Rafting lumber down the Connecticut
River was a common economic activity in the late 18th
century. The forests in Southern New England were becoming depleted,
so increasing numbers of entrepreneurs in Northern New England took
advantage of the burgeoning lumber market, cutting trees and shipping
them down the river to be processed in sawmills downstream. The first
real lumber baron on the Connecticut River was David Sumner of
Hartland.
David Sumner was born into a fairly
wealthy Claremont, New Hampshire family in 1776. His father was
determined that he would graduate from college, but David was more
interested in business than in academics. As a young adult, he
trained in the mercantile business at Lyman's Store in White River
Junction, then established his own store in Hartland.
In 1805, David married Martha Brandon
Foxcroft, the daughter of a doctor in Brookfield, Masschusetts. He
became an important person in Hartland. He was elected captain of the
Hartland militia in the War of 1812, was a state legislator, justice
of the peace, and Hartland's postmaster for 20 years. Often a
storekeeper would be the postmaster, as the store was the logical
place to have a post office. David became quite wealthy from these
various ventures, and he also inherited an estate from his father.
In colonial New Hampshire, Governor
Wentworth set aside 500 acres for himself in each township. These
tracts of land were called “The Governor's Rights”. David's
father, Benjamin Sumner, had purchased the Claremont tract from the
Governor, and David inherited that land from him when he died. In
1816, David purchased several more “Governor's Rights” tracts
from Governor Wentworth's widow. These tracts were in northern
Vermont and New Hampshire, and contained huge quantities of lumber.
With these land acquisitions, David
Sumner entered the lumber business. He employed crews of lumbermen to
cut wood in the north country, then raft it down the Connecticut
River. There were three canal and lock systems on the Connecticut
River, at Wilder, Hartland, and Bellows Falls. Perez Gallup owned the
canal and locks at Hartland, but when he died, Sumner bought the
property from his estate, improved the canal and locks, and built a
sawmill there. He built a second sawmill in Dalton, New Hampshire,
which was run by his nephew. His fortune increasing by leaps and
bounds, he built a mansion for himself and his wife, which is still
standing in Hartland, and is now a Bed and Breakfast Inn.
In 1825, David Sumner's crews moved
two million board feet of lumber from the Johns River in Dalton, New
Hampshire to the mill at Hartland. That year, many of the logs were
mast logs, which were still very valuable. Although they were more
valuable, mast logs were so long and big that they often caused log
jams. One of these log jams took 15 to 20 men a full day to pick
apart, costing Sumner $8. That same year, thieves in Haverhill and
Orford stole some of the logs.
Most of Sumner's logs were sent loose
down the Connecticut River to Hartland, but often at Hartland, some
were grouped into rafts and sent further South to be sawn into lumber
under a contract. These rafts were piled high with shingles, potash
and other wood products, destined for the Southern New England
market. In 1832 a raft of three boxes of three boxes contained 26,614
board feet of lumber and shingles, headed down the Connecticut.
These huge boxes had to be dismantled
to go through canals and over falls, and if the river was low it made
things much harder for the crew. In 1824, the combination of low
water and huge logs caused log jams at Millers Falls and Hadley
Falls, Massachusetts, and the crew had to use crews of hired oxen
working from the riverbank to break the jam. This was the heavy
equipment available in that day. During this process, one man was
drowned.
Driving logs downriver was dangerous
work, especially in jams. The men actually “rode the logs”, even
while trying to untangle a log jam. A sudden shift in logs could mean
that a log driver would lose his footing and fall into the river.
Many men who went for an impromptu swim simply made for the river's
edge and emerged unharmed. Some, however, were overtaken by the
current and swept downstream. Worse, a leg or arm could get pinned or
crushed in a log jam, and a badly injured person can hardly swim to
shore in fast current.
It was unusual for the drivers to make
it all the way to Southern Massachusetts or Connecticut without
encountering some type of difficulty. In 1824, they arrived at South
Hadley Falls with 28 rafts loaded with wood products. It was Sunday,
and neither the canal crews nor the Sumner crews would work. Finally,
with enough extra money and persuasion, the crews went into action
and the logs successfully went over the falls and the other products
were safely transported through the locks.
Southworth Park has picnic tables and a parking lot, and it is a trailhead for one of the Rivendell Trails. On the right side of the parking lot, there is an opening in the brush that leads to a meadow. There is a nice view from the hilltop. One of the West Fairlee portions of the Rivendell Trail begins on the left of the parking lot. This part of the Rivendell Trail is somewhat difficult, although I am fifty and have a bad left foot and I am more than capable of hiking it. Some of it is steep, and this trail involves climbing over and around some rocks, streams, and one uprooted tree. This trail leads over to Blood Brook Road in West Fairlee Center. There is a stone wall about halfway between Southworth Park and Blood Brook Road. From the park to the stone wall, the trail is very well marked, after the stone wall, the path and markings are less clear. 
