Morning journal and courier., 1889-08-31


 Swamp-Old Highway Lines In and About "The Pool''-Bayberry Tallow.
 NUMBER TwENTY-Two. About the first industry, perhaps the very irst, that occupied the attention of the early ettlers outside of their agricultural inter- 'sts, was that of supplying bog ore to the Iron Workes" in East Haven. A brief his- ;ory of our connection herewith seems per- .inent here.
 At a General Court holden in New Haven n 1855 the following entry was made:
 "The Town Is acquainted that there is a purpose hat Iron Worke shall be sett up beyond the Farmers at stoney River which is considered will own voted "To give full iibertie for the Iron ron Workes to go on, and also for wood, water, iron place, cares, shells for lime and what is necessary Tor that worke upon the Towne Lands upon that side of the great river called the East River"
 When the union of the Connecticut and New Haven colonies took place, SO much was It desired that this business should be en- order was passed:
 "13th May, 1869.
 Upon the petition of Mr. William Andrewes on behalf of Capt. Thomas Clarke, Master of the Iron Workes of New Haven, for the encouragement of good iron and well wrought according to art, this Court doe confirm O grant formerly made by New stanty or only employed in the said work shall be and are hereby exempt from paying country taxes for seven years next ensuing"
 The old place is still pointed out to the tourist. The reduction and smelling of iron ore was carried on there with more or less vigor till 1879 or 1880, or from twenty to twenty-five years. Why the work ceased 80 abruptly has never been satisfactorily ex- plained. Mir. Dodd of East Haven thus speaks of it in his Register"
 "There was great mortality in the village in the eipal workmen died which may have obstructed the operation, and the expense was too great to realize fams that the death of the % pTincpa % 'Ns produced this change"
 Again Mir. Dodd writes:
 "why this business was relinquished cannot now be satisfactorily ascertained. The furnace was sup ly cartsd, but sometimes brought from Bogmine Wharf by water round to the Point below the fur day is called Bogmine."
 The first intimation we get of this enter prise, outside of Mir. Dodd, comes from the Probate Records of New Haven as follows:
 e7th December, less.
 and also road or highway where 1t is or % lately Was when bogmne ore Was carted to the Iron Workes, aud from the said Bog
 eth to the end of our ToWne lingford.''
 "-- and one highway from the Boggmine Wharffe up to the country road"
 No trigonometry of the present day can by any means resurrect these old highway lines. What @ delight to the historian, could he but uneaIth in some dark attic crude dia- grams even of these old routes of yore. Ger tainly the allusions quoted above refer to main lines of travel between North Haven and the iron works. Over these, wherever they may have been, the ore was carted.
 The latter reference fixes a branch road from the "mines to the Wharffe." This wharf was at or near Sackett's Point.
 Passing now to Dec. 2S, 1896, we find in the Proprietors' Record that: "The Towne granted Nathaniel Yale and others eighty acres of land for eighty years near Bogmire Swamp provided they improve the same"
 And again, page 235, volume 3, this re- port is found:
 "Highway to Bogmire Swamp.
 We whose names are underwritten being appoint ed by the major part of the selectmen to take out convenient four rod highway on the east side of across the ends of stephen Trowbridge. Abraham ingly b.en upon the spot this sth day of October 1722 and discovered said highway foure rodds wide of Mr. John Yales Lott incumpassing the BilIberry Swamp to the highway: the last stake foure rodds
 Moses Mansfield.
 Samuel Todd.
 This layout made so careful and rendered 50 plain on the day it was surveyed, means little more than an inextricable snarl at tho present time. No conjecture will be offered as to it's whereabouts or what relation it sus- tained to any other point. The only valuable thing about it, is it's confirmation of the proximity of this metal industry to our doors.
 . The Bogmines covered considerable terri tory. For the sake of clearnness we will gay that beginning In the marshes east of ths Episcopal church, theuce in a southerly direction including all the lands around "The Pool" thence swinging in 0 crescent curving to the southwest, passing in the rear of F. Hayden Todds' and crossing the street few rods south of his house, on in a southwest erly course following the flow of stream called since earliest remembrance "Bogmiue Brook" lies, 1t is believed this famous locality If there is any one distinctive point in this tract more than another where it might be said the chief interest of "the diggings" bog we should name the vicinity of "the pool'' and the swamps north of 1t. At almost any place within this area can still be found nodules of ore from the sizs of pea to masses weighing from thrse to four pounds or more.
 In and about ''The Pool" the waters have 0 distinctly metallic taste, and are strongly impregnated with Iron. Hundreds of gal- Ions are carried away yearly and drank for their well known curative properties. The indications of iron are plainly seen on the surface all over the marsh. Moreover, here abound those large beds of sesguioxide of iron, so valuable as coloring agent in the manufacture of pressed brick. How came this deposit therel Iron Is found in formations of every age. It is almost universally scattered as @ con stituent through the rocks and minerals. In the locality in question away back in the world building ages, there chanced to be made a small deposit of this material. It was having a remarkable affinity for the oxyger of the atmosphere, it took up all it could ab. sorb and became then q peroxide. Its bed was low-marshes formed over it-water as sisted the chemical agsncies-it was mixed with peat and mould-the solid particles ad hered together-time dissolved the softer parts-water filtered away the organic sub stances, leaving the honey combed ore com pacted in irregular masses as found then ant to-day.
 Such, divssted of technical terms, is tn, ! geologist's account for the presence of boi iron ore.
 This marsh is by no means solitary O l uncommon instance of the kind. Whereve | the conditions were similar the same reeult followed. The notoriety gained in this GAS | arose only from the unusual large quantit, | of the deposit. Small specimens of this na | ture may be found in any of the swamps bor | dering on the Quinnipiac river, and possibly | in other parts of the town.
 What means were employed to gather thi article in our early days, what quantity wa | taken away, who transported the same, wha prices were obtained or who was beneftte thereby, must remain unanswerable ques tions.
 gAYBERhY TALLow. Another calling followed to some extent b our ancestors was the manufacture of "Bay berry Tallow." It does not appear that was made in this parish except for home COT sumption and yet it might have been. A any rate the product was deemed of suficien importance to need protection from the gov ernment for in 1721 we read:
 If any person or persons shall at any time befor the twentieth day of August annually. gather an, | of the said berries (bayberries) growing in an place in this Colony, he or they so offending sha | peck of berries so gathered aforesaid, and pr | rata for greater or lesser quantities.
 It was found by experience that Angus 20 was too early for the proper maturing c
 this crop, and the following year an amend | ment to the act extended the time to Sep
 tember 10, when they might begin to hua
 band tho same. Certain codless ones wei just as eager to evade the laws century an | half ago as they are today, and that the
 infringed in so small an offence as unlawful