 123 Emerson House, North Attle- boro, Mass., 08 Encroachments in Billerica, Mass., 156 Providence and Pawtucket Turnpike (R. I.), 304 Enfield, Mass., Ill, 133 N. H., 221, 232 England, sought monopoly of textile manufactures, 321 English corporations, old, 31 English trust system, 289, 331 Epsom, N. H., 217 Erie Canal, 200 Essex, Conn., 389, 391 Essex County, Vt., 260 Essex Turnpike (Conn.), 391, 392, 398, 399 Essex Turnpike (Mass.), 127, 128, 266 Estabrook, Benjamin, director, .7° Estimate of earnings on Blue Hill Turnpike, 62 Essex County, Mass., 85, 123, 128, 149, 160 Essex Turnpike (Mass.), 127, 149, 186, 231 Eustis Street, Boston, Mass., 207 Evasions of toll, penalty for, 61 Everett, Mass., 124 Everett Square, Everett, Mass., 124 Excess condemnation, early effort at, 362 Excess toll, penalty for, 61 Exemptions from toll, 13, 59, 147, 251, 287, 332, 334 Exeter, N. H., fare from Boston, 52 Experimental concrete road, 129 Exton, Penn., 14 Fabyan House, White Moun- tains, 225, 241 Factory Brook, Peru, Mass., 119 Fairbanks, Thaddeus, 49 Fairbanks Museum, St. Johns- bury, Vt., 270 Fairbanks scale factory, 278 Fairfax, Va., 8 Fairfax and Loudon Turn- pike Road Co. (Va.),7,8 Fairfield, Conn., 339, 376, 401, 404 Mass.. 75 Fairfield County, Conn., clear- ance of turnpikes, 401, 404 Fairfield County Turnpike (Conn.), 405 Fairfield Station, Boston and Albany Railroad, 204 Fairfield, Weston, and Red- ding Turnpike (Conn.), 339 Fairhaven, Conn., 393 Vt., 259, 267 Fairhaven Turnpike (Conn.), 388, 393, 405, 407 Fairhaven Turnpike (Vt.), 267 Fales, John, house of, 188 Samuel, director, 172 Fall trips to Boston markets, 219, 221 Falling Creek coal mines (Va.), 17 Fall River, Mass., 324, 325, 326 Fall River and Watuppa Turnpike (R. I.), 324 Falls Bridge, Falls Village, Conn., 364 Seymour, Conn., 371, 395 Falls Turnpike (Md.), 17 Falls Village, Conn., 364, 379, 409 Fanny, steamer, 51 Fare, Boston to Keene, 220 [436] Boston to Lowell, 157 Boston to Portsmouth, 125 Boston to Providence, 99 stage in 1825, 52 Farmington, Conn., 345, 349, 351, 357, 360, 361, 374, _ 375. 380 Farmington Avenue, Hart- ford, Conn., 360, 361 Farmington River (Conn.), 345, 355, 361, 362, 388 Farmington River (Mass.), 76 Farmington River Turnpike (Conn.), 355, 387, 388, 394 ' Farmington River Turn- pike " (Mass.), 76 Farmington and Bristol Turn- pike (Conn.), 351, 352, 360, 374 Farmington and Harwin- ton Turnpike (Conn.), 409 Farnum and Providence Turnpike Co., 307, 312 Farrington's Hill, Lynn, Mass., 81 Farrington Memorial, 123 Fayston Turnpike Co. (Vt.), 284 Fearing, Martin, president, 179 Federal Bridge, Concord, N. H., 217, 218, 219 Federal Street, Boston, Mass., 144 Federal Street Bridge, Bos- ton, Mass., 142 Felton, Captain, store of, 128, 129 Fens, Boston, Mass., 160 Fenton River (Conn.), 345 Fern pickers, 275 Ferries, 28 turnpike terminals, 381 Ferry at Bristol, R. I., 298 East Haddam, Conn., 385 East Hartford, Conn., 342, 343 Ely's Wharf, 391 Hadlyme, Conn., 405 Hartford to East Hartford, Conn., 342, 343 Hiern's in Ferrisburg, Vt., 273 Higganum, Conn., 387 Middle Hero to Cumber- land Head, Vt., 272 Middletown to Portland, Conn., 381 New London, Conn., 292, 389, 390 railroad, across Providence River, 322 Saybrook, Conn., 380 Ferrisburg, Vt., 273 Field, Horace, diligence Providence to Pawtucket, Fifteen Mile Falls, N. H. and Vt., 230 Fifteenth Massachusetts Turnpike, 113, 173, 175, 186, 187, 365 Fifth Massachusetts Turn- pike, 69, 103, 131, 133, 134, 173, 222 Fifth New Hampshire Turn- pike, 222 Fines for bad order of road, 61 Fire Department, Boston, Mass., established, 128 Fire lookout on Uncanoonuc Mountain, N. H.. 246 First Cumberland Turnpike (Maine), 106, 196, 211 First hotel on Mount Wash- ington, N. H., 238 First Littleton Bridge (N.H.), 229, 230, 261 First Maine Turnpike Corp.. 106 First Massachusetts Turn- pike, 63, 75, 159, 176, 192, 351, 399 First Massachusetts Turn- pike contract price, 64, 65 INDEX First Vermont Turnpike Co., 250, 253 First wagon, Connecticut to Providence, 296 Fish, Mrs. Bathsheba, land- owner, 298 Fisher, Jacob, landowner, 169 Fisherville, N. H., 220 Fishkill, N. Y., 369 Fisk, Experience, landowner, 252, 260 Fitch, Major, early settler, 352 Fitch's Ironworks, Bozrah, Conn., 375 Fitchburg, Mass., 69, 70, 131, 173 fare from Boston, 52 Fitchburg Railroad, 122, 134 Fitzwilliam, N. H., 131, 157, 222, 234, 235 Fitzwilliam Turnpike(N.H.), 235 Flanders, fire warden, 246 Floating Bridge, Lynn, Mass., 85 Worcester Turnpike, 161, 165 Florida, Mass., 206 Florida Mountain, 66 Flume, Franconia, N. H., 244 Flume House, old and new, 244 " Foot of the Rocks," West Cambridge, Mass., 153, _, 155 Forbes, petitioner, 168 Forbush's Tavern, Westboro, Mass., 163 Fore River, Weymouth, Mass., 176 Fore River Bridge, 178 Fore River Shipyards, 178 Forest Hills. Boston, Mass., 89, 94, 185 Forest Street, Medf ord, Mass., _ 150 Forestdale Plank Road Co., (Vt), 284 Forestry Bureau, Vt., 275 Formation of corporations, 145 Fort Dummer, Vt., 249 Fort Point Channel, Boston, Mass., 142 Foster, James H., treasurer, 118 Foster, R. I., 292, 294, 295, 296, 312, 313, 314. Foster Branch Turnpike Co. (R. I.), 326 Foster Valley Turnpike Co. (R. I.), 327 Foster and Glocester Appian Way Society (R. I.), 313, 314 Foster and Scituate Turn- pike (R. I.), 312, 314, _ 315, 394 Foster and Scituate Central Turnpike (R. I.), 313, _ 314 Foundry Street, South Bos- ton, 141 Four Mile Stone, Roxbury, Mass., 146, 148, 161 Fourteenth Massachusetts Turnpike, 103, 134 Fourth New Hampshire Turnpike, 220, 230, 231, 232 Fourth Street, South Boston, Mass., 141, 142 Fox Point, R. I., 303 Foxboro, Mass., 25, 91, 98, 100 tavern in, 98 Framingham, Mass., 161, 166, 194 Franconia, N. H., 244 Franconia Notch, N. H., 243 Franconia Turnpike Corp. (N. H.), 248 Franconia and White Moun- tain Notches Turnpike Corp. (N. H.), 243 Franklin, Conn., 338, 356 Mass., 140 Franklin, Benjamin, mile- stone set by, 379 Franklin County, Mass., pro- ceedings in, 70, 71 Vt., 260 Franklin Park, Boston, Mass., 147 Franklin Road, Yantic, Conn., 338 Frankstown, Penn., 16 Frederick Gate (Md.), 9 Frederick Turnpike (Md.), 10, 17, 20 Fredericksburg, Va., 411 Free conveyance of land, 233 Freetown, Mass., 137 claimed by Rhode Island, .303 Freight rates, Boston to Lowell, 157 French, Lipha, director, 70 Fresh Pond, Cambridge, Mass., 120 Friends' Meeting-house in Foster, R. I., 314 New Milford, Conn., 341 Smithfield, R. I., 317 Front Street, Boston, Mass., 141, 169 Frost, Walter, house of, 151 Fruit Hill Avenue, Provi- dence, R. I., 308 Fry, Sterry, omnibus line, 305 Fryeburg, Baldwin, and Port- land Turnpike Corp. (Maine), 149 Fuller, Daniel, landowner, 400 Stephen, Jr., stage of, 86 Fuller's tavern, Mansfield Four Corners, Conn., 345 Fulton, Robert, letter of, 36 Fulton, steamboat, 390 Furnace in Salisbury, Conn., 364 Fryeburg, Baldwin, and Port- land Turnpike Corp. (Maine), 224 Gager, Levi, house of, 356 Gale of September, 1915, 247 Gallatin, Albert, 14, 350 report on internal improve- ment, 14-18 Gallup, Widow Charles, land- owner, 282 Gardner, Mass., 69 Gardner, Lake, Salem, Conn., 399 Garrison House, Attleboro,88 Gas on Providence and Paw- tucket Turnpike (R. I.), 304 Gates, 32 location of, 58, 59 recent in Virginia serving their purpose, 412 re-established in Virginia, 411 stolen, 232 Ashby, Mass., 158 Baltimore, Md., 10 Bath Turnpike, 145 Blandford, Mass., 204 Boston Turnpike (Conn.), 342 Bridgeport and Newtown Turnpike (Conn.), 365 Bristol, N. H., 226 Cambridge to Watertown Turnpike, not erected on, 196 Camden Turnpike (Maine), 104 Charlton City, Mass., 158 Cheshire Turnpike (Conn.), 357 collecting for ;wo hundred rods of road, 368 Columbia Turnpike ( Conn.) , 383 Connecticut, 10 in Connecticut for Rhode Island road, 295 Connecticut Turnpike (Conn.), 376 [4373 INDEX Gates, Cornwall and Wash- ington Turnpike (Conn.), 375 Coventry and Cranston Turnpike (R. I.), 3" in Dedham, Mass., 99 Derby Turnpike (Conn.), 347 in Durham, N. H., 218 Durham and East Guilford Turnpike (Conn.), 385 in England, 5 Essex Turnpike and An- dover and Medford Turnpike, 128, 150 first in America, 7 first in New England, 335 in Forest Hills, Boston, Mass., 94, 99 Foster and Scituate Cen- tral Turnpike (R. I.), 313 in Francestown, N. H., 219 Goshen and Sharon Turn- pike (Conn.), 372 Greenwoods Turnpike (Conn.), 349 Hartford to Norwich Turn- pike (Conn.), 338 in Hillsboro Upper Village, N. H., 219 in Holden, Mass., 73 Lancaster (Penn.), Turn- pike, 12 in Lee, N. H., 218 Lincoln Turnpike (N. H.), 244 in Maryland, 9 in Medfield, Mass., 140 Mendon Road, South Attle- boro, Mass., 99 Middlesex Turnpike (Mass.), 154 Middlesex Turnpike (Conn.), 369 Mill Dam, 191 in Millis, Mass., 140 Mohegan Road (Conn.), established, 334 Moosilauke Mountain Road 244 National Road, 21 New Bedford and Bridge- water Turnpike, 132 New London and Wind- ham County Turnpike .(Conn.), 336 Norfolk and Bristol Turn- pike (Mass.), 99 Norwich and Woodstock •Turnpike (Conn.), 362 in Palmer, Mass., 64 Passumpsic Turnpike (Vt.), 270 Peru Turnpike (Vt.), 277 in Philadelphia, Penn., 14 Pomfret and Killingley Turnpike (Conn.), 368 [438] Powder Mill Turnpike (R. I.), 308 in Princeton, Mass., 192 Providence and Douglas Turnpike (R. I.), 299 Providence to Norwich road (Conn.), 292 Providence and Norwich Turnpike (R. I.), 293 Providence and Pawtucket Turnpike (R. I.), 304 Salem Turnpike (Mass.), 86 in Scarboro, Maine, 106 in Somerville, Mass., 155 in South Attleboro, Mass., 99 in South Walpole, Mass., 99 Southington and Water- bury Turnpike (Conn.), 386 in Tennessee, 10 Union Turnpike (Mass.), 135 in Virginia, established, 7 Watertown Turnpike (Mass.), 194 in Wellesley, Mass., 195 Windham Turnpike (Conn.), 353 Windham Turnpike (Vt.), 253 ., Windham and Brooklyn Turnpike (Conn.), 397 Woonasquatucket Turnpike (R. D, 3io Worcester Turnpike (Mass.), 163 in Woronoco, Mass., 75 Gate of the Mountains, Gor- ham, N. H., 238 Gay, Timothy, miller and toll gatherer, 99 General corporation law of Massachusetts, 1805, 57, 145 Genesee River, 16 Georgetown, Conn., 339 D. C, 7 Georgia and Johnson Turn- pike Co. (Vt.), 284 Germantown, Boston, Mass., 89 Penn., 16 Gerry, Mass., 69 Gig, 47 Gilbert's Bridge, Mansfield, Conn., 356 Gill, Moses, Lieut.-Governor, 87 Gilmore, Joshua, landowner, 171, 173 Glastonbury, Conn., 359 Vt., 281 Glastonbury Plank Road Co. (Vt.), 281 Gleed, Hon. Thomas, of Mor- ristown, Vt., 280 Glen Ellis Falls, N. H., 236 Glen House, Gorham, N. H., 236, 237, 238 Glidden Meadow, Northfield, N. H., 245 Globe Street, Fall River, Mass., 326 Glocester Turnpike (R. I.), 296, 308, 320, 321, 367 368 Gloucester, R. I., 290, 296, 297. 301, 314, 315, 320 Glour, Mr. Joh, ferryman, 101 Gobble Mountain, Chester, Mass., 201 Goddard Street, Providence, R. I., 300 Goddard, Stephen, house of, 151, 152 Goff's Brook, Wethersfield, Conn., 368 Goffstown, N. H., 245 Goldsborough, Governor, 10, 20 Goodenow, Edward, land- owner, 192 Goodspeed's Landing, East Haddam, Conn., 385 Goodwin, Joseph, corpora- tion sole, 128 Mrs., tavern of, 132 Gore Turnpike (Mass.), 198 Gorham, N. H., 238 Gorham Tide Mill, Noroton, Conn., 377 Goshen, Conn., 355, 371, 387 Mass., 149 Vt., 279 Goshen Turnpike Co. (Vt.), 279 Goshen and Sharon Turnpike (Conn.), 371, 387 Goss Bridge (Mass.), 78 Government Road, Becket, Mass., 74, 127 " Governor King's Turnpike," 144 'Governor Paine's Turnpike,"' 253 Governor Street, East Hart- ford, Conn., 367 Grade, Mount Washington Summit Road, 240 Grades, effect of, 36 Grafton, Mass., 201 N. H., 231 Grafton Turnpike (N. H.), 230 Granby, Conn., 358, 378 Granby Turnpike (Conn.), 358 Granby and Barkhamsted Turnpike Co. (Conn.) ,409 Grand Trunk Railway, 238 Granger Turnpike Corp. (Maine), 212 Granite Avenue, Milton and Boston, 207 Granite Bridge (Mass.), 206 Granite Railway, 207, 208 INDEX Granite Railway, car of, 208 sold to Old Colony Rail- road Co., 208 track of, 208 Granite State Land Co., 235 Grantham, N. H., 232 Grant's Ferry (N. H.), 230 Granville, Mass., 79, 80, 184, 187, 199, 358 Granville Turnpike Corp. (Mass.), 79, 184, 358 Granville and Tolland Turn- pike (Mass.), 187 Gray's Inn Lane, 4 Great Barrington, Mass., 113, 167, 175, !86, 187 Great Barrington and Alford Turnpike (Mass.), 186 Great Blue Hill, Mass., 147 Great Bridge, Norwalk, Conn., 401 Great Canastoga Road, 11 Great Cedar Swamp, Easton, Mass., 171, 172 Great Gulf, White Moun- tains, 237, 240 Great Moose Hill, Hunting- ton, Mass., 119 Great North Road (Eng.), 4 Great Ossipee Turnpike (N. H.), 149, 229 Great Ponds, Middleboro, Mass., 131, 132 Great Road, Sudbury, Mass., 52, 73, 169 West Cambridge, Mass., ' 153. 154. 