Published by the Middlesex Canal Association
Billerica, Massachusetts

Vol. 8, No. 3             September 1970

ANNUAL CANAL HIKE – SEPTEMBER 26, 1970

The Ninth annual Old Middlesex Canal walk will take place on Saturday, September 26, 1970, starting at 1:00pm. As in the past, this walk is co-sponsored by the Middlesex Canal Association, the Appalachian Mountain Club and the Boy Scouts of Troop 55, Billerica.

The meeting place will be the Billerica Center common; there will be an opportunity to visit the Canal Museum on Concord Road. Then, a motor convoy will proceed to North Billerica, where the group will gather near the Talbot Mills to start the walk. The route, a good portion of which will be along a tree-shaded towpath, is approximately 4 miles long and has been improved and maintained by the Scouts of Troop 55.

At the end of the walk, there will be a pot-luck supper at the Kennedy School, served by the Mothers' Auxiliary of Troop 55. The cost of the supper will be $1.25 per person. Reservations for the supper must be made by Thursday, September 24 with Mrs. Edith J. Choate, 429 West Street, Reading, telephone 944-0129 after 8:00pm.

No reservations are required for the hike and all walkers, joggers, historians, photographers and transportation enthusiasts are most welcome.

September 19 – Honesdale, Penna., Pennsylvania Canal Society – Fall field trip along the D & H Canal.

October 3, 1970 – Allegany, New York, Canal Society of New York State – field trip on Genesee Valley Canal.

January 23, 1971 – Syracuse, New York; Annual meeting, Canal Society of New York State.

On May 16, 1805, the Massachusetts Legislature passed:

An ACT to incorporate Benjamin Hall, Esquire and others, by the Name of Proprietors of the Medford Branch Canal and Locks between the Middlesex Canal and Mystic River, and easterly of the Post Road leading from Charlestown to Medford.

A bibliography of that old Middlesex canal would be of much interest as, judging by the articles (often illustrated) that have appeared in the weekly issues of Boston papers, there is a fascination connected therewith. The writer confesses to having come under its spell, and derived much pleasure and satisfaction therefrom, even though it entailed much study, work and travel. Some years since he was rallied a little for his neglect of the present subject, having only made the briefest mention thereof. Search in his own collection of the work of various writers, fails to reveal more attention paid by them to this branch canal. The recent acquisition by the Historical Society of the original record book of the Medford Turnpike Corporation gives some data, and the present seems a fitting time to notice this short but essential connection of the famous old waterway with the "Medford river" of those days (the Mistick of earlier), today called the Mystic.

Why essential? First, because the Middlesex canal (opened two years before) was a through line to Charles river and Boston. Contrary to original intent, it left Medford at one side with only a "way station" at the further end of its first level in a corner of the "West End." There the original survey was commenced by "Samuel Thompson of Woburn, who began his work and proceeded from Medford river near the location of the present lock."⁽¹⁾

There, was to have been the southern terminal of the canal, and from there the tidal flow of the river made a continuous waterway through Medford to Boston harbor. At that identical spot this article is written.

Second, because a new industry (perhaps unthought of at the inception of the canal) had arisen in Medford, i.e., ship-building. It was a "long haul" and a heavy one to transport ship timber up and down hill for two miles, as was the case of that coming down from the north country on the canal, and the same was true of other commodities.

Third, it was claimed that the management was not of the best, and that the canal was deficient in one important requisite, viz., water. It was also said that its extension to Charlestown had been unwise, and perhaps the Medford Branch canal proprietors anticipated this to be a remedy. The shortage of water was later relieved by placing ten-inch flatboards on the dam across Concord river at Billerica. The canal proprietors had to fight in the courts for what they got, and the reports thereof are interesting reading today. Benjamin Hall, the principal corporator, left on record his views of the matter, plainly expressed.⁽²⁾

Itt is Very Evident that the Corporation has not Fullfill'd there Part of the Act Untill they have Lockt the same in Medford River.

The legislative record states that permission had been obtained for connecting with the Middlesex canal. The act fixed the capital stock at thirty shares, one vote to each, provided no one shareholder had more than five shares. It allowed them to hold real estate to the value of ten thousand dollars, and fixed the rate of toll at one-sixteenth of a dollar per ton; toll was to commence as soon as the canal was completed. It also gave specific direction as to construction and maintenance of a bridge for the Medford turnpike. This branch canal was of necessity at a lower level than the other and required two locks for its operation. Land was purchased of Samuel Dexter and William H. Sumner (owners of Royall estate), seven and one-half acres and two rods for $751.25, and was to revert to the grantors if disused for two years.

