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66
The Statistics and Gazetteer of New-Hampshire, Seventh
Edition, Compiled by Alonzo J. Fogg. Concord, N.H.: D.L.
Acres of improved land, 3,299.
Railroads. Ten miles by daily
stage to Hillsborough Bridge, on
the Contoocook Valley Railroad;
also daily stage to Wilton, fifteen
miles on the Wilton Railroad.
The Peterborough and Hillsbo-
rough Railroad will pass through
Bennington when built.
BEffTOlV.
Grafton Co. Beaver Meadow
Pond is the only considerable sheet
of water in this town. It abounds
with trout. Oliverian river, so
called from a Mr. Oliver, who fell
into it (Oliver is in—11 Oliverian"),
flows through the south part.
Tunnel brook is in the north part,
and Baker River, the Asquam-
chumawke, rising in a small pond
on Moosehillock, runs easterly
into Woodstock. The centre of
the town is studded with moun-
tain peaks. Sugar-loaf Mountain
is very symmetrical, and Owl’s
Head is most fertile in blueberries,
thousands of bushels being picked
on its summit each year. An im-
mense precipice, called the Face,
is on this mountain, and when the
country was first settled, a deer,
and a hound pursuing, leaped over
the brink and fell a hundred fath-
oms down. The deer was killed,
but the hound, save a broken leg,
escaped uninjured. Black Mt. is
densely wooded, and Moosehillock
ranks among the highest moun-
tains in New-Hampshire.
. First Settlers. Benton was
granted, January 31, 1764, to The-
ophilus Fitch, and it was settled
in that part called High Street by
Obadiah Eastman, shortly after
the commencement of the Revo-
lution. James Page settled soon
after on Oliverian meadows, and |
William Whitcher was the first
settler of North Benton. He was
the father of sixteen children who
lived to grow up, all very tall, and
“ there are more than a hundred
feet of Whitchers in William
Whiteher’s family,” was a true
and very common expression.
Dick French, a noted hunter and
wolf-killer, formerly lived at the
north part.
Name. Coventry was the first
name, but it was changed to Ben-
ton in honor of Hon. Thomas II.
Benton, Dec. 4, 1840.
Employments. There are some
good and productive farms among
the mountains, excellent crops are
raised, much maple sugar is made,
and the farmers lead pleasant
lives. About one million feet of
lumber are annually manufactured
and sent to market.
Summer Tourists. Moosehil-
loek, called by the Indians Moosi-
lauke, from mosi, bald, and auke,
a place—Bald-place, has been a
noted resort for many years.
There is a tradition that Water-
nomee, an Indian chief, ascended
it about 1685. Robert Pomeroy,
one of Rogers’ Rangers, died on it
in 1759. Chase Whitcher, father
of Wm. Whitcher, was the first
white settler, and Mrs. Daniel
Patch the first white woman who
climbed it. Amos F.Clough, photo-
grapher, and Prof. J. H. Hunting-
ton, of the State Geological Sur-
vey, spent the winter of 1869 and
1870 on its summit, being pioneers
of mountain meterology, and the
first men who ever achieved so
perilous a feat. There are two
bridle paths leading to the top of
the mountain—one from North
Benton and one from High Street,
and from East Warren is a good |