155 Windham, Conn., to Nar- ragansett Bay, 352 gate recommended, 352 improvement of, 352 Great Sunapee Turnpike Co. (N. H.), 248 Green, Duty, incorporator, 325, 402 Green Mountain, Sunderland, Vt., 274 Green Mountain Turnpike (Vt.), 220, 252, 254, 263, 273, 276 tolls to be divided by num- ber of gates, 250 Green Mountains, 259, 276, 277 Greene, Timothy, landowner, 322 Greenfield, Maine, 211 Mass., 51, 69, 70, 71, 103 fare from Boston, 52 tavern in, 69 Green River, Alford, Mass., 168 Hancock, Mass., 67 Greenville, R. I., 297, 308 Greenwater Pond (Mass.), 76 Greenwich, Conn., 10, 290, 335- 376, 377 gate in, 355, 376 Mass., 71, 73, in, 133 „ R- I-, 352 Greenwich North Parish (Mass.), in, 133 Greenwich South Parish, Mass., in, 133 Greenwich Turnpike Co. (R. I.), 296 Greenwich Village, Mass., 133 Greenwich and Ridgefield Turnpike Co. (Conn.), 409 Greenwoods Turnpike (Conn.), 8o, 345, 348, . 354. 355, 356, 378 Griswold, Conn., 402, 403 Grosvenor's tavern in Pom- fret, Conn., 343 Grosvernor Dale, Conn., 380 Groton, Conn., 390 Mass., 176, 183 fare from Boston, 52 Groton Ferry (Conn.), 292, 316, 389, 390 Groton and Pepperell Turn- pike Corp., Mass., 183,236 Groton and Stonington Turn- pike (Conn.), 316, 389 Grout's Mills, Vt, 274, 275 Grove Hall, Boston, Mass., 147, 148, 207 Grove Street, New Haven, Conn., 350 Guilford, Conn., 385, 389, 393 Guilford Green, Conn., 393 Guilford and Durham Turn- pike (Conn.), 393 Gulf Road, Warwick, Mass., 70 Gulf Route (Vt.), 260 Gulliver's Creek, Milton, Mass., 207, 208 Gun Factory Dam, New Haven, Conn., 357 Guns for United States Navy, cast at Salisbury, Conn., 364 Gunter's chain, 38 Hackensack River bridge, 41, 42 Haddam, Conn., 368, 386, 387 Haddam Street, Conn., 386 Haddam and Durham Turn- pike (Conn.), 387 Hadlyme Turnpike (Conn.), 388, 405, 407 Hale, Jacob and Sons, 125 Half-gates, 59, 99, 162, 167, 192 Half Way House, Chocorua Mountain, N. H., 247 Mount Washington, 240 Stowe, Vt., 282 Hagerstown, Md., 20 Hagerstown and Conoco- cheague Turnpike Co., 20 Hamburg, Conn., 392 Hamilton, Alexander, 29 Hampden, Conn., 349, 357 Mass., 192 Hampden County, Mass., pro- ceedings in, 113, 119, 158, 159, 184, 193- 199, 204 H acted for Berkshire and Hampshire in re Pon- toosac Turnpike, 200 favored Pontoosac Turn- pike, 200 Hampden and Berkshire Turnpike (Mass.), 75, 203, 358, 359 Hampshire County, Mass., proceedings in, 64, 66, 70, 79, 103, in, 119, 158, 184 opposed Pontoosac Turn- pike, 200 Hampshire Street, Cam- bridge, Mass., 122, 155 Hampton, N. H., 234, 235 Hampton Causeway, Hamp- ton, N. H., 234 Hampton Falls, N. H., 234, 235 Hampton Harbor, N. H. 235 Hampton River (N. H.), 235 Hampton River Bridge (N. H.), 235 Hancock, Mass., 67, 69, 78 Vt., 272 Hancock Avenue, New Haven, Conn., 386 Hancock Center, Mass., 67 Hancock Free Bridge Corp., 197 Hancock Street, Quincy, Mass., 101 Hancock Turnpike (N. H.), 248 Hangers, leather, on coaches, 43 Hanley, Edward, landowner, 282 Hanover, N. H., 220, 236, 259 Hanover-town, Penn., 8 Hard times of 1810-12, 178 Hardwick, Mass., 71, m Vt., 264 Harmony, R. I., 297 Harnden, Brigadier, ferry- man, 130 Samuel, ferryman, 130 [439] INDEX Harriman, Capt. Stephen, contractor's outfit of, 221 Harriman's Ferry, Prospect, Maine, 106 Harrington, Joseph, land- owner, 152, 153, 154 Harrington's Lane, Provi- dence, R. I., 323 Harrishof Street, Boston, Mass., 147 Harrison Avenue, Boston, Mass., 141, 169 Harrison Square, Mass., 142 Harrisburg, Penn., 16 Harry, Silas, bridge builder, 20 Hartford, Conn., 14, 50, 51, 53. 63, 64, 75, 76, 80, 94, 138, 140, 141, 144, 158, 159, 166, 184, 192, 104, 195, 294, 295, 313, 338, 342, 343, 344, 345, 348, 349, 353, 354, 355, 356, 358, 360, 361, 366, 368, 372, 373, 374, 377, 378, 389, 396, 397, 399, 400 fare from Boston, Mass., 52 Vt., 257 Hartford Avenue, Providence, R. I., 296 Hartford Bridge Co., 366 Hartford Convention, 360 Hartford (Conn.) court- house, 360 Hartford Stage, 94 Hartford Street, Bellingham, Mass., 76 Westwood and Dover, Mass., 138 Hartford Turnpike (R. I.), 294 " Hartford and Albany Turn- pike " (Mass.), 76 " Hartford and Boston Turn- pike " (Conn.), 396 "Hartford and Danbury Turnpike" (Conn.), 361, 374 Hartford and Dedham Turn- pike (Mass.), 94, 137, 146, 343 Hartford and New Haven Turnpike (Conn.), 14, 64, 349, 357 Hartford and New London Turnpike (Conn.), 359, 384 Hartford and New York Transportation Co., 367 Hartford and Tolland Turn- pike (Conn.), 141, 158, 192, 343, 344, 366, 372 " Hartford and Windham Turnpike" (Conn.), 382 Hartford, Nev\t London, Windham, arm Tolland County Turnpike (Conn. ) , 338, 407 [440] Hartford, Providence, and Fishkill Railroad, 407 Hartland, Conn., 355, 378 Vt., 256 Hartland Turnpike (Conn.), 378 Hartsville, Mass., 113 Harvard, Mass., 134, 135 fare from Boston, 52 Harvard College, 119, 121, 122 Harvard Street, Boston, Mass., 148 Harwinton, Conn., 351 Haskins Neighborhood (Mass.), 132 Haskins, tavern of, 205 Hatch, Colonel Israel, 86, 88, 89, 90 Hatch's Corner, Attleboro, Mass., 90 Hattertown, Conn., 402 Haverhill, Mass., fare from Boston, Mass., 52 N. H., 226, 227, 232, 249, 265, 266 Haverhill Bridge (Mass.), 128 Haverhill Corner, N. H., 232 Hawes, Ichabod, tavern of, 203 Hawkins, Finna, landowner, 272 Hawkins Point, Derby, Conn., 403 Hawley, Elan, store of, 403 Hayes, Rutherford, land- owner, 254 Hazen (see Bayley-Hazen) Hazen, Col. Moses, 264 Hazen's Notch, Westfield,Vt,. 263, 264 Head of Mystic, Conn., 389, 390 Heath, Mass., 66 Heath Street, Brookline, Mass., 162 Heard, John, incorporator, 114 Hebron, Conn., 368. 382 N. H., 226 Hebron and Middle Haddam Turnpike (Conn.), 368, 381, 382 Hempstead Street, New Lon- don, Conn., 359 Henniker. N. H., 229 Henry III, 4 Henry, Colonel, tavern of, 199. 201 Herrendon's Lane, Provi- dence, R. I., 323 Hiern's Ferry, Ferrisburg, Vt., 273 Higganum, Conn., 386, 387 Higganum Ferry, Conn., 387 High Street, Bath, Maine, 145 Dedham, Mass., 89, 94, 138 Providence, R. I., 325 Randolph, Mass., 172 High Rock, Wrentham, Mass., 89 Highgate Hill, London, 4 Highgate, Vt., 272 Highway Commission, Mass., 104 Highland Avenue, Greenfield, Mass., 70 Salem, Mass., 81 Highland Park, Greenfield, Mass., 70 Higley, Luther, landowner, 362 Simeon, landowner, 364 Hill Street, Seymour, Conn., 371 Hillsboro, N. H, 229 Hillsboro Turnpike Co. (N. H.), 248 Hillsdale, N. Y., 175, 191 Hillsdale and Chatham Turn- pike (N. Y.), 168 Hingham, Mass., 115, 117, 177 allowed toll on bridges, 181 Hingham Naval Magazines, 178 Hingham and Quincy Bridge and Turnpike (Mass.), 176 Hinesburg and Burlington Turnpike Co. (Vt.), 284 Hinsdale, Mass., 118, 119, 199 N. H, 222 Hinsdale Bridge (N. H.), 222 Historical markers in Con- cord, N. H., 218 Hoar, Leonard, director, 120 Hobbs Brook Reservoir, 123 Hodgman, Jonas, landowner, 158 Hoes, 37 Holbrook, John, stage, 258 Holden, Mass,, 69, 71, 73, 157 Holden Street, Providence, R. I., 308 Holland, John, ferryman, 101 Holland, Mass., 158 Vt., 278 Holland's Ferry, 101 Hollis, N. H, 236 Holliston, Mass., 203 Holmes, Joseph, house of, 88 Holmes' Mill, 80 Hook, The, Norwood, Mass., 96 Hookset, N. H., 231 Hoosac Mountain, 66, 205 Hoosac Mountain Turnpike (Mass.), 205 Hoosac Rail or McAdamized Road (Mass.), 206 INDEX Hoosac River, 206 Hoosac Tunnel, 66 Hoosac Tunnel Route, 134 Hoosac Tunnel station, 66 Hop Brook, Tyringham, Mass., 209 Hop River Turnpike (Conn.), 354, 383, 407 Hope Reservoir, Providence. R. I., 322 Hope Street, Providence, R. I., 322 Hope Valley, R. I., 317 Hopedale, Mass., 76 Hopkins, Jonathan, mill owner, 313 Samuel, house of, 314 Hopkins Mills, R. I., 312, 313, 314 Hopkinton, Mass., 194 N. H., 220, 236 R. L, 390 Hopkinton City, R. I., 317 Hopkinton and Richmond Turnpike (R. I.), 316, 389, 390 Horsecars on Dorchester Avenue, 144 on Plum Island Turnpike, 160 Horse Hummock, Dorches- ter, 101 Horse Neck Brook, Green- wich, Conn., 376 Horseshoe, Windham, Conn., 3S3 Hosmer Pond (Vt.), 264 Hospital Street, Providence, R. I., 319 Hospitals in Providence, R. I., 319 Hotchkisstown, Conn., 340, 371 Hotel, first in White Moun- tains, 225 Hough, Dr. Insign, tavern of, 350 Houghton's Corner, Mass., 70 Housatonic Railroad, 346, 365, 409 Housatonic River (Conn.), 346, 364, 369, 374, 379, 384, 389, 397, 400, 403, 404 Housatonic River (Mass.). 166 Housatonic River Turnpike (Mass.), 166, 173, 17S, 181, 182, 186, 191, 358 Housatonic Valley, 80, 141, 144 House of the Good Shep- herd, Roxbury, Mass., 161 Howard Valley, Conn., 397 Hovle's Tavern, Providence, " R I-, 32s Hoyt, Ebenezer, surveyor, 69, '70 Jonathan, killed, 126 Hubbard's cider mill, Tyring- ham, Mass., 209 Hubbardton Turnpike (Vt.), 259, 268, 275 Hubbardston, Mass., 157, 192 Hudson, N. Y., 186 Hudson River, 103, 267 Hudson River towns, 276 Hudson Turnpike (Mass.), 181 Hudson Turnpike (N. Y.), 79, 181 Hudson Valley, 166 Humphrey, Samuel, Jr., land- owner, 362 Humphreysville and Salem Turnpike (Conn.), 395 Hunt, Capt. Elisha, land- owner, 69, 70 Huntingdon, Penn., 16 Conn., 400, 403 Mass., 118, 119 Huntington Avenue, Boston, Mass., 160, 164 Huntington Ravine, White Mountains, 237, 240 Huntington Street, New Lon- don, Conn., 359 Huntington Turnpike (Conn.), 400, 403, 404 Huntington Turnpike Co. (Vt.), 283 Huntsville, Conn., 355 Hyde, Joshua, house of, in Franklin, Conn., 338, 356 in Middlebury, Vt., 257 Samuel, tavern of, 356 Hyde Park, Vt., 280 Ideal Tour, 277 Illegality of Taunton and Providence Turnpike lay- out, 202 Incorporators not named, 281 India Bridge, Providence, R. I., 202 India Point, Providence, R. I., 206, 322, 324 Indian Joe, scout, 264 1 Indian Trail through Ver- mont to Canada, 263 Indians, engineering instincts of, 315 Injustice to towns, 153, 331, 353, 399 Inspectors, Turnpike (Vt.), 251 Investment in turnpikes, 62 Inwood (see East Barnet, Vt.) Ipswich, Mass., 125, 126 Ipswich Turnpike Corp. (Mass.), 114 Iriquois Trail (N. Y.), 25 Ironworks Bridge, Windham, Conn., 353, 382 Islehookset Falls, N. H., 231, 236 . Israel's River, Lancaster, N. H., 230 Ives' tavern, North Haven, Conn., 350 Jackson, Andrew, 23 presidential tour, 392, 399 President's message, 96 Jacobs' tavern in Thompson, Conn., 343 Jaffrey, N. H., 79 fare from Boston, 52 Jamaica Turnpike Co. fVt.), 283 Jefferson, Thomas, 19 Jefferson, N. H., 242 Jefferson, Mount, 240 Jefferson Notch Road • (N. H.), 242 Jefferson Road, Jefferson, N. H., 246 Lancaster, N. H., 247 Jefferson Turnpike Corp. (N. H.), 230 Jenkins Corner, Saugus, Mass., 124 Jersey City, N. J., 41, 42 Jewett, Ephraim, carrier, 98 John Colwill's hill, Foster, R. I., 294 John and Philip Browns' Road (R. I.), 301 Johnson's Creek, Durham, N. H., 218 Johnston, R. I., 292, 293, 294, 295, 296, 297, 313, 314, 320 Joint committee of 1869 (R. I.), 289 Jones, James, director, 120 Jones' Sawmill, Goshen, Vt., 279 Judgment sale of franchise, 217 Juniata River (Penn.), 16 Junkets, 198 [44i] INDEX Kearsarge Mountain, N. H., 241. 245 signal station on, 241 Kearsarge Summit Turnpike (N. H.), 240 Kearsarge Village, N. H., 240 Keene, N. H., 78, 79, 131, 158, 219, 220, 222, 232, 256 Kelly Stand, Vt., 275 Kendall, Jonas, tavern of, 69 Representative, 87 Kendall Square, Cambridge, Mass., 122 Kennebec Bridge (Maine), 106, 114 Kennebec River, 130, 145, 227 Arnold's route, 264 Kennebunk Road (Mass.)i2S K Kensington Street, New Haven, Conn., 348 Kent, Conn., 369, 379 Kent County, R. I., opposi- tion to tollgates, 307 Kent and Warren Turnpike Co. (Conn.), 410 Killingly, Conn., 295, 296, 367, 368, 377, 394 Killingly Pond, Conn., 296, 377 Killingworth, Conn., 379, 388, 393 Killingworth Center, Conn., 386,389 Killingworth and Haddam Turnpike (Conn.), 386, 387 Kimball, John, landowner, 272 Kimball's tavern in Coven- try, Conn., 344 in Needham, Mass., 165 King, Gov. William, 144, 145 King's Highways, 11 Kingsley, Eliada, corporation sole, 128, 167 Kingston, Vt., 272 Kingston Hill, R. I., 292, 315 Knapp's Hill, Johnston, R. I., 313 Knight, Madam Sarah, 25, 89, 315, 336 Knowlton, Cyrus, deposition of, as to attempted rob- bery, 96 Knox, Gen. Henry, 130 Knox's Corner, Wiscasset, Maine, 130 Labor supply, 127 Ladd, David, house of, 356 Lake Erie, 25 Lake of the Clouds, Mount Mansfield, Vt., 282 Lakeville, Conn., 364 Mass., part of, claimed by Rhode Island, 303 Lakeville town house (Mass.), 132 Lamoille County, Vt., 265 Lamoille County Plank Road (Vt.), 280 Lamoille River (Vt.), 264 Lancaster, Mass., 28, 134, 135, 136, 169 almshouse, 136 N. H., 230, 247 isolation of, 223 Ohio, 23 . Penn., 11-14 settlement of, 223 Lancaster Improvement Co., 14 Lancaster Journal, 12 Lancaster Road, Harvard, Mass., 13s Lancaster Turnpike Corp. (Mass.), 173 Lancaster Turnpike (Penn.), 11-16 cost, 13 Lancaster and Bolton Turn- pike (Mass.), 52, 169 Lancaster and Williams- burg Turnpike (Penn.), 14 Land acquisition, 103 Ashbv Turnpike (Mass.). 