Connecticut western news., 1877-07-20
Piamsmms Memories and Sad Saghtss-
 From Old Norfolk, aeyvM.

now ue4oLteu euu III AOAnob ~N "footing 1t" from Norfolk down beside the Blackberry river to Canaan. will appreciate this sentiment in all its sorrowful signin- canoe. All along his pathway he Will stumble over the ruins of once successful that flood, fire and financial frenzles have strewn on every side; ana which are rendered more striking by the few business enterprises that still seem to prosper. Going back in thought to an ear ly day, and entering the "Dug-wsy," 30 called, in that the Greenwoods Turnpike ru.a .a he -a~s ca. of tho narrow Pnse the hills and river had left, wa come to what was the woolen factory of Earl feroy Pease, which was one of the first erected for spinning and weaving broadcloth and satinetts in this part of the state. Ana we we'll remember the wonder caused al seeing us boys ''piece rolls" or "wind Doo- bins," or or. hearing the c!atter of old Mac Coy's shuttle, or the swifter flying treadles of the ''satinet girls" as the cloth grew rap idly, thread by thread. But the power loom and the carding engine have destroyed all that, and the himsy fabrics and the shameful shoddy have worked the shrouds of the poor weaver, and not helped bis poorer decendants to better fare or so gooc
 wages. And 30 the factory weaver and old style machinery went down. burned think' and the water power fell into the hands of the Ryans, Contemplating Irishmen. that they were, and were burned again. and now we see only the big wheel and the stone race way that led the water to 1t. Previous to the days ot s.Uncle Earl" as he was called, there stood few rods above his dye house, the forge and anchor shops of old Squire Forbes, where were hammered out the huge anchors that 1t took many yoke of oxen (4o l think to haul to Hudson or other tide waters, and which was sight that filled us youngsters with mighty loug- ings to see. some day the big ships the tons of iron were to have and to hold. But the forge went to ruin as the charcoal "gin out" and only the dam remained, under which the. big trout lay, and which old sGranther Day" continued to haul out without an Orvis rod. or Conroy fly, or braided silk line; though he dil probably use one of horsehair, spun by the aid of three goose quills, which is one of the ''lost arts" that the eloquent Wendall shouuld make note of. Further down the stream was another forge, once worked by Col. Burt, which was also in ruinous con- dition, and was bought by Sam. Cone and worked as scythe shop till the Kilborns
 ''factorY" came in, and which, finally turned to the knitting mill, ,thatnow. goes un derthe style and tltle of "Norfolk and New Brunswick Hosiery Compony," leaving thousands of modern Sold young ladies" to to spin ''street yarn," weave Christian tapsn h lazy rocking chairs, and knit cro-sha'-a! to the special benefit of nobody in particular. Below this came the old oil min of Lem. Akins, with it's two pom derous stone wheels that followed each other round and round, axled to the up- right shaft, and which crushed the flax seed, hot from the chaldron, and which was turned to ''pure linseed oir' by the huge screws of wood then in use. And many is the time we stole into the gloomy old mill to see the "wheels go wound," sf- ter days fronting in what was the trout brook of the very trouty old town. Ah. what strings of the shining sparklers we used to ''ketch" under that dilapidated old dams foamY water six. ten, perhaps twenty, without moving rod-or only a fsh-rod, and that lively. All gone now; dam, wheels, even the shelving rocks where the trout hid, blasted out to make room for some labor-saving machinery that only serves to make machines of men, and pay them poorly even for that. Below this more recently stood the various hoe shops of Lawrence, Stevens and others. that once forged the enormous hoe with winch the cotton, rice and sugar planta- tions of the South were titled; but with the downfall of slavery the trip-hammer shops went down, and only the fine stone dam remains to tell of their parting glories, and one wonders how so grand water power should be suffered to run to waste. Then comes the old toll gate, where we still may read who ''runs" 1t, "For four-wheel pleas ure carriages 25 cts" and so on down tc ''sheep and pigs for penny" Next be- low is the Dewel:p,ace, once so busy as { scythe works, and where the sturdy tripI hammer man worked himself into an Hon
 position in town and state; Dewel has gon' to be seen no nsosoer, or s'clipper," and ev
 erything is in ruins but the stone mansion
 which flood could not tear out. And herr
 we emerge from the Valley of Desolatiol
 and come upon the smiling face and field
 of John K. Shepard; and his well-to-d,
 tannery, store, millinery shop. etc., etc
 And here bis venerable old father, witt
 hair white as snow, and who must be u
 among the nineties, passes his quiet latte
 days, monument of sobriety, and conse
 quent good health. And down through tn
 deep gorge where the tannery stands, com
 the once splendid trout stream fed by th
 cold springs of HsYstack mountain, an
 high up. the West Norfolk depot, ths
 ought to have located where 1t would ''d
 the most good":-over on the side of O.
 naan mountain, thus coming within eas
 reach of all those great water powers th'
 Blackberry river once afforded, and at tt
 same time avoiding the absurd and costl
 Whiting river i'll, and the still more stupi
 and expensive rock cutting between tt
 said i'll and the depot. But somebody
 authority was aching to hear the screech {
 the steam whistle near his back door.
 was his Dutch Gap" and 1t swallowed U
 gold ducats regardless of consequence
 Dropping down from this "high horse" VI
 alight upon the site of the Jupiter Ma