The Portland daily press. [volume] (Portland, Me.) 1862-1921, 1897-08-13
IN THE WHITE MOUNTAINS.
Notes OF Tour Made 100 Years Ago by
President Timothy Dwight of Yale Col
lege.
(From Among the Clou Dis. J


lege, who was an extensive traveller in
New England century ago, wrote very
interesting account of his journey to the
Coos country, northern New Hampshire.
He left New Haven late in the summer of
1907, and followed the Connecticut from
Hartford to Lancaster, except making a
detour at Wells River. from whence he
followed the valley of the A1nmonoosuc
to Littleton. From there he went to Lam
caster in the most direct course. After
making short stop at Lancaster, he pro-
ceeded to North Conway by way OF
the White Mountain Notch, passing
through Jefferson, then known as Dart
mouth, to Rosebrook's, at or near the
present Fabyan house. He was a good
observer, and he told the story of his
journey in plain and simple language,
from which the following is quoted:
We left Lancaster, October 2, 1897, at
IL o'clock, with very favorable impress
ions, both of the town and the inhabi-
tants. In the family of Rev. Mr.. W.,
with whom we lodged, we had spent our
time in very agreeable manner and
had received from them every Office of
kindness and hospitality. Our road lay
through wilderness. in which, as I
have heretofore observed, there were but
four houses in forty miles. 1t was also.
throughout a considerable part of the dis
tance, encountered with all those disa-
greeable circumstances which 1 have
mentioned in the account of Littleton
but was travelled with the consciousness
of absolute safety from every unwelcome
intrusion Of man. With the noblest
scenery around us, and with the best
health and spirits, we pursued our course.
We dined at jefferson, at this time
called Dartmouth, and containing only
a single house on the road, built many
years since by Col. Whipple, the proprie-
tor of the township. The house was
occupied by two old people, man and
his wife named Haight. While we were
dining here on fare so bad that with diff
Guilty we swallowed little part of it, our
meal was embittered by the sight of our
innkeeper walking around the room in a
singular kind of fit, perfectly possessed of
his senses, but unable to speak, and ex-
hibiting o countenance CONSTRUCTED and
CHASTITY.
After dinner we rode to Rosebrook's IS,
where we arrived about sunset. The
whole distance was twenty miles.
This man, with a spirit of enterprise,
industry, and perseverance which has sur
mounted obstacles, demanding more
patience and tirmness than are in many
instances required for the acquisition of
empire, planted himself in this spot in
1888 At that timesthere was but sin
gle house within twenty miles, namely,
that where we dined. There are now two
Others one within seven, and the other
within thirteen miles, in the valley of the
White Mountains; and the inhabitants of
these are his nearest neighbors. Here he
stationed himself in an absolute wilder
ness, and was necessitated to look for
everything which was either to comfort
or support life, to those who lived at least
twenty miles from him, and to whom he
must make his way without road. By
his industry he has subdued farm of $50
or 200 acres, and built two large barns,
the very boards of which must be trans
ported from great distance with such
expense and difficulty as the inhabitants
of the older settlements would think in
tolerable. He has, however, had the sat-
isfaction for some time, to see these barns
annually filled with the produce OF his
farm. He is now pr eparing to erect a
saw-mill, and after that grist mill,
and when these are finished he proposes
to build himself house. Hitherto he
has lived in a log hut in which he has
en- tertained most of the persons travelling
these roads during the last eight years.
The number of these is very great and
but for this single man it is not easy to
conceive how the road could have been
we'll travelled at ALL
The distance between the houses previ-
ously built is SO great and the region SO
inhospitable, that travellers would always
have been exposed to suffer and in the
cold season to perish, and their horses to
starve. were it not that they found the
necessary shelter and supplies. What
these hardships and exposures mean you
cannot conceive, and will naturally smile
at the assertion that log house can be
of SO much consequence. We who passed
through this country in the most favora-
BILE season were ready, from our own ex-
perience, to admit these facts without
question. For the usual Inconvenience
of a log house we were prepared; but we
found comfortable beds good food and ex-
cellent fare for the horses, all furnished
with as much good will as if we had been
near friends of the family. Our enter
tainment would by most Englishmen, and
not a small number of Americans, be re-
garded with disda1n. 10 us 1t was not
barely comfortable; it was in the main
pleasant.
To your mind, which still cherishes the
enuine feelings of nature, rehearsal of
1.-THE short and simple annals of the poor'
cannot be disagreeable. During twelve
out of fourteen years, this honest, indus
trious man labored on his farm without
any legal title The proprietor was an in
habitanu of New York; and sold him the
land through the medium of an agent.
When he bought it the agent promised
to procure deed for him speedily.
Throughout this period he alternately So
licited and was promised the conveyance
which had been originally engaged. Nor
did he resolve, until he had by building
and cultivation increased the value of his
farm by 20-fold to go in person to New
York and demand deed of the proprietor
himself. The truth is he possesses that
downright, unsuspecting integrity which
even in men of superior understanding
often exposes them to imposition, from
a confidence honorable to themselves, but
at times unhappily misplaced Here,
however the fact was otherwise, for the
proprietor readily executed the conveyance
according to the tel ms of the original
bargain. In my journey of 1903 found
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