158 Cambridge and Concord Turnpike (Mass.), 1 19 [442] Green Mountain Turnpike (Vt.), 255 ■ Greenwoods Turnpike (Conn.), 349 Norfolk and Bristol Turn- pike (Mass.), 90 Peru Turnpike (Vt.), 276 Rhode Island and Con- necticut Turnpike (R. I.), 295 Taunton and Providence Turnpike (Mass.), 202 Taunton and South Boston Turnpike (Mass.), 172 Land, reversion of, 61 Land sales in Back Bay, 190 Landaff, N. H., 228 ■ Landau, 47 Langdon, N. H„ 232 Lathrop, Thaddeus, contrac- tor, 231 Lausanne, Penn., 16 Lawrence, Mass., 128, 129, 130 Layout between pumps, 196 Leavenworth, Gideon, bridge incorporator, 403 Leavenworth Bridge, Derby, Conn., 403 Lebanon, N. H., 220, 221, 232 Lebanon Road, Franklin, Conn., 338 Norwich, Conn., 375 Richmond and Hancock, Mass., 78 Lechmere Point, Cambridge, Mass., 115 Lee, Mass., 76, 167, 186, 355, 38S N. H., 217, 218 Lee and Westfield Road, Otis, Mass., 204 Leicester, Mass., 158, 187 Lempster, N. H., 232 Lenox, Mass., 76, 78, 355, 388 Lenox Street, Boston, Mass., 184 Leominster, Mass., 70, 133, 134. 147 Leominster Road, Lancaster, Mass., 169 Leominster, tavern in, 69 Levant Village, Maine, 211 Lewy's Island Railroad, 211 Lexington, Mass., 52, 120, 121, 152, 153, 154, 155, 156, 175 Lexington Road, Concord, Mass., 123 Liberty, James, built Cho- corua Mountain Road, 247 Liberty, Md., 20 Limekilns, Berkshire, Mass., 204 Lime Rock, Conn., 409 R. I., 300, 301 Lincoln, Levi, incorporator, 64 Gov. Levi, 64, 128 Lincoln, Mass., 120, 121, 122 N. H., 246 R. I., 300, 301, 318 Vt., 278, 279 Lincoln Brook, Warren, Vt., 279 Lincoln County, Maine, 114 Lincoln Turnpike (N. H.), 244 Lincoln Turnpike Co. (Vt.), 283 Lincolnville, Maine, 104 Lippitt Mills, R. I., 311 Lisbon, Conn., 336, 337, 362 INDEX Litchfield, Conn., 340, 341, 342, 351. 354, 355, 361, 365, 366, 387, 389 Litchfield County, Conn., 379 "Litchfield Turnpike" (Mass.), 80 Litchfield Turnpike (N. H.), 129, 248 Litchfield and Cornwall Turnpike (Conn.), 387 Litchfield and Harwinton Turnpike (Conn.), 351, 360 Litchfield and Plymouth Turnpike Co. (Conn.), 410 Little River, Seymour, Conn., 337, 371 Little River (Va.), 8 Little River Turnpike Co. (Va.), 8 Little's tavern in East Hart- ford, Conn., 344 Littleton, Mass., 176 N. H., 229, 241 Littleton Turnpike Corp. (N. H.), 225, 229, 261 Lobby, by Middlesex Turn- pike Corp. (Mass.), 153 Local exemptions from toll, 154 Local tolls, 128 Location left to investors, 170 Locks and canals of Lowell, 156 Logan's Hill, Penn., 29 Loisquisset Turnpike (R. I.), 300 Londonderry Turnpike (N. H.), 129, 231, 236, 266 Londonderry Branch Turn- pike (N. H.), 236 Long Bridge, New London, Conn., 379 Long Hill Station, Conn., 398 Long Pond, Great Barring- ton, Mass., 186 Middleboro, Mass., 182 Shrewsbury, Mass., 164 Long service, 118, 179 Lonsdale, R. I., 310, 317, 318 Lory's gate, Canaan, Conn., 375 Lottery Bridge, Claremont, N. H., 155, 219 Lottery for Mohegan Road (Conn.), 334 Lottery for Providence and Norwich Turnpike (R. I.), 293 Loud, Eliphalet, committee, 170 Loudon, Mass., 80, 175 Loury, Nathaniel, landowner, 375 Lovel farm, Peru, Vt., 276 Lowell, Mass., 156 Lowell Street, Arlington, Mass., 155 Lower Road, Dorchester, Mass., 101, 207 Lower Smithfield, R. I., 317 Lower Waterford, Vt., 230, 261 Ludlow, Vt., 252 Lull Brook, Hartland, Vt., 256 Lunenburg, Mass., fare from Boston, 52 Lunt, Ezra, stage, 125 Luxor, Temple of, 43 Lyman, N. H., 228 Lyman Street, Westboro, Mass., 163 Lyman Toll Bridge, Monroe, N. H., 228, 271 Lyme, Conn., 360, 379, 380, 391, 405 Lynn, Mass., 81 Lynn Hotel, Lynn, Mass., 81 Lynn Marshes (Mass.), 81, 86 Lynn and Boston Street Rail- way, 85 Lynnfield, Mass., 123, 126 Lyons, Philo, landowner, 401 McDonough, steamboat, 380, 392 Mclndoe Falls, Vt., 228, 270, 271 McLaren Place, Barnet, Vt., 282 McLean, John, set milestones, 148 McLean Asylum, founded by John McLean, 148 Macadam, John, Loudon, 6 Machias, Maine, 211 Machias Toll Bridge (Maine), 211 Macomber, David O., presi- dent, 240 Mad River, Conn., 348 Mad River Turnpike Co. (Vt.),272 Madison, Conn., 385, 389 Madison Green, Conn., 385 Madison, Mount, 240 Madison Square, Boston, Mass., 184 Madison and North Killing- worth Turnpike (Conn.), 407 Magoun Square, Cambridge Mass., 122 Maiden Cliff (Maine), 105 Main road, Boston to Provi- dence, 170 M Main Street, Andover, Mass., 129 Bolton, Mass., 169 Cambridge, Mass., 196 Charlestown, Mass., 81 Chester, Mass., 201 Concord, Mass., 134 Concord, N. H., 219, 231 East Hartford, Conn., 366, 367 Farmington, Conn., 360, 374 Greenfield, Mass., 103 Hartford, Conn., 360 Hopkinton, Oxford, and Sutton, Mass., 195 Lancaster, Mass., 169 Medfield, Mass., 140 Medfield, Millis, and Med- way, Mass., 138 Medford, Mass., 115 Newtown, Conn., 374, 401 Pawtucket, R. I., 303, 304, 322 Seymour, Conn., 371 South Coventry, Conn., 354 Stamford, Conn., 377 Stoneham, Mass., 150 Torrington, Conn., 387 Weymouth, Mass., 131, 132 Williamstown, Mass., 67 Willimantic Conn., 353, 354 Winsted, Conn., 387 Worcester, Mass., 158 Main Street Bridge, Keene, N. H., 222 Main Street Bridge, Nauga- tuck, Conn., 395 Maine, admitted a state, 211 appropriations to assist turnpike, 211 code of procedure, 211 Maine's inheritance of turn- pikes, 211 Maine Central Railway, 145 Maine Turnpike Association, 127, 227 Maiden, Mass., 124 Maiden Bridge, 124, 128 Maiden Road, Saugus, Mass., 124 Mall Street, Boston, Mass., 207 Maltby Lakes, Conn., 347 Manchester, Conn., 344, 367 N. H., 231, 246 Va., 17 Vt., 266, 273, 276, 277 Manchester Green, Conn., 343, 344 Manchester Turnpike Co. (Vt.), 273 Mann, John, landowner, 300 Manning's Bridge, Franklin, Conn., 356 [443] INDEX Manning's Tavern, Chelms ford, Mass., 156 Mansfield, Conn., 140, 342, 343, 353, 354, 356, 400 Mansfield Depot, Conn., 343 Mansfield Four Corners. Conn., 345 Mansfield Turnpike Co. (Vt.), 283 Mansion House, Greenfield, Mass., 70, 103 Manton, R. I., 309 Manton Avenue, Providence, R. I., 294, 309, 310 Manufactures commencing, 26 Manufacturing, eastern Con- necticut, 322 central Massachusetts, 322 Maple Avenue, Hartford, Conn., 349 Map of survey for Boston and Montreal Turnpike, 265 Marblehead, Mass., 80 Market Street, Philadelphia, Penn., 13 Marlboro, Conn., 359 Mass., 25 N. H., 219 Vt., 253 Marlboro Mills, Conn., 359 Marlboro, Vt., gate in, 253 Marsh, Sylvester, builder Mount Washington Rail- way, 241 Martin, Michael, highway- man, 115 Martin House, Phillips Beach, Mass., 126 moving of, 126 Maryland Journal, 9 Maryland, turnpikes in, 17 Mashamaquet Brook, Pom- fret, Conn., 342 Mashapog Turnpike Corp. (Mass.), 175 Mason Mill, Mansfield, Conn., 345 Massabesic Lake, N. H., 231 Massachusetts, act of 1805, 31 Massachusetts Avenue, Ar- lington, Mass., 151, 155 Massachusetts, bridges in, 17 Massachusetts General Hos- pital, 148 Massachusetts Highway Com- mission, 124, 129 Massachusetts Revised Stat- utes, 1C60, 59 Mast Road, Durham, N. H, 218 Mattapan, Mass., 147, 148 Mayhew Turnpike (N. H.), 226, 266 Maysville, Ky., 23 Maysville Turnpike (Ky.), 23, 24 Maysville, Washington, Paris, [444] and Lexington Turnpike- road Co., 23 Mearsmen, 38 Mechanic Square, Cambridge, Mass., 155 Medfield, Mass., 138, 140 gate in, 140 Medford, Mass., 114, 115, 129, 149, 151 Medford House, Medford, Mass., 115 Medford Street, Medford, Mass., 115 Medford Turnpike (Mass.), 114, 129, 266 Medway, Mass., 138, 140 Meeker's Mills, Brookfield, Conn., 405 Meguntikook, Lake. Maine, 105 Meguntikook Mountain, Maine, 104 Melrose, Mass., 124 Memphremagog Turnpike Co. (Vt), 283 Mendon, Mass., 75, 76 Mendon Road, Attleboro, 99 gate at, 99 Mendon Road, Cumberland, R. I., 310 Menotomy, Mass., 153 Menunkatuck River, Guil- ford, Conn., 393 Meredith Bridge, N. H., 222 Meriden, Conn., 349, 350, 384, 385 Meriden Road, Waterbury and Wolcott, Conn., 386 Meriden, Southington, and Compounce Tramway Co., 386 Merrill's Mills, Warren, N. H., 233 Merrimac River, 128, 130, 152, 156, 185, 217, 218, 220, 231 Merrimac River bridges, 85 Methuen, Mass., 130 Metropolitan Park Commis- sion, 103 Metropolitan Park System, Middle Cove Green, Conn., 389 Middle Gate (Md.), 9 Middle Haddam, Conn., 382 Middle Haddam Landing, Conn., 368 Middle River, Machias, Maine, 211 Middle Road Turnpike (Conn.), 361, 374, 405 Middle route, Boston to New York. 64, 76, 342, 344 "Middle Turnpike" (Conn.), 344, 399 Middleboro, Mass., 131, 132, 182 Middleboro and New Bed- ford Turnpike Corp. (Mass.), 182 Middleburg, Va., 17 Middlebury, Vt, 257, 258, 267, 276 fare from Boston, 52 Middlebury River (Vt), 257 Middlebury Turnpike Co. (Vt), 275 Middlefield, Conn., 384 Mass., 118, 176, 199, 200, 201 Middlesex Canal, 156 Middlesex County, Mass., pro- ceedings in, 114, 119, 120, 121, 124, 134, 136, 150, 153, 158, 165, 194, 195, 203 Middlesex Fells, 150 Middlesex Turnpike (Mass.), 122, 150, 175, 183, 186, . 236, 386, 387, 389 Middlesex Turnpike (Conn.), 368 Middleton, Mass., 129 Middletown, Conn., 349, 368, 380, 381, 382, 384, 386 Middletown, Durham, and New Haven Turnpike (Conn.), 386, 387, 393 Middletown Upper Houses, Conn., 384 Middletown and Berlin Turn- pike (Conn.), 374, 380 Middletown and Meriden Turnpike (Conn.), 384 Mileage, Alford and Egre- mont Turnpike (Mass.), 168 Andover and Medford Turnpike (Mass.), 149 Baltimore and Frederick Turnpike (Md.), 17 Baltimore and Reisterstown Turnpike (Md.), 17 Barre Turnpike (Mass.), 192 Bath Turnpike (Maine), 144 Becket Turnpike (Mass.), 127 Blue Hill Turnpike (Mass.), 137 Boston to Hartford, Conn., by turnpikes, 343 Boston to New York, 51 Braintree and Weymouth Turnpike (Mass.), 115 Camden Turnpike (Maine). 104 CheshireTurnpike (Conn.), 357 Connecticut turnpikes, 14 Coventry and Cranston Turnpike (R. I.), 311 Danville Turnpike (Vt), 278 Derby Turnpike (Conn.), 347 INDEX Mileage, Dorchester Turnpike (Mass.), 142 Elijah Paine's (Vt.), 253 Fairhaven Turnpike (Conn.), 393 Farmington and Bristol Turnpike (Conn.), 361 Farmington River Turn- pike (Conn.), 355 Farnum and Providence Turnpike (R. I.), 307 Fifteenth Massachusetts Turnpike, 113 Fifth Massachusetts Turn- pike, 70 First Cumberland Turn- pike (Maine), 106 Fourteenth Massachusetts Turnpike, 103 Glocester Turnpike (R. I.), 297 Gore Turnpike (Mass.), 199 Granby Turnpike (Conn.), 358 Granite Bridge Road (Mass.), 207 Great Barrington and Al- ford Turnpike (Mass.), 186 Greenwoods Turnpike (Conn.), 349 Groton and Stonington Turnpike (Conn.), 300 Haddam and Durham Turn- pike (Conn.), 387 Hampden and Berkshire Turnpike (Mass.), 205 Hartford and Dedham Turnpike (Mass.), 140 Hartford to Norwich Turn- pike (Conn.), 338 Hingham and Quincy Turn- pike (Mass.), 178 Hudson Turnpike (Mass.), 181 Killingworth and Haddam Turnpike (Conn.), 386 Lancaster and Bolton Turn- pike (Mass.), 169 Mayhew Turnpike (N. H.), 226 Maysville Turnpike (Ky.), 24 Middle Road Turnpike Conn.), 374 Middlesex Turnpike (Mass.), 154 Middletown and Meriden Turnpike (Conn.), 384 Moosilauke Mountain Road (N. H.), 244 Mount Washington Sum mit Road (N. H.), 240 National Road, 17 New Bedford and Bridge water Turnpike (Mass.*), 132 Newburyport Turnpike (Mass.), 124 North Branch Turnpike (Mass.), 131 Ninth Massachusetts Turn- pike, 75 Nor walk and Danbury Turnpike (Conn.), 339 Norwich and Woodstock Turnpike (Conn.), 363 Old Roebuck Road (Mass.), 27 Pennsylvania turnpikes, 16 Petersham and Monson Turnpike (Mass.), 133 Pettipauge and Guilford Turnpike (Conn.), 389 Philadelphia and Lancaster Turnpike (Penn.), 13 Plank roads in Canada, 40 Plank roads in New York, 40 Pom fret and Killingly Turnpike (Conn.), 367 Providence Turnpike (Conn.), 394 Providence and Norwich Turnpike (R. I.), 294 Salem Turnpike (Mass.), 81 Sixth Massachusetts Turn- pike, 73 Straits Turnpike (Conn.), 340 Taunton and Providence Turnpike (Mass.), 202 Taunton and South Boston Turnpike (Mass.), 172 Tenth Massachusetts Turn- pike, 78 Tenth New Hampshire Turnpike, 224 Third Massachusetts Turn- pike, 67 Third New Hampshire Turnpike, 78 Twelfth Massachusetts Turnpike, 80 Union Turnpike (Mass.), 134 . Virginia turnpikes, 17 Warren Turnpike (Vt.), 278 White River Turnpike (Vt.), 256 Winooski Turnpike (Vt.), 268 Woodstock and Somers Turnpike (Conn.), 381 Worcester Turnpike (Mass.), 161 Wrentham and Walpole Turnpike (Mass.), 170 Milestones, 147, 148, 149, 161, 231. 345. 379 Milford, Conn., 370 Mass., 75 N. H, 175, 183, 236 "Milford Pike" (Conn.) 370 Milford and Princeton Turn- pike Corp. (Maine), 211 Milford Turnpike (N. H.), 236 Milford Turnpike (R. I.), 370 Mill Brook, Arlington, Mass., 152 Mill Brook, Becket, Mass., 200 Mill Creek, Dedham, 99 gate near, 99 Mill Dam, Boston, Mass., 163, 188, 193, 195, 196 construction of, 190 Mill Plain Pond, Danbury, Conn., 401 Mill River, Fairfield, Conn., 376 Hampden, Conn., 350 Mill River bridge, Hampden, Conn., 350 Mill for Sale, 7 Millers Falls, Mass., 70 Millers River (Mass.), 69, 70, 71 Millington Turnpike Co. (Conn.), 410 Millis, Mass., 138 gate in, 140 Mills, Gen. Eliot's, 161 Millstone Hill, Worcester, 161 Milton, Mass., 62, 137, 146, 147. 149, 209 shared cost of new Granite Bridge, 209 1830 map of, 137 Milton Bridge, 142 Milton Lower Mills, Mass., 137, 138, 142, 147. 