FLOODS, TORNADO, EARTHQUAKES, HURRICANES & BLIZZARDS, THE YEAR WITHOUT A SUMMER, NATURAL DISASTERS & EVENTS
EARTHQUAKES
LARGEST: New Hampshire quake to date June 1638
Salisbury was not settled by Europeans at the time but Portsmouth NH, Plymouth NH and Boston Mass were and descriptions of the event exist. Ships rolled in the harbor on giant waves, people were knocked about and in Plymouth Plantation and chimneys collapsed. It was felt by Native Americans and Missionaries along the St Lawrence River. It was heard in Masachussetts as a loud noise which approached then ensued violent shaking that last several minutes.
For more:
http://marybarrettdyer.blogspot.com/2011/09/great-new-england-quake-of-1638.html
SIZE: 6.5-7
LOCATION: Speculations based on recent seismic activity puts the epicenter likely kn the Boscawen/Merrimack Basin/Northfield location.
When town’s boundaries were drawn our town’s southern boundary was located abt 4 miles of what is believed to be the epicenter based on damage, reports and geological information. Though it is impossible at this point to know for certain some indication is that it was at the general area of the Cumberland Farms in Boscawen or east under the Merrimack River or just into Northfield. In any case “Salisbury to be” certainly rumbled.
HOW CAN THE EPICENTER BE KNOWN?
1996:The 1638 earthquake is the oldest shown on this map. Its location is uncertain by 1 DO200 km or more. From intensity data Ebel (1996) estimated a location on the Vermont-New Hampshire border but possibly ranging from northeastern New York State to central Maine.
1999/2000: Ebel (2000) noted that more recent epicenters of smaller earthquakes in central New Hampshire form two diffuse alignments that trend north and northeast. Ebel (2000) speculated that either alignment might represent aftershocks of the 1638 mainshock. Ebel (1999) suggested that the 1638 epicenter might have been near Northfield, New Hampshire, and the map (published in the study) shows the earthquake at Northfield.
John E. Ebel has been a professor of Earth and Environmental sciences at Boston College for over 30 years and is and the Director of Boston College’s Weston Observatory that is used to detect, locate, catalog and study all earthquakes that occur in New England and vicinity. He holds a B.A. degree in physics from Harvard University and a Ph.D. in geophysics from the California Institute of Technology. Additionally, he has been a consultant on seismic hazard for over 20 major engineering projects such as highway bridges, LNG tanks, dams and other critical structures in the United States, the Bahamas, Colombia, the Dominican Republic, Honduras, Jordan, Puerto Rico, Chile and Tunisia. He lives in Natick, Massachusetts.
For more information:
http://marybarrettdyer.blogspot.com/2011/09/great-new-england-quake-of-1638.html
http://nesec.org/new-hampshire-earthquakes/
FIRES
Throughout the history of our town fires have destroyed more than a few structures however there is no record of any sweeping forest fires.
It is said, though there is no actual account, that in 1796 a fire denuded the entire peak of Mt. Kearsarge completely to about 250′ feet from the top. In 1849 it was noted by a landowner below that indeed the Bald Mountain area on Mt. Kearsarge had been burned as well. Pages 9-10 of the book “Mount Kearsarge, History Stories and Legends” by Mimi Wiggin goes into some detail about this. The book is a wealth of information about Mt. Kearsarge and is available at the Salisbury Free Library.
There is no account by any inhabitants settling on the slopes of the mountain that it reached them. Salisbury’s westerly town line corner does extend clear over the flood plain to Sawyers Mountain on the slopes of Mt. Kearsarge and just about onto the road leading up to Mt. Kearsarge.
The South Road area of town had been particularly hard hit with two raging structure fires. A fire July 1882 destroyed a beautiful inn which was located at the corner diagonally opposite from what is now the Crossroads Country Store at the junction of rte 4 and rte 127. An image exists of the inn on:
https://www.salisburyhistoricalsociety.org/south-road-village/
In 1895 at the location of what is now the store a fire destroyed four major structures and threatened others. No photos have been found at this time which show these buildings but an artist’s conceptual drawing exists in the book “Salisbury Lost” by Dr. Paul Shaw.
These fires were not uncommon as one can see from this book available at the Salisbury Free Library and for purchase through the Salisbury Historical Society. The book includes photos of many of the beautiful buildings lost over time. We are fortunate that so many remain and grateful to Dr. Shaw for documenting them in one concise read.
FRESHETS AND FLOODS
Freshet is an old term often referring to spring thaws which when combined with spring rain create overflowing of streams and rivers. The word was also used to describe flooding from rains in general.
In New Hampshire, prior to the building of the dam system, low lying areas were frequently flooded. Freshets could be devastating not only to rural communities but to the down river populated areas as well. Salisbury’s mills sitting on the rivers and steams were vulnerable especially when in poor repair. If the building held up they often suffered damage to the shot or tub wheels. For more on mill water mechanics see Power of Water on our website.