A storage basin⁽³⁾ was constructed on this land, beside the main canal, with a side lock, or gates, in the embankment to give access thereto. Mr. Hooper, who when a boy lived nearby on the turnpike, says the lock was a big timber-framed box between two heavy stone walls which were several feet away, and timber braces between, up and down which the boys could climb. His description tallies with that given by others of the wooden locks of the Middlesex canal.

At the opposite side of the basin, a lock was built like those in the canal, and from it to the river the branch canal was excavated at the requisite lower level. There another lock of the same size was erected, but with tidal gates at the river end. These locks were of timber and plank construction, reinforced by heavy stone walls. The remains of the latter lock, slowly decaying for sixty years, were removed but a few years ago, when the extension of the parkway was made along the river's edge.

That the branch canal was completed and in operation in 1807, is shown by Miss Wild in her excellent memorial of Benjamin Hall⁽⁴⁾ as follows:

In two years (1807 to 1809) $256.98 were received for tolls. Jonathan Warner and John Jaquith were the keepers of the locks. The first dividend was declared in February, 1809 – four dollars on a share of one hundred dollars.

The Middlesex canal paid none till 1819.

How long the branch maintained a separate corporate existence, or that it was merged with the other we may not say, but we know the time came when it shared in the decadence and final abandonment in 1852.

From 1819 to 1835 were the "palmy days of the canal." Those of the branch began earlier and continued longer, as the bulk of its traffic was in ship-timber. It is unlikely that it diverted any of the "through to Boston" shipments. How much of Medford's peculiar product was exported via the branch we may never know, but probably no inconsiderable amount.

Near the basin was the Columbian Hotel, which though on the "Post-road," shared in the general ruin, and was cut in two, moved and made into dwellings. Some factories were built, and houses along Union street, which people called Back street. The Branch canal was back of that and became a dumping and drainage place. We find no reversion of title when "disused for two years." Probably the "Proprietors" sold it (as did the Middlesex) in closing up their affairs. The unsanitary conditions that were created were more evident with the introduction of water from Spot Pond in 1871, and the "Branch Canal" figures considerably in the reports of the Board of Health in the early seventies. At last the nuisance was abated. Along its course are the Teel carriage factories, the city stables, Water and Sewer Department buildings, and lastly the extension of Mystic Valley parkway.

Across and beside the river are the Cradock dam and lock of concrete masonry, erected by the Commonwealth of Massachusetts. During their construction there stood a few rods away the last visible remains of Benjamin Hall's enterprise of a century earlier, the river lock of the Branch canal. At its beginning Mr. Hall had attained an age at which most men retire from active enterprise. He saw it completed and ten years in use ere he passed on.

We can record no story of sentiment or romance of it. Probably none of the excursions to Bacon's grove or the "Lake of the Woods" started on its level. Had they done so the following from Ballou's Pictorial of 1855, would well describe the "locking through."

You embarked in a trim built barge with a very comfortable cabin, the craft drawn by two horses harnessed tandem. At the very outstart you entered a lock. The gates enclosed you in a damp wooden receptacle, and you seemed lost to society in the bottom of a mouldy chest. But right ahead the water came sizzling down from above, and you gradually found yourselves rising in the world, finally coming up to quite a respectable elevation. When the gates were swung open, the horses were put to and you resumed your voyage.

As the Medford turnpike had been chartered and built, the Branch canal proprietors were required to construct and maintain the requisite bridge at their crossing. It could not be over four and one-half feet above the water, and the approach to it steeper than five inches in one rod.

A meeting of the Turnpike Corporation was held to make remonstrance against the canal charter and a committee appointed to "compromise," then another committee to attend the General Court and take means to prevent the said canal's passage through the turnpike, but not to appear with counsel.

As Benjamin Hall was a prominent shareholder and corporator in all three enterprises, the above seems a little strange, but perhaps it was only a show of resistance. The turnpike records contain but two other allusions to the canal:

July 6, 1807. Voted to allow Peter Tufts, `Junior' account $7.50 for surveying bason of canal

Feb 10, 1834. Voted That the Proprietors of the Medford Branch Canal & Locks be notified to remove the piece of timber from off the top of the bridge over the said canal in the middle of the said turnpike road, it being an inconvenience and an obstruction to the public travel on said turnpike road; also to make their bridge wider and repair the causeway on each side thereof according to law.