206 Mineral Spring Avenue, Paw- tucket, R. I., 321, 322 Mineral Spring Cemetery, Pawtucket, R. I., 322 Mineral Spring Turnpike (R. I.), 320 Misery Mountain, N. H, 231 Mississiquoi River (Vt.), 272 Mississiquoi Turnpike Co. (Vt.), 272 Mitchell's Tavern, Newton Highlands, Mass., 161, 162 Mohawk and Hudson Rail- road, 49 Mohawk Trail, 66, 104 Mohegan, New London ferry boat, 391 Mohegan Road (Conn.), 10, 290, 331, 334 only toll road operated by public authorities, 335 Mohegan's reservation (Conn.), 334, 335 Monadnock Mountain, 220 Monadnock Turnpike Corp. (N. H.), 248 Monkeytown, R. I., 311 Monocasy Creek bridge, 20 Monongahela River, 17 Monopolies, fear of, 135 [445] INDEX Monroe, Conn., 365, 397, 404 N. H., 228 Monroe Center, Conn., 398 Monroe, James, 21 President, tour in 181 7, 95, 344 Monroe and Newtown Turn- pike (Conn.), 404 Monroe and Zoar Bridge Turnpike (Conn.), 397 Monson, Mass., 133 Montague, Mass., 69 Montague City bridge, 70 Monteith, James, toll gatherer, 270 Monterey, Mass., 144 Montgomery, Mass., 74 Montpelier, Vt., 253, 268 turnpike day in, 266 Montpelier and Lamoille Plank Road Co. (Vt.), 284 Montreal, Canada, 263 Montville, Conn., 335, 399 Montville Street Railway, 335 Monument Mountain (Mass.), 186 Moosilauke Inn, Warren, N. H., 244 Moosilauke Mountain, N. H., 243, 244 Moosilauke Mountain Turn- pike (N. H.), 243 Moosup River, Conn., 292 Moosup Turnpike Co. (Conn.), 410 Moretown, Vt., 272 Morristown, Vt., 280 Morse's Pond, Wellesley, Mass., 195 Moshanticutt Pond, R. I., 294 Moshassock Bridge, Provi- dence, 317 Moshassock River, early forge on, 321 Moshassock Turnpike Co. (R. I.), 327 Moswansicut Pond (R. I.), 313 Motive of turnpike construc- tion, 63 Moulton's Tavern, Andover, N. H., 221 Mount Carmel, Conn., 357, 358 Mount Hayes Turnpike Corp. (N. H.), 241 Mount Holly, Vt, 255 fare from Boston, 52 Mount Lafayette Turnpike Corp. (N. H.), 241 Mount Mansfield, Vt., 282 Mount Mansfield Turnpike Co. (Vt.), 282 Mount Prospect, Lancaster, N. H., 247 Mount Prospect Turnpike and Hotel Corp. (N. H.), 247 Mount Tabor, Vt., 266 Mount Taber Turnpike (Vt.), 266 Mount Vernon, N. H., 236 Mount Washington, 238 foot of, 241, 242 Mount Washington Railway, 241, 242 Mount Washington Road, 238 Mount Washington Summit Road, 238 Mount Washington Turnpike, 241, 248 Mount Willard, N. H, 243 Mount Willard Turnpike Corp. (N. H.), 243 Mountain, The, Barnet, Vt., 271 Mountain Gap, Ridgefield, Conn., 401 Mountain Road, Goffstown, N. H, 245 Mowry, George, tavern of, 308 Muddy River, Brookline, Mass., 160 Munn, Calvin, tavern of, 69 Munson Capt. John, common carrier, 349 Musconekong Mountain, 15 Muster fines, 8 Mystic Avenue, Boston, Mass., . IJ4 Mystic marshes, 115 Mystic River (Mass.), 81 Nahant, Mass., 80 Narragansett Bay, 402 Narragansett River, claimed as boundary, 303 Narrows, Fall River, Mass., 324 Nash, Timothy, discovered Crawford Notch, 223 Nashua River (Mass.), 135, 136 freshet of 181 8, 135 Nashua Turnpike Corp. (Mass.), 176 Nashua and Lowell Railroad, 156, 157 Nat Berry Bridge, Tam- worth, N. H., 247 Natchaug River (Conn.), 356, 378 Nathaniel Arnold Bridge, West Greenwich, R. I., 315 Natick, Mass., 161, 166, 194 R. I., 317 Natick Hill (R. I.), 310 National Road, 19 Naugatuck, Conn., 337, 365, „ 366, 395 Naugatuck Bridge, Nauga- tuck, Conn., 341, 366, 395 [446] N Naugatuck River (Conn.), 337. 340, 348, 365. 395. 409 Navigation of Fore and Back Rivers, 177, 178 Navy Yard, Charlestown, Mass., 81, 84 Neck, New London, Conn., 379 Neck Lane, New Haven, Conn., 386 Needham, Mass., 161, 165, 194, 195. 203, 396 1830 map of, 195 Needham's stage, 95 Negro Lane, New Haven, Conn., 386 Neponset Avenue, Dorches- ter, Mass., 103 Neponset Bridge (Mass.), 101, 103, 117, 118, 206 Neponset River (Mass.), 99, 101, 117, 142, 207 Nequasset Mills, 130 Nescopeck, Penn., 16 New Bedford, Mass., 131, 132, 137, 182 fare from Boston, 52 New Bedford and Bridge- water Turnpike (Mass.), 131 New Braintree, Mass., 71 New Britain, Conn., 380, 381 New Boston, Sandisfield, Mass., 209 New Canaan, Conn., 408 New Chester and Danbury Turnpike Corp. (N. H.), 248 New Hampshire, 129 New Hampshire Turnpike, the, 217 New Hartford, Conn., 345, 348, 355, 361 New Haven, Conn., 14, 51, 53, 64, 3i6, 337, 340, 341, 346, 347, 349, 355, 357, 365, 366, 370, 371, 376, 380, 386, 388, 389, 390, 392, 395. 405. 407, 408 fare from Boston, 52 incorporated a city, 348 New Haven Avenue, Derby, Conn., 347 New Haven and Northamp- ton Railroad, 358 New Haven and Mil ford Turnpike (Conn.), 370 New Haven and Seymour Plank Road Co. (Conn.), 408 INDEX New Ipswich, N. H., 157 fare from Boston, 52 New Jersey, turnpikes in, 15 New Found Lake, N. H., 226 New London, Conn., io, 290, 315. 3i6, 317, 331, 334, 335. 350, 360, 379, 380, 300, 391 New London ferry, 292, 316, 389. 390 New London Northern Rail- road, 133 New London, Willimantic, and Palmer Railroad, I33> 335 New London and Lyme Turn- pike (Conn.), 379, 391, 392 New London and Windham County Turnpike ( Conn. ) , 336, 354, 402 New Marlboro, Mass., 113 New Meadows River (Maine), 144, 145 New Milford, Conn., 341, 346, x 364. 365, 369, 389, 399 New Milford and Litchfield Turnpike (Conn.), 341, 346, 369, 372 New Milford and Roxbury Turnpike (Conn.), 399 New Milford and Sherman Turnpike (Conn.). 388, 399. New Milford and Woodbury Turnpike (Conn.), 399 New Orleans, La., 18 New Preston, Conn., 369 New Preston Turnpike (Conn.), 369, 372 New York, N. Y., 25, 27, 50, 53, 64, 86, 09, 159, 259, 276, 292, 306, 316, 331, 336, 377, 382, 300, 391 fare from Boston, 52 New York Mail Stage, 53 New York, turnpikes in, 15 New York and Harlem Rail road, 409 New York, New Haven, and Hartford Railroad, 132 New York, Providence, and Boston Railroad, 322, 323, 391 Newark, N. J., 41, 42 Newark Marshes, 41 Newark Plank Road and Ferry Co., 42 Newbury, Mass., 126 Vt., 249, 264. 266, 269 Newbury Street, Boston, Mass., 147 Newburyport, Mass., 15, 63, 114, 124, 125, 126, 159, 235 fare from Boston, 52 Newburyport Harbor break- water, 159 Newburyport Turnpike (Mass.), 15, 123 New fane, Vt., 274 Newgate Prison, Conn., 378 Newington, Conn., 349 N. H., 217 Newport, Maine, 106 N. H., 232, 235 Penn., 14 R. I., 25, 27, 325 Newport Turnpike Corp. (N. H.),248 Newport and Fall River Rail- road, 326 Newton, Mass., 189, 203 Penn., 16 Newton Upper Falls, Mass., 161, 165, 166 Newtown, Conn., 365, 374, 402, 404, 405 Newtown Avenue, Norwalk, Conn., 402 Newtown and Norwalk Turn- pike (Conn.), 397, 401, 406 Nichols and Butler, tavern in New Haven, Conn., 350 Nichols' tavern in Thompson, Conn., 343 Ninth Massachusetts Turn- pike, 75, 94, 138, 140, 343, 362 Nippenicket Pond, Bridge- water, Mass., 172 Nobody's Road, Cambridge to Watertown, 198 Nook Point, South Boston, Mass., 141, 142 Norfolk, Conn., 365, 378 Norfolk County, Mass., pro- ceedings in, 75, 76, 100, 103, 117, 118, 132, 137, 138, 147, 165, 170, 171, 203, 209 shared cost of new Granite Bridge, 209 Norfolk House, Boston, Mass., 97 Dedham, Mass., 97 Norfolk and Bristol Turn- pike (Mass.), 15, 86, 138, 170, 188, 294, 306, 310, 343 Norfolk and Bristol Turn- pike (Mass.), contract, 90 Norfolk and Bristol Corp., petition for, 87 Norfolk and Middlesex Turn- pike Corp. (Mass.), 203 Noroton, Conn., 377 Noroton River (Conn.), 376 North Abington, Mass., 131 North Adams, Mass., 66, 205 North Andover, Mass., 129 North Ashford, Conn., 396 North Attleboro, Mass., 25, 27, 00, 95, 98, 17° tavern in, 98 North Beacon Street, Brighton and Watertown, Mass., 194 North Becket, Mass., 199, 201 North Blandford, Mass., 204 North Bloomfield, Conn., 358 North Branch Hoosac River, 205 North Branch Turnpike (Mass.), 131 North Branford, Conn., 393 North Burying Ground, Providence, R. I., 299, 302 North Cambridge, Mass., 155 North Chelsea, Mass., 209 North Chelmsford, Mass., 156 North Cove, Essex, Conn., 391 North Coventry, Conn., 343, 353, 354, 382 North Egremont, Mass., 168, 186 North Granby, Conn., 358 North Guilford, Conn., 393 North Haven, Conn., 386 North Kingston, R. I., 306 North Lyme, Conn., 392 North Madison, Conn., 385, 393, 407 North Main Street, Bristol, N. H., 226 Middleton, Mass., 129 Providence, R. I., 302 Randolph, Mass., 137, 172 North Parish meeting-house in Attleboro, 87 North Providence, R. I., 299, 300, 301, 302, 304, 306, 307, 308, 309, 310, 318, 321, 322, 323 North Scituate, R. I., 313 North Smithfield, R. I., 300 North Stonington, Conn., 316, 390 North Street, Middlefield, Mass., 119 North Walpole, Mass., 95 North Woodstock, N. H., 246 North Woodstock Road, War- ren, N. H., 244 North Wrentham, Mass., 140 Northampton, Mass., 51, 67, 73 fare from Boston, 52 Northbridge, Mass., 194, 195 Northeast Main Street, Doug- las, Mass., 76 Northern Haverhill Turnpike Corp. (N. H.), 248 Northern New Hampshire, 149 settlement of, 223 Northern Railroad, 221 Northern route, Boston to New York, 50, 64, 159, 192, 372, 399 Northern Turnpike (Vt.),225, 229, 260, 278 Northern Vermont, 149, 261 [447] INDEX Northfield, Mass., 69, 70 N. H., 245 Vt, 252 Northfield Turnpike (Conn.), 396, 402, 406 North ford, Conn., 386 Northwest Main Street, Douglas, Mass., 183 Northwood, N. H., 217 Norton, Mass., 157, 175 Norton Turnpike Corp. (Mass.), 157, 175 Norwalk, Conn., 338, 339, 361, 376, 401, 402 Norwalk Harbor, Conn., 401 Norwalk and Danbury Turn- pike ( Conn. ) , 338, 361 , 401 Norwell, Mass., 115 Norwich, Conn., 10, 51, 290, 292, 315, 331, 334, 336, 338, 345> 353. 360. 362, 363, 388, 392, 399, 402, 405, 407 business men of, 133 Mass., 118 Vt, 259. 274 Norwich Landing, Conn., 335, 362, 398, 402 Norwich Post Road, 296 Norwichtown, Conn., 407 " Norwich and Essex Turn- pike " (Conn.), 392 Norwich and Salem Turnpike (Conn.), 391, 392, 398 Norwich and Woodstock Turnpike (Conn.), 362, Norwich and Worcester Rail- road, 363 Norwood, Mass., 95, 170 tavern in, 97 Notch Turnpike Co. (Vt), 284 Nuttings Pond (Mass.), 152, 155 Oakham, Mass., 71 Ocean Avenue, Newburyport, Mass., 1 59 Ocean House, North Chelsea, Mass., 209 Ohio, admission as state, 18 proceeds of land sales, 19 provision for roads, 18 settlement, 26 Ohio River, 17 Old Colony Railroad, 101, 142, 208 Old Connecticut Path (Mass.) , 25, 158, 160 Old Lyme, Conn., 391 Old men of Menotomy, 153 Old Orchard Beach, Maine, 106, in Old Plank Road, Vergennes, Vt, 267 Old road to Plymouth, 207 Old Roebuck Road (Mass.), 25, 26 Old Saybrook, Conn., 380 " Old State," Conn., 383 Old Town Bridge, Windham, Conn., 353 Old Turnpike, Becket, Mass., 78 o Old Windham, Conn., 383, 397 Oliver Ellsworth, steamboat, 380, 392 Olney, Col. Christopher, 294 Olney's Lane, Providence, R. I., 322 Olneyville, R. I., 294 Olneyville Square, Provi- dence, R. I., 309 Oneco, R. I., 294, 336 Onion River, Vt, 252, 253, 268, 272 Onion River Bridge, Vt., 249, 269 illegally bought by Wi- nooski Turnpike, 268 Opposition to Hingham and Quincy bridges, 177 Opposition to Middlesex Turnpike (Mass.), 150 Opposition to railroad, 179 Orange, Mass., 69 tavern in, 69 Conn., 348 Orange County, Vt., 263 post road through, 249 Orange and Corinth Turnpike Co. (Vt), 283 Ore-bed Turnpike Co. (Vt), 283 Orford, N. H., 223 Orford Bridge (N. H.), 223, 230 Orford Turnpike (N. H.), 223 Orleans County, Vt., 260, 265 Orms Street, Providence, R I., 299 Orwell, Vt, 267 Osborne's Mills, West Fitch- burg, Mass., 131 Ossapee Turnpike Corp. (Mass.), 149, 229 Otis, Mass., 76, 80, 175, 186, 204 Ousatonic Turnpike (Conn.), 346, 374, 389 Oxford, Conn., 346, 370, 392, 397, 409 part of old Derby, 337 England, 4 Mass., 25, 183, 194, 198, 302 Oxford Turnpike (Conn.), 337, 348, 370, 371, 395 Oyster River Bridge, Lee, N. H., 218 Paine, Charles, governor of Vermont, 253 Elijah, 253 no corporation, 252 Paine Road, Scarboro, Maine, no Paine's Hill, Braintree, Mass., 176 Paine's line of stages, no Paine's Turnpike, 268 Palmer, Mass., 50, 63, 64, 192, 351 Palmer Old Center, Mass., 64, 133 Palmer's River, Rehoboth, Mass., 203 U481 Palmyra, Maine, 106 Panton, Vt., 273 Panton Turnpike Co. (Vt), 283 Paoli, Penn., 14 Paper Mill, Taunton, Mass., 202 Parker Hill Quarries, Bos- ton, Mass., 189 Parkis Street, Providence, R. L, 317 Partridgefield, Mass., 118 Pass of the Westfield, 176, 199, 201 Passaic and Hackensack Road and Ferry Co., 41 Passaic River bridge, 41, 42 Passenger cars, first railroad, 49 Passumpsic, Vt, 271 Passumpsic River, Vt., 271 Passumpsic Turnpike (Vt.), 269, 277 Paul Dudley stones, 161 Paulus Hook. N. J., 41 Pawcatuck, Conn., 316 Pawcatuck Bridge, Westerly, R. I., 316, 317 Pawcatuck River, Westerly, R. I., 292, 315 Pawlet Turnpike Co. (Vt.), 266 INDEX Pawtucket, R. I., 25, 27, 91, 95, 100, 302, 306, 310, 318, 320, 322, 323 bog iron in, 321 Pawtucket Avenue, Paw- tucket, R. I., 302 Pawtucket Bridge (R. I.), 87, 89, 95. 100, 303, 304, 310 half in Massachusetts, 303 wholly in Rhode Island, 304 Pawtucket Falls, R. I., 303 early ironworks at, 321 Pawtucket, first carding and spinning mill, 321 Pawtucket and Providence East Turnpike (R. I.), 288, 322 Pawtucket River, claimed as boundary, 303 Pawtucket and Taunton Turn- pike Corp. (Mass.), 205 Pawtucket Village, Mass., 295 Pawtuxet, R. I., 317, 318 Pawtuxet Bridge, R. I., 319 Pawtuxet Plank Road Co. (R. I.), 327 Pawtuxet River, south branch (R. I.). 