1826 Summer Freshet:
The Wilder and Bowers Flax seed mill was a large oil mill and the first mill built on Stirrup Iron brook in the late 1700’s. It did well for a number of years however the cultivation of flax seed ceased and the mill was swept away by a freshet in 1826, in likely the summer freshet described below. This site became the location for a series of enterprises utilizing the stream and pond for over 100 years.
“On the 28th of Augusts of this year the most terrific and destructive rain storm visited New Hampshire that been known since the settlement of the State. The windows of heaven literally opened and the rain descended and the floods came, and the torrents came rumbling from the hills. Roads were completely destroyed, bridges were swept away, and the hills themselves descended in the valleys. During the night of the 28th a whole family in the Crawford Notch of the White Mountains were buried beneath a land slide. Many of the road beds in Salisbury were completely destroyed and most of the bridges carried away”.-From The History of Salisbury by John Dearborn.
The town of Salisbury has a substantial area that falls within the Blackwater Dam (Webster) Flood Control Plain which serves as an emergency flooding area should the need arise. A small Salisbury village was removed and 2 cemeteries were relocated during the building of the Blackwater Dam by the US Army Corps of Engineers. See the following on our website: Smith’s Corners, Bean/Smith’s Corner Graveyard , Stevens/Sawyer Graveyard
Construction of Blackwater Dam began in May 1940 and was completed in November 1941 at a cost of $1.3 million. The project has prevented $77.4 million in flood damages since it was built (as of September 2011).
There is no lake at the Blackwater Dam. The flood storage area of the project covers approximately 3,280 acres and extends upstream about seven miles through Salisbury, having a maximum width of one mile. The Blackwater Dam can store up to 15 billion gallons of water for flood control purposes. This is equivalent to 6.7 inches of water covering its drainage area of 128 square mile.
1821 TORNADO
The 1821 Tornado tore through Sunapee Lake into New London, over to the northside of Sutton, onto the northwest side of Mt. Kearsarge in 2 columns. The tornado then rejoined as it came over the mountain into Warner and Salisbury in one terrifying column. It lifted in Boscawen and left a trail of utter destruction in its wake.
It is estimated that the tornado was in the F-4 category which has winds of 207-240 mph! To this day it is the deadliest tornado to have swept through New Hampshire.
This most harrowing event and effects are written about in detail in “The History of Salisbury” by John Dearborn:
1826 YEAR OF THE GRASSHOPPER & (The Great Summer Freshet & The Drought)
“The summer was very hot and dry and with the drowth came a vast army of grasshoppers, which destroyed nearly every green thing. The year was referred to for a long time as “the year of the great drowth”, the year of the great freshet , and the “grasshopper year’‘ from the History of Salisbury by John Dearborn, 1890.
LAND SLIDE
In the area of western Salisbury, referred to as the Watson district after one of the original settling families, our town rises up onto Mt. Kearsarge and actually intersects for a short distance with the road which goes to nearly the top of Mt. Kearsarge from the Warner side. At one time this mountain side was cleared. Sheep grazed along the mountain side. Whether the land slide was a result of clearing requires more research.
“(1819) In the spring of this year a mass of earth and stones of several tons weight came detached from the declivity of Kearsarge Mountain, and was precipated with great violence into the valley below sweeping a path of forty rods in its width.”
From the History of Salisbury by John Dearborn, 1890 page 90
FIRES
1881 YELLOW DAY
“September 6th 1881 was characterized as the “Yellow Day” and will be remembered as exhibiting some of the most beautiful phenomena ever witnessed. The day was warm, even sultry, and the rays of the sun were obstructed by a curtain of haze or smoke.The green of the grass and foliage of the trees and shrubbery was converted into blue, while the prevailing tint upon other objects was yellow. At times the cloud was so thick as to cause a deep gloom, making gas or other light necessary for the transaction of business. The gas-jets burned white; nothing appeared to the eye in its natural hues, and the effect was like a magical transformation by invisible artists, behind he scenes, with the world for a stage. Travelers in England , it is said, have witnessed similar effects from the sun dimly shinning through a “London fog”. The cause is undoubtedly to be attributed to the presence of smoke which by a peculiar condition of the atmosphere was held suspended like a screen between the earth and sun. As extensive forest fires had been raging in Canada and in northern New York and Vermont no other explanation seems necessary. The phenomena extended beyond the limits of New England. ” History of Salisbury by John Dearborn 1890.
1833 SNOWING STARS Nov 13
From the northern lakes to the south of Jamaica from 9-4 am for 7 hours there were widespread reports of a spectacular, nearly incessant fiery meter shower, that appeared as thick as snowflakes and brilliant as the stars themselves.
