Morning journal and courier., 1882-01-06
East Rock.

Mir. Stewards Expression Of His Mind
 With Regard to the Proposed Transfer
 of the Rocks Ownership.
 MT. Milton J. Stewart, owner of East Rock
 thus expresses his opinion of the proposed transfer of the Rock to the city for the pur- poses of park, in view of the price which he understands is named for the property "When purchased the Rock P years ago I purchased it for home. I came here from Manchester, N. H. was in search of home. I saw East Rock and went on top Of it and thought of it that if I liked it would purchase it. made enquiry of @ quarry was. A. M. Hubbel owned it. He is dead.
 I went down and saw MT. Hubbell and found I could purchase it at reasonable rate. He said it cost him $2,60O and 1 bargained for it satisfactorily, paying about $10O an acre for the land and the balance for improve ment he had made on 1t, making $2, 600 in all. I purchased it and then went back to Manchester and sold my property there at a
 discount to raise money to build the house.
 I carted lime, lumber and sand to the top of
 the Rock. I had to make the road over
 first. It had been laid out, but was in @ bad
 state. I built the house on top of the Rock.
 I was eight years building my house and barn
 on the Rock. It has been estimated by good
 judges that the house cost $9, 900 to build it.
 have cleared off the stone on top of the
 land and made underdrains and have about
 four acres that can till. What I have spent
 on the grounds is not less than $1, GOO an
 acre. have set out nearly three hundred
 fruit trees and they are now nearly all bear
 ing dug cistern underneath my barn which supplies me with quantity of water
 which is inexhaustible I baled out twenty
 pails day in six weeks and didn't lower it
 except eight inches in that time. I kept a public house with refreshments until the war, when business decreased and there was not
 much done. Then I bought quarries up and
 of land 35 feet wide, from the top to the
 hill by the road as you go up, bought of
 Elizur Hubbell, which now is certain ly worth $1,OO0 more. I then bought
 another lot of Elizur Atwater, then another of John W. Bishop, all quarry property, which, with my original purchase, consti- tutes 99 1OOths of East R ock. I bought these to enter into the B;ieian pavement block business: The first yea hat I was in this business made 1s,Ooo blocks for the city at $S2O thousand. Mir. Donnelly fur nished the next year 75, ,O00 at an advanced | price of $25 per thousand. The next after were furnished at BPS. The past year there have been nearly 100000 furnished at $30. The present year there is prospect of want ing a half million blocks for specification at $40 thousand My quarry is situated so that can work thirty blockmakers if there is demand for the stone. My quarry is the most valuable of all. If there is de- mand for stone, and can have the privilege of making them, I can make from my quarry onehalf profit. I can get out my stone for one-half what others can around the Rock, if have the same
 quarrymen. I want to show to the public
 what the value of East Rock consists of for quarrying purposes, as also in the view from
 the top. The view from the top of that
 Rock cannot be surpassed by anything in
 the New England States, Mt Holyoke per- haps excepted. No. not the White Noun
 tains' view equals it in variety. Now, if the
 public wants my hill for park give me
 what it is worth for park. Without the
 Rock the park would be of very little ac-
 count. They nearly all come on to the
 Rock for my view and pay me ten cents
 apiece. merely want fair com.
 for it and the subsequent rise in
 the value of the property and the value of
 the improvements have made; and if the
 law gives them the privilege of taking the
 property, shall be satisfied, but all want
 is fair play. Land has risen from $100 an
 acre, the price I paid, to from $3,Ot0 to
 $4, 900 an acre. There are 20 acres which I
 own, including the top of the Rock and
 ground in front to the river as far, as the
 Orange street bridge. have been informed
 that the commissioners want to give me but
 small advance over what it has cost me.
 Il am talked of hardly for charging small
 fee to people coming to the Rock to get my view. I have to go out for days works to
 get my living. The Rock is something
 purchased and which is rightfully mine. It
 was there before came. It will be there af- ter go. have only my hard earnings to
 live on. It is grand view. The Rock is
 my properly. It is mine to take away, if t were possible, What would not New Haven
 give to have that Rock if it were not thers.
 have worked 27 years as hard as any man, trying to make place for my old age. It
 seems hard to take it away anyway. I have spent the best years of my life to make Q
 home, and to take it away for the public for
 mere pittance, it seems cruel. I don't be- lieve the law admits of anything of the kind. If I had kept my Manchester property I
 should have been better off than at the price talked of for the Rock. Two lots of land in Somerville, N H., which I owned, are now right in the center of the city, worth more than they propose to give me for the Rock, and which only paid $65O for. There are splendid little summer places built on islands in the Missibesick, which if I had bought as I could have bought, for song, l should have been rich. There are pleasant drives about the lake, little steamboats running on, and little summer houses are dotted all over around the lake. It is fine summer resort. It was but wilderness when left. speak of this to show how the place has grown."