3io Pawtuxet Turnpike (R. I.), 288, 318 Payne, Daniel, surveyor, 272 Peabody, Mass., 126, 129 Peabody River (N. H.), 236, 237 Peabody River Valley, 238 Peacedale Turnpike Co. (R. I.), 327 Peacham Corner, Vt., 264 Peagscomsuck, Conn., 352 Peak House, Chocorua Moun- tain, N. H., 247 Pearl Street, Brockton, Mass., 172 Brookline, Mass., 162, 190 Seymour, Conn., 371 Pease, Levi, stage, 50, 64 Peaslee Graveyard, Bristol, N. H., 226 Peeling, N. H., 228 Pegville, Conn., 358 Pelham, Mass. 71, 73, in Pembroke, N. H., 217, 232 Pembroke Street, N. H., 232 Pemigewasset Turnpike Corp. (N. H.), 248 Pemigewasset Middle Branch Turnpike Corp. (N. H.), 248 Pemigewasset Mountain, N. H., 246 Pemigewasset River, 226, 244 Pemigewasset Valley Rail- road, 246 Pennecook Street Bridge, Concord, N. H., 218 Pennsylvania, bridges in, 17 Pennsylvania Railroad, 13 Penny Ferry, 101 Penobscot River, 106 Pepperell, Mass., 236 Pequot Path (R. I.), 25, 292, 315 Perkins, Samuel G., land- owner, 203 Perkins' tavern in Ashford, Conn., 344 Perkioman, Penn., 16 Peru, Mass., 118, 119 Vt., 276, 277 Peru Turnpike (Vt), 159, 273, 276 Petersburg Road, Williams- town, Mass., 67 Petersham, Mass., 69, 133 Petersham and Monson Turn- pike (Mass.), in, 133 Petitions for incorporation in Rhode Island, 289 Pettipaug, Conn., 389, 391 Pettipauge and Guilford Turnpike (Conn.), 389, _ 391, 393 Phaeton, 46 Phenix, R. I., 311 Philadelphia, II, 13, 16 Philadelphia and Chester Val- ley Street Railway Co., 14 Philipstown Turnpike Co. (N. Y.), 388, 389 Phillippe, William, 4 Phillips Beach, Swampscott, Mass., 126 Phillipston, Mass., 69 Phoenix House, Dedham, Mass., 89, 94, 97 Picks, 37 Pidge Avenue, Pawtucket, R. I., 304 Pierce family, toll gatherers, 246 Pierce Farm, Goffstown, N. H., 245, 246 Piermont, N. H., 232 Piermont Turnpike Corp. (N. H.), 248 Pierpont family, 185 Pigeon Hill, Woodstock, Conn., 396 Pike, Nathan, leased land for tollhouse, 261 Pike family, free of toll, 261 Pillsbury, Noah, 106 Pine Mountain (N. H.), 237 Pine Swamp, Newburyport, Mass., 126 Pine Swamp Hill, Conn., 365 Pine Swamp Road, Sharon, Conn., 372 Pinedale, Mass., 70 Pines Bridge, Conn., 337, 371, 392 Pines Bridge Turnpike (Conn.), 374, 392 Pinkham, Daniel, grant of land to, 236 Pinkham Grant, N. H., 236 Pinkham Notch, N. H., 237 Pinkham Road (N. H.), 236 Pinkham Road, Randolph, N. H., 236 Pinkham Toll Road, yes or no (?) 237 Piscataqua Bridge, N. H., 217, 222 Pistol-point Bar, Portland, Conn., 384 Pittsburg, Penn., 16, 18 Pittsfield, Maine, 106 Mass., 67, 74, 176, 199, 200, 201 Vt., 263, 272 Pittsfield Turnpike Corp. (N. H.), 248 Plain, Walpole, Mass., 95 Plain Street, Providence, R. I., 319 Plainfield, Conn., 336, 352, 354 Plainfield Street, Providence, R. I., 294, 296, 314 Plains Road, Windham, Conn., 353 Plainville, Mass., 95 Plank road, first, 40 first in New England, 280 first New England charter, 280 Newark to Jersey City, 41 incorporation, 42 replaced, 42 short life of, 280, 281 tolls on, 40 Plank roads, 34, 38 cost, 40 efficiency claimed, 40 in Canada, 40 in Conn., 43, 408 in N. Y., 40 in N. J., 41 in Mass., 42 in N. H., 43 in Vt., 43 Pleasant Street, Boston, Mass., 94 Dorchester, Mass., 207 Fall River, Mass., 324 Pawtucket, R. I., 303, 322 Willimantic, Conn., 383 Pleasant Valley, Conn., 355 Pleasant Valley Turnpike Co. (Conn.), 410 Pleasure carriages in Boston, 27 Plow, old wooden, 270 Plum Island, Mass., 159 Plum Island Turnpike (Mass.), 42, 159, 276 Plymouth, Conn., 365, 374, 375 Mass., 25, 98, 115, 117 N. H., 226, 249 Plymouth Avenue, Fall River, Mass., 324 Plymouth colony, charter of, 303 Plymouth County, 117 proceedings in, 132 Plymouth Mail Stage, 179 [449] INDEX Pocasset, R. I., 296 Pocasset Purchase, Fall River, Mass., 324 Pocumtuck Tribe, 66 Point Judith, R. I., 316 Point of Pines, Revere, Mass., 209 Point of Rock,Derby,Conn.,403 Poland Bridge, Plymouth, Conn., 374 Poland River (Conn.), 374 Polly's Tavern, South Wal- pole, Mass., 97, 98 Pomfret, Conn., 140, 295, 296, 342, 343, 345. 362, 363, 367, 368, 378 Vt., 258 Pomfret Factory, Conn., 320 Pomfret and Killingly Turn- pike (Conn.), 367 Pompeii, wheel found in, 43 picture of vehicle in, 43 Pond, Virgil S., 170 Pondville, Mass., 170 Pontoosac Turnpike (Mass.), 176, 199, 204 money not the motive, 200 Port Chester, N. Y., 377 Porter, Badger and, 51 Portland, Maine, 106, 114, 127, 130, 145, 149, 224, 229, 260, 261 fare from Boston, 52 Portland, Conn., 382 Portland and Ogdensburg Railroad, 225 Portpool, 4 Portsmouth, N. H., 51, 125, 222, 235 fare from Boston, 52 voted to purchase turnpike, 218 Portsmouth, R. I., 298 Portsmouth Street, Concord, N. H., 217, 219 Postchaises, 44 Post Road, Boston to New York, 10, 90, 170, 192, 200, 292, 315, 331, 33s, 336, 376, 379, 300 Providence to Norwich, in bad order as a turnpike, 292 towns ordered to main- tain it, 293 Potash Brook, Blandford, Mass., 204 Potter Place, N. H., 222, 231 Poughkeepsie, N. Y., 369 Poultney Turnpike (Vt),2S9, 268, 276 Pound Street, New London, Conn., 359 Powder Mill Turnpike (R. I.), 307, 308, 320, 321, 322 Powder Mills, East Hartford, Conn., 343 Powder train, 37 Pownall, McAdam Turnpike Co. (Vt.), 283 Presidential Range, White Mountains, 237 Presque Isle, 16 Preston, Conn., 336, 402, 403 Preston's Point, Dorchester, Mass., 101 Primrose, R. I., 300 Princeton, Maine, 211 Mass., 192 Profile House, Franconia, N. H., 243 Profile and Franconia Notch Railroad, 243 Prospect, Maine, 106 Prospect Hill, Harvard, Mass., 135 R. I., view from, 317 Prospect Lake (Mass.), 186 Protection of investment, 186, 188 lack of, 171 Protest by Attleboro men, 100 Protest of gate by Lexington, 154 Providence, R. I., 15, 25, 51, 63, 86, 95, 99, 100, 170, 171, 176, 182, 202, 206, 288, 290, 292, 294, 295, 296, 299, 301, 302, 306, 308, 309, 310, 311, 314, 315, 317, 318, 320, 321, 323, 324, 325, 343, 352, 354, 373, 377, 37&, 382, 390, 391, 397, 399, 402 fare from Boston, 52 Providence of 1820, 288 Providence, Greater, 288 Providence, railroad from Boston, 200 old town of, 317 Providence River, 25, 27, 322 Providence Turnpike (Conn.), 313, 394, 397 Providence, Pawtucket, and Central Falls Street Rail- way Co., 305 Providence and Boston Turn- pike Corp. (R. I.), 294, 295 Providence and Boston Branch Railroad Co., 323 Providence and Bristol Turn- pike Corp. (Mass.), 206, 324 Providence and Douglas Turnpike (R. I.), 183, 288, 299, 317, 322 Providence and Northampton Turnpike Corp. (Mass.), 182 Providence and Norwich Turnpike (R. I.), 290, 292, 295, 296, 314, 315, 325, 336, 352, 377, 402 Providence and Norwich City Turnpike Co. (R. I.), 325, 402 Providence and Pawcatuck Turnpike (R. I.), 315,389 Providence and Pawtucket Turnpike (R. I.), 95, 302, Providence and Warren Turn- pike Co. (R. I.), 324 Providence and Worcester Railroad, 305, 318, 323 Providence Turnpike (Conn.), 394 Public roads, Middlesex County, 121 Public service, 31 Public service commissions, early, 34, 251, 333 Punch Bowl Road, Brookline, Mass., 163 Punch Bowl Tavern, Brook- line, Mass., 160, 162, 163, 165, 188, 189, 190 Punch Brook, Greenfield, 103 Putnam, Conn., 308 Putney Turnpike Co. (Vt.), 283 Quarryville, Conn., 343 Quassapaug Lake, Woodbury, Conn., 393 Quebec, Arnold's defeat at, 264 Queechy River, Bridgewater, Vt., 279 Queen Anne Corner, Mass., 115 " Queen Anne Turnpike," 117 Quincy, Josiah, 50 [45o] Quincy, Mass., 101, 115, 117, 118, 137, 147 allowed toll on bridges, 181 shared cost of new Granite Bridge, 209 Quincy Avenue, Quincy and Braintree, Mass., 115 Quincy granite quarries, in- sufficient transportation, 206 Quincy Point, Mass., 179 Quincy Railroad Co., 118 "Quincy Turnpike" (Mass.), 100 Quinebaug, Conn., 396 Quinebaug River, 336, 354, 368 Quinebaug Valley, Conn., 321 Quinsigamond, Lake (Mass.), 161, 164, 166 INDEX Race track at Lynnfield tav- ern, 126 Railroad route to Albany, Baldwin's map of, 199 Railroad, project Boston to Providence, 99 Railroad, Providence to Wil- limantic, 336 Railroads, deemed visionary, 200 early conception of, 323 in Housatonic and Nauga- tuck valleys, 355 Rakes, 37 Randall, Benjamin, commit- tee, 170 Rev. Ephraim, landowner, 207 Randolph, Mass., 62, 137, 138, 172 N. H., 242 Vt., 271 Randolph Avenue, Milton, Mass., 137 Randolph meeting-house (Mass.), 137 Randolph Turnpike Co. ( Vt.) , 271 Rankin, Robert, toll gatherer, 369 Rattlesnake Hill, N. H., 231 Raymond, Joshua, built Mo- hegan Road (Conn.), 334 Raynham, Mass., 172 Ray Pond, Wilmington, Vt., _ 253 Rayponda, Lake, Wilmington, Vt., 253 Reading, Mass., 128, 129, 149 Readsboro, Vt., gate in, 253 Readsboro Turnpike Co. (Vt.),283 Readsboro and Woodford Turnpike Co. (Vt), 284 Rebeccaites, 6 Receipts, Salem gate on Salem Turnpike (Mass.), 86 Redding, Conn., 396, 401, 402, 406 Reduce tolls, permission asked to, 260 Reduction of tolls for wide felloes, 61 Reed, Jonas, proprietor's clerk, 73 Reuben, landowner, 154 Reformatory, Mass., 134 Registry of Deeds, South Middlesex, Mass., 119 Rehoboth, Mass., 89, 203, 20s Reisterstown, Md., 8 Reisterstown Turnpike (Md.), 10, 17 Relays for fast messages, 96 Report of commissioner of R turnpikes (R. I.)» 289, 295< 297. 307, 308, 323 Report of committee of 1869 (R. I.), 289, 291 29s, 297, 3°i. 307, 308, 323 Report on internal improve- ment in the United States, J 4 Reports of operations re- quired, 59 Reservoir Avenue, Provi- dence, R. I., 317 Returns, Alford and Egre- mont Turnpike (Mass.), 168 Andover and Medford Turnpike (Mass.), 150 Belchertown and Green- wich Turnpike (Mass.), Ill Blue Hill Turnpike(Mass.), 138 Braintree and Weymouth Turnpike (Mass.), 115, 118 Chelsea Bridge (Mass.), 84 Dorchester Turnpike (Mass.), 142 Douglas, Sutton, and Ox- ford Turnpike (Mass.), 183 Fifteenth Massachusetts Turnpike, 113 Fifth Massachusetts Turn- pike, 71 First Cumberland Turnpike (Maine), no Granite Bridge (Mass.), 209 Great Barrington and Al- ford Turnpike (Mass.), 187 Hartford and Dedham Turnpike (Mass.), 140 Hinghamand Quincy Bridge and Turnpike (Mass.), 179 Housatonic River Turnpike (Mass.), 167 Neponset Bridge (Mass.), 101, 118 Ninth Massachusetts Turn- pike, 76 Providence and Pawtucket Turnpike (R. I.), 306 Salem Turnpike (Mass.), 84 Taunton and South Boston Turnpike (Mass.), 173 Third Massachusetts Turn- pike, 67 Union Turnpike (Mass.), 134 Williamstown Turnpike (Mass.), 67 Revere, Mass., 85, 209 Revised Statutes of New Hampshire, 1830, 216 1842, 216 1857, 217 Revised Statutes of Vermont, 1839, 251 Rhode Island General Stat- utes, 1857, 288 1872, 288 Rhode Island takes road for sufficiency of earnings, 302 Rhode Island, Island of, 298 Rhode Island Turnpike, 298 Rhode Island and Connecti- cut Turnpike (R. I.), 294, 312, 3I3> 314, 320, 321, 377 Rhode Island and Connecti- cut Central Turnpike (R< I.), 320, 321 Rhodes, Capt. William, store of, 301 Rice of Hingham, Represent- ative, 87 Rich, John P., contractor, 240 Richards, John, builder, 359 Richards Tavern, Brookline, Mass., 162 Richardson, Richard, director, 120 Richmond, Mass., 78 R. I., 294, 316, 317 Va., 17, 411 Richmond Street, Providence, R. I., 318 Richmond Turnpike Corp. (N. H.), 248 Ridgefield, Conn., 401, 408 Riley Hill, Sharon, Conn., 372 Riley's Tavern, Worthington, Conn., 350 Rimmon Falls Turnpike (Conn.), 340, 370, 388, Rindge Turnpike Corp. (N.H.),248 Ripton, Vt., 257, 258 Ripton Turnpike Co. (Vt.), 283 Rising Sun, Penn., 29 River Road, B ridge water, N. H., 226 River Road (R. I.), 327 River Turnpike (Conn.), 346 Road, Albany to Westfield, Mass., 199 Anthony's store, Fall River, Mass., 326 Bayley-Hazen Military, 264 Boston to Albany, 204 Brattleboro to Townshend, Vt., 274 Danbury to Newtown, Conn., 406 [451] INDEX Road, Dedham to Woon- socket, 27 ferry landing to Bigelow Hall, East Hartford, Conn., 366 " east, near Gilman's Brook," East Hartford, Conn., 366 Essex to Salem, Conn., 398 Great, Mass., 73 Great, Providence to Kill- ingly, 290 Greenfield to Fairfield, Conn., 376 Hartford to New Haven, 349 to Hospital, Providence, R. L, 319 to New Hospital, Provi- dence, R. I., 319 Joshua Hyde's in Middle- bury, Vt., 257 Mansfield, Conn., to Spring- field, Mass., 345 military, in Florida, 22 Chicago to Detroit, 22 Memphis into Arkansas, 22 over Natick Hill, R. I., 310 New Haven to New York, 29, 336 New Haven to Waterbury, Conn., 340 North Attleboro to Wren- tham, Mass., 27 Old Killingly (R. I.), 296 Pawtucket (R. I.), old, 304 early, Pawtucket Falls to iron furnace, 321 Plymouth to Naugatuck Bridge, Conn., 366 Providence to Norwich, Conn., 315 Providence to Norwich, Conn., 1712, 292 Providence to Pawtuxet, 3 l8 reservation for, in land grants (Vt.), 252 Rutland to Fairhaven, Vt., 259 north and south by Rutland courthouse, 263 in Saybrook, Conn., 368 Simsbury to Hartford, Conn., 351 Smuggler's Notch, Stowe, Vt., 282 Waterbury to Morristown, Vt., 282 Wells River, Vt., to Canada, 264 West River Bridge to mar- ket on Church Street, New Haven, Conn., 370 Westcott's, Mendon, Mass., 76 Westerly to Mystic River, Conn., 316 Westerly, R. I., to