The daily morning journal and courier., 1907-06-18

Indian Field. It extended from where the river runs in an easterly dl- rection south to the mouth of the lit- tie brook which runs along Fort Hill. It was not Included in the original purchase from the Indians, having been reserved by them in their deed. 1t was, however, purchased from them in 1705, by John Mitchell, and was conveyed by him to the inhabitants of the town in TIA. This was of the greatest advantage to the first settlers It furnished them a space of cleared ground, where each planter could at once plant his corn, and other crops, without the delay of felling the trees.
 It is thought also that the ground where we now stand, and Aspetuck Hill had been in a large measure clear ed of trees by the Indians by burning, as was also Grassy Hill, two miles east of here. There appears also to have been some meadow land partial ly cleared at the mouth of the Aspe- tuck river.
 At that time the country about AASAO PlVbCAtVA IAO Suti1 uPPCelA ebAANS -elo 1t does now. The river then flowed with fuller tide. With the excep- tons have noted, continuous for est overspread the whole landscape. No thickets, however, choked up the ways through it, for the underbrush was swept away every year by fires built by the Indians for that purpose. Winding footpaths led here and there which the Indians and wild beasts fol- lowed. The roots of the smaller grass es were destroyed by this annual burn Ing over, A coarse long grass grew along the low banks of the river and wherever the ground was not thickly shaded by trees. After the occupation of the country by the white settlers this annual burning was prohibited. In lieu thereof, the general court early in its history enacted that every in- habitant with few exceptions, | should devote a certain time yearly, in the several plantations to the cut ting of brush and small trees in the more open forests for the purpose of allowing grass to grow in such places. as during the summer the cattle rang ed through the forests near the plantations subsIsting on what grew there. It is said that in the early settlement of this town all meadow iand was secured by clearing marshy or swampy ground and allowing 1t to grow up with grass from the roots and seeds already in the soil. It was one of the early difficulties in the col- ony to secure grass, from want of seed.
 The forests about here abounded with bears, wolves, foxes and cata- mounts, deer and moose, wild turkeys, pigeons, quail and cartridges, and the waters with wild geese, ducks, herons and cranes. The river itself was alive with fish and every spring great quan- titles of shad and lamprey cells ascend ed 1t. Strawberries, blackberries and huckleberries were extremely abund- ant in their season.
 The winters were usually of great severity. In 1887 the snow lay on the ground three feet deep all over New England from the third of November , until the 2Sd of March and on the 2sd of April 1t showed for several hours in Boston, the flakes being as large as shillings. The springs were very backward, the summers extremely hot and often dry.
 Upon the petition of the people of Milford, in May, 17O2, the general as- sembly granted them liberty to pur- chase from the Indians township at | Wyantonock, the Indian name of this place, and directed them to report their doings to the assembly. The next March they made an extensive purchase of the natives, and a patent i for the same was granted by the as- sembly Tn October, t7O4, the legisla- turc enacted that the tract so pur- chased should be a township by the name of New Milford, and that 1t must be settled in five years-the town plat to be fixed by a committee appointed by the general assembly. In October, 1706, the first meeting of the proprie- tors was held at Milford, and it was voted that the town plat and home llots should be speedily pitched and laid out by the committee appointed by the legislature, according to it's own best judgment, following certain rules laid down by the proprietors. During that year and according to those rules the town plat was laid out.
 l It was originally intended to lay out the settlement on the hill immediately east of the present village, from this circumstance called Town Hill to this day. In point of fact it was laid out 1 on Aspetuck Hill, and consisted of the town street and sixteen home lots. The street was twenty rods wide. It be- gan at the south end of the brow of the hill, or at the lower end of what was then called the "Plain on the Hin" and extended northward. Eight lots were laid out on each side of this street, each lot being twenty-one rods wide and sixty deep.
 By the rules adopted by the propri- etors, these lots were to be taken up successively in regular order by the settlers as they should arrive. John Noble took the first lot on the east side of the street at the lower end, he be- ling the first settler to arrive John Bostwick took the lot on the opposite side of the street. he being the next settler on the ground. This method was followed by the others until there were twelve settlers with their families numbering seventy souls located on this street in 1712. Of these twelve families, four were from Northamp- ton and Westfield Mass, four were