Page:The Granite Monthly Volume 2.djvu/153

 BAKER'S RIVER.

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��cellent material, from the beginning of it, to the place where we left this river, aud it layeth of a pretty equal proportion from one end to the other, and back of this there is a considerable quantity of large mountains."

"Monday, June 24. This morning it rained hard and all the night past and it held raining all this clay, and we kept our camp, and here we staid the night ensu- ing and it rained almost all night."

"Tuesday, June 25*. This morning fair weather and we swung our packs, the sun about half an hour high, and we marched along the carrying place or road, marked about two miles and then steered our course north, twelve degrees west, about twelve miles and came to that part of the Coos intervale, that is called Moose Meadows and then steered our course up the river by the side of the intervale about north-east and came to a large stream that came into the inter- vale, which is here about a mile wide. This stream came out of the east and we camped here this night."

This last mentioned stream was the 01- iverian and the next day's journal gives an account of their following this stream to the Connecticut River to the great in- tervale there, now known as the Ox Bow. This party proceeded on up as far as Lan T caster aud some of the party took an ex- cursion as far north as the present town of Northumberland, while the rest of the party as the journal says, tarried to mend their shoes and to make prepa- rations to return homeward. We have an account of their journey back as far as Haverhill Corner or thereabouts, and then the journal ceases and we have no ac- count of their progress or encampments. It would seem that they camped on the night of Saturday, June 22, 1754, near where Col. Joseph Savage of Wentworth now lives. As the record shows that their encampment was about a mile be- low the Indian carrying place, which started at the fording place a little below Wentworth Village, and that they passed Sunday, June 23, mostly in the town of Wentworth, in pursuing their journey up to near the place where the village now stands, then after fording the river in

��passing up Pond Brook to their encamp- ment between the two Baker's Ponds. This encampment was of course that night in the edge of Orford, probably near the former dwelling and tavern of Mr. Nathan Davis.

After this party of exploration, we have occasional accounts of parties passing up B iker's River. It seems that one Capt. Hazen in 1762, with a party of men among whom was Col. Joshua Howard, settled in the present town of Haverhill, N. H., and went about erecting a saw mill and grist mill there, the first that had been undertaken in the Coos Country, north of Charlestown and Concord. Col. Howard used to relate that he and two others of the Haverhill party were the first among the settlers that came from Salisbury in the straight course to Ha- verhill. They came on in April, 1762. Jesse Harriman and Simeon Stevens, were Col. Howard's companions and they employed an old hunter at Concord to pilot them through. They came up west of New-found Pond in Hebron, and so up to Rumney or West Plymouth, thence up Baker's River through Wentworth and a part of Warren, to where the brook comes down from the summit and unites with Baker's River. They then followed that brook up to the sumnlit, and thence followed the Oliverian to Ha- verhill. They performed the journey from Concord to Haverhill in four days, which was for that time considered, far ahead of the present rail road speed.

We also learn that the crank for the first saw mill at Newbury, was drawn on a hand sled from Concord to Haverhill on the ice and snow, in the winter proba- bly of 1762 and '63. The party that went after it and drew it up were Judge Wood- ward and John Page and some three or four others. They made their sled and took their provisions and started. They accomplished the down journey with ease, but on the return, their load proved rather heavy; the snow was very deep; the weather very severe and the whole party came near perishing with cold, fa- tigue and hanger. They came by New Found Pond to Baker's River, thence up the Indian carrying place through Orford

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