Stoning- ton, Conn., 300 Williamstown to Chelsea, Vt., 260 Wilmington to Bennington, Vt., 254 Robbery attempted at toll- house, 96 Robbins Tavern, Voluntown, Conn., 403 Roberts Hill, Northampton, Mass., 67 Robinson's Tavern, Meriden, Conn., 350 Rochdale, Mass., 158 Rochester, N. Y., 40 Rockingham, Vt., 254 Rocks, The, West Cambridge, Mass., 151, 152 Rocky Point, R. I., 317 Rogers Lake, Lyme, Conn., 391 Roger Williams Mills, R. I., 3" Rolf's Lane, Newburyport, Mass., 159 Rome, N. Y., 40 Ross' coal mine (Va.), 17 Rowley, Mass., 126 Roxbury, Conn., 399 Mass., 89, 100, 142, 146, 147, 160, 163, 164, 171, 185, 189, 190 hopes of being a seaport, 170 Roxbury Canal (Mass.), 169 Roxbury Crossing, Mass., 161, 163, 185 Roxbury pudding stone, 190 Roxbury Street, Boston, Mass., 160, 161, 164 Royal Exchange Coffee House, Boston, Mass., 86, 89 Royalston, Mass., 70, .157 Royalton, Vt., 257, 258, 271 Royalton and Woodstock Turnpike (Vt.), 257, 258 Ruined bridge, Middlesex Turnpike (Mass.), 155 Rumney, N. H., 226 Russell, Mass., 73, 74, 203 Rutland, Mass., 71, 73 Vt, 220, 249, 259, 263, 272 fare from Boston, 52 Rutland Railroad, 254, 259 Rutland Street Railway, 259 Rutland and Chittendon Plank Road Co. (Vt.), 284 Rutland and Stockbridge Turnpike (Vt.), 263, 279 Ryegate, Vt., 269 authorized to buy Passump- sic stock, 270 Sabin, Thomas, stage, 27 Sachem's Head Harbor, Guil- ford, Conn., 393 Saco, Maine, 106, 140, 229 Saco and Swift River Turn- pike Corp. (N. H.), 245 Safferry, Henry, toll gatherer, 369 Sage of Concord, 123 St. Albans, Vt., 272 St. Albans and Bakersfield Plank Road Co. (Vt.), 284 St.. Albans and Richford Plank Road Co. (Vt.), 280 St. Anthony's Chapel, 4 St. Giles', 4 St. Johnsbury, Vt., 225, 261, 262, 269, 278 [452] Salem, Conn., 359, 398, 399, 405, not Salem Society, 340 tavern in, 399 Mass., 15, 63, 80, 81, 126, 128, 129, 141 N. Y., 249, 259 Vt., 260 Salem Bridge, Naugatuck, Conn., 340, 341, 365, 395 incumbrance on town, 341 Salem Center, Conn., 392 Salem Great Pastures, Mass., 81, 86 Salem Society, Conn., 340 "Salem Turnpike" (Conn.), 392 Salem Turnpike (Mass.), 15, 80, 125, 209, 211 best year's business, 62 Salem and Chelmsford Turn- pike Corp. (Mass.), 141 Salem and Hamburg Turn- pike (Conn.), 388, 391, 392, 398, 399, 405 " Salem and Norwich Turn- pike " (Conn.), 392 Salisbury, Conn., 364, 409 N. H.,' 220, 241 Vt., 249 Salisbury Furnace, Conn., .364 Salisbury Plank Road Co. (Conn.), 409 Salisbury Turnpike (Conn.), 364 Salisbury and Canaan Turn- pike (Conn.), 363 Salmon Falls, N. H., 227 Sandbar, Vt, 272 INDEX Sandbar Turnpike Co. (Vt.), 272 Sanborn Turnpike (N. H.). 245 Sanborn's Hill, Hampton Falls, N. H., 234 Sanbornton Turnpike Corp. (N. H.), 248 Sandisfield, Mass., 76, 113, 186, 209 Sandwich, N. H., 149. 228, 229 Sandwich Turnpike Corp. (N. H.), 248 Sandy Beach, Mass., 159 Sandy Brook, Conn., 394 Sandy Brook Road, Sandis- field, Mass., 113 Sandy Brook Turnpike (Conn.), 394 Saquituck River, Conn., 339 Saratoga Springs, N. Y., 273, 275, 276 Sargent's Purchase, Mount Washington, 239 Sasco Creek, Conn., 339 Saugatuck River (Conn.), 376, 396, 397, 402 Saugatuck Toll Bridge (Conn.), 339, 376 Saugatuck Turnpike Co. (Conn.), 339 Saugus, Mass., 123, 124, 126, 209 Saugus Road, Saugus, Mass., 209 Sandersville, R. I., 314 Saun dersville Turnpike (R. I-), 314 Savin Hill, Mass., 142 Savoy, Mass., 206 Sawpits, N. Y., 377 Sawyer, Enoch, treasurer, 125 Sawyer's Bridge, Bethlehem, N. H., 243 Sawyer's Hill, Windham, Conn., 356 Saybrook Ferry, Conn., 380 Sayles, Jeremiah, house of, 302 Scarboro, Maine, 106, ill, 211 tollhouse in, no Scenita, 4 Schuylkill Bridge, 18, 28 Schuylkill River, 13, 16 Scadding Pond, Taunton, Mass., 172 Scituate, Mass., 115 R. I., 292, 295, 296, 311, 312, 313, 314. 320 Scotch Woods, Milton, Mass., 137 Scott's Pond, Cumberland, R. I., 318 Scott's Tavern, Palmer, Mass., 64 Scotland, Conn., 354, 397 gate in, 397 tollhouse in, 397 Scottows Hill, Scarboro, Maine, 106 Scrabble Hollow, Westmin- ster, Mass., 131 Seabrook, N. H., 235 Searsburg, Vt., 254, 279 Searsburg Plank Road Co. (Vt.), 279 Searsburg Turnpike (Vt.), 254, 279, 281 Seaver, Ebenezer, house of, 146 Second Brush Hill Turnpike Corp. (Mass.), 169 Second Littleton Toll Bridge (N. H.), 230, 261 Second Massachusetts Turn- pike, 66, 103, 104, 205 Second NewHampshireTurn- pike, 129, 134, 155, 219, 229, 232, 236 Seekonk, Mass., 100, 203, 205 Seekonk River (R. I.), 25, 27, 202, 203 claimed as boundary, 303 Semi Pog Brook, Danbury, Conn., 338 Sergeant's Trench, Pawtucket, R. I., 305 mills on, 305 Settlements, early, 25 Seven Bridge Road, Lancas- ter, Mass., 169 Seventh, no corporation so named in Massachusetts, 73 Seventh New Hampshire Turnpike, 248 Sewall, Samuel, set mile- stones, 147 Se wall's Point, Brookline Mass., 188, 189 Seymour, Conn., 348, 371, 409 part of old Derby, 337 Shackstand Hill, Foxboro, Mass., 08 Shackstand Tavern, Foxboro, Mass., 98 Shares of stock, personal property, 59 Sharon, Conn., 371, 372, 383, 384 Mass., 157 Vt, 257 Sharon and Cornwall Turn- pike (Conn.), 383 Sharpe's Hill, Westford, Conn., 396 Shaw's Avenue, New Lon- don, Conn., 379 Shawmut Avenue, Boston, Mass., 184 Sheffield, Conn., 348 Mass., 79. 173. 345. 354 Sheffield and Great Barring- ton Turnpike (Mass.). 173 Sheffield and Tyringham Turnpike (Mass.), 141, 144 Shelburne, Mass., 103 Shelburne Mountain, Mass., 104 Shelburne and Hinesburg Turnpike Co. (Vt.), 284 Shepard, Eldad, landowner, 348 Sherburne, Vt., 272, 279 Sherburne Turnpike (Vt.), 272, 279 Sherman, Conn., 406 Sherman and Redding Turn- pike (Conn.), 406 Shetucket River (Conn.), 336, 353, 356, 402 Shetucket Turnpike (Conn.), 325, 402 Shetucket Valley, Conn., 321 Ship Street, Providence, R. I., 319 Shirley, Mass., 176 Shoreham, Vt., 267 Shore Line, New York, New Haven, and Hartford Railroad, 389, 391 Shore route, Boston to New York, 64 Shortest-lived road, 195 Shovels, 37 special shop for manufac- ture, 91 Shrewsbury, Mass., 73, 161, 255 might operate toll bridge, 166 Shunpike, 32, 138, 145, 162, 173, 192, 360 forbidden, 79 penalties for, 32 Shunpike Bridge, Hampton, N. H., 234 Sign, rates of toll, Glocester Turnpike (R. I.), 297 Silver dollars, shipment of, 98 stuck in the mud, 98 left over night, 98 Silver Hook Road (R. I.), 327 Simpaug Turnpike Co. (Conn.), 410 Simsbury, Conn,, 345 Sixteenth Massachusetts Turnpike Corp., 113, 187 Sixth Massachusetts Turn- pike, 71, 75, 133 Sixth New Hampshire Turn- pike, 70, 222 Slack, Eliphalet, 91 Samuel, 91 Slater, Samuel, cotton fac- tory, 108 plans for first American textile machines, 321 Slater Branch, Providence and Douglas Turnpike (R. I.), 299, 300 Slatersville, R. I., 300 [453] INDEX Sledge, 43 Sleds, 49 Sleeper, Moses, sold land for tollhouse, 226 Rev. Walter, toll gatherer, 226 " Sleigh of burthen," 216 Sleighs, 49 Smelt Brook, 104 Smith, Richard, foundryman 364 Smith Street, Providence, R. I., 308 Smithfield, R. I., 297, 209, 300, 307, 317 Smithfield and Glocester Turnpike (R. I.), 320 Smithfield Avenue, Provi- dence, 318 Smithfield Road, Cumberland, R. I., 318 Smithfield Turnpike Co. (R. I.), 299, 317 Smugglers' Notch Road (Vt.), 282 Snigger's Gap, Va., 7 Snow's mill pond, Eastford, Conn., 378 Snow's Pond, Belchertown, Mass., in Sockanosset Reservoir, R. I., 317 Soldiers' Home, Noroton, Conn., 377 Somers, Conn., 192, 381, 400 Somers Street, Conn., 381 Somerset, Penn., 16 Vt., 281 Somerville Avenue, Cam- bridge, Mass., 155 Somersworth, N. H., 227 South Attleboro, Mass., 26, 27, 90 tavern in, 08 South Berwick, Maine, 227 South Boston, Mass., 141, 142, 144 South Bridgewater, Mass., fare from Boston, 52 South Brimfield, Mass., 158 South Canaan, Conn., 355 South Cove, Boston, Mass., 141 South Coventry, Conn., 353 South Danbury, N. H., 231 South Danvers, Mass., 129 South Egremont, Mass., 168 South End, Boston, 121, 184 South Gore, Oxford, Mass., 198, 302 South Kent, Conn., 369 South Killingly, Conn., 313, 394 South Londonderry, Vt, 277 South Main Street, Fall River, Mass., 326 Middleton, Mass., 129 Waterbury, Conn., 386 South Portland, Maine, no [454] South Scituate, R. I., 294 South Shore Railroad, 115 South Street, Middlefield, Mass., 119 South Walpole, Mass., 95, 99 gate in, 99 taverns in, 97 division of business, 97 South Weymouth, Mass., 131 South Wilton, Conn., 339 Southboro, Mass., 161 Southbridge, Mass., fare from Boston, 52 Southbury, Conn., 337, 346, 374, 404, 409 Southgate, Horatio, treasurer, 106, no Southington, Conn., 357, 358, 386 Southington Avenue, South- ington, Conn., 386 Southington and Waterbury Turnpike (Conn.), 385 Southwick, Mass., 187, 199 Southern Division Boston and Maine Railroad, 221 Southern New Hampshire, 141, 150, 176, 186 Southeast Street, Hinsdale, Mass., 119 Southeastern Vermont, 150 Southwest Main Street, Douglas, Mass., 76 Special laws, Connecticut, compilation of, 347 Specifications, Norfolk and Bristol Turnpike, 90 Specification for plank road, 408 Spectacle Pond, Cheshire, Conn., 409 Spot Pond (Mass.), 150 Spotsylvania County, Va., erected gates on Freder- icksburg-Richmond road to provide for mainte- nance, 411 Sprague's Tavern, Smithfield, R. I., 308 Spragueville, R. I., 308 Spring elliptic, 47 Springfield, Mass., 25, 51, 64, I59> 167, 176, 192, 199,200, 204, 345. 372, 373 fare from Boston, 52 Springfield Street Railway, 75 Springfield and Longmeadow Turnpike Corp. (Mass.), 137 Spring Street, Roxbury, 99 Springs, steel, 44 Spring's Tavern in Ashford, Conn., 344 Sprout, Zebidee, house of, 263 Stafford, Conn., 133, 159, 356, 372, 381, 400 Mass., 51, S3 Stafford Mineral Spring, Conn., 372 Stafford Mineral Spring Turnpike (Conn.), 356, 372 Stafford Pool Turnpike (Conn.), 158, 356, 367, 372 Stafford Street, Worcester and Leicester, Mass., 159 Stages, hour of departure, 52 in and out of Boston, Mass., 1801, 51 1825, 51 1832, 53 Boston to Albany, Mass., 69, 169, 204 Boston to Bellows Falls, Vt., 220 Boston to Bristol Ferry, R. I., 26 Boston to Concord, Mass., 121 Boston to Hartford, Conn., 195, 396 Boston to Montreal, 260, 265 Boston to New Bedford, 132 Boston to New London, Conn., 390 continued in winter to New Haven, 390 Boston to New York, 48, 50, 64, 86 Boston to Newburyport, 125 Boston to Northfield, Mass., 69 Boston to Portsmouth, N. H., 27, 125 Boston to Providence, 27, 86, 88 Boston to Providence via Walpole, 95 Boston to Salem, Mass., 80 Dearborn and Emerson, Boston to Walpole, N.H., 79 ' . coaches in England, 44 Concord, 49 egg-shaped, 48 register, 51 Brattleboro, Vt., and Dart- mouth College, 258 Calves Island to New Lon- don, Conn., 380 Concord to Boston, 1825, 52 Ely's Wharf to Norwich, Conn., 392 England, 44 Hartford to New London, Cr>nn., 359 Massachusetts, 337 New England, 48, 51, 53 New York to Boston, 27, 28 New York to Philadelphia, 27 Norwich. Conn., to Spring- • field, Mass., 345 INDEX Stages, Paine's line, no Philadelphia to Baltimore in 1795, 47 Providence to Pawtucket, 305 ^ , Providence to Pomfret, Conn., 308 Sabin's, 27 Stamford, Conn., 376, 377, 408 Stamford (Conn.), Turnpike through cemetery, 376 Stamford, New Canaan, and Ridgefield Plank Road Co. (Conn.), 408 Stamford Turnpike Co. (Vt.), 283 Stamford and Readsboro Plank Road Co. (Vt), 284 Staples, Samuel, endowed academy, 401 Starkweather, Ephraim, in- corporator, 87 Starr King Mountain, N. H., 246 Starr King Mountain Turn- pike Corp. (N. H.), 246 State house, Concord, N. H., 219 State Street, Newburyport, Mass., 123, 125, 126 New Haven, Conn., 386 New London, Conn., 359 Station staves, 38 Stavers, John, stage, 125 Steamboats, Connecticut River to New York, 380 New London to Hartford, Conn., 360 New London to New York, 316 New York to Jersey City, N. J., 42 New York to Newark, N. J., 42 New York to Providence, R. I., 09 Steamboat Hotel, Attleboro, Mass., 88, 89, 08 Steeple Street, Providence, R. L, 315 Steere, Stephen and Elisha, bought Farnum Turn- pike, 307 Stepney Depot, Conn., 398 Steps, Mount Carmel, Conn., 358 Sterling, Conn., 336, 402 Sterling Turnpike Corp. (Mass.), 199 Sterling and Adams Mills, Warren, Vt, 278 Stevens Village Toll Bridge (N. H.), 230, 270, 271, 350 Steward, Gen. John, house of, 254 Still River (Conn.), 388 Mass., 136 Still River Turnpike (Conn.), 387, 394 Stock, paid for in work, 312, 315 Stockbridge, Mass., 113, 106, 173, I7S. 191 1830, map of, 175 Vt, 263 Stockbridge Center, Mass., 166 Stockbridge Mountain, 167 Stockbridge Road, Lee, Mass., 78 Stockbridge Street, West Stockbridge, Mass., 167 Stockbridge Turnpike Corp. (Mass.), 173 Stockholders' liability, 282 Stockwell, Emmons, pioneer, 223 Stoddard Turnpike Corp. (N. H.),248 Stokes Street, Olneyville, R. I., 294 Stone, Ephraim, director, 70 Col. Nathaniel, house of, 314 Stone Bridge, R. I., 325 Stone Bridge and Fall River Turnpike (R. I.), 325 Stoneham, Mass., 149 Stonington, Conn., 315, 390 Stony Brook, Roxbury, Mass., 185 Storm of 1826, 224, 225, 230 Stoughton, Mass., 25, 171 Stoughton Hall, Harvard Col- lege, 119, 122 Stoughton Street, Boston, 207 Stoughton Turnpike (Mass.), 148, 170 Stow, Mass., 169 Stowe, Vt., 280, 282 Stowe, Squire, house of, 184 Strabo, 4 Strafford, Vt, 274 Strafford Turnpike Co.