MOUNTAINS OF SNOW
Prior to 1865 especially, what exactly did the early folks do to get by with all the snow piling up on roadways?
The Road Roller by Rockwell Kent, Dublin New Hampshire 1909
Phillips Collection, Washington DC
In our town, the Museum building was originally used to hold the town hearst for burials. In addition, an added extension housed the Town Roller. Rollers were made in a variety of sizes. The hearst remains in excellent condition on display in what is now The Museum however the roller was lost to weather over time.
The Hearse House and Snow Roller House, now the Salisbury Historical Society Museum
Beautiful example of a Snow Roller on exhibit at the The Alexandria NH Historical Society
It is possible that in our town there may have also been horse drawn plows that cleared smaller driveways and roads as was more common in cities. If you have any photos of the Old Salisbury Town Roller or any photo of Salisbury vintage highway equipment taht you would like ot share please contact the webmaster: online@salisburyhistoricalsociety.org
More info: The following contains an except from a post by Matt Soniak:
http://mentalfloss.com/article/32006/scenes-history-snow-removal
ON A ROLL: For a good stretch of American history, getting rid of snow was of no great concern. In fact, people actually wanted it around. While this might blow the minds of modern Northeasterners and Midwesterners, keep in mind that these were the days of the horse-drawn vehicle, not the Prius. To improve travel in winter conditions, horse carts and coaches traded their wheels in for ski-like runners. With those things on, the more packed snow on the roads, the better! Historian and weather geek Eric Sloane wrote that, in the 18th and 19th centuries, “snow was never a threat” to road travel, “but rather it was an asset.”
To keep roads in optimal snowy condition, many municipalities employed a “snow warden” to pack and flatten the snow with a crude vehicle called a snow roller—essentially a giant, wide wheel weighed down with rocks and pulled by oxen or horses. A far cry from the winter road work we see today, it was more like maintaining a ski slope or smoothing out an ice rink. Stranger still, snow wardens actually had to install snow on the pathways of covered bridges so that travel would not be interrupted.
Photo Courtesy Schwartz Boiler Shop
By the mid 1800s, several different inventors had patented their own versions of a horse-drawn snow plow meant for clearing alleys and residential streets that saw more foot traffic than carriages. In 1862, Milwaukee became the first major municipality to try one out, and it was a hit. Over the next few years, the plows hit the streets in cities throughout the Snow Belt.
But horse-drawn plows didn’t stand a chance against the Blizzard of 1888, which bludgeoned the East Coast from the Chesapeake Bay up to Maine. After three days, some places were buried in up to 50 inches of snow, and high winds caused drifts up to 40 feet tall to form. The plow-pulling horses, like everyone else, had no choice but to stay inside and wait for the snow to melt. Cities in the region learned a valuable lesson about preparation, and the following year many implemented measures like hiring more plows and giving them assigned routes, and sending the plows out to start clearing the roads.
Excerpt from Celebrate Boston online. The worst blizzard in English-American history to hit the eastern United States occurred on March 11 and 12, 1888. This storm wreaked havoc from Maine to New Jersey, with some areas receiving snow drifts as high as 50 inches. The largest snow accumulated in central New England, and the greatest consequence of the storm was borne on New York City. About 400 people tragically lost their lives. This weather event quickly became known as The Blizzard of 1888 or The Great White Hurricane. Weather forecasting was inaccurate in 1888. Weather stations dotted the country, and prevailing conditions were telegraphed to downstream locations. The Blizzard of 1888 was essentially not predicted, and as people went about their normal lives, a massive storm struck with little warning warning. Rain quickly turned to sleet then heavy snow. Trains loaded with passengers were stranded on the tracks. People weary of losing their jobs went to work in defiance of the storm, and a few were frozen to death while attempting to return home. In some rural areas people were stranded inside their homes for nearly two weeks.
1938 HURRICANE
Direct access from Salisbury Heights to Scribner’s Corner was lost when the connecting bridge was washed out during this hurricane and was never rebuilt.
Below from the following courtesy of bigstory.ap.org
PLYMOUTH, N.H. (AP) — It slammed into land and rapidly moved north, destroying buildings, altering coastlines, ripping apart forests and shocking a population that had never experienced a hurricane.
About 700 people died 75 years ago when the storm known variously as the Great New England Hurricane of 1938 or the Long Island Express began plowing up the Northeast coastline at 2:45 p.m. on Sept. 21, 1938.
A weather station in Massachusetts recorded sustained winds of 121 mph and gusts as high as 186 mph — a major storm by modern standards that dwarfs the land wind speeds recorded in storms Irene and Sandy, which also devastated parts of the Northeast in recent years.
Two oral history mentions:
https://www.salisburyhistoricalsociety.org/the-hurricane-of-1938-in-salisbury-2/
https://fhsarchives.wordpress.com/2010/06/08/the-great-hurricane-of-1938/