Abner Bartlett, esquire, was then the clerk and his entry is followed by:

Seved a copy on Mr Stearns

The piece of timber was evidently for the purpose of keeping passage to the right in either direction, and as this is the only allusion during the years, we may presume that the relations of each corporation were generally pleasant. Eighteen years later (1852), this canal ceased operation, but the turnpike continued a few years longer; only to succumb to the inevitable. Nothing romantic about it, purely utilitarian was the Medford branch canal.

(1) See Historical Sketch of Caleb Eddy, agent of canal, 1843.
(2) See REGISTER, Vol. III, p. 87.
(3) The area of this is still noticeable near Mystic avenue.
(4) See REGISTER, Vol. 111, p. 88.

During the summer months, a great deal of behind-the-scenes activity has been going on. Perhaps the most significant is the tentative agreement which has been reached between the directors of the Middlesex Canal Association and Lowell Technological Institute, Librarian Joseph V. Kopycinski, whereby the Association will deposit with Lowell Tech its collection of manuscripts, pamphlets and books. These will he kept in a new Rare Books Section of the Institute Library; our collection will be catalogued, properly displayed, and, most important, made available to scholars and other interested persons at any reasonable time. The Lowell Tech Library already has a collection of material from the Proprietors of Locks and Canals on Merrimack River, and similar arrangements are being made for the deposit of the Lowell Historical Society collection under the same terms. The Association will, of course, retain title and ownership of the material, and the right to withdraw all or part of it at any time, upon reasonable notice. The directors feel that this will be a great step forward; not only will our present collection be suitably protected and made available to those interested, but it will give prospective donors of other material the assurance that the Association has a proper place for preserving historical material.

There have been several meetings of the Writing Committee, under the chairmanship of Professor Douglas P. Adams, 6 Bellevue Avenue, Cambridge. The committee is planning on preparing and publishing a series of monographs on various aspects of the Canal for eventual publication into a definitive history. One of the monographs is already almost ready for publication, and several others are in the works. Any interested semi-pro researchers or writers who would like to participate are invited to communicate with Professor Adams.

Finally, the preparations for the October, 1971 meeting of the Bay State Historical League, which we are co-sponsoring, are well under way. At the present time, we are working with the Billerica and Lowell Historical Societies, which are co-sponsors. An ambitious program for the whole day (some Saturday in October, 1971) is being planned. There will be many jobs for our members on that day. Volunteers (and others with ideas for a program) should contact Fred Lawson, who is the coordinator for the Canal Association's part of the project. Fred is at 187 Concord Road, Billerica, telephone 667-6181.

THE CHELMSFORD TOLLHOUSE
by Henry Minott

How many members of the Middlesex Canal Association realize that the original Tollhouse of the Canal is still in existence and, what is more, in an excellent state of preservation?

This interesting little building now stands at one side of Forefathers' Cemetery near the Unitarian Church in Chelmsford Center. There is nothing to identify the building for its historic distinction, and most people probably assume that it is just an old storage shed. Painted a bright white, it has a pitched roof, a tiny red brick chimney, and on its front side a door and a single window.

Reports indicate that, a century and a half or so ago, this Tollhouse stood at the Middlesex Village end of the Canal. After the Canal went out of existence, the building was owned for many years by the Hadley family.

In 1955, while Chelmsford was celebrating its tercentenary, the Hadley heirs presented the old Tollhouse to the town as a momento of Canal days.

For some time thereafter, the building stood on the Chelmsford village green, but finally was moved to its present inconspicuous site in the nearby graveyard.

When I asked a lady in the town clerk's office what, if anything, the town planned to do with the structure, she replied:

"We are just keeping it in case they ever restore a section of the Canal in Chelmsford. In that event we thought it might be appropriate to have the Tollhouse near the restored Canal."

While we are awaiting the development of restoration plans, it might be a good idea for the Canal Association to arrange for a suitable plaque to be placed on the old Tollhouse to identify it as a historic structure worthy of preservation.

Tollhouse at Middlesex Village
(early 1930's)
By John M. Haggerty

The most recent issue of CANAL CURRENTS, the interesting and well-edited journal of the Pennsylvania Canal Society, contains several interesting news items, including; an authentic canal boat has been built and launched on the Ohio & Erie Canal in Canal Fulton, Ohio. Mr. Edward Harriman, Chairman, Canal Advisory Board, The Exchange Bank, Canal Fulton, Ohio, offers the assistance of his group to any other Canal Society wishing to have an authentic 19th century canal boat built.

And, another canal has been designated as a National Historical Landmark; the Delaware & Hudson Canal (Honesdale Section) was designated on May 9, 1970.