(Vt), 274 Straight line, 34, 89, 120, 123, 127, 129, 130, 131, 132, 151, 158, 161, 166, 169, 203, 205, 206, 209, 216, 219, 321, 324, 349, 360, 380, 390, 405 absence of, 127, 167 directly opposite, 282 folly demonstrated, 372 omitted, 146 opposition to, 370 variation allowed, 176 Straits, Conn., 340 Straits Turnpike (Conn.), 340, 355, 395, 366, 370, 37*, 374, 375, 388 Straitsville post office, Conn., 340 Stratfield and Weston Turn- pike Co. (Conn.), 409 Stratton, Vt., 274 devoted to growth of tim- ber, 274 Stratton Mountain, Vt, 274, 275 Stratton Mountain Club(Vt), 275 Stratton Turnpike (Vt), 274, 276 Stratton Village, Vt., 274, 275 Streeter Tavern, Upper Water ford, Vt., 262 Strong, Maj.-Gen. Samuel, 267, 273 Sturbridge, Mass., 158, 159, 362 Sturbridge and Western Turnpike Corp. (Mass.), 176 Sturges, Jonathan, land- owner, 376 Subscriptions for repair of roads, 290 Sudbury, Mass., 52, 169, 173 Vt., 259, 260 Suffield, Conn., 378 Suffolk County, shared cost of new Granite Bridge, 209 Suffolk Street, Boston, Mass., 184 Sugar Hollow, Conn., 401 Sugar Hollow Road, Dan- bury, Conn., 361 Sugar Hollow Turnpike (Conn.), 361, 401 Sugar River, Vt, 263 Sullivan Square, Charlestown, Mass., 129 Sullivan Square Terminal, Charlestown, Mass., 115 Sumner's Ferry, Vt, 263 Summit House, Mount Mans- field (Vt), 282 Sunapee Turnpike Corp. (N. H), (2), 248 Sunset Avenue, Providence, R : L, 314 Superintendent, Hingham and Quincy Turnpike, 178 Supervision of turnpikes, 34, 251, 333 Supreme court award to Hingham and Quincy Corp., 181 Supreme court of United States decree on Massa- chusetts-Rhode Island boundary, 303 Surface, Norfolk and Bristol Turnpike (Mass.), 91 Surfacing, 36 Surrey, N. H., 232 Surveys for railroads, 200 Susquehanna River, 16, 345, _ 348, 355 Susquehanna Valley, n Sutton, Mass., 183, 185, 194, 195, 201 [455] INDEX Sutton Road, Webster, Mass., 195 Swampscott, Mass., 120 Swanzey, N. H., 222 Swift, John, house of, 137 Swift's Bridge, Conn., 383, 384 Swift's Corner, Milton, Mass., 137 Sykes, Joseph, stage, 50 Symmes' Corner, Mass., 151 Syracuse, N. Y., 40 Syria, 4 Taft's Tavern, Uxbridge, Mass'., 76 Talcott, Joseph, house of, 354 Talcott Mountain Turnpike (Conn.), 80, 345, 348, 355, 358, 361 Tamworth, N. H., 237, 247 Tar Bridge, Olneyville, R. I., 294, 309 Tariffville, Conn., 358 Taunton, Mass., 25, 51, 137, 144, 148, 171, 172, 187, 202, 325 fare from Boston, 52 Taunton Avenue, East Provi- dence, R. I., 203 Taunton Green, Mass., 137, 171, 202, 203, 205 Taunton and Dighton Turn- pike Corp. (Mass.), 187 Taunton and New Bedford Turnpike (Mass.), 137 Taunton and Providence Turnpike (Mass.), 202 Taunton and South Boston Turnpike (Mass.), 144, 148, 171 Tavern in Andover, N. H., 221 Ashford, Conn., 344 Attleboro, Mass., 88 Bedford, Mass., 156 Boston, Mass., 88 Boston Turnpike (Conn.), 343 Bridgewater, N. H., 227 Brookline, Mass., 160, 162 Bugbee's, Dorchester, Mass., 147 Canaan, N. H., 231 Chapin's, Oliver, Orange, Mass., 69 Chelmsford, Mass., 156 Coventry, Conn., 344 Dedham, Mass., 97 East Hartford, Conn., 344 Eliot Square, Boston, Mass., 97 Foxboro, Mass., 98 Franklin, Conn., 356 Gloucester, R. I., 297 Greenfield, Mass., 69 Hampton, N. H., 235 Hartford, Conn., 344 Hawes, Ichabod, 203 Henry, Colonel, 199 Hoosac Mountain, 205 Keene, N. H., 219 Kendall's, Jonas, 69 Leominster, Mass., 69 Lippitt, R. I., 311 [456] Lower Waterford, Vt., 262 Lynnfield, Mass., 126 Manchester Green, Conn., 344 Mansfield, Conn., 344, 356 Mansfield Four Corners, Conn., 345 Mclndoe Falls, Vt., 271 Meriden, Conn., 350 Munn's, Calvin, 69 Needham, Mass., 165 New Bedford and Bridge- water Turnpike, 132 New Haven, Conn., 350 New London, Conn., 359 Newton, Mass., 163 Newton Highlands, Mass., 162 Newton Upper Falls, Mass., 163 Norfolk and Bristol Turn- pike, 97, 98 North Attleboro, Mass., 98 North Haven, Conn., 350 Norwood, Mass., 97 oldest in Bristol County, 89 Orange, Mass., 69 Palmer, Mass., 64 Plum Island, Mass., 159 Pomfret, Conn., 343 Providence, R. I., 325 Roxbury, Mass., 147 Salem, Conn., 309 Smithfield, R. I., 308 South Attleboro, Mass., 98 South Walpole, Mass., 97 Spragueville, R. I., 308 Straits (Conn.), 340 swine and drivers, 205 Thompson, Conn., 343 Topsfield, Mass., 126 moving of, 126 Upper Waterford, Vt., 262 Uxbridge, Mass., 76 Voluntown, Conn., 403 Wallingford, Conn., 350 Webster's, 227 Westboro, Mass., 163 Wethersfield, Conn., 350 Willington, Conn., 344 Worthington, Conn., 350 Taxation of stock, 291 Taylor, William, petitioner, 78 surveyor, 196 Taylors River (N. H.), 234, 2 35 Telegraph, anticipation of, 96 Telford, 6 Temple Bar, 4 Temple Street, New Haven, Conn., 351, 357 Templeton, Mass., 69, 157 Ten Mile River (Mass.), 89 Ten Rod Road (R. I.), 306, 402 Tennyville, Mass., 133 Tenth Massachusetts Turn- pike, 76, 128, 166, 175, 355, 358, 38S Tenth New Hampshire Turn- pike, 223, 229, 230, 233, 237, 238, 241, 261 Termination of franchises, efforts to provide, 333 Terrill, Irijah, house of, „, 340 Thames River, Conn., 292, 315, 316, 389 Thayer's Mills, West Stock- . bridge, Mass., 182 Thebes, 43 Thetford, Vt., 259 Third Massachusetts Turn- pike, 67, 149, 254 I Third New Hampshire Turn- pike, 78, 157, 219, 222, 232, 256 Thirteenth Massachusetts Turnpike, 80 Thomaston, Conn., 365 Thompson, Conn., 75, 140, 194, 342, 343, 362, 373, 380, 396 Thompson, J. M., awarded illegal damages, 239 Samuel, tavern of. 356 Thompson's Bridge, New Haven, Conn., 371 Thompson's Corner, Farm- ington, Conn., 360 Thompson Hill, Conn., 373 Thompson Turnpike (Conn.), 315, 373, 380 Thornton, N. H., 228 Three Mile Hill, Great Bar- rington, Mass., 113 Three Mile River, Taunton, Mass., 203 Three Mile Stone, Boston, Mass., 161 Tinmouth Turnpike Co. ( Vt.) , 283 Tioga River, 16 Tip Top House, Moosilauke Mountain, N. H., 244 Tipping Rock, White Moun- tains, 237 Titicut, Mass., 131 Baptist Church, 132 tavern in, 132 Tiverton Print Works, Fall River, Mass., 326 INDEX Todd, Major William, tavern of, 219 Toll, commuted, 94 by the county, 7, 9, 10, 117, 411 divided by number of gates, 250 division of, 168 earliest form of, 3 exemption for mail car- riers, 24, 363 exemptions, 13, 59. 147, 251, 287, 332, 334 gatherers under oath, 221 increased, 140 on mileage basis, 13, 215 rates of, on Lancaster Turnpike, 12, 13 in Massachusetts, 58 on Mohegan Road (Conn.), 335 in New Hampshire, 215 on plank roads, 40 on plank roads (Conn.), 4 08 on Reisterstown Turn- pike, 9 in Rhode Island, 287 in Vermont, 250 Tollgate, see Gate Toll Gate Cemetery, Boston, Mass., 94 Tollgate Hill, Greenwich, Conn., 376 Toll Gate Inn, Boston, Mass., 94 Toll Gate Station, Boston, Mass., 94 Toll Gate Way, Boston, Mass., 94 Tollhouse, Back River Bridge (Mass.), 178 Bath Turnpike (Maine), MS Blandford, Mass., 204 Chelmsford, Mass., 156 Mansfield Four Corners, Conn., 345 Neponset Bridge, 103 near Newton Upper Falls, Mass., 163 Newtown, Conn., 365 Providence and Pawtucket Turnpike (R. I.), 304 Raynham, Mass., 173 robbery, attempted, 96 Saybrook, Conn., 369 Scarboro, Maine, no Windham and Brooklyn Turnpike (Conn.), 397 Woonasquatucket Turn- pike (R. I.), 310 Tollhouses, permission to erect at gates, 341 Tolland, Conn., 158, 192, 194, 195. 366, 367, 372, 383, 396, 399, 400 Mass., 76, 187, 199 Tolland County Turnpike (Conn.), 383 Tolland Street, Conn., 400 East Hartford, Conn., 343, 3 6 7 Tolland and Mansfield Turn- pike (Conn.), 192, 399 Tolland and Otis Turnpike Corp. (Mass.), 199 Tolls, Henry, incorporator, 262 Tom, Mount, Litchfield, Conn., 342 Tomlinson Victory, sole owner of Waterbury River Turnpike (Conn.), 366 arrested for vagrancy, 366 Tommy Lyon Hill, Wood- stock, Conn., 306 Topsfield, Mass., 126 Topstone, Conn., 339 Toronto, 40 Torrington, Conn., 361, 362, 365, 371, 387, 388 Torrington Turnpike (Conn.) , 361 Torrington and Winchester Street Railway, 387 Tourists to White Moun- tains, 242 Tower Light Battery, 306 Town, Ithiel, bridge builder, 35° Salem, senator, 64, 87 Town landing, North Provi- dence, R. I., 321 Town, lattice truss bridges, 255. 350 Towns, might acquire roads and collect toll (Vt.), 251 Townsend, Mass., 78 Townsend Plain, Mass., 157 Townsley, Calvin, director, 70 Tracy, Cynthia, married Joshua Hyde, 338 Uriah, senator, 19 Trade expected from New Hampshire, 183 Trading Cove Bridge, Conn., 335 Traffic on Norfolk and Bris- tol Turnpike (Mass.), amount, 92 character, 92 by seasons, 92 Boston to Lowell, 157 between Boston and Provi- dence, 100 Cornish Bridge, 236 Hartford and New Lon- don Turnpike (Conn.), 359 Mohegan Road (Conn.), 334 New Bedford and Bridge- water Turnpike, 132 Petersham and Monson Turnpike (Mass.), 133 Second New Hampshire Turnpike, 129, 219 Tenth New Hampshire Turnpike, 224 Tragedy at Grout's Mills, Vt, 275 Trail, Canterbury, Conn., to Greenwich, R. I., 352 Transit, engineer's, 38 Transition, attempted, turn- pike to railroad, 322 Transportation in United States, 1800, 26 Traveller, Boston, 51 Tremont Street, Boston, Mass., 160, 164 Trenton, N. J., 15, 16 Tricks of contractors, 65 Trimtown, R. I., 313 Tripptown, R. I., 307, 309 Trumbull, Conn., 365, 398, 400 Tucker Bridge, Bellows Falls, Vt, 255 Tucker's Ferry, Concord, N. H., 218 Tuckerman's Ravine, White Mountains, 237, 238 Tudor, William, president, 125 Tully River, Mass., 70 Turkeys, flock of, 233 Turner, James, contractor, 229 Stephen, house of, 353 Turner Hill, Wrentham, 98 Turners Falls, Mass., 70 Turnpikes, abolition in Eng- land, 6 approval of construction, 58 cause of failure, 35 cost, see Costs definition, 3 derivation of word, 3 era commenced in Massa- chusetts, 63 ended in Massachusetts, 63 began in New England, 35 ended in New England, 35 expectations, 35, 61 extent in England, 5 First English Act, 4 First in America, 7 First in England, 4 First in Virginia, 7 franchises, 33 Connecticut practice, 33, 331, 332 grades, 34, 36 investment, 62 layout of road, 57 penalty for bad order, 59 poor investments, 396 [457] INDEX Turnpikes, procedure to make public, 59 realization, 35 to revert to the public, 35 straight, 34 see also " Straight line " surfacing, 36 supervision over, 34, 251, 333 types, 34, 35 Turnpike station, Boston and Maine Railroad, 155 Turnpike station, New York, New Haven, and Hart- ford Railroad, 132 Turnpike Street, Canton, Mass., 171 Easton, Mass., 172 South Boston, Mass., 142, 144 Stoughton, Mass., 172 Twaddle, Deacon, Barnet.Vt, 269 Twelfth Massachusetts Turn- pike, 79, 168, 175, 187, 345, 379 Tyngsboro, Mass., 151, 152, 154, 156, 236 Tyringham, Mass., 144, 186, 209 Tyringham and Lee Turn- pike Corp. (Mass.), 144 Tyringham and Sandisfield Turnpike Corp. 186, 209 Uncanoonuc Incline Railway and Development Co., 246 Uncanoonuc Mountain, N.H., 245, 246 Uncanoonuc Road (N. H.), 245 Unkamet Street, Pittsfield, Mass., 67 Union, Conn., 194, 396 Union Avenue, Ashland, Mass., 195 Union House, North Attle- boro, Mass., 98 Union Station, Providence, R. I., 322 u Union Street, Willimantic, Conn., 353 Union Turnpike (Mass.), 52, 133, 169 Union Turnpike (N. H.), 229 Union Village, R. I., 300 United States, postal routes, 18 Upper Bridge, Milton, Mass., 146 Upper Connecticut valley, 149, 270 Upper Coos Turnpike Corp. (N. H.), 248 Upper Mills, Milton, Mass., 64, 149 Upper Road, Dorchester, Mass., 147 Upper Stepney, Conn., 404 Upper Waterford, Vt., 225, 229, 261 Upson family of Wolcott, Conn., 386 Upton, Mass., 194, 195 Utica, N. Y., 40 Utley's tavern in Wellington, Conn., 344 Uxbridge, Mass., 76, 299, 300 tavern in, 76 Valley Falls, R. I., 310 Valley Falls Turnpike (R. I.), 310 Valley Street, Providence, R. I., 310 Value of turnpike stock, 140, 192, 194, 199 Van Deusen, Jacob, 186 Van Dykes, lumbermen, 229 Vaughn's Bridge, Portland, Maine, no, 196 Vergennes, Vt, 249, 267, 273 Vermont, early public-service commissions, 34 eight companies formed in one act, 31, 266, 267, 268, 269 Vermont Central Railroad, 257, 258 Vermont House, Wilming- ton, Vt., 254 Vernon, Conn., 367 R. I., 314, 315 Vesta's Gap, Va., 7 Villages, early, 25 Virginia, bond issues for good roads, 411 efforts to abolish gates, 411 expense of maintaining roads, 411 free of tollgates in 1925, 412 program of road construc- tion, 411 state highway system, 412 Vergennes and Bristol Plank Road Co. (Vt.), 281 Vergennes and Willsboro Turnpike (Vt.), 273 Voluntown, Conn., 402, 403 W^ages, Hingham and Quincy Turnpike, 178 Wagons, 37, 43 Wait, Samuel, mill owner, 185 Waitsfield, Vt., 272 Wait's Mills, Roxbury, Mass., 163, 184, 185 Walden, Vt., 264 Wales, Mass., 159 Wales, Asa B., hotel of, 117 Walker Brook, Becket, Mass., 128 Chester, Mass., 199 Townsend, Mass., 78 Walker, Squire George, sur- veyor, 202 [458] w Walker Street, Lenox, Mass., 78 Walkley Hill, Haddam, Conn., 368 Wallen's Hill, Conn., 348 Wallingford, Conn., 349 Wallingford, North Haven, and New Haven Plank Road Co. (Conn.), 408 Wallum Pond Hill, see Allum Pond Hill W^alpole, Mass., 27, 95, 140, 170 opposition of, 95 N. H., 79, 219 Waltham, Mass., 52, 169, 189 Waltham Turnpike (Vt), 267, 273 Walton's Bridge, Chester, Mass., 193 Wamgumbaug Lake (Conn.), 354 Wampum Station, New York, New Haven, and Hart- ford Railroad, 170 War chariots, 43 War of the Wheels, 45 Wardsboro, Vt., 274 Ware, Mass.. 133 Warner, N. H., 241 Warner and Kearsarge Turn- pike (N. H.), 240 INDEX Warner's Ferry, Hadlyme, Conn., 405, 406 Warren, Mass., 63, 64, 176, 192, 351 N. H., 227, 233, 243 invested in Moosilauke Mountain Road, 243 R. I., 157, 187, 324 Vt., 272, 278, 279 Warren Street, Boston, Mass., 147 Brookline, Mass., 161 Warren Turnpike (Conn.), 80, 379, 383 Warren Turnpike (Vt.), 278 Warren Village, N. H., 244 Warwick, Mass., 69, 70 R. I., 310, 317 Warwick and Irwin's Gore Turnpike Corp. (Mass.), 131 Washington, General, or- dered Bayley-Hazen road built, 264 President, 76, 97, 342 Washington, Conn., 342, 372 D. C, 17 Mass., 199 R. I., 310, 311 Washington Avenue, Sey- mour, Conn., 371 Washington Mountain (Mass.), 199 Washington Street, Boston, 94, 95, 147, 160, 185, 189,193,207 Brookline, 162, 190 Dedham, Mass., 90 Dorchester, Mass., 207 Norfolk and Bristol Turn- pike, so named through- out, 94 North Attleboro, Mass., 90 Quincy, Mass., 181 Roxbury, Mass., 164 Somerville, Mass., 155 Stoughton and Easton, Mass., 171 Weymouth, Mass., 115, 131 Washington Turnpike (Conn.), 372, 374, 375 Washington Village, South Boston, 142, 144 Watchemocket Square, East Providence, R. I., 202 Water bars on Peru Turn- pike (Vt), 277 Waterbury, Conn., 340, 365 Waterbury River (Conn.), 361, 362, 365, 366, 385, 386, 409 Waterbury River Turnpike (Conn.), 365, 371, 374, 388, 394 Waterbury Street, Vt., 280 Waterbury and Cheshire Plank Road (Conn.), 409 Waterford, Conn., 335, 359, 379 Vt., 269 Waterman Avenue, Center- dale, R. I., 308 Waterman, Widow, tavern of, 308 Water-Quechee River (Vt.), 272 Water routes, 177 for Quincy Granite, 207 Watertown, Conn., 340, 341, 366, 374, 393 Mass., 190, 196 refused tender of Hancock Free Bridge Corp., 197 Watertown Arsenal, 193, 196 Watertown Square, Water- town, Mass., 193, 195, 196 Watertown (Mass.), Turn- pike, 190, 191, 193, 196 Waterville, Maine, 106 Watson, B. Marston, clerk of corporation, 124 Wattle Ferry, Penn., 345 Watuppa Pond, Fall River, Mass., 324 Waumbeck Road (N. H.),242 Waverley Street, Framing- ham, Mass., 195 Wayland, Mass., 25 Weathersfield Turnpike ( Vt.) , 262 Webster, Mass., 195, 198 Webster, Daniel, 275 Webster Street, Douglas, Mass., 198 Webster Taverns, Bridge- water, N. H., 227 Wee Burn Country Club, Noroton, Conn., 377 Weeks, Senator John W., owner of Mount Pros- pect, 247 Weir Street, Taunton, Mass., 137 Weir Village, Mass., 137 Wellesley, Mass., 161, 195 Wellesley College, 195 Wellesley Square, Wellesley, Mass., 195 Wellington Hill, Belmont, Mass., 120, 122 Wellington, Jeduthan, direc- tor, 120 Wells Hollow, Conn., 403 Wells Hollow Turnpike (Conn.), 403 Wells River, Vt., 249, 265, 269, 271 Wells River Bridge, 265 new free, 266 tendered to town, 266 Wells' Tavern, Manchester Green, Conn., 344 Wentworth, N. H., 223 Wentworth, Gov. Benning,249 West Acton, Mass., 134 West Andover, N. H., 231 West Ash ford, Conn., 343 West Becket, Mass., 128 West Becket Village, Mass., 204 West Boston Bridge, 119, 120, 121, 122, 127, 151, 152, 188, 189, 193, 195, 236 assumed by Cambridge, 197 diversion by Watertown Turnpike, 196 incorporated, 189 location, 189 offset to Watertown Turn- pike, 196 rates of toll, 189 road to Watertown, 191 West Branch of Westfield River (Mass.), 74 West Bridgewater, Mass., 172 West Cambridge, Mass., 52, 151, 152, 153 West Central Street, Natick, Mass., 195 West Chapel Street, New Haven, Conn., 347 West Cornwall, Conn., 371, 372 West End, Boston, Mass., 195 West Fitchburg, Mass., 131 West Fourth Street, South Boston, Mass., 141, 142 West Glocester Turnpike (R. I.), 290, 296, 297, 314, 373 West Greenwich, R. I., 296, 315 West Hartford, Conn., 358 West Jamaica, Vt., 274 West Lynn, Mass., 85 West Middle Turnpike (Conn.), 373 West Norfolk, Conn., gate in, 349 West Otis, Mass.,, 209 West Point Turnpike (N. Y.), 399 West River, Guilford, Conn., 393 Madison, Conn., 393 West River Street, Provi- dence, R. I., 301 West River Turnpike Co. (Vt.), 283 West Road, Portsmouth, R. I., 298 West Roxbury, Mass., 185 West Scarboro, Maine, 106 West Simsbury, Conn., 361 West Springfield, Mass., 187 West Stockbridge. Mass., 166, 167, 173, 181, 182, 191 West Stockbridge and Al- ford Turnpike (Mass.), 176, 191 West Street, Concord, N. H., 231 Pittsfield, Mass., 67 West Townsend, Mass., 157 West Wardsboro, Vt, 274 Westboro, Mass., 161, 201 [459] INDEX Westcott's Road, Mendon, Mass., 76 Westchester Turnpike (N.Y.), 377 Westerly, R. I., 25, 292, 315, 316, 317, 322, 390 Western, Mass., 63, 64, 176, 192, 35i also see Warren, Mass. Western Avenue, Boston, Mass., 191 Cambridge and Brighton, Mass., 196 Lynn, Mass., 81 Western Bridge, 64 Western Railroad, 201, 204 under construction 209 Westfield, Mass., 73, 74 Vt., 249 Westfield River, Mass., 73, 74, 119, 176, 199, 200, 204 Westford, Conn., 3915 Mass., 175, 183 Westford and Lexington Turnpike Corp. (Mass.), 175, 183, 236 Westhaven, Vt., 267 Westminster, Conn., 354, 382 Mass., 131 Westminster meeting-house (Mass.), 69 Westminster Street, Arling- ton, Mass., 155 Providence, R. I., 294, 325 Westmoreland Turnpike Corp. (N. H.), 248 Weston, Conn., 339, 396, 397 401, 402, 404, 405, 406 Weston Turnpike (Conn.), 401 Westport, Mass., 324, 402 Westville, Conn., 340, 341, 371 Mass., 202, 203 Westwood, Mass., 138 Wetherell and Bennett, om- nibus line, 305 Wethersfield, Conn., 349, 368 Weybosset Street, Provi dence, R. I., 292, 315 Weybridge, Vt., 267 Weymouth, Mass., 117, 131, 132, 177, 178 allowed toll on bridges, 181 Weymouth Back River, Mass., 176 Weymouth Fore River, Mass 117, 176 Weymouth granite, 190 Wharf Bridge, Norwich, Conn., 398 Wheels in 1790, 47 Whisky, 47 White, David, authorized to call meeting, 66 Deacon John, house of, 176 Moses, contractor, 73 White Horse Tavern, Bos ton, Mass., 88 [460] White Mountains, 223, 238, 277 White Mountain Division Boston and Maine Rail- road, 233 White Mountains Plank Road Corp. (N. H.), 248 White Mountain Turnpike (N. H.), 242 White River, Vt., 220, 257, 258, 260 White River Falls Bridge, 220 White River Junction, Vt., 256 White River, second branch, 257, 271 White River Turnpike (Vt.), 256, 257, 271 White River Valley Rail- road, 258 Whitefield Road, Lancaster, N. H., 247 White's Monument, Bolton, Conn., 338, 343, 344 Whiting, Lemuel, stage, 258 Whiting Street, Hingham, Mass., 115 Whiting's Pond, Douglas, Mass., 183 Whitman, Mass., 131 Whitney, Eli, inventor, 357 Whitney Avenue, New Haven, Conn., 349 Whitney, Lake, Conn., 350 Whitney's Gun Factory, New Haven, Conn., 357 Whitneyville, Conn., 357 Whittemore, Rev. Thomas, accident to, 179 Whittier Tavern, Hampton, N. H., 235 Wickford, R. I., 306, 317, 402 Wickford Turnpike Co. (R. I.), 306 Wickford and Pawcatuck Turnpike Co..(R. I.), 317. Wide tires, 12, 13, 45, 61, 121 Wilbraham, Mass., 65, 192 \\ ilbraham Turnpike Corp. (Mass.), 191, 399, 400 Wild Cat Road (Conn.), 339 Wilkinson, Isaac, built Valley Falls Turnpike (R. I.), 310 Major James, 264 Oziel, 91, 310 made shovels, 37 Wilkinsonville Factory, Sut- ton, Mass., 201 Wilkinsonville Turnpike Corp. (Mass.), 201 Willard, Benjamin, land- owner, 135 Willey family, Crawford Notch, 224 Willey House, Crawford Notch, 224, 225 WHliam Street, Fall River, Mass., 325 Williams, Andrew, petition of, 309 Benjamin S., accident to, 179 Nathan, house of, 301, 312 Williamsburg, Mass., 149 Williamsburg and Windsor Turnpike Corp. (Mass.), 149 Williamstown, Mass., 206 Williamstown Center, Mass., 69 Williamstown Center Turn- pike (Vt.), 260 Williamstown, Vt., 252, 260 Williamstown Turnpike (Mass.), 67, 134 Willimantic, Conn., 141, 343, 353, 354, 382, 383, 407 gate in, 383 Willimantic (Conn.) Alms- house, 407 Willimantic (Conn.) Ceme- tery, 407 Willimantic Reservoir (Conn ), 343 Willimantic River (Conn.), . 343, 353. 383, 396 Willimantic Road, Columbia and Hebron, Conn., 383 Willimantic (Conn.), water- works, 356 Willington, Conn., 194, 342, 356, 383, 396 Williston Turnpike Co. (Vt.), 284 Williston and Jericho Plank Road Co. (Vt.), 284 Willoughby Lake Turnpike Co. (Vt.), 284 Willoughby Tavern, Salem, Conn., 399 Willow Grove, Penn., 16 Willsboro, New York, 273 Wilmington, Vt., 250, 253, 254 Wilmot and Kearsarge Turn- pike Corp. (N. H.), 245 Wilton, Conn., 339, 401, 402 VVinchendon, Mass., 131, 157 1830, map of, 157 fare from Boston, 52 Winchester, Conn., 348, 365 N. H., 70, 222, 234 Winchestertown, 8 ' Windham, Conn., 313, 352, 353. 356, 397, 407 Windham County, Conn., first settlers, 352 Windham County, Vt., post road through, 249 west towns of, 384 Windham Frog Fight, 397 Windham Green, Conn., 354, 356, 397 Windham Turnpike (Conn.), 352, 382, 383, 397, 407 Windham Turnpike (Vt.), 253, 276, 279 INDEX Windham and Brooklyn Turnpike (Conn.), 397 Windham and Mansfield Turnpike (Conn.), 345, 356 Windsor, Mass., 149 Vt, 235, 256, 257 fare from Boston, 52 Windsor County, Vt., post road through, 249 Windsor and Woodstock Turnpike (Vt.), 256 Winhall, Vt., 277 Winhall Turnpike Co. (Vt.), 283 Winnepesaukee, Lake, 222 Winnepiseogee Turnpike Corp. (N. H.), 248 Winnepiseogee and- White Mountains Turnpike Corp. (N. H.), 237 Winnesimmit Ferryways, 81 Winooski River, Vt., 252, 253 Winooski Turnpike (Vt.), 268, 269 Winsocket Turnpike Corp., 140, 146 Winter Hill, Mass., 114 Winthrop, Mass., 80 Winthrop Avenue, Lawrence, Mass., 129 Winthrop Street, Taunton, Mass., 203 Winthrop Swamp, Wood- stock, Conn., 396 Win slow House, Wilmot, N. H., 245 Winsted, Conn., 348, 387, . 388 Wiscasset, Maine, 114, 130, 141 Wiscasset Road, 130 Wiscasset and Augusta Turn- pike (Maine), 114, 130, 145, 2" Wiscasset and Dresden Turn- pike Corp. (Maine), 141 Wiscasset and Woolwich Turnpike (Maine), 130, 145, 211 Witmer, Albert, 11 Witmer's Bridge, 11 Woburn, Mass., 152, 154 Woburn Turnpike and Dra- cut Bridge Corp. (Mass.), 185 Wolcott, Conn., 365, 386 tollgate in, 386 Wolcott and Hampden Turn- pike Co. (Conn.), 409 Wolcottsville, Conn., 387, 388 Wolcottsville Turnpike Co. (Conn.), 388 Wolf Hill, old road over (R. L), 307 Wolf Neck, Stonington, Conn., 390 Wonalancet, N. H., 237 Wood, Ephraim, petitioner, 134 Woodbridge, Conn., 365, 371 Woodbridge's Tavern in East Hartford, Conn., 344 Woodbridge and Waterbury Turnpike Co. (Conn.), 410 Woodbury, Conn., 372, 374, 375, 392, 393, 399, 409 Woodbury and Seymour Plank Road Co. (Conn.) 409 Woodcock, John, early inn- keeper, 89 Woodford, Vt., 281 Woodford City, Vt., 254 Woodstock, Conn., 194, 362 380, 381, 396 Vt., 256, 257, 258 Woodstock and Lincoln Turnpike Corp. (N. H.), 246 Woodstock and Rutland Turnpike (Vt.), 272, 279 Woodstock and Somers Turnpike (Conn.), 381 Woodstock and Thompson Turnpike (Conn.), 380, 381 Woodsville, N. H., 249, 265 Woodward Street, Newton, Mass., 163 Woonasquatucket River (R. I.) 294, 309, 310 Woonasquatucket Turnpike (R. I.), 309, 320 Woonsocket, R. I., 27 Woonsocket Falls Turnpike Co. (R. I.), 327 Woonsocket Road, 170 Worcester, Mass., 25, 50, 51, 53, 63, 64, 69, 73, 75, 157, 158, 159, 160, 161, 166, 185, 187, 201, 235, 323, 367, 37A 400 fare from Boston, 52 might operate toll bridge, 166 Post Road in, 158 Worcester County, Mass., 64, 70 proceedings in, 75, 76, 131, . 134, 136, 157, 158, 159, 166, 169, 182, 183, 192, 198, 199 Worcester Street, Wellesley and Natick, 166 Worcester Turnpike (Mass.), 160, 185, 188, 189, 190, 194, 195, 396 Worcester Turnpike Co. (R. I.), (2), 326, 327 Worcester and Fitzwilliam Turnpike (Mass.), 157, 222, 235 Worcester and Leicester Turnpike Corp. (Mass.), 187 Worcester and Stafford Turnpike (Mass.), 158, 367, 372 Worcester and Sutton Turn- pike Corp. (Mass.), 185 Woronoco, Mass., 75 Worthington Turnpike Corp., (Mass.), 67 Wrentham (Mass.), 27, 89, 91, 95, 98, 170, 188, 294 Wrentham Branch New York, New Haven, and Hartford Railroad, 170 Wrentham and Attleboro Turnpike Corp. (Mass.), 188 Wrentham and Walpole Turnpike (Mass.), 170 Wright's Tavern, Wethers- field, Conn., 350 Wyman, Abel, landowner, 151 Wyoming, R. I., 316, 317 Wyoming County, N. Y., emigration to, 353 Wyoming Street, Boston, Mass., 147 Yale, Samuel, house of, 350 Yantic, Conn., 338 Yantic River (Conn.), 398 Young, Joseph, 70 Yonge Street, Toronto, 40 Yorktown, Penn., 8 York Gate (Md.), 9 York Road, Philadelphia. 14 York Street, New Haven, Conn., 347, 348 York Turnpike (Md.), 10 Zane, Ebenezer, 23, 24 Zane's Trace, 24 Zanesville, Ohio, 23 Zigzag line, 282 Zoar Bridge, Conn., 398 346, 397, Zoar Bridge Turnoike Co. (Conn.), 397 [461] ]4 rv ^BB JA. Sags?* . Renew* and ^hag ■ 12,000 01/95) 816574 * UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA LIBRARY I ill i«li u§ ■